SNGF with Randy Seaver

Randy Seaver each Saturday will post a "fun" activity for geniebloggers to respond. These Saturday activities are usually "sage genie work to be done presented in a fun way." The prompt allows blogger to think they are "playing" while they are really working non-stop for 12-16 hours a day.

His "fun" usually gives us ways to:
validate and verify our databases,
Expose inaccuracy and
check facts,
learn new software or
new ways to use our software.

I do not think it is happenchance that Randy would be asking for our "bucket list" exactly half way through the year. Watch around Christmas He will have a "tool" we wish to receive, and the New Year for Genie New Year resolutions.

So half way through the year, Randy is asking us to review our goals and "things to-do" Very sneaky, Randy!!!

Are you ready for Saturday Night, and more Genealogy Fun?? I hope so!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

Knowing that a "Bucket List" is a wish list of things to do before death:

To prepare for this excercise I revisited a post I made to this same BLOGSPOT on April 13, 2010. Wow -- That particular day in April 2010 I was especially
energetic and optimistic.

My BUCKET LIST:

Visit the Deacon Chapin statue in Springfield, Mass.

Secure my data for a future genealogist in our family future.

Record and document enough data that the "stories" can stand the test of time and not be carelessly revised.

Follow this journey of our story as far as I can so the next family genealogist can be guided by my findings to find even more. I follow a legacy of family historians.


I never met all of our family historians....... but I do know and love all of them.

Genealogy GOLD pre-teen interviews grandmother

Genealogy GOLD pre-teen interview of grandmother shows the way to unearthing family tradition carelessness!


This blog is partially ghost written by a pre-teen. Her parents guard her internet-use very carefully. She is not able to post photos, address, or private details. She is on facebook but all "friends" must be approved by her parents.

Yet in the interest of genealogy, we have been granted permission to transcribe her interview of her grandmother --- therefore it is with great pride we introduce A young person's genealogy interview on Genealogy Is Ruthless Without Me.

Enjoy!

Thank you Grandmother, for helping me with this school assignment. I have some questions here that I would like to ask you.

Where did your ancestors come from?

Originally many of my ancestors came from France and Germany pre-1400
Then many of my ancestors had migrated to the United Kingdom pre-1600
But nearly all my ancestors were here on the east coast of the United States by 1776.

Do you know the origin of your family name?

No, not yet.

Tell about any ancestors that you know about --- names. dates, other important historical details-and any stories about them.

I have a lot of information on several of your ancestors. Would it be okay if I just print out the stories I have of them and we could start a binder of ancestor stories?

okay

Who is the oldest person you can remember in your family as a child?

Armenita Clementine Chapin Reed

What do you remember about them?

She was very old by the time I remember her. She had very long hair always braided and circled around her head. I remember one day seeing her with her hair down and it went past her waist. My mother loved her dearly.

Are there any family heirlooms that have been passed from one generation to another? And do you know where they are now?

Well the Family Bibles are very precