Bill's Genealogy Blog

2012-01-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Presentation on Personal Ancestral File

A week ago it was suggested that FamilySearch Product Support should have a lesson on PAF. I volunteered, and yesterday I had a phone call asking whether I would be prepared to teach the lesson the next morning. I accepted, provided we could get the teleconferencing working on my computer. We then proceeded to set it up on my desktop computer. It was a total failure regardless what we did! In desperation, I switched to my laptop. In about 5 minutes we had everything working. Whew!

I arranged that I would sign in a few minutes early the next day in case there were any last-minute glitches. This morning the technology worked perfectly on the laptop. (A further testimonial of the power of prayer!)For my lesson I did a live demonstration based on the PAF Overview document on my website, and answered questions. It was well received.

The PAF Overview can be read or downloaded from http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com/

2012-01-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

What are the Most Popular Internet Browsers?

We see a lot of opinions. There is an excellent little article on this subject by http://www.genealogyintime.com/
Here is their short answer, but you may want to read the whole article.

Internet Browser Percentage of Users

Internet Explorer 39%
Firefox 30%
Chrome 18%
Safari 10%
Opera 1%
Android 1%
Other 1%
Total 100%

http://www.genealogyintime.com/NewsStories/2012/Q1/what%20are%20the%20most%20popular%20internet%20browsers.html?awt_l=KMu5_&awt_m=J7lNd5U93Qk.Vy

2012-01-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

Free 9-Generation Fan-chart Pedigree from Treeseek.com

Well, at least it will generate a color chart for you for free if you have an account with either Geni.com or new.familysearch.org, since these are the places where it can get the data needed.

Of the 14 people I helped during my shift today, 3 wanted help with this fan chart.
I found two things interesting about this:
1. the number of people wanting it
2. it is not a FamilySearch product, but they came to us for help!

Point #2 is understandable because one of our websites can be accessed from the chart's website:
https://treeseek.com/
Still, even if it is not our product, I was glad to help. It is a beautiful chart, but needs to be printed on multiple sheets of paper unless you plan to use a microscope to read it.

Still if you have an account with either new.familysearch.org or geni.com I encourage you to take a look at it.

2012-01-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

Top 100 Most Popular Genealogy Websites

"GenealogyInTime™ magazine has put together a global list of the Top 100 Most Popular Genealogy Websites. This is the first time a comprehensive list has been published of the most popular genealogy websites from around the world. Other genealogy lists exist, but they tend to focus on only one country, on only certain types of genealogy websites, or the list contains personal preferences."

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Some Top 100 lists leave me doubtful, but this one seems well researched, based on Alexa rankings. I see that FamilySearch.org is rated as #3, which is probably right. I want to check out some more of these sites.

A shortened version of the URL is: http://goo.gl/1WLhx

2011-12-24T15:42:00.001-07:00

The photo above is part of a ceramic nativity created by Judy's aunt, Sally Hippard. This has been part of our Christmas for over 25 years. It reminds me of the reason for Christmas, the birth of our Savior. But as a genealogist, it also reminds me of the warm, talented, and generous woman (and fellow genealogist) who made it with her own hands and gave it to us to enjoy. Maybe she intended it to do both.

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Merry Christmas, and best wishes for a wonderful 2012!
~~~~~~~

2011-12-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Installing a Built-in Dishwasher

When Judy and I built this house with my brother Lloyd's help in 1977-1978 we did not build in a dish washer. It wasn't even on the radar screen, so to speak. Since then, Judy and I have had two portable dishwashers, but in our small kitchen they always seemed to get in the way. This time I decided it was time to install a built-in dishwasher. It involved removing a section of counter, cutting the cupboards, installing electrical power, a drain and a hot water line. The work was spread over perhaps two weeks, but we finally finished on the 16th! In the photo you see an early stage of the process. The hole has been cut and the dishwasher is placed in the hole, but nothing is connected. It looks very similar now except that everything is functioning and the missing panels are in place.

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Over-Programmed!

I have been very busy during these past few months, with trips into Edmonton every Tues, Wed, Thur, and Sat. A talk at church cautioned parents about over-programming the lives of their children. I turned to Judy and said, "I have over-programmed myself. I need some free time!" So, starting in mid December I eliminated the Tues. trip. In January I will eliminate the Wed. trip. I will still be busy, but I like to be busy, and it will now be manageable. I love serving in FamilySearch Support and in the Family History Center and in the Edmonton Temple, and I will continue to do these things, but at a more enjoyable pace.

2011-11-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

My Website's Family Database Has Been Updated
It now has over 23,000 people. Check it out at http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com/
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New 2011 Version of the Buchanan Family Tree Book Now Available
During the past week I created a 2011 version of the book. It can be downloaded from the Buchanan and Watson page of my website.

2011-11-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

Installing Laminate Flooring
Two weeks ago we replaced the last carpeting on the main floor of our house. This was in the master bedroom, which doesn't get a lot of traffic. We hope that the laminate will help Judy's athsma, as it doesn't trap dust as the carpeting does. Here is photo of me, as the job draws to a close. The 12" chop saw I borrowed from Andrew really simplified cutting the laminate and the new baseboards.

2011-11-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a single document can change the order of things!
My Goldring line in Rogate, Sussex, England seemed well documented. The birth of Elizabeth was in the Rogate parish register, showing her father was John Goldring.

Baptisms
Date Name Father Mother Surname
10/06/1690 Elizabeth John Not given GOLDRING

Likewise her marriage to my ancestor, William Walder/Waller is in the Rogate marriage register.
Rogate Marriages
06/05/1717
Groom WALDER William
Bride GOLDRING Elizabeth

The baptismal register shows four children of William Walder over the next few years, including my ancestor William, Who married Elizabeth Mills.

No other birth or marriage of an Elizabeth Goldring is shown in the Rogate parish registers during the appropriate time period, so it seemed very straight-forward.

Then this week I received an email message:
"One important fact is that daughter Elizabeth married Richard Cobb in Haslemere, Surrey. Many trees I have seen have that quite wrong!"

Later my correspondent sent me the Will of John Goldring, which includes "Seventhly I give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth Cobb the sum of fifty pounds to be paid within six months of my decease."

I looked for the marriage of Elizabeth Goldring and Richard Cobb, and I found it on FamilySearch.org.
England Marriages, 1538–1973

Groom's Name: Rich. Cob
Bride's Name: Eliza Gooldring
Marriage Date: 18 Dec 1722
Marriage Place: Haslemere,Surrey,England
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M01348-1
System Origin: England-ODM Source Film Number: 599894

My Elizabeth Goldring was married to William Walder and they were having children in Rogate parish at this time. Hmm ... obviously we have two different Elizabeth Goldrings. When and where was MY Elizabeth Goldring born, and who are her parents? I cannot find her in any of the currently digitized records, but the search will continue. I believe she was born near Rogate, otherwise it is unlikely that she would have been married in Rogate parish.

2011-11-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

A Visit to Mom and Auntie Vi
Yesterday Judy and I visited Mom and her sister. They were in good spirits. They always enjoy a visit. Using my laptop I was able to show them all of the recent family photos, which they enjoyed.

MacFamilyTree
On December 6 and 8 at 7 PM at 14325-53 Ave, in Edmonton we have scheduled a lesson on Genealogy on the Mac. A friend who has MacFamilyTree has agreed to teach the lesson on one (possibly both) of the nights. This is last of the series of lessons at Edmonton Riverbend Family History Center until after Christmas. If you use a Mac for genealogy, I invite you to come.

FamilySearch Support
I have chosen to answer the phones from 8 AM - 5 PM on Mondays and Fridays (MST). So if you call for help during that time period there is a chance that I might be the person answering the phone. I am answering 15-20 calls on most days. It keeps me on my toes.

2011-10-16T18:43:00.000-06:00

Response to a query from a distant relative

Dear Bill and Judy,

I recently have started doing my family tree. I think it is Samuel William Lanham Bradbury who is my grandmother's eldest brother. Their grandfather was William Lanham Thomas who was a surgeon in Horsham Sussex England. Hence where the name Lanham comes from. My grandmother was one of seven children and the youngest born in 1878 in Crawley. Her parents were Samuel William Bradbury and Elizabeth Fanny Bradbury nee Thomas.

My grandmother died in 1964 never meeting any of the elder siblings only two younger sisters who looked after. My grandmother was told her father Samuel William Bradbury went to Australia and had something to do with Sheep dip and disinfectant and was quite successful in what he did and his eldest son joined him.

I cannot find Samuel William Bradbury or his wife Elizabeth Fanny Bradbury place or year of death. I do not know if he came back to England with his wife or stayed in Australia.

My grandmother had a very old photograph of her mother Elizabeth Fanny Bradbury which i can forward to you .

Hope you have some more info,

regards,
....

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Dear ...

I see that the Samuel William Latham Bradbury in my database is shown married to an Ann Rolland. My connection is that his daughter Ruby married my cousin Adwick "Stephen" George Waller in 1918 in St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia.

I am wondering whether one of these might be yours.
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/
Registration Number Last Name Given Name(s) Father's Given Name(s) Mother's Given Name(s) District
11234/1908 BRADBURY SAMUEL W SAMUEL BRIDGET RYDE
2944/1913 BRADBURY SAMUEL JOHN MOSMAN
11444/1968 BRADBURY SAMUEL SAMUEL ALICE EMILY ST LEONARDS
14290/1946 BRADBURY JOHN SAMUEL SAMUEL LUCY WOOLLAHRA
26050/1940 BRADBURY SAMUEL ENOCH FRANCES BULLI

A little of my info on this family comes from:
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=jinxz&id=I38624

I wonder if this might be a brother, as he is married in the same district in about the same time:
Registration Number Groom's Surname Groom's Given Name(s) Bride's Last Name at Time of Marriage Bride's Given Name(s) District
17376/1915 BRADBURY VICTOR W EDENBOROUGH COEVINEY D ST LEONARDS

This seems like a match in FreeBMD.org.uk, Ruby was born in Croyden in 1897.
Births Jun 1893
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bradbury Victor William Croydon 2a 245

These are from FreeBMD.org.uk. They look like the same family.

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Sep 1869
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BRADBURY Samuel William Horsham 2b 437
THOMAS Elizabeth Fanny Horsham 2b 437

Births Sep 1870
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Bradbury Samuel William L Brighton 2b 201

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
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Marriages Sep 1892
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bradbury William Samuel L Croydon 2a 377
Rolland Annie Croydon 2a 377

This last couple are the parents of my cousin's wife Ruby Annie Bradbury.

Births Sep 1896
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BRADBURY Ruby Annie Croydon 2a 226
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I hope this helps. You should have success as you search these sources and the census for England and Wales (1841-1901 at ancestry.com or 1841-1911 at findmypast.co.uk) Both can be viewed online for free at your closest Family History Center. This link will let you look up the closest one.
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp

Good luck in your research.
--
Bill Buchanan

2011-10-09T10:25:00.000-06:00

Farewell Mr. Jobs

Yes, this is a genealogy blog, but this time I am writing about the genealogy of the computer. I received an AppleII+ many years ago as a prize in a computer programming contest.

I remember using the 512K "Fat Mac" at work in 1985. It was a whole different type of computer. The small gray-scale monitor seemed like a big step backwards from other computers I was using. The keyboard was terrible (bouncy and totally lacking some keys, including cursor keys ), but the graphical interface and the copy and paste function were brilliant! And the bundled software included Mac Write with its multiple scalable fonts. What you saw on the screen was really what you got! You could create high quality wedding invitations right on your computer.

I liked the fact that the Mac eliminated the cryptic text commands, the menus that differed from one program to another, and the need to have a separate printer driver for every piece of software.

I continued to own an IBM and other computers over the following years, and watched as one-by-one they copied the Macintosh user interface. The much quoted line "Windows 95 is just Macintosh 84!" was very true of the user interface. Microsoft stumbled through 3 versions of Windows before on the 4th try they had finally copied the Macintosh sufficiently to have a user-friendly interface. By this time the Mac itself had a world class keyboard, color monitor, sound, and a wide range of software. I also remember using a Mac IIFX at work with a 21" monitor at a time when a 12" or 14" monitor was still standard on most other computers. Like most computers, newer Macs keep getting better and better.

Thank you Mr. Jobs, for making the computer an "appliance" that anyone can use!

DISCLAIMER: I am a satisfied Windows user, but let the credit go the one who deserves it.

2011-09-24T12:29:00.000-06:00

Mystery Photos and Papers
I had a phone call the other day from Mary Nutting, the Archivist of the South Peace Regional Archives in Grande Prairie, Alberta. The SPRA have come into possession of a pile of old photographs and papers from a long-abandonned farm house that belonged to Robert James Coulter and his wife Florence Ruby Hamilton. An internet search on these names found my website and my information about this couple. But most of the people mentioned in the papers and photographs were Hodgsons from Duck Lake, Saskatchewan and Davis family members. I was able to find the Hodgson family in the 1901 census, still living in Duck Lake. I found a probable family connection between the Davis and Hodgson families, but no connection with the Coulter and Hamilton families. Robert and Ruby Coulter came from Neepawa, Manitoba where my father was born, and we have a family connection. Robert's sister Annie Mary married Robert George Buchanan and his brother William "Edgar" married Lucy Stella Buchanan. Robert probably came to the Peace River Country in the 1920s or 1930s.

Does anyone know of a connection between the Coulter/Hamilton family and the Davis/Hodgson family in north-western Alberta? The SPRA are eager to find out. If you tell me I will pass it on to them.

Who was William Herbert Davis? Who were George Davis and Catherine Yorkston? How do they connect to the Hodgsons? (These Hodgsons appear to be distant relatives of my uncle Evans Carson, but not of my Buchanan/Hamilton/Coulter connections.)

Speculation: Did the Davis or Hodgson family rent the house after it was vacated by Robert and Ruby's family? That way their family papers might legitimately be left behind, without their names appearing in the land title. I would be interested in any further light on this mystery.

2011-09-11T20:34:00.000-06:00

A challenge from http://kinexxions.blogspot.comIf you wish to participate in the meme, simply copy the text below and paste it into your blog (or into a note on facebook or Google+ if you don't have a blog) and annotate the list accordingly. We're on the 'honor system' here, no one is going to check up on you! Participation is up to you, no tagging of other bloggers required. And, if you've done it before, you can do it again.

The list should be annotated in the following manner:
Things you have already done or found: bold face type
Things you would like to do or find: italicize (color optional)
Things you haven’t done or found and don’t care to: plain type

1. Belong to a genealogical society.
2. Researched records onsite at a court house. [John Buchanan's will in Neepawa court house]
3. Transcribed records.
4. Uploaded tombstone pictures to Find-A-Grave.
5. Documented ancestors for four generations (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents).
6. Joined Facebook.
7. Helped to clean up a run-down cemetery.
8. Joined the Genea-Bloggers Group on Facebook.
9. Attended a genealogy conference.
10. Lectured at a genealogy conference. [Alberta Centennary, Edmonton]
11. Spoke on a genealogy topic at a local genealogy society. [Wetaskiwin]
12. Been the editor of a genealogy society newsletter.
13. Contributed to a genealogy society publication.
14. Served on the board or as an officer of a genealogy society.
15. Got lost on the way to a cemetery. [I can get lost on my way anywhere!]
16. Talked to dead ancestors.
17. Researched outside the province in which I live.
18. Knocked on the door of an ancestral home and visited with the current occupants.
19. Cold called a distant relative.
20. Posted messages on a surname message board.
21. Uploaded a gedcom file to the internet.
22. Googled my name.
23. Performed a random act of genealogical kindness.
24. Researched a non-related family, just for the fun of it.
25. Have been paid to do genealogical research.
26. Earn a living (majority of income) from genealogical research.
27. Wrote a letter (or email) to a previously unknown relative.
28. Contributed to one of the genealogy carnivals.
29. Responded to messages on a message board or forum.
30. Was injured while on a genealogy excursion.
31. Participated in a genealogy meme. [I am do it now.]
32. Created family history gift items (calendars, cookbooks, etc.).
33. Performed a record lookup for someone else.
34. Went on a genealogy seminar cruise.
35. Am convinced that a relative must have arrived here from outer space. [Several!]
36. Found a disturbing family secret.
37. Told others about a disturbing family secret.
38. Combined genealogy with crafts (family picture quilt, scrapbooking).
39. Think genealogy is a passion not a hobby.
40. Assisted finding next of kin for a deceased person (Unclaimed Persons).
41. Taught someone else how to find their roots.
42. Lost valuable genealogy data due to a computer crash or hard drive failure.
43. Been overwhelmed by available genealogy technology.
44. Know a cousin of the 4th degree or higher.
45. Disproved a family myth through research. [The Linnen estate story]
46. Got a family member to let you copy photos.
47. Used a digital camera to “copy” photos or records. [But a scanner is much better]
48. Translated a record from a foreign language. [French]
49. Found an immigrant ancestor’s passenger arrival record. [A few]
50. Looked at census records on microfilm, not on the computer.
51. Used microfiche.
52. Visited the Family History Library in Salt Lake City [Someday I would like to.]
53. Visited more than one LDS Family History Center.
54. Visited a church or place of worship of one of your ancestors.
55. Taught a class in genealogy. [I am doing it again.]
56. Traced ancestors back to the 18th Century.
57. Traced ancestors back to the 17th Century.
58. Traced ancestors back to the 16th Century.
59. Can name all of your great-great-grandparents. [I am still looking for Ruth Ing's maiden name.]
60. Found an ancestor’s Social Security application. [I found the SSDI entry.]
61. Know how to determine a soundex code without the help of a computer.
62. Used Steve Morse’s One-Step searches.
63. Own a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.
64. Helped someone find an ancestor using records you had never used for your own research.
65. Visited the main National Archives building in Washington, DC.
66. Visited the Library of Congress.
67. Have an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower.
68. Have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.
69. Taken a photograph of an ancestor’s tombstone.
70. Became a member of the Association of Graveyard Rabbits.
71. Can read a church record in Latin. [So long as it is simple and legible.]
72. Have an ancestor who changed their name.
73. Joined a Rootsweb mailing list.
74. Created a family website.
75. Have more than one "genealogy" blog.
76. Was overwhelmed by the amount of family information received from someone.
77. Have broken through at least one brick wall [e.g. parents of Ann Waller b. 1812 Rogate, Sussex]
78. Visited the DAR Library in Washington D.C.
79. Borrowed a microfilm from the Family History Library through a local Family History Center.
80. Have done indexing for Family Search Indexing or another genealogy project.
81. Visited the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
82. Had an amazing serendipitous find of the "Psychic Roots" variety.
83. Have an ancestor who was a Patriot in the American Revolutionary War.
84. Have an ancestor who was a Loyalist in the American Revolutionary War. [My wife does!]
85. Have both Patriot & Loyalist ancestors.
86. Have used Border Crossing records to locate an ancestor.
87. Use maps in my genealogy research.
88. Have a convict ancestor who was transported from the UK.
89. Found a bigamist amongst the ancestors.
90. Visited the National Archives in Kew. [But I visited the gardens!]
91. Visited St. Catherine's House in London to find family records. [But I wrote to them.]
92. Found a cousin in Australia (or other foreign country).
93. Consistently cite my sources. [I am getting better]
94. Visited a foreign country (i.e. one I don't live in) in search of ancestors. [England]
95. Can locate any document in my research files within a few minutes.
96. Have an ancestor who was married four times (or more).
97. Made a rubbing of an ancestors gravestone.
98. Organized a family reunion. [No, but attended a few I really enjoyed.]
99. Published a family history book (on one of my families).
100. Learned of the death of a fairly close relative through research. [Second cousin Marion Bone]
101. Have done the genealogy happy dance. [At least mentally.]
102. Sustained an injury doing the genealogy happy dance.
103. Offended a family member with my research. [But I have pleased many more!]
104. Reunited someone with precious family photos or artifacts. [Although I have shared photos!]

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FamilySearch Support Mission Update
My Recommendation form has been faxed in and received at the other end.
I am watching my mailbox eagerly for my official letter.

2011-09-09T13:06:00.000-06:00

Finding the Serridges and the Sherveys
My brother Reg came to Edmonton for Brandon and Tiffany's wedding (Congratulations, guys!) And we dropped over to my nephew's house where they were staying for a few days. As we were chatting, his wife Carol expressed an interest in her genealogy, as did their daughter-in-law. I have some free time this week, before I start teaching family history classes, and I will probably receive my official call to serve in FamilySearch Support about the same time. Carol was able to give me a little information on her grandfather (William) and great grandfather (John) on her Serridge line and her grandmother Isabella Shervey, that took me back into the time period when the censuses are available. So I have been trying to help her find free information and providing her with subscription-only information that she does not have access to.

I was able to easily follow the Serridges back to the 1841 UK census. The Tattersalls, back to the 1881 census before duplicate names and ages became a big challenge in 1871. Even the marriages index at FreeBMD.org.uk did not allow me to sort out the eight men born about 1856 named James Tattersall in and around Haslingden, Lancashire. Maybe later ....

After finding records of the Norwegian Shervey/Sherve/Skjerve family in the wonderful 1885 and 1895 Minnesota state censuses on FamilySearch.org, I was off to a good start. (Hats off to you guys! I have found Wisconsin state censuses virtually useless, but Minnesota, you did it right!)

I also found them in the 1900 US census and the 1911 and 1916 Canada censuses, and in Google searches. I didn't find them in Castlegarden or Ellis Island. And I don't know enough Norwegian to make any sense out of the Norwegian censuses. Then I hit the jackpot! A downloadable family tree going back into the 1500s on some lines. How accurate is it? I don't know, but it is amazing!

Maybe I will get a chance to follow some more of the Serridge maternal lines, while time permits. Then maybe a closer look at Kim's genealogy ...

'Bye for now.

2011-08-30T11:18:00.000-06:00

I Am Applying Again to Serve for Free in FamilySearch Support from my Home
Don't I already have enough to do? Actually, like most people I have lots to do!

I felt so useful when I served in FamilySearch Support ... I really did enjoy it. My background and training was a nearly perfect match for what they needed. I will need to go through two interviews before I can have my application faxed-in. But that is my plan. The people I served with at FamilySearch are wonderful!

The person who is handling my application wrote to me.
"Because your internet service is so slow, we asked Emma whether she wanted to attempt to work with you, and she said definitely YES! Furthermore, both Mindy and Luisa overheard the conversation and chimed in with “Hallelujah!” So they will work around the slow internet somehow."

So my internet access is not up to par, but they still remember me after nearly two year's absence and they want to work with me. That feels wonderful!

2011-08-30T10:52:00.000-06:00

LIDGETT RESEARCHOver the past few weeks I have been researching various people, including the family of James Lidgett and Christiana Jacklin of Ludford, Lincolnshire, England. In his marriage certificate he gives his father's name as William. There are only two William Lidgetts in the Caistor District in the 1841 and 1851 censuses. One of them appears to be be running a boarding house, from the names and ages of the other occupants. The other is an Agricultural Labourer, as is our James. Since occupations tended to be passed from father to son in rural areas, this William is probably the father of James.

1851 census - household transcription
Person: LIDGETT, William
Address: Holton Le Moor
Name Relation Condition Sex Age Birth Year Occupation Where Born
LIDGETT, William Head Married M 70 1781 Ag Lab North Kelsey Lincolnshire
LIDGETT, Mary Wife Married F 71 1780 Misterton Lincolnshire
LIDGETT, John Son Married M 27 1824 Ag Lab Normanby Wold Lincolnshire
LIDGETT, Mary Wife Married F 21 1830 Market Rasen Lincolnshire
RG number:HO107 Piece:2114 Folio:334 Page:12
Registration District:Caistor Sub District:Caistor Enumeration District:25 & 12
Ecclesiastical Parish:Civil Parish:Holton Le Moor Municipal Borough:Address:Holton Le Moor
County:Lincolnshire
[In the 1841 census he says he was born in Bishop Norton. North Kelsey is 5 miles from Bishop Norton, he was likely born on a farm somewhere between them.]

This record identifies his parents:
William Ledgett
birth 4 February 1781
Bishop Norton, Lincoln, England
Parents: Richard Ledgett, Mary

This marriage date is consistent with William's birth, and gives his mother's maiden name.
Richard Lidget
England Marriages, 1538–1973
marriage: 14 May 1779 —Hackthorn, Lincoln, England
spouse: Mary Gilbard
record title: England Marriages, 1538–1973
groom's name: Richard Lidget
bride's name: Mary Gilbard
marriage date: 14 May 1779
marriage place: Hackthorn, Lincoln, England
indexing project (batch) number: M02883-3
system origin: England-EASy
source film number: 1450401

Probably Richard's christening:
England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
Name: Richard Lidgett Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 15 Aug 1756
Baptism/Christening Place: WASHINGBOROUGH,LINCOLN,ENGLAND
Father's Name: John Lidgett
Mother's Name: Mary
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C03419-2 System Origin: England-ODM
Source Film Number: 508083
[about 6 miles from Hackthorn]

So I feel that progress is being made.

2011-08-19T08:39:00.000-06:00

Karen Ing

1960 - 2011

[in photo with husband Darcy Doble and father Charles Ing]

I just received word that my first cousin, Karen Susan Ing Doble has passed away. She is the wife of Darcy Doble, and last year they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary by renewing their wedding vows. Not too long ago, Karen and Uncle Evans were the winners of the horseshoe competition at the Ing family reunion. This year Darcy brought Uncle Charlie to the reunion, but Karen was too sick to come. Karen has courageously battled cancer for the last few years, and we knew that her health was failing. Her death was expected, but we will all miss her warm and jolly personality. We extend our sympathy to Darcy and to her father Charles Ing, and friends and family. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

2011-08-19T08:12:00.000-06:00

Celebration of Life - Harold StangelandWednesday, August 24 at 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Location: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

14325 - 53rd Ave, Edmonton, AB

To celebrate the life of Harold Stangeland we invite you to join us at the Riverbend Stake Centre on Wednesday August 24th at 1:00 p.m. Grave dedication to follow at the Glenwood Memorial Gardens. Remembered in our hearts forever; always with a smile. We will miss him.

[information from http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=256193991066028]

2011-08-17T15:20:00.000-06:00

Harold Stangeland (in photo with wife and daughter)

I have known Harold Stangeland for several years, but he became a member of my family when my son married his daughter. Yesterday he died at the young age of 60 as the result of a head injury from a fall. An avid golfer, Harold was in excellent health. His quiet but warm and friendly personality lighted-up any space he was in. He spent much of his time serving others in the belief that when you are in the service of others you are also serving God. I am sure he will still find opportunities to serve.

Farewell my friend, enjoy a happy eternity!

2011-08-08T08:36:00.000-06:00

On the Green Chain

Saturday night I received a phone call. "Our Sunday School lesson tomorrow is about the value of work. I wonder if you would be willing to share an early experience that taught you to work hard." I agreed, and this is the experience I shared with the class.

As a teenager, I grew up in the little sawmill town of Edgewater, BC. When I graduated from high school I found work at the local sawmill. The mill had three different saws producing lumber. One was a "gang-saw" that produced several boards simultaneously. As boards were sawn from the logs, they were put on a conveyor called the “green chain” for sorting and piling. My job was to pull boards off the conveyor onto the appropriate pile before the next board came along. Some of the boards were 20' - 2 x12s that probably weighed as much as I did. If I missed a board, it might drop off the end of the conveyor and that was definitely a “no-no”.

I learned two important things from this job.
Firstly, I learned to work hard.
Secondly, I learned that I didn't want to do that job for the rest of my life!

Within a few weeks, a friend invited me to join him in Calgary to pursue a higher education. I accepted his invitation and left the sawmill. When the sawmill closed a few years later, I was living half a world away in France. It is interesting to reflect back on life and the course of events.

2011-08-07T20:00:00.000-06:00

Ing Family Reunion
I really enjoyed the family reunion. As usual, I brought a descendancy chart so that everyone could find their family. I was happy to receive updates.

Conversation was a big part of things, sometimes accompanied by cribbage or other games. Outside we had a horse-shoes competition and I let myself get talked into competing. To my total dismay, Darlene and I made it into the final round, where we were defeated 21-15 by Dave and Diane. (If I had thought there was any chance of making it to the final round I would have borrowed some sunscreen! Oh well, hindsight is 20/20, as they say.)

They also had a beanbag toss, where Judy and Laurel took part. Andrew's family also came. We had at least 40 people there, about an average turn-out for the Ing family reunion. I found a new genealogy buddy among the younger generation. That is always a plus! I had invited cousins from North Carolina and Australia, but they couldn't come. Maybe next time ...

2011-08-05T08:48:00.000-06:00

Ing Family Reunion
The Ing family reunion is at Breton, Alberta tomorrow. I have been looking forward to it, especially since I missed it last year because I was helping with Evelyn & Ed's move to Wabasca. This time we also have a scheduling conflict. We have been invited to the wedding and reception of the daughter of our good friends the Bennetts. This is a girl we have known since she was born. We will miss the wedding but I think that by leaving the reunion at 5 PM we will be able to attend the reception.

I will bring along a chart of the descendants of Thomas and Martha Ing. I would like to video some interviews with family members. I plan to bring the night stand built by my uncle Jack Buchanan so that I can give it to his daughter Velda if she comes to the reunion.

Border Crossing Record
Last night at the Family History Center I was looking for information on my 2g-grandfather, James Watson in Ancestry.com and FindMyPast.co.uk. I found that several people agree with my analysis that he is the son of James Watson (a sergeant in a regiment) and Isobel Gillis. That is somewhat reassuring. But even more exciting was an unexpected border crossing record for my g-grandfather George Watson on July 31, 1913. My first thought was "In 1913 he had been living at Millet, Alberta for 9 years, so why would he be crossing the border from the USA into Ontario? This must be a case of mistaken identity." But when I looked at at it I noticed the names of the two names on the lines below George and his wife: Mary Steel and Elizabeth Steel. I thought, "Whoa! I wonder ...!" As I scrolled to the right on the page, a powerful story unfolded. George and Jane Watson were traveling from Raber, Michigan to Millet, Alberta to join their son Richard. They were bringing with them two 4-month old grandchildren "wards of grandparents Mr. & Mrs. Geo. Watson". A quick check of my database showed that their daughter Mary Elizabeth Watson Steele had died on 22 Jun 1913, just a few weeks before. Her husband Frank was left with several small children to care for. Apparently a set of newborn twins was more than he could take care of, so Mary's parents agreed to take care of the twins.

Many years ago, my father told me that his aunt Minnie (Mary) had died giving birth to twins. I had never found any corroborating evidence. When I finally saw her death certificate, the official cause of death was "chronic valvular disease of the heart", but I believe that the strain of giving birth to twins was a contributing factor, as she died 3 months later. So is Nellie really "Mary" or is she "Elizabeth"? Not even her death certificate gives any clue! When Allan and Carrie Watson adopted the girls they changed their names from Steele to Watson and apparently they changed the given names as well!

So this record answers some puzzling old questions, but adds some new questions of its own.

Much of the joy is in the journey, not just the arrival.

2011-07-24T10:15:00.000-06:00

Home Again!
It is good to be home again. Over the past month we have looked Laurel's children, Andrew's house, and Blaine's house. And all of our charges survived: the children, the fish, the guinea pigs, the cocketiel, and the dog. Fortunately they were all easy to look after. The kids were wonderful. I also got to watch "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" with Laurel's family. I am glad I got to see it. Would I watch it again? Probably, ... at least once more.

Social Media
I have enjoyed access to high-speed internet, allowing me to view online genealogy videos and LegacyFamilyTree allowed me to take part in two of DearMyrtle's live webinars on the beta release of the Google+ social media service. Now, if I can just figure out how to do a posting ... OK ... so I missed the first part of the first Google+ webinar ... :-) Maybe someone can explain the process to me. I am sure it is not too complex. I like the concept of Circles, where you can share certain things with only the members of that particular Circle. Facebook seems like a free-for all, but it may be a reflexion on my lack of familiarity with how to organize it. On Facebook I am constantly bombarded by game invitations and other things that I find annoying, but I love the access to the latest family news and photos. Maybe Google+ will offer the benefits of Facebook without its draw-backs.

FamilySearch Indexing
I got a lot more indexing done on the Irish Tithe Applotment Records from the 1830s. The records I indexed were all in the south: County Mayo mostly. Still, these records will be useful to other people researching their family roots in Ireland.

2011-07-17T09:33:00.000-06:00

Using Dropbox to Host a Personal Website
The quickest and easiest way I have found to put a family history database online is this:

Since I use the free Personal Ancestral File software, I ask PAF to generate a "webpage", then I move the website folder that PAF creates to my Dropbox's "Public" folder. I open the website folder and right-click on the index file, then from the Dropbox menu I copy the ULR. Dropbox automatically copies the website to their servers.

For example, here is a website that I created in about 10 miutes (I subsequently tweaked the index file to add a photo and change the layout sightly, but the original version generated by PAF was perfectly OK.)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20318248/bill1847/index.htm

This approach avoids the need to find a webhost, install and learn FTP software, and worry about rules that govern the size and number of files you can host, worry about the possible contents of advertizing banners, etc. My largest website is about 50MB, so a free 2GB Dropbox account might hold hundreds of large websites. I use PAF, but other genealogy software can usually generate websites too. These instructions would apply equally well to them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For information on using a free Dropbox account to automatically synch your genealogy data across multiple computers, see my other Dropbox article.

2011-06-28T11:02:00.000-06:00

Busy ... Busy ...
On one of the forums I belong to, I saw a posting about the free e-book Windows_7_The_Missing_Manual.pdf (downloadable from a variety of sites). So I downloaded it. It looks like this 849-page book is free for 45 days. So I am busily reading. So far I am on page 247, and I find it very useful. I was considering installing my old IBM ViaVoice dictation software, now I find that Windows7 already has dictation software built in. There are lots of other neat tricks and shortcuts.

Data Entry
It seems like irony, for such a slow and klutzy typist as me to be asked to manually enter two family history books into a genealogy database. I have completed the info on the smaller, first book, and I have started on the second book. The second book is in German, a language that I gained a brief acquaintence with in 1969, and where I have forgotten nearly everything I learned. Still, after a 2-hour session with a native speaker of German, I was up and running. ... well at least crawling! The vocabulary used is very minimal, which helps. I am currently on page 20 of 425. I am using the free Personal Ancestral File 5.2 software for the data entry. I have never found anything faster and easier.

I am enjoying our brief but beautiful summer!

2011-06-19T12:03:00.000-06:00

Bingo! on Indexing
Why do I do indexing of Ontario births, where I usually get credited with 12 records for batch, when I could be doing 1930 US censuses and get credited with 50 records per batch? (No money changes hands either way, just maybe bragging rights, although I have never heard anyone bragging about it!) Well back to the question ... because there is a million times better chance that I will index one of my relatives.

This morning I indexed two batches. The second one came up as Elma, Perth, Ontario. My family lived there until 1879, and left some relatives behind! Just maybe ....

Sure enough, there was the birth registration 029002 of William Thomas McCauley, a second cousin to my father! I already had the information, but what a thrill it was to see the image of the actual page, and to be part of making this image available to future generations!

It was even a thrill to see the signatures of the register, Thomas Fullerton, who registered the vital events of my family members in previous years. In 2002, I remember seeing his gravestone in the Trinity Cemetery near Donegal, where all of the gravestones were bulldozed into a big pile. (It was such a total contrast to the beautiful Donegal Cemetery just a couple of miles away.)

If you would like to do some indexing in your spare time, visit http://indexing.familysearch.org/ In an hour or less you do your part to make records available to family historians.

2011-06-19T10:48:00.001-06:00

Other Stories ... of Inez Buchanan
I exended an invitation to my siblings and other family members to take a few minutes to share their fondest memories of Dad, and in the case of the younger generation, any stories of him that they can remember hearing. The story by Gloria Burns was a delight to me when she told it to us. Another story from that time on Uncle Dick's farm concerns Dad's sister Inez. One of the Burns girls locked the outhouse door while Inez was inside, then ran around chanting "I locked Inee in the toto! I locked Inee in the toto! I locked Inee in the toto!" It was a long-remembered story of a prank by a small child. This one was remembered by Inez, passed along to her daughter Bev, who told it to me. Bev also told me about the concerns that Inez would be taken away and put up for adoption. Emily Burns also asked Bill to let her have Inez, so she could raise her with her three daughters. But Bill refused to allow his family to be broken up.

2011-06-19T10:16:00.000-06:00

Happy Fathers Day Dad!
Yesterday Judy and I attended the dance recital for five of our granddaughters. After the 6-hour event we met Laurel's family at the Spruce Grove McDonalds for a late supper. It was a long, fun-filled day.

I paused to reflect on my own father's life. He passed away on September 3, 1975 at age 69. During the intermissions at the dance recital, I started writing down some of my memories of my father. I continued after we got home.

George Buchanan was born near Neepawa, Manitoba in 1906. His father, Bill, was a blacksmith and owned his own business in the village of Riding Mountain, and later in the town of Neepawa. When Dad was young, his parents moved to Leslieville, Alberta, where he received much of his education. His family later moved to the city of Tacoma, Washington. Dad and his friends spent much of their spare time swimming in the bay. They all tanned, except for Dad. (Neither do I.) He also became an amazing swimmer. He could swim for miles.

Times were tough. He quit school after grade 6 to help support the family by cleaning streetcars. At some point he also worked in a box factory, making wooden boxes. When he was 17 his mother became sick and died. His father was left with four children, the youngest being 8 years old. Bill was under pressure to give her up for adoption. Instead he moved back to Canada, setting up a blacksmith shop in Millett, Alberta, where his brother-in-law Dick Watson had a farm.

Dad worked at various hard physical jobs, like building wooden bridges out of large timbers for the railroad. This may be where he developed a hernia that occasionally troubled him with dizzy spells for most of his life. He was not a large man, but was very strong. After he married my mother he became a farmer, and farmed without power equipment … just the muscle power of a team of horses and his own. In the winter he worked as a logger, cutting down trees with a bow saw, trimming off the branches with an axe, and skidding the trees to the picking up point with the help of his favorite horse, a black Morgan-cross named “Pet”. Later he worked as a pipe-fitter in the Camrose oilfield for three years. When the family moved to Edgewater, BC, he worked in the planing mill for about 10 years, and when the sawmill closed down he did maintenance for Kootenay National Park.

Dad was a hard worker and an honest man, and taught me to be the same. But there was much more to him than that. I remember watching him when I was a young child, as he give my little brother Lloyd “horsey rides” on the instep of his foot, while singing nonsense songs to him. He would tell us stories using made-up characters, like the Side-hill Gouger who always walked around the mountain in the same direction so one leg was longer than the other. And of a bird that always flew backwards to keep the dust out of its eyes. He loved the game of checkers, and I remember him making us a checker board from a sheet of cardboard and sawing wooden disks from a broken handle to make the game pieces. This was while we lived in the old log house west of Breton.

Over seventy years later, his cousin Gloria Burns Praill still remembered him telling ghost stories when she and her mother and sisters were staying at Dick Watson's place at Millet prior to their move to the USA in the 1920s. She said "I also remember the Buchanans visiting at Dick's place, particularly a Geordie who told us ghost stories around a campfire and scared us to death. He was GOOD!!!"

Dad regretted his lack of education. He had the mind of a good lawyer, but was trapped by a poor education. He was very intelligent and was an avid reader. In some areas of knowledge he probably achieved the equivalent of a university degree. His special interests were political science, economics, and the environment. He had a deep love and appreciation for nature. Nature provided the trees and the farm land and wild game he depended on to feed his family. He taught us to treat nature with respect. He recognized God as the creator of nature, but attended church only on special occasions, although he read the Bible and had a good basic knowledge of it.

To his very core, he deeply disbelieved in war. Maybe he sensed that WWII was a different kind of war, because he actually volunteered for it but was rejected because of his hernia.

Both my parents formed lasting friendships and had a strong sense of community. Dad was president of the Edgewater Senior Citizens’ Club prior to their move back to Alberta.

Physically, Dad stood 5’9” tall, with dark wavy hair, and never went bald. He had a black wolf’s head tattooed on his left forearm. The wolf had a red tongue. Dad had a very sharp mind, often perceiving the stories behind the news. After all, the official news is just one side of the story.

Like most farmers, he could build and repair almost anything. He and his brother Jack built Jack’s house in about 1944. In about 1951 he bought a town lot in Breton, bought a shack from the sawmill company, moved it onto the lot and created a house by building onto it. In Edgewater about 1956 he did the same thing. This time Reg, Lloyd and I were old enough to offer a little help. He did the carpentry, plumbing and electrical wiring himself. I learned much from him that helped me to build my own house. Perhaps the most important thing I learned was that it is possible to build your own house.

He was a good man, and a good husband and father. I am deeply grateful for the privilege of being his son.

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

Love,

Bill

2011-06-15T09:29:00.000-06:00

Computerizing Family HistoryA few days ago I had a phone call from a friend. A mutual friend of ours had two family history books that she wanted entered into the computer. Actually she wanted them put into http://www.new.familysearch.org/, which she and I both have access to. I agreed to help.

So far, in 3 days I have 215 records computerized. This is a somewhat pitiful rate, but I have spent time consulting the census and vital record sites to fill-in missing details. Tomorrow I may finish the first book. The second book is in German, and may be beyond my skills. I took a German course over 40 years ago, and not much of it remains. We shall see.

2011-06-15T09:11:00.000-06:00

Scanning Family Photos
Seeing a posting of someone planning to buy a scanner and visit their cousins brought back fond memories.

10 years ago, to begin my retirement, I bought a used laptop and a new Canoscan scanner, and set off visiting relatives from coast to coast to scan their photos and documents. This combination served me well.

The scanner software can make a big difference. I was able to scan multiple photos at once, and then separate them when I got home. This was perfect for me, as my Canoscan was a slow parallel port model. Some scanners want to preview and then crop each photo as it is scanned, and I did not have the time for that. I also have a Lexmark scanner that scans at a low resolution by default, and I have to remember to reset the scanning resolution before EACH individual scan. There seems to be no way to change that setting permanently. What a pain!

My scanning software doesn't automatically fix defects in the original photos, but does give me tools I can use manually to fix many of the defects. e.g. Most newspaper photos respond well to a De-screen filter or a Median 3 filter.

Originally, I put my old family photos on a CD and made copies for interested relatives. Now I find it simpler to upload the photos to Picasa.

I really have fond memories of many visits and many scanning sessions. I hope that my relatives have been as satisfied by my visits as I have been.

2011-06-07T10:11:00.000-06:00

More on the Buchanan Y-DNA Study
I am glad to report that I was able to help one of the genetic matches I contacted. He wrote, "My ancestor, William Buchanan came from Castlederg, Tyrone probable very soon after he married Matilda Carson in a church in Castlederg. He settled in Flesherton, Grey county in Ontario and all his 13 children were born in Canada."

"His father, Robert married Sarah Stewart. His father, Joseph married Nancy Carson"

From this information (confirmed by further information which he gave me later), he is a descendant of the Buchanans of Cooel (Coolavanagh), which connects to the ancestors of James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, through Thomas Buchanan of Ramelton, Donegal.

"John Buchanan married an Eleanor Moore in 1745 and had a family of 3 girls and 1 boy: Sally, Martha, Eleanor and Joseph. Joseph Buchanan married a Nancy Carson in 1795. To them were born: John, Mary, James, Eleanor, Robert, William and Matilda." quoted from "BUCHANAN FAMILY OF COOLAVANAGH (COOEL), DRUMQUIN", By David Keys, Glenarn, Lack in "DRUMQUIN 2007".

I was able to find the marriage of William Buchanan and Matilda Carson at http://familysearch.org/
Ireland Marriages, 1619-1898
Groom's Name: William Buchanan
Groom's Birth Date: 1825
Groom's Age: 22
Bride's Name: Matilda Carson
Bride's Birth Date: 1826
Bride's Age: 21
Marriage Date: 04 May 1847
Marriage Place: Civil Marriage Records, , Misc, Ireland
Groom's Father's Name: Robert Buchanan
Bride's Father's Name: Samuel Carson
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M70195-3
System Origin: Ireland-VR
Source Film Number: 101284
Reference Number: 2:1PCKB0N

And I found them in the free 1852 census of Canada West
http://automatedgenealogy.com/
16 Buchanan, William Farmer Ireland Wesleyan Methodist   26 M
17 Buchanan, Matilda   Ireland Wesleyan Methodist   26 F
18 Buchanan, Robert   Canada Wesleyan Methodist   4 M
19 Buchanan, William   Canada Wesleyan Methodist   3 M
20 Buchanan, Samuel   Canada Wesleyan Methodist   1 M

Hey, this is fun!

2011-06-02T08:02:00.000-06:00

Following Up on Buchanan Project on FamilyTreeDNA
My cousin Darlene, asked me to follow-up on some of the genetic matches. Yesterday I sent this email to the 19 closest matches:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am contacting you regarding a Y-DNA match at https://www.familytreedna.com/

My cousin's results said that we are of a “typical chiefly line of Clan Buchanan”. Since your results match ours, that should be true of your Buchanan line too.

The earliest record of my own Buchanan family is the christening of Robert Buchanan on 20 Apr 1815 in Derg Parish Church, Castlederg, Tyrone, Ireland. Robert was the son of Andrew Buchanan, and his wife Jane (whose last name may have been Long or Young, but probably McNeilands). In 1847, Andrew and Jane sailed to Canada with their 7 sons (Robert, Charles, James, William, Andrew, John, and Samuel) and their daughter Jane. Charles had married Ann Porter in Mar 1843 in Killeter Presbyterian Church, Termonamongan Parish, Tyrone, Ireland. William had married Ann Thompson on 24 Mar 1846 in Lower Longfield Parish, Tyrone, Ireland. Charles and William had baby daughters. The family may have been accompanied by other relatives. The father Andrew and William's baby daughter died of immigrant fever during quarantine in Kingston, Ontario. The rest of the family settled in uncharted wilderness that is now in Elma township, Perth county, Ontario.

Wayne Buchanan and Clifford Buchanan in the FamilyTreeDNA database are descendants of this Andrew and Jane Buchanan who lived in Learmore townland near Castlederg in the 1815-1824 time period and in Binnawooda townland near Drumquin in the 1840's. I believe that Andrew Buchanan of Cooel (adjacent to Collow) in the Tithe Applotment Survey in 1826 is the same Andrew, since he was not shown in Learmore.

There is speculation that they may have come to the Castlederg area from County Donegal.

Ernest Buchanan is a different case. I am contacting you at the request of my cousin who had Ernest's Y-DNA test done. There is no “paper trail” connecting Ernest to my family, but he comes from the right area and is a perfect match to my cousin Wayne Buchanan. William Thomas 'Ernest' Buchanan was born in 1931 6 mi/10 km south of Castlederg. His grandfather was John Buchanan of Kirlish townland. I think that John's father was William Buchanan of Kirlish, Longfield West parish, Tyrone, (the only Buchanan listed in Kirlish in Griffiths Valuation). And that is as far as we have gone on Ernest's line. Since “Lower Longfield” is synonymous with “Longfield West”, this is the same parish where my 2g-uncle William Buchanan married Ann Thompson, daughter of James Thompson of Collow townland. I believe that Ernest is closely related to my family.

There is also a Buchanan family from Cooel/Coolavanagh townland that is said to be related to the Buchanans of Kirlish. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to do a Y-DNA test on this other family.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now the questions of interest to me and my cousins ...

Were any of YOUR ancestors in the area of western Tyrone or adjacent areas of Ireland?
Can you trace them back to Scotland?
What information do you have on your Buchanan ancestry?
May I share what you send me with my cousins?
(I have used BCC: to hide your email address from other recipents of this email.)

I look forward to hearing from you.

--

Bill Buchanan
For the descendants of Andrew and Jane Buchanan of Castlederg, Ireland

2011-05-29T08:58:00.001-06:00

Slave Lake Residents Return
This week, electricity, water, sewer, and natural gas were restored to Slave Lake. Then, staffs of surviving businesses and services were encouraged to return and make things operational. Friday, residents whose homes are still standing were asked to return. There was a check-in system to guarantee an orderly return. Residents whose homes were lost in the fire were asked to not return, but to contact authorities and make them aware of their needs.

There is an article at about them disposing of refrigerators and freezers filled with decayed food:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/slave-lake-residents-can-return-home-friday/article2036455/

Ed and Evelyn sent us an email. They have been in touch with President Anderson. His home survived and he plans to hold a brief church service today for the church members who have returned.

Our thoughts and prayers are for them all.

2011-05-23T09:07:00.000-06:00

Slave Lake Fire Update
Some of the evacuated LDS families from Slave Lake are being billeted near our home. George Gwilliam is one of the most generous people I know. He has cabins and a lodge that he rents out for income. As soon as he heard about the plight of the evacuees, he offered to accommodate as many people as possible. I remember several years ago that he gave an automobile (that he could have sold for a few thousand dollars) to a needy family.

The evacuees attended church with us yesterday. President Gordon Oliver from Edmonton Riverbend presided at our sacrament service and invited President Anderson of the Slave Lake Branch to speak to us. To me, President Anderson's words painted a vivid picture of devastation, but gratitude that no one perished and of abiding faith. Some of the homes and the chapel may now be reduced to "piles of bricks and ashes", but the people of the church remain strong in the faith. After the meeting I introduced myself to him as Evelyn's father.

Evelyn's family arrived for a visit on Friday and will be leaving again today (Monday). They chose to attend their old ward in Edmonton, but after hearing about the Slave Lake people attending our ward, I think they wished they had attended our ward. Oh well. It is wonderful to see them. They stayed with us, and also visited Laurel's family and Andrew's family. In fact last evening Andrew's family and Evelyn's family were all here. It was beautiful! Andrew and I walked around our acreage reminiscing. The grandchildren played well together. Alannah wanted to play with our white Lego horse. Who knew that we even had a white Lego horse??? We found it, and she played with it. It made me wonder what things our grandchildren (and our children, for that matter) will remember of us. And how surprising it must be for our parents to see what things that we remember, and how we remember them.

2011-05-23T08:23:00.000-06:00

Early Memories and Poetry
One of my early memories is a discussion of poetry by my parents. As I remember it, the discussion took place in about 1950. We were living in the old log house on our farm about 6 miles west of Breton, Alberta. The discussion may have been sparked by something I was studying. Mom and Dad grew up in a different time period. It was a time of little 1-room schools scattered among the farms, and children usually walked to school. Dad had only 6 years of schooling and Mom had 9. Even in my generation that would be considered inadequate. But it was quite normal for their generation, where the local school only offered grades 1-6 or maybe 1-9. But these schools emphasized the importance of life-long learning. My parents were both highly-intelligent and were voracious readers, so that in many areas they were better educated than I was, despite my university degree.

What poem were they discussing? I remember two actually ... "The Inchcape Rock" and "Abou Ben Adhem". It is the latter that holds my attention right now, by the English poet, Leigh Hunt. (The actual spelling of the central character's name has two different forms. I will use the simpler form.)

Abu Ben Adam,may his tribe increase
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace
And saw, within the moonlight of his room
Making it rich, like a lily in bloom
An angel writing in a book of gold.

Exceeding peace had made Abu Ben Adam bold
And to the presence in his room he said
'What writest thou?'
The vision raised its head
And with a look of all sweet accord Answered:
'The names of those who love the Lord.

'And is mine one?' said Abu.
'Nay not so' Replied the Angel
Abu spoke more low
But cheerily still and said
'I pray thee then Write me as one that loves his fellow-men'

The angel wrote and vanished.
The next night it came again with awaking light
And showed the names of whom love of God had blessed.
And lo! Ben Adam's name led all the rest.

I think this poem carries a beautiful message. Dad in particular had a high regard for "the common man", his peer. Alexander Pope, in An Essay on Man wrote "An honest man is the noblest work of God." By this measure, all of us are of noble parentage, for we all have such people in our family tree!

2011-05-18T11:28:00.000-06:00

Fire Notes
There was a slight misunderstanding, Evelyn's family were not evacuated from Wabasca. Part of the Bigstone Cree Nation was evacuated, but not their part. Weather conditions have improved (and with the additional fire fighters and equipment) it looks like they are in no danger!

2011-05-16T13:54:00.001-06:00

Slave Lake Fire
There is nothing that restores one's sense of perspective more sharply than a disaster.

A town of about 8000 people has been nearly burned off the map by wild fires! By most published estimates 30%-40% of the town has been reduced to ashes. Fortunately, there have been no deaths or injuries reported.

My daughter's family live at Wabasca, north east of Slave Lake, where she teaches kindergarten for the Big Stone Cree nation. Part of the Big Stone Cree have already been evacuated, and I pray that Evelyn's family will be evacuated before they are in imminent danger. This is a heavily forested area with only two roads into it. I am very concerned for their safety.

At this point nothing else is as important.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/prairies/hundreds-of-buildings-burn-down-in-slave-lake-alta-forest-fires/article2022761/

http://www.canada.com/life/Slave+Lake+Alta+devastated+wildfire/4789892/story.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/05/16/slave-lake-fire-evacuation.html

http://twitpic.com/4yjozw

2011-05-10T12:53:00.000-06:00

Last week was Mom's 91st birthday followed by Mothers Day. I talked to her and arranged that we would visit on the Monday following Mothers Day. I created a collage of photographs for Judy and another for Mom. On Sunday night we went to James and Karin's home for dessert. Karin's parents and grandmother were there too and we had a very nice evening. James printed out the collages in color, as I only have black laser printers. I gave Judy her collage, and we took Mom's to her the next day.

We gave Mom a copy of the family DVD movie I had made as well as a copy of the DVD move version of James as the star of his Grade 8 play. I took Mom to her hearing aid appointment, and we visited with her and Aunt Vi. Later we went with them for snack time, visited some more, and went home. On the way home I stopped at the Stony Plain Coop, to buy a 6 foot step ladder that I needed to replace a defective smoke alarm. (It fit inside the car, with the driver's seat moved as far ahead as possible ... a trifle uncomfortable, but still very workable.)

2011-04-30T09:41:00.000-06:00

Spring Is Here
The snow is nearly all gone, and the snow flurries that were forecast never reached our area, so maybe the driveway will dry up!

Our well water is too high in minerals for white laundry. Yesterday I took the white laundry to the laundromat in Alberta Beach. The wife of the owner of the laundromat was showing another customer her wedding photos from five years ago, so I joined them. I never knew much of Colombia, and found the photos very interesting. They showed a land of mountains and sea coasts. I never knew that Bogota had a population of 10 million people! That is a huge city!

At home I raked the branches etc. from the near garden, to prepare it for tilling in a few days.

I hauled the trailer load of garbage to the dump. This trailer used to be a tent trailer before the mice ate holes all through the canvas, but it has been re-purposed as a dumpster on wheels. The plywood flaps that were once beds, provide a perfect covering, keeping the animals out of the garbage, and keeping the garbage from blowing out in transit. When I brought the trailer back, I was having problems backing it into the right spot, so I uncoupled it from the car and Judy and I pushed it back into place. The undercarriage of a defunct lawnmower had been converted to a trailer-hitch caddy for that purpose a few years ago. Living in the country, you learn to improvise.

Totem Lumber was advertising a concrete-block barbeque pit for $100. We burn our waste paper to reduce the amount we have to store. Our burning barrel, the latest in a long series going back over 30 years, was completely burned out and no longer safe. So we decided that the concrete-block barbeque pit might be a good long-term solution. I drove into Edmonton, bought the curved blocks and fire screen, and brought it home in the trunk of our Corolla. (Yes, the front wheels still touched the ground!) Then I discovered that the tire of the big wheelbarrow was flat. We used two older, smaller wheelbarrows to move the blocks from the car to the area by the far garden. ... 17, 18, 19, ...!!! Where were blocks 20 and 21? The receipt said 20 blocks, so I called Totem. Apparently there are supposed to be 20 blocks in the kit, leaving an opening at the bottom to light the fire. They will provide the missing 20th block and we can buy block 21, which will help us to guarantee that the fire will not escape.

So yesterday was a productive day, even if it was not quite perfect. Spring is here!

2011-04-24T10:33:00.000-06:00

Attention Canadians: Please Click "Yes"

The 2011 Canadian Census questionnaire to be filled out in May contains a question that permits you to be part of the history of Canada. If you check "yes" to this permission question, your descendants will be able to do family and genealogical research on you and your family in the future.

The amended Statistics Act permits the release of historical census records from 1911 to 2001 after 92 years. Equally important, beginning with the 2006 Census, Canadians will have the choice to decide if they want their census records released to the public after 92 years.
- Quoted from Dick Eastmanhttp://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2011/04/attention-canadians-please-click-yes.html

2011-04-24T09:16:00.000-06:00

Binnawooda Townland, Ireland - Easter of 1847
I was thinking of my Buchanan ancestors, and what they would have been doing in Ireland at Easter in 1847. My great grandfather John, as a teenager, was one of the younger family members. Charles and William, two of his older brothers were already married with small children.

The potato blight was devastating the country. In some areas of western Ireland, the populations of whole rural districts had already starved to death. Fortunately, in the western part of County Tyrone the situation had not reached that point yet ... But by this time, the decision would have already been made by the family to leave Ireland, and preparations would be well in hand. We know that the children attended Sunday School, so the family would probably have attended the Easter services in one of the closest churches, perhaps in Drumquin.

Their prayers at Easter of 1847 would have had a new dimension. Undoubtedly the Easter message of eternal life through Jesus Christ was on their minds, but their prayers were probably focused on more immediate concerns: seeking God's help with their escape from Ireland, and their survival on the ocean, and in the remote colony of Upper Canada. Travel by wooden sailing ships was dangerous. Some ships failed to survive the storms that made the North Atlantic infamous. They must have known of the risk of "immigrant fever" that killed many on shipboard. Yet, they were prepared to face these dangers and say farewell to friends and relatives, knowing that they would never see them again in this life.

It must have been a heart-rending time! But they had faith in the future, and that they were making the right choice. I am among the tens of thousands of their descendants who can be grateful for the decision that they made.

Happy Easter everyone!

2011-04-13T09:13:00.000-06:00

FAMILY HISTORY SURVEY RESULTS

I just received the results from an online family history survey done by blogger Myles Proudfoot of the blog http://familyhistory21ster.blogspot.com/ The survey is quite detailed, but if you are curious, the link below will open the results in MS Word format.

I found it interesting that it is a link to his Dropbox account, and I taught that use of Dropbox in my class just last Thursday.

I also noted that it disagrees with Kory Myerink's rating for the most frequently used genealogy websites, and is much closer to what I would expect.

Bill
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FAMILY HISTORY SURVEY April 2011

Methodology

The Family History Survey was fielded March 12 to April 5 2011. Respondents were self-selecting, linking to the survey from Twitter feeds, genealogy blogs posts, Facebook pages, LinkedIn and email forwards

1050 respondents were recorded (I was expecting about 200). 954 respondents completed the survey. Resulting in a 91% completion rate
A variety of genealogists responded to the survey from the inexperienced to highly proficient. I make no claim to be have a random representative sample. There is a respondent skew towards those more connected via social media.
Survey completion length was typically 15-20 minutes
Final survey wording can be found here http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10556467/Questionnaire%20Final.htm

2011-04-07T11:26:00.001-06:00

Last week I posted the Buchanan immigrant story on our family listserv.

Our Buchanan Immigrant Experience
St Patrick's day is not far past, and I was reflecting upon the experiences of our Irish ancestors.
Our Buchanans were Irish famine immigrants from Binnawooda townland in the western part of County Tyrone. Some thought they were leaving hardships behind, but Andrew Buchanan senior realized that there would be hardship ahead, and so appreciated the fact that his family were all grown to young manhood.
In 1847 Andrew and Jane Buchanan of County Tyrone Northern Ireland set sail for Canada in a wooden sailing ship.
There was the father Andrew, aged about 57 (all ages should be considered approximate)
The mother Jane aged 53
Robert 32
Charles 30
James 24
Andrew 21
John 18
Samuel 17
Jane 11
There were also Charles' wife Ann (Porter), aged 22 and daughter Mary aged 1.
Also William's wife Ann (Thompson), aged 23, and baby daughter.
Ann Thompson's older brothers Robert and William may have come on the ship with them. If so, both were married and Robert probably had 3 small children.

On the first try, the ship ran into a severe storm and nearly sank. It had to return for repairs.

On the second try, they reached the Canadian quarantine station on Grosse Ile with an epidemic of immigrant fever (typhus) on board. Grosse Ile was already full of sick people, so they were sent on to Kingston, where Andrew the father, and William's baby died. The wonderful people of Kingston risked their own lives to nurse the sick and dying Irish, as there was no cure for typhus!

Eventually the family was released from quarantine, penniless. All of their money had been spent for passage on the ship and for food during the month or so in quarantine. They went west to Esquesing to work in the harvest, to earn a little money. Then they travelled west to North Easthope, where the women stayed while the men cut a trail through the wilderness and claimed land about 30 km north of Stratford, Ontario. Early in the new year, the women joined them. The Buchanan settlement was later named Donegal, and in 1853 it became part of Elma township, Perth County, Ontario. William Buchanan's daughter Margaret, born in 1848, is said to be the first white child born in the area that became Elma Township.

A generation later, in 1879, most of our Buchanan family moved west as far as the railroad could take them (now St. Boniface, Manitoba), then by ferry and covered wagon. The things that could not fit into the wagons were sent up the river by riverboat. The town of Neepawa, Manitoba was later established near their farms, and became their main source of supplies. David James Watson, son Jane (Buchanan) Watson wrote an interesting account of this journey.

Bill
http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com/
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Today I received a query ...

Hi Bill:-

Did you have an early map of Ontario, just wondered where Esquesing and North Easthope is?

Ken

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I did a little research and sent this reply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Ken,

Esquesing township is in Halton County. Here is a map http://www.halinet.on.ca/sigs/ogshp/hes.htm
For another perspective try a search for Acton, Ontario, Canada at http://maps.google.com/ and zoom out.
It appears to be maybe 60 miles/100 km east of Donegal, "as the crow flies". Of course without a network of roads it may have been 3 times the distance back then.

North Easthope is about 15 miles/25 km southeast of Donegal. Search for North Easthope, Perth East, ON, Canada http://maps.google.com/
"Perth East was created in 1998 after the Ontario government imposed amalgamation on many local governments throughout the province. The village of Milverton was combined with the surrounding former townships of Ellice, Mornington, North Easthope and South Easthope."

I hope this helps.

Bill

2011-03-28T22:47:00.000-06:00

Monday is a "day off" for Me
This gives me a full day to spend on my various pursuits.

In the morning, my friend Bob Wolf and I helped another friend to fix up her horse barn, which had been damaged by the horses. This was cold work but only took about an hour and a half.

In the afternoon, I created gedcom genealogy files for uploading to GenesReunited.co.uk and to Wikitree. Let's see whether I get any real "Hot Matches" from GenesReunited, now that I have more ancestors in their "matching" database. I am trying Wikitree, it is free and allows gedcom uploads. I am considering using it to build a collaborative family tree.

I also offered help on the online forums that I monitor, and wrote my handouts for Thursday's class.

In the evening I watched Jeopardy and puttered around some more on the computer.

2011-03-28T22:26:00.000-06:00

Family Video
In 1994, my son James was in Grade 8 at school and starred in the school's drama production. This past week, my brother Lloyd was able to copy the VHS recording to a DVD. Friday night, Judy and I popped some popcorn and watched both sessions of the play. James did a wonderful job in his starring role. Now that we have it as a DVD and an MPEG2 recoding, it may last for generations ... you never know about that sort of thing.

2011-03-26T10:24:00.000-06:00

Revisiting Old Data
I came across this information in an old posting of mine to andrew-buchanan@yahoogroups.com
Date: 24 Feb 2006, 04:07:31 PM
Subject:  Early History of Elma Township [Perth County, Ontario, Canada - where my Buchanans settled in the autumn of 1847.
["The Elmanac" is a history of Elma Township]

I would like to call your attention to to the phrase "The names in this group include Joseph Caruth, James and Robert Buchanan, John Porter, David Glen, and Robert Thompson."

If two brothers of Ann Thompson Buchanan came to Canada with the family, William and Robert Thompson seem like the most probable candidates. [This was even prior to being aware of her father James Thompson's probate in Australia.]

The earliest (1861) census lists these Thompsons:
Thompson Henry (b. 1822 Ontario),
Thompson John (b. 1810 Ireland, child b. 1842 Ontario),
Thompston Robert (b. 1820 Ireland, child b. 1843 Ontario)
Thompson William (b. 1816 Ireland, child b. 1845 Ontario),
Thompston William (b. 1820 Ireland, child b. 1843 Ontario),
Thompson William (b. 1822 Ireland, child b. 1847, Ontario).
So of this group only the last William Thompson seems like a possible candidate, if the ages and birthplaces are accurate. [Since the others apparently arrived before 1847]

Thompson William L 33 C 12 Farmer Ireland Ang 38 Married Male 1822
Thompson Jane   " " 30 Married Female 1830 [This might be Jane Love, who married a William Thompson on 27 Jan 1847 in Urney Presbyterian Church, Urney Parish, Tyrone, Ireland]
Thompson Margaret   Ontario " 13 S F 1847
Thompson James   " " 11 S M 1849
Thompson Ann   " " 9 S F 1851
Thompson Jane   " " 7 S F 1853
Thompson John   " " 5 S M 1855
Thompson Joseph   " " 3 S M 1857
Thompson ?   " " ? S M
[The last number is a calculated year of birth, which I have added.]

Other accounts have a William Thompson leading the first group of settlers
to Elma, but which one of the three?

I wondered if John Porter was one of our group, since Charles Buchanan was
married to Ann Porter.

From the 1861 census, it looks possible.
Porter John L 35 C 11 Farmer Ireland Meth 32 Married Male 1828
Porter Ann   " " 31 Married Female 1829
Porter Robert   Ontario " 13 S M 1847
Porter Thomas   " " 11 S M 1849
Porter John   " " 9 S M 1851
Porter William   " " 7 S M 1853
Porter Mary Ann   " " 5 S F 1855
Porter Jacob   " " 3 S M 1857
Porter M. Jane   " " 1 S F 1859

I wondered if David Glenn might be related to Elizabeth Glenn, who married James Buchanan.
I see the same pattern of immigration here. [i.e. born in Ireland in 1810-1820 and has children born in Ontario in the late 1840s] But Elizabeth is too old to be the daughter of David's wife Mary. Maybe David is her brother or cousin.
Glenn David L 35 C 11 Farmer Ireland Pres 45 Married Male 1815
Glenn Mary   " " 33 Married Female 1827
Glenn M. Jane   Ontario " 13 S F 1847
Glenn Margaret   " " 11 S F 1849
Glenn James   " " 9 S M 1851
Glenn Matilda   " " 7 S F 1853
Glenn William   " " 5 S M 1855
Glenn Sarah   " " 1 S F 1859

Buchanan James L 25 C 12 Farmer Ireland Meth 36 Married Male 1824
Buchanan Elizabeth   " " 22 Married Female 1838
Glenn Catherine Servant Ontario " 15 S F 1845
Buchanan M. J.   " " 2 S F 1858
Buchanan Andrew   " " 1 S M 1859

There is also an Alexander Glen aged 40 and a Charles Glenn aged 27 in the 1851 census of Mornington, but no Elizabeth or Catherine. Elizabeth might belong to one of these families.

Bill
[The Elmanac, the History of Elma Township 1857 - 1997, pp. 4-5]

2011-03-23T09:42:00.000-06:00

Today is my 43rd wedding anniverary. It has been a wonderful 43 years, and I owe that to my wife Judy! Originally we planned to get married on the Easter long-weekend of 1968, but moved the date up to March 23rd.

An Adventure
On the date we originally planned, we returned to the place we were married to visit family members, and got stuck in a snow drift in the middle of the highway. We got a ride with a truck to Raymond. A relative brought me back to our car with his huge army-surplus 6-wheel drive truck and pulled me out of the snow bank. The engine compartment of the car was jammed full of snow and the engine wouldn't start, so I was towed to Raymond behind the truck on the end of a long chain swinging back and forth like a pendulum , but never quite going into either ditch. It was an adventure long-remembered!

If we had gone ahead with the original wedding date, it is probable that neither us nor our guests would have made it to the wedding!

2011-03-19T20:50:00.000-06:00

RootsTech Conference
Did you miss the RootsTech conference? RootsTech brought together the users and the developers of technology for genealogy. With over 3000 in attendance and and estimated 4500 attending sessions over the internet, it was a huge success.

Free videos of some of the best talks are now available online if you have high-speed internet access.
http://rootstech.familysearch.org/video.php

In addition, Lisa Louise Cooke of http://www.genealogygems.tv/ has some of her video interviews available for free at http://www.youtube.com/user/GenealogyGems?feature=mhum#p/c/3AED0ABDE99DAE2F

Enjoy!

2011-03-16T09:46:00.000-06:00

I just received this from the NEHGS.

"I wanted to take a moment to let you and your readers know that The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), the American Jewish Historical Society of New England (AJHSNE), and the Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts (JCAM) have made available for the first time online access to a growing database that currently includes 13 Massachusetts Jewish cemeteries, with approximately 5,000 records. More records are being added weekly until all 106 JCAM cemeteries, which include more than 100,000 total records, are online. ...

"For more information, visit the NEHGS website at http://www.americanancestors.org/ , the American Jewish Historical site at http://www.ajhsboston.org/ or visit the Jewish Cemeteries Association of Massachusetts at http://www.jcam.org/."

2011-03-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

It has been a good week.

My granddaughter asked for family history information for a Social Studies assignment, and later had a Facebook chat with me on the subject. I sent her a 4-generation pedogree chart.

Information our of the RootsTech conference was extremely positive. There was a lot of excitement over getting genealogists and technicians together to compare their wish lists!

I am trying Dropbox as a way of synchronizing data across 3 computers.

My presentation at the Edmonton Multi-Stake Family History Workshop was well received. The topic was "Are Family History Centers still needed?"

http://www.genealogyintime.com/ has completed their 3-part series "A Date Guide to English Genealogy". It is accessible for free and has very useful information for anyone doing research in England and Wales. i.e. dates when certain types of records came into existence, and what they contain

2011-03-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

Value of a Blog
My blog and my website bring me contacts from very distant relatives of me and my wife. Here is part of a recent one:

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Hello from Australia! My name is ..., I accidentally came across your family tree website while I was on Google looking for my great great great grandma, Gertrude Henery. Well, I think she's that, not sure I could have one too many 'great's' in her title, but I'm keen to find out. As Popeye would say, "Blow me down!", is what I was thinking when I was reading about all my grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins on your site. I was absolutely amazed!!! Where did you get such, in some cases, such detailed information? ...
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We started corresponding, and he sent me some old photos. (I love those!) It occurred to me to send them to two of our cousins in Australia. I received the following response.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Bill
[My wife] only came home from hospital last week after almost a month so is still not well enought to come down to the office to check emails etc. I told her about your email today and she is over the moon as she had never seen a photo of her great grandmother even though her great grandfather lived with her family when she was a tot. When she is well enough she will get back to you.
Cheers
...
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This exchange (which has involved 11 messages so far), has allowed me to bring joy to two of my cousins who didn't know each other. I gave the first cousin two more generations of his ancestry, and gave the second cousin a photo of her great grandmother whom she had never seen.

Who says genealogy isn't fun?!!!

http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com/

2011-03-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

VHS to DVD
Back in 2002 Judy and I took a vacation trip that we had dreamed of doing for years. Why not? I was now retired, we had a new car, and we both foresaw health issues that were not yet serious. And our son Andrew was willing to come along and help with the driving.

We drove from Alberta to Neepawa, Manitoba, where my great grandparents had settled in 1879, and spent a few days visiting relatives and visiting places of interest in our family history. My cousin Darlene offered to let us stay at her house and to help us in our quest while in Manitoba. Then on to Donegal, Ontario, where our family settled in 1847. We were able to attend the big 80th birthday party of a cousin and meet many of the relatives. We also scanned old photos to add to my growing collection.

Cemetery in Donegal, Ontario

Then we visited Niagara Falls, crossed into New York, attended the Hill Cumorah Pageant at Palmyra, and followed the Mormon Trail west to Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska. Then we drove home by way of Raymond, Alberta, where we visited Judy's aunt, Sally Hippard. We had borrowed Laurel's camcorder, so we had recorded some videos of the trip, which I copied to VHS tape for our use. Nine years passed.

I knew that my brother, Lloyd had the necessary equipment to copy VHS tapes to DVD. I was anxious to not lose the recordings from this trip, and I asked if he would help me. I think it was a bigger job than I expected, but he did it. I now have our trip recorded on DVD and as an MPEG2 file for posterity.

Thanks Lloyd! It is much appreciated.

2011-02-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

A Date Guide to English Genealogy
GenealogyInTime Newsletter
26 February 2011

This article has a wealth of information on record types used in England, Wales (and in some cases Ireland), as well as the time periods when they were used. It goes far beyond the usual census, birth/christening, marriage, and death records! I learned a lot of new info ... now if I can just remember it!

This is the first part of a multipart article.

http://www.genealogyintime.com/GenealogyResources/Articles/a_date_guide_to_English_genealogy_part1_page01.html?awt_l=KMu5_&awt_m=1h2aGnmGhQk.Vy

(short form http://tinyurl.com/4f73eh8)

2011-02-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

New Zealand Earthquake
We were worried when we heard that Christchurch, New Zealand had been hit by another earthquake, because we have friends living there. So we send off a brief, anxious message and received this reply.
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Hello Bill & Judy

We just cannot explain how we felt when we got the power back on and looked at the e mails we had received have sent. We were really overcome. He phone lines for us here were kept for emergency phones calls out only. It really is a great comfort, knowing that you are there.

Well we are all fine bodily but mentally exhausted, just when we thought things were beginning to settle down. We would have the odd little tremor and thought nothing could ever be as bad as the September quake. Wow what a big mistake that was.

Dawn and I were shopping and jars of glass beads etc were just hurtling through the air. The walls of the shop went one way and the floor went another and up and down. When everything had stopped we managed to drive home. Just about to turn in the drive and wham bang another aftershock. Our car was rocking and rolling as we turned in, only to see Alan’s car really swaying from side to side almost going over.

Our house is fine and only a few things thrown about.

The road in which Dawn lives is terrible with holes in the road and liquefaction everywhere. Liquefaction is water forcing the silt and sand upthrough the ground. It is horrible. One car was stuck in it,at the bottom of their drive they have a gaping hole. Another old friend (90 years old) had this horrible stuff nearly up to his windowsills.

Dawn’s house is a mess, bigger cracks everywhere (bit still liveable at this stage). Ken and Alan are going to take the chimney down before it falls down and damages the roof. The drawers in their units were actually thrown across the room and the units moved at least a foot from the wall. Everything in the kitchen and the laundry landed on the floor. Fortunately not too many breakages.

This folks we can live with, we have our lives and our homes. We are together and know where we all are at each time. Unlike a lot of people at the moment.

Our friend’s son in law was in town having coffee with him mum. They were sitting near the door of the café when it hit. They went to get out but his mum tripped and the people behind just pushed her down and walked over her. He managed to pull her out. They got back to where they had parked the cars only to find his car completely flattened and hers very damaged. Today there was a white tick [checkmark] on his car showing that no one was trapped in it.

The last quake was 7.1 but this one was less but not as deep, not as far away and more tonnage and of course more damage. There were at least 10 after shocks last night some as 5.7 and not very deep. I am to quote technical terms – totally knackered. But on saying that we are still alive.

We have just been watching the news that you all would have seen yesterday. It is bad. The PGG building that has been on the news is a relatively new – about five years at the most. The CTV building where the people are buried is where Dawn used to work. She was on the 5th floor.

At this stage in time we still do not have water, well our area hasn’t. So we have been to a friend who still has the water on but it needs boiling. To “flush” the loo Alan takes a bucket with rope attached and lowers it into the creek just over our fence. Brings the water back and flushes the loo. We are not really supposed to do that because many of the sewerage places are knocked out.

Well at this stage, I know that this e mail is a bit topsy turvy, but we would like to say Thank you so much, your thoughts, words and your prayers have been gratefully received.

Lots of love
...
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There are other people in New Zealand, Libya, and other places that need our prayers.

2011-02-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a fun week!

Lost Great Aunt, Now Found
While I was checking birth records on http://familysearch.org/ for Judy's Davidson family in the Liverpool-Everton area of Lancashire, I discovered a great aunt Margaret Davidson, christened 1 Jul 1888 in All Saints Church, Liverpool, Lancashire, England. This was an unexpected bonus! I was just trying to find exact dates rather than approximations. I never expected to find a missing child. Margaret probably died very young, as Judy's father never mentioned her. (I have also had fun filling in some gaps in the Ralph Davidson - Margaret Ellen Pickavance family, as well as Margaret Ellen's parents' family.) This family has a special place in my heart, as Ralph's daughter Mary Elizabeth Davidson Towns was "Aunt Mary" to Judy.

Websites Old and NewMy friend Octave asked me to change the rates posted for his hay hauling business http://balesrus.co.cc/, which I did. But it also caused me to reexamine the free websites I created for the Ukrainian Genealogical and Historical Society and for Alberta GenWebs. These were sitting on http://tripod.com/ and I was unable to update them. I could sign in, but their server would refuse my FTP connection. I changed my password and tried again. No luck! The changed password was accepted, but the FTP connection was refused. I finally gave up and looked for a new free webhost. I found one, and it looks to be working well. UGHS is at http://genhelp.atspace.com/ and my Alberta county GenWeb sites are at http://gen-web.atspace.com/ It is nice to be able to update the sites again!

Dead-end Trees
At the Family History Center, I tried to help someone who had built her family tree online, and then discovered there was no way to move it or download it. She would have to rebuild it each time she wanted to move it. Please save yourself time and effort by making sure that any website where you build a family tree will also allow you to download it (usually as a gedcom file, readable by all genealogy software). The best of these sites also allow you to upload an entire tree in the form of a gedcom file from your software. So building a tree on these sites takes a few minutes and not many hours if you keep your data in one of the good free genealogy programs. AncestralQuest, RootsMagic, PAF, and Legacy all have excellent free software that can import and export gedcom files, as well as adding, editing, and deleting records. To find them try a Google search for: download +(name of the software)

RootsTech 2011
Everything I have seen indicates that this conference was a smashing success. With over 3000 registered participants, plus hundreds more who visited the free displays of genealogy and technology, this conference was apparently the largest held in North America. Those who attended raved about it. It was a feast for techno-geeks as well as the white-haired set. I would love to have been there! (I sort of fall into both categories.)

What will the next week bring? I guess I will have to wait and see.

2011-02-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

50 Most Popular Genealogy Websites for 2011
Have you checked out the most popular genealogy websites?
Some of these I use regularly. Many others I do not. Some don't seem that interesting to me (e.g. directories of websites), but I will be checking out some of them. Pay sites are clearly indicated, which makes it easy to avoid them if you want.
The ranking was compiled by Kory Meyerink of ProGenealogists. (Kory used to do a podcast that really enjoyed.) I have to wonder how some sites that provide very little data or just one kind of data (e.g. http://www.findagrave.com/ ) rate so highly, while others such as http://http//www.freebmd.org.uk/ didn't make the list.

Check the list yourself at:
http://www.progenealogists.com/top50genealogy2011.htm

What do you think?

2011-02-11T09:36:00.004-07:00

Free and Easy Research in England
In family history research, there is always an element of luck. No matter how good your skills are, the records you are looking for may not exist, or may be camouflaged to the point that they are unrecognizable. Still, if you know where to look and how to look, you can make wonderful progress very quickly. I would like to share an example from yesterday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday morning I had an email from someone in South Africa, interested in researching his ancestors in England. I was intrigued by the fact that he was researching an Ing family, one of my own main lines.
"Henry Ing was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, on 20th March 1901, at the Sands, Swindon, U.D. (not sure what the UD means) Henry’s father was Edwin Ing, and his mother’s name was Clara Annie Knight Ing, formerly Chapman."

I found only one possible family in the free 1881 census of England and Wales at FamilySearch.org

1881 British Census
Name Relation Marital Status Gender Age Birthplace Occupation
Edwin R. ING Head M Male 50 Aylesbury, Wiltshire, England Chemist & Druggist
Adelaide ING Wife M Female 50 Chiseldon, Wiltshire, England
Adelaide ING Daur U Female 23 Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Elizabeth ING Daur U Female 21 Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Edwin ING Son U Male 16 Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Margarett ING Daur U Female 14 Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Fredrick ING Son U Male 10 Swindon, Wiltshire, England
William ING Son U Male 7 Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Mary GREENWOOD Serv U Female 20 Brinkworth, Wiltshire, England Servant Domestic
Elizabeth ROGERS Serv U Female 18 Cricklade, Wiltshire, England Servant Domestic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source Information: Dwelling Walton House Bath Road
Census Place Swindon, Wiltshire, England Family History Library Film 1341487
Public Records Office Reference RG11 Piece / Folio 2018 / 8 Page Number 10
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/frameset_search.asp

If so, here are his parents and siblings. Older siblings might already be married by this time, so the 1871 census would be an excellent source.

I told him "If you have access to a Family History Centre, you can access this and other England censuses for free, and should be able to easily find the previous generation." [There are FHCs in South Africa.]

Here is the marriage of Edwin R. Ing and Adelaide Baden registered in Highworth, Wiltshire at http://www.freebmd.org.uk
Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Sep 1855
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BADEN ADELAIDE Highworth 5a 5
ING Edwin Robert Highworth 5a 5

Further searches in FreeBMD brought up a list of Ing children, whose births were registered in Highworth.

On the free Familysearch.org site, here is Adelaide's birth, complete with her parents' names:
England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
Name: Adelaide Baden
Gender: Female
Baptism/Christening Date: 31 Dec 1830
Baptism/Christening Place: Chisledon, Wiltshire, England
Birth Date: 09 Jul 1830
Birthplace: Chisledon, Wiltshire, England
Father's Name: Andrew Baden
Mother's Name: Jane
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C02267-7
System Origin: England-EASy
Source Film Number: 1279399

And her parent's marriage:
England Marriages, 1538–1973
Groom's Name: Andrew Baden
Bride's Name: Jane Chowlls
Marriage Date: 1816
Marriage Place: Chisledon, Wiltshire, England
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M15497-1
System Origin: England-VR
Source Film Number: 1279399
Reference Number: 2:TV0C7C

This tree on FamilySearch shows Andrew Baden's parents:
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
Husband's Name
William BADEN Born: Abt. 1767 Place:
Married: 4 Nov 1792 Place: Chisledon, Wiltshire, England
Wife's Name
Mary FENNELL Born: Abt. 1771 Place:

So in about 2 hours I was able to go back from 1901 to about 1767 on one branch of his ancestors, using basically two free sources: http://www.familysearch.org/ and http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ With access to the additional censuses and records at a Family History Center, much additional research would be possible for free.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night at the Family History Center, I helped someone doing research in Canada. She was building a family tree on http://www.ancestry.ca/ but we could find no way to download the information she submitted there. She also subscribes to http://www.new.familysearch.org/ where we were able to connect her to a family tree contributed by her mother and her brother going back several generations. On http://www.findmypast.co.uk/ we found her grandmother's immigration to Canada in 1949, which she found especially thrilling. "Hey, I know these people!!!" We also found the marriage of the grandmother's parents in http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The FHC's new inkjet printer/scanner combo is out of ink again. Yesterday afternoon I was successful in giving network access to the old HP LJ1100 that is connected to the admin computer, and making it the default printer for the 5 patron-use computers.

In the evening I installed a new color cartridge in the inkjet so it is up and running, but it is ruinously expensive to operate as the default printer. And nearly all printing in the FHC works better in black and white anyway!

2011-02-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

Thompsons of Collow (continued)
We have established that two of the brothers of my 2G-aunt Ann Thompson Buchanan came to America, Robert and William. In the 1960s, a leading Buchanan family historian, Annie Brae Buchanan McMane, was planning to go to Michigan to meet some of her Thompson cousins in Michigan and find out more family history. I don't know whether she went or what she found out. Who are these Thompsons in Michigan? An obituary sent to me by Helene Herd, may lead to an answer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obituary sent to me by Helene Herd, hoping that this is the right family.
JENisirish added this to Nancy Stewart on 3 May 2010.

"Mrs. Nancy Thompson died at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. John Caldwell, Wednesday fornoon, July 29th, 1896 in the 77th year of her age. She was born in the County of Tyrone, Ireland in the year 1819, her maiden name being Stewart. At the age of 16 she united with the Presbyterian church and held with that faith. In the year 1841 she was married to Robert Thompson, and one year later immigrated with her husband to America, landing in Quebec and resided in Canada until 1865, when they removed to Michigan, settling on a farm in North Branch township, where she has since resided. She was preceded to the silent shore by two little daughters who died many years ago, and her husband, who died June 27th, 1893. She was an ideal mother, self sacrificing and devoted to her home. She lived for her family and was ever ready and willing to give her assistance in times of sickness or need, near and far. There being no church in her denomination in this locality, on July 5th 1879, she united with the Free Will Baptist church and lived a consistant life, adorning her profession. She leaves ten children to mourn: James, John, Robert, William, Alexander, Jared, Mrs. John Dennis and Mrs. john Caldwell, of North Branch; Mrs. William Baldwin of Goodland, and David of Schuyler county New York. Her funeral was held from St Johns Church on Friday July 31st, at 2 PM and was largely attended. The services were conducted by Rev. Rosenburger, of Danville, assisted by Rev. A. Smith of North Branch, and her remains were then laid to rest in St johns Cemetery. ___ Six eldest sons, who acted as pall bearers..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Born in County Tyrone in 1819, and married to a Robert Thompson in 1841 seems good. Settled in Canada is also a match. However the Buchanan group came to Canada in 1847 not 1842, so they could not have traveled in the same group. The Buchanan group stopped at Esquesing for a short time before proceeding to North Easthope where they stayed with Irish friends. Possibly Robert and Nancy were among these earlier arrivals.

Among other places, my research led me to Google Books http://books.google.ca/books, where I found the following in "History of Lapeer County"
"Robert Thompson was born in County Tyrone, Ireland in 1819. Settled in 1842, and in North Branch, Lapeer, Michigan in 1865. Now lives on Section 10. He was married in 1841 to Nancy Stewart, who was born in 1819. Twelve children: Isabella who died in 1845, James, John, Robert, William, Margaret, Jane who died in Canada, Alexander, Jared, Mary, Ann, Jane, David."

OK, this is useful information, confirming what is said in his wife's obituary. Born in 1819 seems a little late for my Robert, who is shown as born about 1811. Still, it allowed me to find Robert and Nancy in the free 1880 US census:
1880 United States Census
Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace
Robert THOMPSON   Self   M   Male   W   60   IRE   Farmer   IRE   IRE
Nancy THOMPSON   Wife   M   Female   W   60   IRE   Keeping House   IRE   IRE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source Information: Census Place North Branch, Lapeer, Michigan
Family History Library Film   1254589   NA Film Number   T9-0589   Page Number   393D

[and the sons Alex, Jared, David and daughter Jane ]
1880 United States Census
Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace
Alexander THOMPSON   Self   S   Male   W   24   CAN   Farmer   IRE   IRE
Jerone THOMPSON   Brother   S   Male   W   24   CAN   Farmer   IRE   IRE
David THOMPSON   Brother   S   Male   W   17   CAN   Farmer   IRE   IRE
Jane THOMPSON   Sister   S   Female   W   19   CAN   Keeping House   IRE   IRE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source Information: Census Place North Branch, Lapeer, Michigan
Family History Library Film   1254589   NA Film Number   T9-0589   Page Number   392B

I also found their son Robert's family nearby, but more interesting is a brief bio for this son.

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mi/county/lapeer/bios/n-z.html
ROBERT THOMPSON born 13 Aug 1848 Perth Co. Ont, at age 17 [came] to North Branch Twp. Married Asubeth McArthur. they had at least two daughters and a son. Lapeer Co. Birth records
Interesting!!! This establishes that Robert's parents, Robert Thompson and Nancy Stewart Thompson were living in Perth County, Ontario in 1848. I spent a few hours on http://www.familysearch.org/ doing a search for all Historical Records for people named Thompson in North Branch, Lapeer, Michigan, USA. What a wealth of information on the generations of this family!!!

I cannot find this family in the 1852 census of Canada West. Perth County was not organized until 1850, and some parts of the county were still not organized into townships, but it should be in this census. North Easthope is in Perth County.

So, is this my missing Thompson family in Michigan? I can't be sure, but I consider it highly probable.

2011-02-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

The following email message came from a cousin I had never met. I have edited it to delete some personal information. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Bill,

My name is Pauline ..., I am the daughter of George Samuel Evans and Vera Mitchell Evans. My father was the son of Charlotte Wright Evans and my father's sister and my aunt was Jessie Evans Anderson, who after receiving your Ing Family History wrote one of the Evans Family History.

My husband and I were watching television the other day and Alberta, Canada was being featured. I said to him I have relatives in Alberta. Well today, Boxing Day, we are snowed in which is very unusual for ... North Carolina, so I dug out the two histories and started to read them again. My sister ... is also living in North Carolina. My father died in May 24th, 2002 from Prostate Cancer and my mother died on January 26th, 2009 just short of her 101 birthday, ...

I hope this finds you in good health and that you have had a good Christmas. I would love to hear from you.

If you would like dates etc, please let me know this was only meant to be a brief update and I would be happy to supply anything more. ...

Sincerely

Pauline
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This message led to an interesting interchange of email between Eileen, her sister, two cousins in England, my cousin Diane, my brother Lloyd, and myself. I sent them about 100 photos, some with Eileen's mother as a small child. These were photos given to me by my mother, sent to her (or her mother) by relatives in England. It was a delight to be able to share them with people who wanted them! Lloyd was able to help identify some of the people in the photographs and the circumstances. I also sent PDF copies of a descendancy chart and a modified register (narrative) report, which they can use to figure out who is who.

Some people worry obsessively about privacy, and want none of their information on the internet. That is an impossible goal, and not always desirable. I prefer my email address to be easily findable on the internet so that other researchers (and distant cousins) can contact me easily. But I hope you will not find my residential address, social insurance number, date and place of birth, or other information that would allow identity theft. I think we can be careful without being paranoid. There is an article on this subject on my home page, if you would like to know more.

2011-01-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

Some Useful Resources for Irish Research

Tithe Applotment List http://cotyroneireland.com/tithe/longfieldwest.html

1901 and 1911 Censuses of Ireland http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

Griffiths Valuation of Ireland (1850s roughly) http://www.failteromhat.com/griffiths/tyrone/longfieldwest.php

Griffiths Valuation of Ireland (more info) http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

Emerald Ancestors (commerical but free search) http://www.emeraldancestors.com/search/

Flax Growers of Ireland, 1796 http://www.failteromhat.com/flax/tyrone.php

Ulster Covenant of 1912 http://applications.proni.gov.uk/UlsterCovenant/Search.aspx

Irish Pension Records http://www.pensear.org/
Pensear is a commercial site, but the information can be surprising. We know that the Irish censuses for 1841-1891 were destroyed, but sometimes they are quoted as evidence in the pension applications. e.g. 1851 Willm. THOMPSON 50 head married 1825, Jane 40 wife, Robert 20 son, Andr.18 son, Caty 16 daur, Willm.14 son, Alix.7 son, Jane 5 daur, Ann 24 daur, absent.

2011-01-17T11:30:00.001-07:00

The Thompsons of Collow, County Tyrone, Ireland
Like most people with genealogy on the internet, I receive a number of email messages. Some people provide updates or corrections to their family information. Others are seeking further information on people in my database. Some are responding to my blog. Most of these messages just require a few minutes of research and a simple reply. Others evolve into major projects.

The Thompsons of Collow project involved 8 researchers on three continents and dozens of documents. Firstly, who are the Thompsons of Collow? They are the Thompson family that lived in Collow Townland, Longfield West Parish, Tyrone, Ireland. Collow measures about one mile by a half mile and is not good farm land, but typicaly supported 4 to 8 families. See the Parish map at:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tyrone/parishes/tl/longfield-west_tl.html

At the time of Griffiths Valuation of Ireland (1850s), Collow had the following homes:
John JOHNSTON
Unoccupied (house)
Joseph ACHESON
Alexander ACHESON
Bernard M'AREE
William THOMPSON
Thomas THOMPSON
Robert THOMPSON
Andrew THOMPSON

William Thompson was the person who sparked the project. William's descendant Tim Spencer contacted me about the family. (See Tim's family website: http://www.ttspencer.ca/)
I felt that others had more information than I did, so I contacted six other researchers who had been in touch with me regarding the family.

Most of the researchers connected to the Thompsons of Collow through William Thompson. One descended from Catherine, and three of us connected through Ann Thompson, who married my 2g-uncle William Buchanan on 24 Mar 1846 at Lower Longfield Parish, Tyrone, Ireland. William and Ann came to Canada in 1847 with William's parents and siblings. (Family lore says that one or two of Ann's brothers came to Canada too, but failed to give their names.)

Ann's marriage certifcate identifies her father as James Thompson of Collow. Her death certificate gives her mother's maiden name also:
Death 024848-1911
Ann Buchanan, Nov 6, 1911, age 87y 4m 28d
Born June 9, 1824; of lot 33, con 9, Elma township; d/o James Thompson and Jane Long, both of Ireland.
Ill four days - died of old age; heart failure.

It was a surprise to learn that Ann's parents and most siblings immigrated to Australia.
http://proarchives.imagineering.com.au/index_search_results.asp
Index to Assisted British Immigration 1839-1871
This is an index to Registers of Assisted British Immigrants 1839-1871
Family Name Given Name Age Month Year Ship Book Page
[Sorted by age]
Family Name Given Name Age Month Year Ship Book Page
THOMPSON JAMES 53 APR 1855 EPSOM 12 76
THOMPSON JANE 51 APR 1855 EPSOM 12 76THOMPSON JAMES 25 APR 1855 EPSOM 12 82
THOMPSON JOHN 23 APR 1855 EPSOM 12 82
THOMPSON GERRARD 20 APR 1855 EPSOM 12 82
THOMPSON MARGT 18 APR 1855 EPSOM 12 81
THOMPSON ALEXR 14 APR 1855 EPSOM 12 82
THOMPSON JANE 12 APR 1855 EPSOM 12 76
THOMPSON CATHERINE 10 APR 1855 EPSOM 12 76

Why would they have gone to Australia, when some family members already lived in Canada? The answer is probably that as assisted immigrants, the passage to Australia was free. And Australia gets a lot less frost and snow.

In Australia were found the death certificates of both her parents:
Deaths in the District of Duck Ponds in the Colony of Victoria Regitered by James Blair
Died: 13th October 1871, Shire of Corie, County of Grant, Parish of Moranghurk, Duck Ponds
Name and Profession: James Thompson, Coster; Sex and Age: Male, 86 years;
Circumstances: old age and general debility, 2 weeks, last seen by: Dr. John Day, 8th October 1871
Parents: Robert Thompson, tanner; Margaret Thompson M.N. Thompson
Informant: William M Clellan[?], son-in-law, Duck Ponds
Registration: James Blair, 15th October 1871, Duck Ponds
Burial: 16th October 1871, Geelong [?] Cemetery
Minister: Revd George Goodman, Church of England Clergyman; David McKay, James Alain, John Currie, witnesses
Born: Parish of Longfield, County Tyrone, Ireland; Resided in Victoria 16 years
Married: Longfield, County Tyrone, Ireland at age 22 years to Jane Thompson, M.N. Long
Children: Robert 60, William 57, Ann 50, John deceased, James 40, John 38, Gerrard 35, Margaret [illegible], Alexander [illegible], Jane 28, Catherine 26.

Deaths in the District of Geelong in the Colony of Victoria Registered by James Quillan[?]
Died: First May 1858, Bream Creek, Duneed
Name and Profession: Jane Thompson, m. name Long; Sex and Age: Female, 60 years;
Circumstances: Phthisis
Parents: Robert Long; Catherine Thompson m. name Sproul
Informant: John Thompson, son, Bream Creek
Registration: James Quillan[?], Third May 1858, Geelong
Burial: 3 May 1858, Geelong Cemetery; Wm Creig[?], undertaker
Minister:
Born: Cty Tyrone, Ireland; Resided in Victoria 3 years
Married: Longfield, Tyrone, Ireland at about 20 years to James Thompson, Farmer
Children: Robert, William, Ann, John, James, John, Jared, Margaret, Alexander, Jane, Catherine
Notice that they even give Ann's grandparents names!!! How lucky can you get?!!

And the probate of James' estate gives further information:
4. That the said deceased left him surviving five sons and four daughters all above the age of twenty one years namely Robert and William and Ann at present residing in America, John at present in New Zealand, Alexander at present in Queensland, Margaret now the wife of William McClelland of Lara, Jane now the wife of Gabriel Hunter of Ballarat, Catherine now the wife of George B Hogg of Ballarat in the said colony and me this deponent who are his only surviving next of kin entitled by law to share in his property.

So which of Ann's brothers came to America (Canada)? Robert and William! William is probably the same William Thompson recorded as the very first settler in the area that later became Elma township, Perth County, Ontario, Canada. The Buchanans followed shortly afterwards.

The research turned up a lot of additional information on the other William's family. From the evidence, there were two different William Thompsons of Collow, probably first cousins.

I will list some of the resources we used in a separate posting. This one is already longer than I intended.

2011-01-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

Cousins-in-Law
In an anthropology class long ago, the teacher told us that the aboriginal people of Australia were apalled by the ignorance of the English, when it came to names of family relationships. Dozens of relationships that had specific names in their own language were rendered into English as "cousin". As genealogists we are often more specific. I can say "Gordon is my third cousin, once removed.", but that doesn't say which family line we have in common. So I might say, "Gordon is my third cousin, once removed on my Buchanan line."

I recently found out that Gordon's wife is the first cousin of my friend Fran. If I describe my family connection to Fran as a "cousin-in-law", I think most people would get the general idea. (i.e. There is no blood relationship between Fran and me, but we are connected through the marriage of our cousins.)

In the same way, the mother of my friend Donna is the sister to my uncle Charlie's wife. There is no blood relationship between Donna and me, although we share an uncle and aunt.

Wikipedia says that Gordon's wife is my cousin-in-law, but Fran is not, nor is Donna. Hmm ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin#Cousin-in-law

Maybe the lengthy explanations are best after all.

2011-01-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

[From an email I sent to "Irish Roots" podcaster Michael O'Laughlin mike@irishroots.com]

My Buchanans
I have a website on my Buchanan family that contains genealogy, old stories, some photos, and free e-books about the family.
In 1847 during the peak of the great famine, Andrew and Jane Buchanan and their 8 (mostly grown) children left Binnawooda townland in Tyrone for Canada. The ship nearly sank in a storm and had to return for repairs. On the second attempt, they reached Canada but like so many ships, a plague of "immigrant fever" had broken out onboard. The official quarantine station on Grosse Isle, Quebec was already overwhelmed, so they were quarantined onboard for 3 weeks at Kingston, Ontario, where Andrew and an infant granddaughter died. The family settled in the unsurveyed wilderness that later became Elma Township, Perth County, Ontario, where it grew and prospered. From there it spread out to Manitoba and Washington State, and far beyond.

A YDNA study found that we were of "a typical chiefly line of Clan Buchanan". These chiefs traced their ancestry back to Annselan O’ Cahan son of King Dermond O' Cahan, who reigned in Ulster province, and was a descendant of the ancient kings of Ireland. (The O'Cahans ruled the kingdom of Coleraine, now in County Derry.) Anselan landed in Argyll, Scotland in 1016 with some followers and helped Scottish King Malcolm II to repel Danish invaders, and was granted the Buchanan lands in Lennox, from which his descendants took their name.
So my Buchanans were of ancient Irish descent as well as more modern Irish descent.

I love the family stories and old photos.
--
Bill Buchanan
website: http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com/
blog: http://billbuchanan.blogspot.com/

2011-01-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

PROBATE OF JAMES THOMPSON
The following document sent to the 'Thompsons of Collow' group by Jenny Salmon answers the old question "Which brothers of Ann Thompson Buchanan came to Canada?"

Various people had suggested that one or two of Ann Thompson's brothers had come to Canada from Ireland, possibly on the same boat with the Buchanans in 1847. No one has given their names.

Annie Bray Buchanan McMane in the 1960s mentioned that she had been invited by the Thompson cousins [who would be second cousins to her] in Michigan to come for a visit, and that she hoped to find answers to some family history questions. She never told me whether she had made the visits or whether she had found out anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IN THE SUPREME COURT
OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA,
IN ITS PROBATE JURISDICTION

In the estate of James Thompson
late of Geelong
in the Colony of Victoria, Laborer, deceased Intestate

I Gerrat Thompson, of Ballarat in the Colony of Victoria, Laborer make oath and say –
1. That I am seeking to obtain administration of the Estate of the above named deceased.

2. That the said deceased died on the sixteenth day of October one thousand eight hundred and seventy one Intestate and was at the time of his death a widower and unmarried.

3. That the said deceased left real estate in the Colony of Victoria of the value of sixty pounds and personal Estate in the said Colony of the value of twenty one pounds.

4. That the said deceased left him surviving five sons and four daughters all above the age of twenty one years namely Robert and William and Ann at present residing in America, John at present in New Zealand, Alexander at present in Queensland, Margaret now the wife of William McClelland of Lara, Jane now the wife of Gabriel Hunter of Ballarat, Catherine now the wife of George B Hogg of Ballarat in the said colony and me this deponent who are his only surviving next of kin entitled by law to share in his property.

5. That I am the person entitled to administer the estate of the said James Thompson deceased Intestate and I am the only son of the said deceased hereof in the Colony of Victoria.

6. That I have made careful enquiry and search but am unable to find any Will of the said deceased.

7. That if I obtain administration, I will well and truly collect and administer according to law, to the best of my knowledge and ability, the property, lands and heriditaments, goods, chattels, and credits of the said deceased at the time of his death, which at any time after shall come to the power or control, hands, or possession of me as his administrator or of any other person or persons for me: that I will make or cause to be made a true and perfect inventory of all and singular the property, lands and heriditaments, goods, chattels, and credits of the said deceased which shall come to the hands, possession or knowledge of me, or to the hands or possession of any other person or persons for me, and the same so made will sign with my proper handwriting, and will exhibit and deposit, or cause to be exhibited and deposited, the same inventory in the office of the Master-in-Equity within three calendar months next ensuing the order granting administration; and, further, that I will make or cause to be made a true and just account of the administration of [the document apparently continues on another page]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So which of Ann's brothers came to Canada? Apparently Robert and William! Did they stay? It is possible that William returned, as there is a William Thompson of Collow married to Jane Speer who raised a family in Ireland. But some Thompson descendants were living in Michigan in the 1960s.

2010-12-22T13:17:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas of 2010! It has been a good year for our family.

My wonderful 30 month FamilySearch mission ended in January. I am now serving in the Edmonton Alberta Riverbend Family History Centre, where I have been teaching classes on Thursday evenings. There has been progress in our own family history research, as well as assistance given to others.
In January we replaced the scruffy carpeting in my office with laminate flooring. (Reminder to self: paint the new plaster twice before repainting the wall. It does a better job and it is half the work!)

We hired a company to remove four large trees that threatened our power line. (It is always good to bring in the experts for the big jobs, right?) On April 23 we arrived home to find that this company had destroyed the power line by dropping a tree on it. They also destroyed our plum tree by dropping a tree on it, narrowly missing the house! We were without electricity, furnace, and running water for 2-1/2 days. Needless to say, we were not impressed! A friend loaned us a small generator, which kept the food in the freezer frozen. We are thankful for family and friends!

We had fun with the family at birthdays and major holidays. The grandchildren are growing so fast! A year ago the youngest was a baby. Now he is one of the kids.

I helped my son Andrew to install a suspended ceiling in his family room in February. Then in November, I helped him to install laminate in the family room. It is looking really good. At home we tore out the old carpet from our living room-dining room area and installed laminate. The old carpet had to be torn up in strips and the underlay removed with a scraper. We got the missionaries to move our piano onto the new flooring. (I know you won't be reading my blog, but thanks, you are wonderful!)

Evelyn received her Bachelor of Education degree with distinction from the University of Alberta, and has her first job teaching kindergarten. James is pursuing his Certified Management Accountant designation. James and Karen went to the UK in October with friends, visiting England and Scotland. Rob went to New Orleans and Mexico on vacation. Judy and I went to southern Alberta and BC, visiting Judy’s brother Bob and my brother Reg. This was our only “trip”, but somehow our new Corolla has over 40,000 km.

On the 19th of June, four of the granddaughters were in a dance recital at the Jubilee Auditorium. In June one was in her school play, so we have some young performers in the family.

We had strange weather, with a hot April and a snowy May. We had to cover the tomato plants every night for the longest time! We still had a fairly good garden, although the deer ate up the peas. We also bought an additional apple tree, a Norkent. We bought strawberry plants and they did well. We had a good harvest from our Heyer-12 apple tree. These apples are thin skinned and about 2 to 2-1/2 inches in diameter. Peeling them removes most of the flesh of the apple, so instead we split them, cored them, and sliced them in the food processor for pie filling. It worked OK. We enjoy our flowers and all of the greenery around.

I wrote a personal history by topics, and have just finished my Buchanan Family Tree 2010 e-book, but my books on the Ing and Lidgett families remain unfinished. Judy wrote a Buchanan Family Recipes cookbook, as part of the Personal Progress goals she is working on. Both of us have done some indexing for FamilySearch.org. Rob has written a fantasy novel, which Judy and I enjoyed reading this year.

I am also learning to create DVD movies of the family. I am using Windows (Vista) Movie Maker to assemble the movies and the free Sothink Movie DVD Maker to create DVDs that will play in a home DVD player. Sothink Movie DVD Maker supports the title screens created by Windows Movie Maker, and creates a menu that allows you to select the movie you want to play with the TV remote control. So it is a good combination. I am putting together video clips I have taken over the last 4 years, also an interview with my mother and her sister, a walk-through of the family home, and clips of me telling old family stories. My camera is a Canon PowerShot A200IS (whatever that means!). It is a digital camera that can take videos with sound.
Our health continues to allow us to do the things we want to do. We are truly grateful.

We treasure the ancient message of hope and reassurance. “… God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17)

May God bless you all at Christmas and throughout the coming year!

2010-12-16T09:41:00.001-07:00

I have to believe in angels. They came to my rescue three times yesterday.
They were dressed in ordinary clothes and claimed to be my neighbors, but I know who they really are and who sent them.

We had a heavy snowfall. Backing up my long driveway onto the road, I drove fast enough that my momentum would help me to break through any drifting. But I overshot the road very sightly, getting stuck. A young man came by and pushed my car to help me get going. He told me that the "all weather tires" on my new car were not suitable for the weather conditions, and suggested that I stay home that day if possible. As I drove to Edmonton the weather report, listed the highway as "treacherous". I passed numerous vehicles in the ditch.

Coming back home about 9 PM, I found that our subdivision road was not snowplowed. "This does not look good!", I thought. About 1 km before my house, the last set of recent tracks turned off the road. I was now beating a new path through the snow. A slight hill brought me to a stop. I was stuck in the middle of the road. It was definitely "prayer time". Then I backed up and put kitty litter for traction in my tire tracks. I took a few runs at the road, and advanced a few car lengths after maybe 20 tries. Then I saw headlights behind me. ... old rectangular headlights on an older pickup truck, like the one that had stopped to help me that morning. The driver walked up, and I recognized my earlier rescuer. "I see that you made it out safely. My truck is just 2-wheel drive, but if we can move your car towards the shoulder of the road I can get by, then I will come back and push you. If you can follow in my tracks, you will be OK." With amazing speed, he shoveled a place for me to pull over to the side of the road, and helped me to move my car. He drove past me and stopped at the top of the hill, and then walked back to push my car. I drove up behind his truck, and then I carefully followed in his tracks as he drove past my house, where I turned into my freshly plowed driveway.

Hmm... I don't have a snowplow! Even if I did, my good wife would not have the strength to operate it. It seems that another angel had been hard at work!

Thank you angels! ... all angels, wherever you may be! Thank you for all of the good you do for the people around you.

May there be other angels sent to help you, in your time of need. God bless you all! May you have a wonderful Christmas!

2010-12-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

Fun at the FHC
Last night was the first Thursday night in recent months that I haven't taught a class at the Edmonton Riverbend Family History Center. We intended to discuss our plans for classes for the new year. Instead we had patrons come in for help, which was much more fun. One was a family history consultant helping a family from Fiji to register on new.familysearch.org and prepare a Family Ordinance Request, something she had not done before. She was easy to help, and in a half hour they went on their way happy. Another was a man wanting help with his research, and our director helped him.

I helped a lady who wanted help with her research. Her ancestor, George Fletcher Hurst was born in Ontario about 1879, and his parents might be named Lawrence and Martha. I "struck out" on the 1881 census from familysearch.org, but succeeded on the 1891 census from Collections Canada. This gave his full name, his parents and four younger brothers, ages and birth places. The 1901 census at http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/ gave the exact birth dates of the parents and the children who were at home. My patron was really happy at this point!

She said she thought that Lawrence died in Manitoba. I told her that we could probably find his death registration at http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/ListView.php Sure enough!
LAST NAME: HURST

GIVEN NAMES: LAWRENCE
DATE OF DEATH: 18/04/1929
AGE: 77
UNITS OF AGE: YEARS SEX: MALE
PLACE OF DEATH: RM WHITEHEAD
REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1929,025286

At http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maryc/thisisit.htm I found the marriage registration!
004166-80 Lawrence HURST, 25, blacksmith, widower, England, Madoc, d/o John & Mary, married Martha EMBRY, 20, Madoc, same, d/o John & Phoebe, witn: Mary BUSH & Abigail BOUDER both of Madoc on Feb. 2, 1880 at Madoc

This confirmed the previous information and added the names of the parents of the bride and the groom. My patron was ecstatic, and so was I!

I didn't finish planning for our future classes, but I had a wonderful time!

2010-12-02T11:56:00.011-07:00

FamilySearch Websites as of December 2010

At the present time, FamilySearch has multiple sites that are accessible individually. By the end of 2010, it is expected that they will all be accessible on the redesigned http://familysearch.org/ website.

http://familysearch.org/ FamilySearch is the main family history site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Among other things, this is where you access the Family History Library Catalog of microfilms and microfiche that you can borrow.

http://film.familysearch.org/ Online ordering of microfilms and microfiche, at a small cost.

http://indexing.familysearch.org/ is the site for creating computer-searchable indexes of family history records.

http://pilot.familysearch.org/ records from FamilySearch Indexing, but are being moved to ...

http://beta.familysearch.org/ holds the records from FamilySearch Indexing, including the latest.

https://wiki.familysearch.org/ Free family history research advice for the community, by the community

http://forums.familysearch.org/ browse any topic listed for helpful family history research and FamilySearch product information provided by experienced FamilySearch patrons.

http://histfam.familysearch.org/ FamilySearch Community Trees are primarily lineage-linked, sourced genealogies contributed by partners.

http://maps.familysearch.org/ England 1851 Jurisdictions maps, including parishes.

http://new.familysearch.org/ It features graphical family trees that can be edited online in real time. An account is needed to access it. It is currently only available to LDS but will be made public sometime within the next year, excluding the temple information.

http://training.familysearch.org/ is a "sandbox" site for learning to use http://new.familysearch.org/ with sample data.

http://consultant.familysearch.org/ is the registration site for LDS Family History Consulants and leaders with family history responsibilities.

http://lds.org/ > Serving in the Church > Family History > Temple and Family History Course Materials > Training Videos for Family History Leaders

2010-11-22T20:58:00.002-07:00

Bill Buchanan's Genealogy Website Updated http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com/ This is just to let you know that my website has been updated with a new copy of the database. It now has 22,090 people, including some of the Buchanan family of Kirlish, County Tyrone, Ireland, where we have a perfect genetic match (Y-DNA 67 markers). This past summer, my cousin Darlene traveled to Ireland and Scotland, and personally financed this Y-DNA study. She was able to get some genealogy from Buchanans of Kirlish and Buchanans of Cooel, County Tyrone. She also wanted to do a Y-DNA test of the Buchanans of Cooel but time did not allow it. The genealogy is now in my database. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my knowledge of my extended family and my wife's extended family!

2010-11-22T14:49:00.003-07:00

FamilySearch Indexing The week of November 7th I gave three different lessons on indexing. For one of them I used the first 30 minutes of the informative webinar given by Jim Ericson http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/webinars.asp, followed by the Indexing "Test Drive" at http://indexing.familysearch.org/newuser/nuhome.jsf?3.7.8 then some hands-on help. For the other two lessons I concentrated on the Test Drive... it does such a wonderful job of letting people experience indexing! From Jim Ericson's presentation, I gather that there are 2.4 million micofilms, 1 million microfiche, and a total of over 3 billion pages of records on film. Indexing makes them available for free on the internet any time people want to use them. At the current rate, it may take 10 years to digitize these records and 300 years to index them so that they can be searched by computer. We need more help! Laminate Flooring During that week I also helped one of my sons install laminate flooring in his family room (about 12.5 feet by 22 feet). It was different than the other two types of laminate I have installed. The pieces didn't click end-to-end, just side to side. It went together much easier and much faster and looked better than previous kinds. It seemed just as solid too. We completed the project in one day, whereas I had expected it to take two days! Of course using his electric miter saw instead of my jigsaw made a big difference too. (I have already booked the use of the miter saw for when we replace our baseboards!) Personal Ancestral File 5 and PAF Companion Last Thurday's lesson was on this topic. This software is getting old, and only drew two students (3 counting the FHC director). Still, it meets my needs really well. I love the auto-completion feature for the place names and the unlimited size of notes. And I can instantly find anyone in my database! On my website you can find a PAF overview that I used as an outline for my lesson. http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com/ (lower left part of the screen) I also demontrated the use of multimedia, including the best locations for the media folder, the process of linking media files, the scrapbook, and photo charts in PAF and PAF Companion, using PAF to generate web pages, and running PAF from a flash drive. It was a fun session! www.new.FamilySearch.org This coming Thursday will be about new.FamilySearch.org. I will report how my lesson went.

2010-11-04T11:07:00.006-06:00

Tutorial videos for synching data with the new.familysearch.org family tree

http://rootsmagic.com/FamilySearch/Tutorials/ http://www.ancestralquestonline.com/Tutorials/12-1nfstutorials/Ancestral%20Quest-nFS.html

Winter Weekend Research Getaway - Effective Use of Technology

Thursday, January 27th - Saturday January 29th 9:00AM- 5:00PM

New England Historic Genealogical Society

99 Newbury St.Boston MA, 02116

http://www.americanancestors.org/

I received a request from NEHGS to post this announcement.

2010-11-02T09:14:00.002-06:00

Lesson for 7 PM Thursday, 4 Nov 2010 at Edmonton Riverbend Family History Center 14325-53rd Ave (SE entrance as marked) Exit Whitemud Drive at 53 Ave, and turn left. Products and Services from Other Companies (Affiliate Software) Some companies and organizations provide products and services with features that support FamilySearch. Quotes from http://www.familysearch.org/eng/affiliates/index.html Certified Products for new.FamilySearch.org (Family Tree) FamilyInsight Designed specifically to help PAF users synchronize with the new FamilySearch website. It ranks matches and highlights differences so you can quickly import or export data and get right back to your research in PAF. Also gives you the ability to merge, cleanup, and compare files with increased accuracy. [If you have used PAF Insight you will find it easy to use.] Ancestral Quest Ancestral Quest is an easy-to-use, full-featured family tree program. The Windows versions of PAF were created from an earlier version of AQ, so PAF users will feel right at home using the screens, reports, and other functions. PAF users can upgrade to AQ or continue to use PAF, supplementing it using the new features in AQ, including the ability to synchronize both AQ and PAF data with new FamilySearch. RootsMagic 4 Winner of the FamilySearch award for "Easiest to Sync", RootsMagic 4 genealogy software makes working with new FamilySearch a breeze, including reserving ordinances and creating temple trips. Import directly from PAF, new FamilySearch, and other programs. [There is a free version.] Legacy Family Tree A Legacy Family Tree is the FREE genealogy software to organize, research, and publish your family’s tree. Use Legacy to print maps, get research suggestions, collaborate with other family members, cite your sources, publish books and shareable CDs and much more. Legacy makes it easy to work with FamilySearch and will measure your progress against the goals you set for temple work and more. Easily import from PAF and other programs. [Only partial nFS support] MacFamilyTree 6 MacFamilyTree 6 is a modern genealogy application for the Mac. Easily enter and then visualize your family history by creating reports, diagrams or browsing this data in the innovative 3D view called Virtual Tree. Collect data and enter it in MacFamilyTree on your Mac or MobileFamilyTree on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. MacFamilyTree has been translated into a total of 15 languages. MacFamilyTree 6 offers New FamilySearch integration, extensive export options and runs on all Macs using Mac OS 10.5 and newer. Thursday night we will be looking at using FamilyInsight, AncestralQuest, and RootsMagic to synch your data with the new.familysearch.org family tree.

2010-10-31T14:36:00.003-06:00

Navigating the FamilySearch Beta https://beta.familysearch.org/ There seem to be a lot of people who are unhappy with this. I thought I would share a tip about checking the hits in FamilySearch Beta. To avoid losing your place, RIGHT click the interesting hits to open them in a new tab. It just takes seconds to examine the contents of each tab and close it (if it is not what you are looking for). Clicking the first tab will take you back to the same point you were at on the first page. I found this a real time saver! Before discovering this, I found the navigation a nightmare. More Great Genealogy Brickwall Solutions - Part II Another excellent article from GenealogyInTime.com http://www.genealogyintime.com/GenealogyResources/Articles/more_great_genealogy_brickwall_solutions_part2_page1.html?awt_l=KMu5_&awt_m=1a62s3My9gk.Vy or in short form: http://tinyurl.com/2b5cek5 [Disclosure: I have no connection with this website, but I find it excellent.] A handout I prepared for members of my class last Thursday. Tips for Online Searches Don’t assume that the information you already have is 100% accurate, and don’t assume that the online information is 100% accurate. Try to verify it. Putting too much information in the search screen may prevent a successful search. Don’t be too precise in your searches. Allow some flexibility. (Yes, the 1901 Canada census clearly indicates an exact birth date. Maybe it’s even true, but in your searches allow a few years of leeway before and after.) Don’t assume that someone was born in the country where you found their marriage or death. Look for confirming records. If you do an online search based on this "birthplace" you will not find them, even if the record would be easily found otherwise. First and middle names are often switched. Sometimes given names will be replaced by abbreviations or initials. "William Edward David Coulter" was commonly known as "W E D Coulter", but occasionally he shows up as "Wm. Colter". Surnames may be spelled in unfamiliar ways that sound somewhat similar. Nicknames will often be used. (I was in my 50s before I realized that "Great Aunt Minnie Steele" was actually "Mary Elizabeth Steele".) Consider the source of the information. Records made at the time of an event are usually more trustworthy than later records. Official records are usually more accurate than recollections of family members ... but not always. Sometimes information given on an official record is wrong. Sometimes this is an inadvertent error. (One of which has plagued my Buchanan line for over 130 years!) Sometimes it is deliberate, as in the case of ages stated at the time of marriage. (If the bride and groom were both 21 years old, parental permission for the marriage was not needed. But brides liked to be shown as younger than their husbands, so sometimes they would shave a few years off their age. In areas where first cousins could not be legally married, sometimes genealogy was falsified to allow the marriage to take place.) "Estimates" are just "guesses" wearing their Sunday best. They are useful so long as you remember that they are only reasonable guesses. They should be replaced as soon as you have official data. Senior and Junior do not always mean father and son. As you go back in time, these terms are sometimes used to mean the older and younger of two people with the same name living in the area. They may indicate a bride and her mother-in-law! Be reasonably vague in your search terms. (Including death information may limit the search results to records containing death info, excluding birth, marriage and other important facts.) Have patience. Gather information, and then see whether it fits or not. Maybe paste it in your PAF notes for handy access. Many databases allow wildcard searches, where * represents all letters after that point, so Peters* would find Peterson, Petersen, Petersborough. The ? wildcard represents a single letter, so Pe?ers?n would match Peterson, Pederson, Petersen, etc. Enjoy your research!

2010-10-19T16:36:00.002-06:00

I just received this from NEHGS. They asked me to inform my readers. If you have New England ancestors, this may be of interest to you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEHGS ANNOUNCES GROUNDBREAKING NEW PUBLICATION New information details the family of Thomas Brigham BOSTON, MA—October 19, 2010 – The New England Historic Genealogical Society is pleased to announce its new publication, The History of the Brigham Family: Descendants of Thomas Brigham, the first comprehensive treatment of this significant American family in nearly one hundred years. This new volume, compiled by Rhonda M. McClure of the NEHGS staff, reviews and updates (and, in some cases, amends) the accounts of Thomas Brigham, the family’s founder in America, that appeared in the earlier versions. McClure said, "I am excited for people to have a better understanding of this unique family, one that holds such a special place in the history of our country." Four years in the making, this new Brigham volume extends the history of this notable American family to the fourteenth generation. McClure has brought forward as many lines as possible, incorporating information from questionnaires supplied by descendants of Brigham sons and daughters. "We are very proud of this publication and are thrilled to share it with the world. Rhonda is one of our prized experts and this work is nothing less than a scholarly masterpiece," says NEHGS President and CEO, D. Brenton Simons. Among the notable Brigham descendants covered in the volume are Brigham’s Ice Cream founder Edwin Leon Brigham, SAT developer Carl Campbell Brigham, inventor Eli Whitney and former Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and George Walker Bush. The original volume of The History of the Brigham Family was published in 1907 and a second appeared in 1927. For more information, contact the NEHGS Sales Department at 617-226-1212 or visit the NEHGS website at AmericanAncestors.org.

2010-10-18T13:06:00.002-06:00

I loved this article by Marian Pierre-Louis in Roots and Rambles Canvassing a Town for Historical Resources "The next time you take a trip to a town where your ancestors lived don't just stop at Town Hall or the library. There's a lot more that you can do to really get a sense of who you ancestor was and how they lived. You can do this by canvassing the town for historical resources. ..." I hope you enjoy reading her article. As I read it, I could visualize myself visiting Neepawa, Manitoba for the first time. ... Well on subsequent times too. Here in Alberta, "old buildings" means they were built before 1960. Anything older has usually been demolished and replaced. But even here the old cemeteries still remain and if you look hard enough you can find rare older buildings.

2010-10-16T09:12:00.002-06:00

This just arrived from Genealogy in Time More Great Genealogy Brickwall Solutions - Part I http://tinyurl.com/24fw37a One little quibble among all of the great tips: Junior and Senior were sometimes used to distinguish people of the same name living in a community, even if they were not related. Nicknames often served the same purpose. As the article rightly points out, Senior and Junior did not automatically mean a father and son. In earlier times, you cannot safely assume that the father of Robert Walker junior was Robert Walker senior. Robert Walker junior, was just the younger of the two Robert Walkers in the community His father might well be Henry Walker! This would be totally consistent with the usage of the time, even if it seems strange to us today. The part about translating names brings to mind the Acadian genealogy of a friend. When a LeBlanc family moved to an English-speaking area they would sometimes disappear from the written records and an identical White family would appear. If one of the White families moved back into a French-speaking area they would suddenly become LeBlanc again. People liked to fit into their community. If changing the surname helped, it was often done. Enjoy the excellent article!

2010-10-15T10:22:00.002-06:00

A Piece of History A few days ago I received a package in the mail. In it there was a variety of genealogy items including the tiniest possible ziplock bag containing a little piece of stone and an explanatory note. I have deleted details that might cause problems for the person who removed two tiny fragments of stone from a historical site. "You are receiving a piece of [the ancestral home]. [My daughter] didn't see me take them and couldn't believe I'd taken them when I showed them to her in Dublin. She says 'Mom, I can't believe you actually did that -- can you imagine what would happen if all the [family] that go there did that!' Oh well --- say I." I found this story amusing. I was the one that encouraged the traveler to physically touch the walls of the ancestral home when she visited it. I didn't suggest taking unauthorized souvenirs, and the daughter asks a very valid question. I think the best answer is "Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints." The two of them visited the dining room at the ancestral home and sat down. The waitress came to them and said "This is a private club. You are members aren't you?" "Of course", replied the mother with a smile, and they proceeded to order their meal and enjoy it. She is a fun gal, and she loves her ancestors. I hope they got a chuckle or two from her adventures that day. I am touched that she would think of me at such a special time and place. I will probably never get a chance to travel to the old country to touch those walls. I appreciate my own little piece. Please don't do it again, but thank you! You are wonderful, and I am blessed to know you.

2010-10-15T09:38:00.006-06:00

Thursday Night's Lesson ... Successes and Failures Screen Sharing I wanted to share a lengthy Powerpoint presentation on multiple computers simultaneously. Wednesday I tried LogMeIn's http://join.me/ site. It was incredibly simple to use, but I couldn't get it to work on some computers. On Thursday I went in early to the Family History Center and tried Join.me, only to find that it still would not work on some computers, including one where it had worked perfectly the day before! This led me to try a different free product, ScreenStream http://screen-stream.en.softonic.com/ I installed this software and found it too confusing. Next I tried the free version of YuuGuu http://www.yuuguu.com/home Like ScreenStream, their software needed to be installed on the hosting computer, but like Join.me it was very simple to use. Better yet, it worked on all of the client computers. My presentation went off without a hitch! I plan to use it for live demos in the future. This is much better than using a projector, because the students can sit at the computers. (And I don't need to arrange access to a different room with a projector and screen.) Certificate Problems I was teaching a lesson on the Online Portal that gives FHCs access to certain commercial databases for free. Validation that you are accessing the sites from an official Family History Center computer depends upon a security certificate installed on the individual computer. After the lesson, the students were invited to use the Online Portal for their own research. We ended up having to re-install the certificates twice on two of the computers. In the meantime we had some frustrated students ... so that part did not go as smoothly as planned. I should have done a trial run on each of the computers before the class, but things had been working perfectly the previous time I used the Online Portal.

2010-10-08T11:50:00.005-06:00

(for the Oct 14 class at Riverbend, if I have time left over after demonstrating The Godfrey Memorial Library. Also see the Genealogy In Time tutorial How to Use Google Advanced Search for Genealogy http://tinyurl.com/y9ycku9 to overcome Google's limit of 2 hits per page.) Power Googling for Genealogy When doing Google searches, unless you have limitless time and patience, you normally want fewer than 200 hits. Personally, I consider 20 to be a good number. If you have found 398,798 pages that refer to your search, you are using the wrong search terms or using them wrongly. These suggestions should help. Square brackets [ ] are used to denote queries, so [ to be or not to be ] is an example of a query; [ to be ] or [ not to be ] are two examples of queries. Exact phrase search ("") By putting double quotes around a set of words, you are telling Google to consider the exact words in that exact order without any change. ["Jane Watson" "Riding Mountain"] will look for pages that contain both of these terms. Without the quotes, all pages that contain those four words in any order and any context will be listed. e.g. Jane Jones and Sally Watson were riding up the mountain. But use some caution, a search for [ "Gertrude Taylor" ] (with quotes) will miss references to Gertrude E. Taylor or Gertrude Emily Taylor. This search works within many websites (site:) Google allows you to specify that your search results must come from a given website. For example, the query ["Richard Welsh" site:rootsweb.ancestry.com] will list pages about any Richard Welsh but only from rootsweb.ancestry.com. Terms you want to exclude ( -) Attaching a space and minus sign immediately before a word indicates that you do not want pages that contain this word. For example [Anthony Blair -"prime minister"]. Fill in the blanks ( *) If you include * within a query, it tells Google to treat the star as a placeholder for any unknown term(s) and then find the best matches. For example, the search ["Alexander * Bell"] will include results about Alexander G. Bell and Alexander Graham Bell as well as Alexander Harper and Sharon Bell. The * operator works only on whole words, not parts of words. Search exactly as is ( +) Google employs synonyms automatically. By attaching a space and + immediately before a word (but no space after the +), you are telling Google to match that word precisely. The OR operator is needed if you want to specifically allow any one of several terms. Separate the terms with OR (in ALL CAPS). For example, ["Pigeon Lake" OR Falun OR Mulhurst] will give you results about any of these adjacent places, whereas ["Pigeon Lake" Falun Mulhurst] will only show pages that include ALL of these on the same page. This is especially handy for surnames with multiple spellings. The tilde (~) operator takes the word immediately following it and searches both for that specific word and for the word’s synonyms. It also searches for the term with alternative endings. The tilde operator works best when applied to general terms and terms with many synonyms. [Eley ~Missouri] Need to do a quick calculation of a birth year? Try the query [1871 - 46] Google’s answer = 1825 To include all numbers in a range in your query, separate the lower and upper limits with two periods without spaces ["Edith Linnen" 1850..1870 Edwardsburgh] In genealogy queries, other useful words include born, lived, married, died. [Annabel McLeod born 1735] Google Alerts are emails sent to you when Google finds new results -- such as web pages, newspaper articles, or blogs -- that match your search term. You can use Google Alerts to monitor anything on the Web. For example, some genealogists use Google Alerts to receive notification of new online content about families they are researching. You can create Google Alerts at http://www.google.com/alerts (You need to be highly specific in your search terms to avoid spamming yourself.) See http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=136861 Happy Googling!

2010-10-07T10:47:00.004-06:00

The following links are for the lesson I will be teaching tonight at Riverbend FHC. FindMyPast.co.uk is working again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Researching the UK Online The Genealogical Society of Utah and FamilySearch are services of the Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. GSU has microfilmed many of the useful government and parish records for the UK. These microfilms can be borrowed for a handling cost of about $6 CDN, and viewed at your closest Family History Center. The Family History Library Catalog can be searched online at http://familysearch.org/ > Library > Catalog. (For Canadians, the online ordering of films is at http://film.familysearch.org/ and requires the use of an email address and credit card.) FamilySearch has a wealth of free resources online. To search the IGI’s extracted parish registers, click http://familysearch.org/> Advanced Search . (This does not cover all parishes, but many thousands.) Ancestral File and the Pedigree Resource File family tree databases may be a good source of clues. Also check http://new.familysearch.org/ if you have access. Many additional records for the UK are accessible for free at http://beta.familysearch.org/ and http://pilot.familysearch.org/ where the output from FamilySearch Indexing is made public. Hugh Wallis’ website provides a handy way of seeing which parish registers have been extracted by the Church, and searching those. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis The free ParLoc software is helpful in seeing which parishes were located in the area. Maybe your ancestors were christened, married or buried in a nearby parish where family or friends lived. http://parloc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ParLocDL.html FreeBMD (free birth, marriage and death index) is a free resource. I find it especially handy for finding the maiden name. It also saves time and effort when you wish to buy an official birth, marriage or death certificate. It is found at http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ and at http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ A companion service FreeREG (Free Registers) will be very useful for certain selected locations, but most registers have not yet been transcribed. http://www.freereg.org.uk/ General Register Office for England and Wales http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates You can use the info from FreeBMD to buy certificates online. They cost $15-$20 depending on the exchange rate. Mailing Lists on RootsWeb can be a good resource, for example: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_country-unk-eng.html WorldConnect Project (Family Trees) A good source of clues but not guaranteed to be accurate. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ RootsWeb Message Boards – leave a query or answer someone else’s query http://boards.rootsweb.com/?o_iid=33216&o_lid=33216 GENUKI - Information helpful to researchers in UK and Ireland http://www.genuki.org.uk/big Online Parish Clerks – various counties have these free helpers but there seems to be no single website. Do a Google search for “Online Parish Clerk” Old Maps - 1851 UK Jurisdictions http://maps.familysearch.org/ Also see http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html Census records for England and Wales can be found on these subscription sites: http://ancestry.com/ / http://ancestry.co.uk/ / http://ancestryinstitution.com/, http://findmypast.co.uk/The 1881 census is free on FamilySearch. Access to Scottish records can be purchased at http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ Searchable index to passengers leaving the UK (including many foreign nationals) http://www.findmypast.co.uk/passengerListPersonSearchStart.action?redef=0 Free Genealogy Look Ups in certain books http://www.geneasearch.com/intl/intluk.htmOther Online Resources If these resources fail to help you, remember that there are many more available. Check the Family History Library Favorites link on the desktop of the FHC computers. Also check Cyndi's List of genealogy sites: http://www.cyndislist.com/ I wish you success in your search!

2010-09-30T10:02:00.004-06:00

FamilySearch Websites as of September 2010 At the present time, FamilySearch has multiple sites that are accessible individually. By the end of 2010, it is expected that they will all be accessible on the redesigned http://familysearch.org/ website. http://familysearch.org/ FamilySearch is the main family history site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. http://pilot.familysearch.org/ holds most of the records from FamilySearch Indexing, but not the latest. http://beta.familysearch.org/ holds most of the records from FamilySearch Indexing including the latest. https://wiki.familysearch.org/ Free family history research advice for the community, by the community http://new.familysearch.org/ It features graphical family trees that can be edited online in real time. An account is needed to access it. It is currently only available to LDS but will be made public sometime within the next year, excluding the temple information. http://indexing.familysearch.org/ is the site for creating computer-searchable indexes of family history records. http://training.familysearch.org is a site for learning to use http://new.familysearch.org/ http://labs.familysearch.org/ - Showcases new family history technologies that aren't ready for prime time. http://forums.familysearch.org/ browse any topic listed for helpful family history research and FamilySearch product information provided by experienced FamilySearch patrons. http://histfam.familysearch.org/ FamilySearch Community Trees are primarily lineage-linked, sourced genealogies contributed by partners. http://maps.familysearch.org/ England 1851 Jurisdictions maps https://store.familysearch.org/ will be selling family history-related items online. https://devnet.familysearch.org/ has information and resources for software programmers who support the FamilySearch Platform. http://consultant.familysearch.org/ is the registration site for LDS Family History Consulants and priesthood leaders with family history responsibilities. http://lds.org > Serving in the Church > Family History > Temple and Family History Course Materials & Training Videos for Family History Leaders There may be additional FamilySearch sites that I have missed. If so, please let me know. Thanks to all who have contributed to the list. Bill

2010-09-25T09:21:00.005-06:00

Irish Research At the Edmonton Riverbend Family History Centre, we are frequently asked for suggestions and web sites for Irish research. Things have just gotten a lot better! The latest issue of the Genealogy in Time newsletter is loaded with help for Irish research. See it at http://tinyurl.com/2345l2s Scottish Research The article also has help in contacting local libraries in Scotland. Now, I am waiting eagerly for a reply to my email query to the Kelso Library regarding apprenticeship records for my 2ggf James Watson: Kelso Library, Bowmont Street, Kelso, Scottish Borders TD5 7JH. libkelso@scotborders.gov.uk Topics in the latest issue of the Genealogy in Time newsletter:

How to Find Local Scottish Libraries
Ask a Scottish Librarian a Genealogy Question
Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations
National Archives of Ireland Irish Genealogy –government website
Irish Health Services Executive –for ordering online certificates
Ireland Historic Registry of Deeds Index Project
Irish Newspaper Archives

2010-09-10T21:17:00.004-06:00

Success After 15 Years of Looking! For several years I have been fairly sure that my great-great-grandfather was the son of Robert Ing and Rose Richardson, but I seemed to be unable to find a document to prove it. Today it happened! England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 Name Robert Ing Gender Male Baptism/Christening Date 09 Feb 1806 Baptism/Christening Place Chesham, Buckingham, England Birth Date Birthplace Death Date Name Note Race Father's Name Robert Ing Father's Birthplace Father's Age Mother's Name Rose Mother's Birthplace Mother's Age Indexing Project (Batch) Number I04642-7 System Origin England-EASy Source Film Number 1999163 Reference Number item 2 http://tinyurl.com/2g53dsb Doing a search on the film number at http://www.familysearch.org/ is accomplished by clicking Library then Library Catalog, then Film/Fiche Search. This tells me what is found on film 1999163 item 2. "Items 1 - 2 Bishop's transcripts for Chesham, 1576-1841 Church of England. Parish Church of Chesham (Buckinghamshire) Items 3 - 4 Bishop's transcripts for Chesham-Bois, 1600-1813 Church of England. Parish Church of Chesham-Bois (Buckinghamshire)" Other searches today found births and deaths of additional children in the family, and disproved a suspicion that Robert's Sarah sister went to jail for theft. (She died long before the other Sarah Ing commited the crime.) So I am rejoicing in a very successful day! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I just HAD to add this, it is so good! 50 Best Genealogy Brick Wall Solutions I just received the first part of this excellent article from the Genealogy in Time newsletter. http://www.genealogyintime.com It is a wonderful article, filled with useful tips. http://tinyurl.com/29r7ewj Enjoy!

2010-09-10T10:42:00.002-06:00

Thomas Ing and Ancestry.com Last night at the FHC, I showed a patron the resources we have available through AncestryInstitution.com. I also mentioned the free access provided by Ancestry to many of their databases during the first week of September. This had enabled me to find the immigration of my great uncle Thomas Ing born in London, England in 1866. Name Gender Age Date of Arrival Vessel Port of Arrival Port of Departure Roll Thomas Ing Male 44 7 Oct 1911 Megantic Quebec Liverpool, England T-4782 In AncestryInstitution.com I found him in the 1916 census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, living between the families of his brothers James and Richard in eastern Alberta at Township 33 Range 2 West of the 4th Meridian. My mother remembered:"He and Grandma Ing lived by us on the prairie. The house roof caught fire and Tom just watched as Mom (Louisa) climbed on the roof with her wash water and put out the fire. She wasn't overly impressed by his helpfulness on this occasion!" FreeReg + RecordSearch Plot The patron referred to above asked me whether I had used FreeReg in conjunction with the parish register images on RecordSearch. She said that both are still hit or miss, but she had had success in her Norfolk, England research. That caught my attention, as my Wrights were from Norfolk. She showed me what she was talking about and I saw that some of the parish records for Attleborough were browsable. I found some people I was looking for. FreeReg is great! http://www.freereg.org.uk It has transcriptions of the original records, and from the dates and places you can look for the originals in RecordSearch. (I really need to check this on FamilySearch beta too!) Fringe Benefits Last week a grateful patron came into the FHC and gave each of the staff a jar of elderberry jam that she had made. It was wonderful on French toast! On the subject of canning, we made apple pie filling from our home-grown apples by cutting each apple in half, removing the core, and slicing them in the food processor without peeling them. I think it was successful. I will know for sure when Judy starts making apple pies.

2010-08-28T08:54:00.003-06:00

Setting up Windows7 64-bit Computers at the Family History Center Our new computers arrived, 5 shiny new 17" Dell laptops with Windows7 Home Premium (64-bit), and a Dell multifunction wireless printer. This involved the removal of five miscellaneous old Windows2000 and XP machines, and the tons of cables that connected them to the router and connected them to the multi-port printer switch. Yes, we had one of the world's last functioning 4 port manually-switched printer switches. The Stake Tech Specialist installed the new wireless system, and that part is working like a charm. The only wires now are the power cords and the security cables. Suddenly we have more work space. Having new computers required installing almost everything. A FHC support missionary said that they do not support Windows7 and that we might need the Disk Image CD that installs WindowsXP, but he wan't sure and transferred me to HQ Support. There I was assured that Windows7 would be no problem, although the 64-bit version might bring a few extra challenges. He instructed me to go to http://remote.familysearch.org/ and run the FHC software. This installed the the LANDesk software, which gave us access to the FHC Services Online Portal. (This is a slow installation, so save the installer to a flash drive and copy it to each computer so that it can be installing on multiple machines simultaneously.) I found that the revision number on the installer does not match the version installed, but it still worked. We were able to signin again to the Online Portal and http://ancestryinstitution.org/ so our main online research tools were now functional. I installed the free OpenOffice software and set the file associations so that MS Office files would open automatically in OpenOffice instead of the 6-day trial version of MS Office. I ran into a problem using the LANDesk Desktop to download and install the 3rd-party affiliate software such as AncestralQuest, FamilyInsight and Rootsmagic. I called FHC Support again, and was given the download path where the installation files are stored on the local machine. I also discovered that the LANDesk Desktop required me to reboot the computer after downloading each application. I assume this is a peculiarity with Windows7 64-bit, as I could download and install several applications simultaneously with Windows2000 and WindowsXP. It was suggested that I download the software I wanted on one machine, and copy the files to a flash drive for installation on the other 4 new computers. This saved a lot of time and frustration. Church HQ Support also asked us to remove McAffee Antivirus from the new computers and install Sophos Antivirus from the LANDesk Desktop, as McAffee creates obstacles for FHC Support. Here again, we copied the Sophos installer to a flash drive for use on the other computers. Unfortunately we installed it from the flash drive on one machine rather than copying it to the computer's Desktop and running it from there. When installation takes 20 minutes, the difference between the two approaches is almost an hour and a half. (i.e. 20 minutes for simultaneous installations vs. 100 minutes for sequential installations) A second flash drive solved the problem, and we were finished before 10 PM. This week I should finish the installation of the 3rd party software. Patrons with laptops will enjoy being able to access the internet in the FHC, although the long security code may be a challenge. We are enjoying the new machines. We opted to install mice, as the touch pads are a challenge for many of our users, including me.

2010-08-21T08:58:00.003-06:00

Who Is the Mother of Agnes Jane Welsh and Allan Welsh? After examining the evidence with Alastair Downey (who researches the Welsh family) and Frederick Hunter (who researches the Hunter and Linnen families), this is what we find: 1. The father is undisputed. Richard Welsh is consistently shown as their father. 2. Richard's wife Margaret Samson is almost certainly not their mother. If she was still in Scotland in the 1851 census, it appears that Richard abandonned her and their son James Samson Welsh. In the 1851 census she is listed by her maiden name and unmarried, despite the fact that her marriage to Richard is documented in the Old Scottish Parish Records as 4 Mar 1834, Auchinleck, Ayr, Scotland. The 1841 census of Scotland is missing the returns for Auchinleck, so there is probably no way of verifying whether Margaret was there at that time, but it seems certain. 3. Richard emigrated to Canada by 1841, as his daughter Agnes "Jane" Welsh was born in Ontario on 26 May 1842. (The 1852 census asks for the age on the NEXT birthday.) 4. We find Richard and his children Jane and Allan living with Margaret Hunter Linnen and four of her children in Edwardsburgh, Grenville, [Ontario] the 1852 census. This Margaret was the widow of Adam Linnen, who died defending Canada in 1838 in the Patriot War. (It is often called the Rebellion of 1837, but sputtered on for a few more years.) 5. We have considered the possibility that Richard may have had these children by a previous liaison, but have found no evidence to support this. 6. Richard could not have legally married Margaret Hunter Linnen until after his legal wife Margaret Samson Welsh died on 7 Feb 1862. 7. We have concluded (for now at least) that Jane and Allan are the illegitimate children of Richard Welsh and Margaret Hunter Linnen. Margaret's circumstances as a widow with young children may have been desperate, and a common-law relationship was consistent with Richard's character. Richard and Margaret are still together in the 1861 census, 1871 census, and 1881 census (where he is shown as 71 years old and she is shown as 80 years old). Margaret's death is registered using the name Margaret Linnen. Death date : 26 Mar 1886 Age at death : 85 years

2010-08-20T12:11:00.003-06:00

At the FHC On Thursday I went in early and spent a few hours working on a PowerPoint presentation that provides an overview of the affiliate software provided by FamilySearch to the FHCs. Then some friends came in and I helped them researching a Strahm family that lived east of Bern, Switzerland 200 years ago. One of the very promising sources was a family website that was offline. My friend telephoned this morning to tell me that she was successful in contacting the authors of the former website via Facebook. They had decided to replace the website with a Facebook page. So don't overlook Facebook as a possible way of contacting other researchers! Corrupted Digital Camera Card Some friends mentioned that the memory card in their camera seemed to have lost the photos. The camera says the card is empty and suggests that it needs to be formatted. I offered to see whether I could recover the photos. I tried 5 different programs designed to handle this problem. One of them said it found 140 photos and then wanted to charge me $2.50 each to try to recover them. Another tried unsuccessfully, and finally reported that there were no photos to recover. The other three successfully recovered photos: Art Plus Digital Photo Recovery 3.1 recovered 112 photos, 7 of them being partial photos. http://www.artplus.hr/ This is the free version of commercial software. DiskDigger recovered 120 photos, including 6 partial photos. DiskDigger is free from http://diskdigger.org/download Recuva recovered 112 photos with no partial photos. It also identified and saved 30 additional files with names indicating that they were JPEGs taken with an HP camera. Nothing could open these 30 files. (I tried opening them with all of my graphics programs as well as Internet Explorer and Firefox.) http://www.piriform.com/recuva An online discussion gave me the idea to use a hexadecimal editor to replace the first 128 bytes of each of these 30 files, to try to rebuild the file headers. (I copied the first 128 bytes from the header of a good JPG and pasted it in place of the first 128 bytes of each of the 30 files.) This allowed me to recover another 4 photos and one partial photo. This is very labor-intensive for the results achieved, but may be worth a try if you desperately need to recover a lost photo. The hex editor I used was HxD Hexeditor from http://www.mh-nexus.de/ So the vRecuva + HxD combo (and a lot of time) allowed me to recover 116 photos plus one partial photo. Each of these progams is free, and all can be run without installation. My final judgement? In my experience, DiskDigger was best, followed by Recuva. Of course, results may differ with different users.

2010-08-16T14:50:00.002-06:00

Who is the mother of Jane and Allan Welsh? I received this email message: -----Original Message----- From: "Alastair Downey" Date: 14/08/2010 08:16 PM Subject: Re: RICHARD WELSH & Margaret SAMSON RICHARD WELSH & Margaret SAMSON The marriage entry from the Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland OPR for Richard WELSH & Margaret SAMSON states they were both of this parish and they were married at Knockroon Knockroon is the name of a farm that the SAMSON family lived on By the time of the 1851 Census for Scotland Margaret was listed as follows Dwelling: 1 Gateside Civil Parish: Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland Source: Volume 577, ED 4 Page 1 Jean SAMSON, Hd, wid, 75, Retired Farmers Widow; Cumnock, Ayrshire Margreat SAMSON, dau, unm, 42, House Servant; Auchinleck, Ayrshire James Samson WELSH, Grnson, 16, Soliceters Clerk, Auchinleck, Ayrshire From a headstone in the Auchinleck Churchyard this seems to be the same family Erected by John SAMSON, Knockroon, In memory of father James died 7.9.1821 age 55, mother Jane SMITH died 27.6.1854 age 79, sister Margaret 7.2.1862 age 53. Comment? Alastair Downey ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wow! Besides Sarah Smith being shown as Jane (Jean) Smith, it had an even bigger surprise. If Margaret Samson Welsh was still living with her son James Samson Welsh in 1851 and died in Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland in 1862, I need to reconsider her as my ancestor. I believed that she had come to Canada with her husband, given birth to Jane and Allan, and died in Canada before 1852. In 1852 Richard is shown as married to Margaret Hunter (widow of Adam Linnen). Jane and Allan are shown as children in their family. 1851/1852 Census of Ontario/Upper Canada/Canada West, Grenville, Edwardsburgh township Richard Welsh, farmer, b Scotland, Free Pres., age 43 Margaret Welsh, b Scotland, Free Pres., age 51 Elizabeth Linnen, b Canada, Free Pres., age 20 Robert Linnen, b Canada, Free Pres., age 23 William Linnen, b Canada, Free Pres., age 17 George Linnen, b Canada, Free Pres., age 15 Jane Welsh, b Canada, Free Pres., age 11 Allan Welsh, b Canada, Free Pres., age 8 So who is the mother of Jane and Allan? It seems unlikely to be Margaret Samson, unless she came to Canada and later returned to Scotland, leaving the young children with Richard. A more likely candidate would be Margaret Hunter Linnen, although Frederick Hunter's history says that they are Richard's children from a previous marriage.

http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~database/HUNTER.htm

Other documents from Scotland and Canada refer to Richard Welsh as a shoe maker. The Hunter history agrees that this is the same man, so I have no doubt on this point. But who is the mother of Jane and Allan? Any thoughts? Bill http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com

2010-08-13T13:06:00.004-06:00

Last Night at the FHC Yesterday we were babysitting grandchildren, one of whom made pancakes for us in the morning and muffins in the afternoon! Then it was time to rush home, have an early supper and then drive to Edmonton for my shift at the FHC. A patron brought along a friend who was looking for information on her grandparents who came to Canada from Poland/Ukraine in 1939. She had their names and a possible spelling of the village they came from. She said that three members of the family survived the sinking of the SS Athenia by a German submarine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Athenia I started by searching the FLC Catalog for the name of the place, but found nothing. Then I tried theFS wiki, and found information on Ukraine but nothing I could relate directly to the patron's needs. Next I tried the Shtetl Finder at http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/ShtetlFinder.html to see if I could find the place. I found 8 possibilities, but the patron felt that the place she was looking for was SW of Kiev, but probably closer than any of the places listed. She took notes on some of the places for later review. We did some Google searches, which brought up no information on the grandparents or their home village. I suggested that we next check the message boards. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ led to postings by a cousin of my patron, which in turn led to this article that included a photo of the family members who died during rescue efforts. (see below) It is quite a story! http://www.ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/Familyofsevenonlythreesur.html Subsequent searches found the address and telephone number of the cousin who had posted the information. Our patron will contact her cousin for further information.

2010-08-09T11:26:00.004-06:00

Writing Your Personal History I intended to write about my research on my uncle Evans' ancestry. Then I intended to write my answers to some technical questions about sorting out multiple data files in PAF (Personal Ancestral File), but my mind keeps coming back to a powerful article at http://www.familyhistoryquickstart.com/writing-your-personal-history/ In part it says, "Instead of starting out chronologically stating your life events (year by year that is), try compiling stories by topic." It then goes on to make numerous great suggestions of topics to write on. Suddenly a light went on! My attempts to keep a journal or personal history have always floundered. I think a year and a half is the maximum I have ever maintained any sort of journal. It tends to degenerate into a boring sameness. Much of my life is very routine and I am (by and large) very comfortable with that. People whose lives are full of danger and excitement tend to come to a short if dramatic end. I have things I still want to accomplish before departing this life. Incurring danger deliberately just so that I can tell everyone that I live dangerously seems rather pointless to me. I get more satisfaction from being in a situation where I can help people in various ways. Writing my personal history by topic seems more interesting because after a page or two, my reader is introduced to a different aspect of my life's experience. So far I have written on housing and on transportation, with many additional topics to cover. And if I never finish, I have at least introduced my family to two topics that they might not have known about me. I think that family histories are important. I suggest that you try this approach to writing your personal history. The link above will help you to get started. Let me know whether it worked for you.

2010-08-07T08:19:00.002-06:00

Finding Gertie During the past week I helped my cousin Sherry to find information on her grandmother's aunt Gertrude Alice Ridley, born in Maine about 1875. It was a fun quest! Bill ... Grandma Tess wrote on the back of this photo that it is her and "Aunt Gertie," who I believe is Gertrude Alice Ridley, Pearson Hodgson's wife. According to the note, Aunt Gertie had red hair and was "lots of fun." I know Gertrude was born in Maine in 1875 and died in California, but I haven't found anything else about her. Have you? Sincerely, Sherry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hi Sherry, Thanks for the photo! I have been looking at the 1900 census for Lopez Precinct No. 2. It does say Gertie is born in Maine to parents born in Maine... http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#givenName=Pearson&searchType=close&surname=Hodgson&p=recordResults&placeId=58&alivePlaceLoc1=Washington%2C%20United%20States Here is Pierson Hodgson and his brother Norman in the Graham family, but listed as Grahams. [Their father had died and William Graham married their mother, Mary Wilson.] 1880 United States Census Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace William GRAHAM Self M Male W 38 CANADA Farmer IRELAND IRELAND Mary GRAHAM Wife M Female W 36 CANEDA Keeping House CANEDA CANEDA Pierson GRAHAM Son S Male W 13 CANEDA CAN CAN Norman P GRAHAM Son S Male W 11 CANADA CANEDA CANEDA John GRAHAM Son S Male W 8 IOWA CANEDA CANEDA William GRAHAM Son S Male W 2 IOWA CANEDA CANEDA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source Information: Census Place Lopez Island, San Juan, Washington Family History Library Film 1255397 NA Film Number T9-1397 Page Number 4D Yeah! The 1920 census for King county, Washington lists her as the wife of T P Hodgson and lists her father as Frank Ridley and says she was born in Maine. I can't bring up that page image from home. Maybe in a FHC? http://www.google.ca/search?num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&rlz=1I7DACA_en&q=washington+vital+records+online&aq=0&aqi=g3&aql=&oq=Washington+%22vital+records%22&gs_rfai= [Here is Gertie's marriage.] Groom Last Name Groom First Name Bride Last Name Bride First Name Recording Year Marriage Year County Hodgson Thomas P Ridley Gertrude A 1894 King Hodgson Thomas Pierson Ridley Gertrude A 1894 King So it appears that the marriage return would have the most complete information. Good luck in your search! Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date: 05/08/2010 Sherry, I found the 1910 census online at http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ViewMedia.aspx I have attached an image of part of the page. Gertie's father Frank W. Ridley is living with them. Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date: 05/08/2010 Sherry, I just found her father in the 1880 census! It includes a mother and a sister too! 1880 United States Census Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Mother's Birthplace Frank W. RIDLEY Self M Male W 30 ME Sailor ME ME Evelyn M. RIDLEY Wife M Female W 29 ME Keeping House ME ME Allie G. RIDLEY Dau S Female W 4 ME ME ME Grace P. RIDLEY Dau S Female W 10M ME ME ME -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source Information: Census Place Stockton, Waldo, Maine Family History Library Film 1254489 NA Film Number T9-0489 Page Number 487A Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bill, you are wonderful. It looks like you've identified grandma's "Aunt Gertie." Many thanks. Sherry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sherry, It occurred to me later that you might have trouble accepting "Allie G. RIDLEY" as "Gertrude Alice Ridley", but it looks like you have run into the switching of first and middle names before. (Goodness knows my relatives did it often enough.) My wife's grandmother Alice Maud May Simpson was known to her friends as "Allie", so I could immediately recognize that name... I found Frank as a child with his parents on Ancestry.com! 1860 United States Federal Census Name: Frank W Ridley Age in 1860: 10 Birth Year: abt 1850 Birthplace: Maine Home in 1860: Searsport, Waldo, Maine Gender: Male Post Office: Searsport Household Members: Name Age Wm L Ridley 35 Persis B Ridley 30 Frank W Ridley 10 Celia E Ridley 4 [His father was also a sailor. Both parents and sister are also born in Maine.] And 1850 United States Federal Census Name: William Ridley Age: 26 Estimated birth year: abt 1824 Birth Place: Maine Gender: Male Home in 1850 (City,County,State): Prospect, Waldo, Maine Family Number: 26 Household Members: Name Age William Ridley 26 Persis B Ridley 20 William F Ridley 0 [Note that they switched Frank's first and given names too!] Good luck in your research! Bill ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Bill, I actually found that census report as well, and decided that Allie G was in fact Gertrude. You're right, people used their middle name much more frequently in the past than they do now. That didn't throw me. Thank you for all your detective work - and willingness to teach. I'm circulating another photo of my gran as a child ... Maybe I'll finally learn who the other little girl in this second photo is. I'll share and tell you what I finally decide later. My guess is that since my grandmother was born in 1903 and had no siblings, the photo must have been taken on Lopez with one of Jennie's girls, either Mary or Gertrude/Lottie. Right now I'm leaning toward the younger girl, Gertrude. They used to like those hair bows, didn't they? ... Sherry

2010-08-07T08:08:00.002-06:00

Genealogy In Time Newest Genealogy Records on the Internet I subscribe to this free monthly newsletter. It is amazing! It lists the newest online record sets world wide, and includes a description and a link to them. Check it out. http://www.genealogyintime.com/GenealogyResources/newest_genealogy_records_on_the_internet.html

2010-08-05T10:15:00.004-06:00

Roots and Branches

Family history deals with both our roots (ancestral families) and our branches (descendant families). Last weekend, I had to choose between them. It was the Ing family reunion ... possibly the last one where the four surviving children would be present. It was also my daughter's family's move to a somewhat remote town, where she would begin her teaching career. As the family historian, I had been looking forward to the reunion for the past year, but as a parent I knew where my first priority had to be. My daughter and my son-in-law Ed would be driving their vehicles, a son and daughter-in-law (J&K) were camping near the destination. I was needed to drive the moving van.

The Move

My wife (who doesn't drive in the city) dropped me off at a son's house, and we picked up the 26-foot rental truck. With help from other family members and friends, we loaded the truck in Edmonton. Then I set off for Wabasca-Demarais. I decided to by-pass the city of St Albert, to save time and effort. But on the new route I kept looking for a gas station as I anxiously watched the fuel gauge of the unfamiliar vehicle drop lower and lower. At Westlock I was able to buy gas, and I proceeded with more confidence. At Slave Lake I called J&K to let them know where I was. They told me that they were waiting for me in Wabasca and that Ed was about an hour behind me. From Slave Lake to Wabasca is about a 90-minute drive, through seemingly unending forest. I had supper with J&K while waiting for the others to arrive. Then we followed Ed to the house, and unloaded the truck. I am not very good at moving heavy items but helped reassemble the furniture. The rest of us slept there, while Ed drove back to Edmonton with two young men he had hired to help. The next morning I dropped off the one-way rental truck in Slave Lake, and rode back to Spruce Grove with J&K. We arrived partway through church. After church my dear wife and I drove home.

The Reunion and After

I had lunch and then drove to the reunion. Only two couples were still there, so I visited with them. My aunt Myrtle and uncle Evans talked to me about another reunion coming up soon, and asked what information I might have on his ancestry. So for the past few days I have been researching his ancestry. Fascinating stuff! I now know that he is of native Indian descent on one of his lines. I don't think he knows that!

Tonight I have a shift at the Family History Center. I wonder what adventures await me there!

2010-07-27T09:31:00.002-06:00

Adventures in Genealogy

I have heard it said "Genealogy is the greatest puzzle, the greatest detective game in the world." I love it! I remember as a young boy, standing outdoors on the farm with my father, asking him about his ancestors and who they were and where they came from. And being thrilled by his story of a long and dangerous ocean voyage from Ireland on a sailing ship long, long ago. In my early 20s, I actually took a genealogy class while I lived in Calgary. This led me to interview my parents, my mother's parents, aunts, uncles and older cousins and record what they said. On my mother's side of the family, information was readily available, as her parents were still alive and that family had kept in close touch with their extended family, including the Wright relatives back in England. The big puzzle for me was the Buchanans and Watsons - Dad's people. Dad's parents had come to Alberta from Manitoba when he was little, and the few relatives we had nearby had nearly all died. Those surviving had little information to offer. So I decided to look elsewhere. Armed with a notepad and a binder of Family Group sheets, I hitch-hiked from Calgary, Alberta to Neepawa, Manitoba in 1962. (Yes, those were safer times. I certainly wouldn't recommend it now.) I remember that one couple that picked me up was so intrigued by my quest that they drove an hour out of their way to help me reach my destination. When I finally arrived at Neepawa, I went to the local newspaper and asked to see some obituaries in their archives. The people were very helpful. They suggested I contact Mervyn Buchanan, the manager of the Windsor Salt plant. Not having any better leads, I visited Merv. He and his wife gave me such a warm welcome that I felt like I had come home after a long absence. They asked me to stay with their family, and drove me to visit relatives in Riding Mountain, Birnie, and various places. While Merv was at work, I sought out relatives in Neepawa to interview. I returned home to Calgary with more information than I dared to hope for. Over the next two years I wrote to anyone who had been recommended by anyone as a source of family history information. Some failed to answer, but others referred me to people who knew more than themselves. Then, other pressing commitments took me away from genealogy for a few years. Does the term "binge genealogist" make any sense to you? I think it describes me too well. About 1977 my work took me to High Prairie, Alberta. A family there asked me "Are you related to Gordon Buchanan, who owns the sawmill in town?" I said "It's possible, but probably not." They agreed, "Yes, he is originally from Manitoba." I replied "My father was born in Manitoba, so maybe we are related." After work, I rang Gordon's doorbell and waited apprehensively. I explained to the lady who answered that my name was Bill Buchanan, and I wanted to talk to Gordon about family history. She turned and said "Gordon, why don't you get your Buchanan Family Tree book?" This really got my attention! I had never heard of any such book. Gordon showed where he was in the book and I showed him where I was. We were related! This book was a colossal amount of work on the part of its compilers and contributors. My quest for the next few months was to get a copy of the BFT book. The compilers, Lorne and Doris Buchanan, had moved from Neepawa and no one seemed to know where they were. My attempts to find a copy of the book for sale were unsuccessful. Then, unexpectedly a thick envelope arrived in the mail from Annie B. McMane. It was her copy of the book! She explained that she was living with her daughter, and could always use her daughter's copy. Not long after, a similar package arrived from Leona Murphy. These wonderful people! I can't thank them enough! I wrote a family history summary and made photocopies for my closest relatives, and sent copies back to Annie and Leona. Some years later I acquired genealogy software and entered the BFT information, along with other information I had gathered. I posted a message on an Internet forum saying that I had put the BFT information into electronic form. This resulted in contacts by various people asking for the information, which I was happy to provide. Suzanne Schaller started an Andrew-Buchanan listserv, which has made it easier to share information. Other interested relatives have found me through my submissions to the Ancestral File. A few years ago I decided to create a personal web site for a few of my interests. With time, this narrowed its focus to genealogy and expanded to include historical family photos. Along with her work on the Manitoba newspaper archives, Darlene Perrett was a big help in this area. Other than "word of mouth" I have found the web site to be the most effective way of helping people to find me. Any week that a "lost" relative sends me an email is automatically a good week for me. In 2002, Suzanne Schaller suggested that the Buchanan family tree project was too big for any one person to update. Since she is descended from William Buchanan, she proposed to focus her energies on that part of the family tree. Since I am descended from John Buchanan, I volunteered to help update that part of the family tree. This led me to seek out the "lost" Hamilton, Keating, and McGillivray descendants. I find the Internet phone directories a handy tool, and they really came through for me in the cases of the Hamiltons and McGillivrays. I knew the Hamiltons had lived around Tisdale, Saskatchewan. None are currently listed there, so I started going through the married names of the daughters and found a Stella Woolsey in the Tisdale area. Stella explained that her deceased husband Harvey was from a different branch of the Woolseys, and suggested that I contact Norma Kabanuck, who gave me some information and suggested that I contact Roy Woolsey. Roy was a goldmine of information and old pictures. Roy suggested that I contact Al Hamilton. Then Teresa Fouillard contacted me, and she has been an on-going source of Hamilton info. The story of finding the McGillivrays was similar. I used the Internet directories to find Lorraine Kowblick, who put me in touch with Glen Thorpe, who sent me a copy of the McGillivray Family Tree book that he compiled in the late 1990s. My attempts at finding the descendants of John Keating and Margaret Buchanan always seemed to come up empty. Then Donna Phillips forwarded a message to me from George Johnson, and things opened up. George's wife is a Keating, and he had lots of Keating information. Visits to some of the George Watson descendants in the summer of 2003 led me to find the George Watson family in the 1900 census of Raber, Chippewa county, Michigan, but I could not find the descendants of his son, George Allan Watson. They disappered in the 1930s and all attempts to find them were unsuccessful. Then I received an email from Theresa Adams in Alaska, that opened a door to this family. Her brother's children had found the web site and told her about it. When I found the family of James Watson senior in the 1851/52 census, I felt that we had enough information to look for his parents in the Old Scottish Parish Records. I think we have found them , but there is a need for further research. The adventure continues ... Bill Buchanan

(from my website -http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com)

2010-07-20T09:34:00.002-06:00

Web site For the past few days the alias for my URL has not been working. For now, please reach it at http://billbuchanan.byethost17.com instead of http://billbuchanan.co.cc. It may be less elegant, but it works! Byethost has been an excellent free web host, but this is the second time the "co.cc" re-direction has stopped working. I may need to get into the habit of using the "byethost" version of the URL. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I have changed the link on my blog to prevent this from happening in the future. So for now, all is well.

2010-07-17T08:35:00.002-06:00

Genealogy in Time Newsletter For the past few weeks I have been getting a wonderful newsletter from Genealogy in Time. It is often the first information I receive about new online resources. http://www.genealogyintime.com/genealogy_news.html Genealogy in Guyana On Thursday, a patron came to the FHC asking for help with his family history in Guyana. Everything I tried over the following two hours was basically fruitless. So yesterday I spent most of the day scouring the internet looking for resources on this small South American nation. These were the best leads I found. The Guyana / British Guiana Genealogical Society http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyggbs/index.htm Be sure to read: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyggbs/Research.htm The Guyana / British Guiana Genealogical Society http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyggbs/index.htm Guyana/British Guiana Genealogy Society Forum http://guyanagen.proboards.com/index.cgi Guyana Genealogical and Biographical Society http://guygenbiosociety.blogspot.com/This blog contains transcribed newspaper anouncements of birth, marriage, and death, as well as some biographies and photos. Chinese in Guyana: their roots http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~guycigtr/ British Guiana Colonists http://www.vc.id.au/tb/ is an index to colonists. Guyana - Family History & Genealogy Message Boards http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.southam.guyana/mb.ashx Guyana Colonial Newspapers http://www.vc.id.au/edg/index.html Guyana Genealogy Queries http://www.cousinconnect.com/p/a/74/ Guyana government addresses http://www.candoo.com/genresources/#GUYANA The National Library of Guyana has newspapers, yearbooks, historical writings and photographs. http://www.natlib.gov.gy/ African-American genealogy and searchable records and a collection of slave data. You can also join discussion forums about tracing family from the Caribbean islands, including Guyana. http://www.afrigeneas.com/forum-carib/ Guyana Genealogy message board http://groups.yahoo.com/group/guyanese_genealogy/message/756 The British National Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp Georgetown, Guyana News http://www.topix.com/gy/georgetown 1909 Argosy Directory of British Guiana - a list of prominent people. http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=528&p=localities.southam.guyana.general The National Trust of Guyana seems to be concerned with preserving historic buildings rather than family history.http://www.nationaltrust.gov.gy/ The Family History Library Catalog lists a few microfiche that may be helpful. http://familySearch.org Family History Centers in Guyana: Georgetown Guyana Prashad Nagar Georgetown, Guyana Note: These are not mailing addresses. Due to limited staff, Family History Centers are unable to respond to mail inquiries. But if you live in the area, they might be able to help you. Supplemental: An excellent article on the county and its history can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guyana Parliament of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana http://www.parliament.gov.gy/ University of Guyana (no family history listed) http://uog.edu.gy/search/node Guyana Government Information Agency http://www.gina.gov.gy/ (passports, birth certificates) http://www.gina.gov.gy/govservicesbenefits.html 2002 census of Guyana, but seems to give no access to anything other than basic statistics, and no access to earlier censuses. http://www.statisticsguyana.gov.gy/census.html Guyana News and Information http://www.guyana.org/ Discussion on indentured East Indians in Guyana (projected database of East Indian Indentured Servants) http://www.guyana.org/noncgi/forum/Archives/Archive-000002/HTML/20020321-1-004321-3.html Forum with family history interests http://www.guyana.org/cgi-bin/Directory/guydir.cgi?act=N I have also created an article for the FamilySearch wiki, http://wiki.familySearch.org containing these links. I see it has not been posted yet. Maybe I did something wrong. Enjoy finding your family!

2010-07-09T15:24:00.004-06:00

Get My Ancestors

Two weeks ago I helped a friend with her family history. Her grandmother had given her two book of her own research which she had published, with extensive family group charts, photos, and photocopies of documents. My task was to enter the deceased family members into new FamilySearch. It was a few days of fun as I got to know her family better by data entry, combining records, researching, and finally having the family file cards she wanted printed. In the Family History Center on Wednesday I used the free Get My Ancestors software to download 10 generations of her ancestors and their descendants. She had submitted no genealogy to FamilySearch, and I had input fewer than 100 people. I was amazed that there were almost 18,000 deceased family members downloaded. Good job ohanasoftware.com! (Caveat: It only works if you have access to new.familysearch.org, which is not yet available to the general public.)

Indexing

Wednesday I also updated my Powerpoint presentation on indexing, and I gave the FHC Director a copy last night. She wants to use it to teach a seniors group about indexing. The plan is to use the presentation, followed by having members of the group do the Indexing "Test Drive". The "Test Drive" is really well done.

FindMyPast.co.uk

Last night in the FHC, a patron was seeking for the parents of her ancestor Virtue Hall, born 1843 in Somerset, England. (Apparently her family get a laugh from the fact that she is "seeking virtue".) I was able to help her find Virtue Hall as a young child with siblings and her parents John and Harriott Hall in the 1851 census at findmypast.co.uk. She was delighted!

Promoting Family History in an LDS Ward

The Director and I also met with a group of three people from a new congregation, who wanted to know what they could do to to promote family history. We discussed some ideas, including the Administrative Guide to Family History, and how the FHC can be a useful resource. I also mentioned the success that Parkland Ward is having with the new LDS family history course, and assigning family history consultants to help the class members. Knowledgeable and motivated family history consultants are the key to making things happen on the ward level. At the FHC level, the same is true. With knowledgeable and motivated staff, you are ready to help others to find joy and success in family history!

2010-07-06T18:12:00.001-06:00

I received a nice comment, so I checked out the blog of the person posting. It is delightful! http://branchingoutthroughtheyears.blogspot.com/

2010-07-06T15:52:00.002-06:00

I subscribe to Kimberley Powell's newsletter, and this week I noticed two short articles that seemed especially good. I invite you to check-out her blog and maybe subscribe to her newsletter. Brick Wall Strategies for Dead-End Family Trees By Kimberly Powell, About.com Guide http://genealogy.about.com/od/basics/a/brick_walls.htm?nl=1 and Top 10 Tips for Finding Alternate Surname Spellings & Variations By Kimberly Powell, About.com Guide http://genealogy.about.com/od/name_changes/tp/spellings.htm?nl=1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Family Fun For Canada Day we had nice weather and most of the family were home for part of the day. It was a great day! Yesterday was not quite as much fun. My daughter arrived with front brake pads that were worn down to the metal, and her husband was working away from home, so it was "Dad's" job to fix the brakes. I don't have a garage, I have seldom needed one. So I strung a tarp between two cars to keep most of the rain off, while I jacked up the car and removed the first wheel. I soon found I didn't have a socket wrench to fit the bolts on the calipers. When I got the pads replaced on that side and reinstalled the wheel, it was time to work on the other side. The ground was muddy and as I was jacking up the car, it slid forward, falling off the jack and taking a nose-dive into the mud. A bigger problem was that there was no room under the car to put a jack. Eventually I did get the car raised and the brake pads installed and finished up the job. A job that should have taken an hour took about three hours. But I was glad I did it. How is that relevant in any way to family history? The prophet Malachi said "Behold I will send unto you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children unto the fathers ..." (Malachi 4:5-6) We need to look after our posterity as well as looking after our ancestors. We can run into unforeseen obstacles in both cases, but both can bring us a sense of joy!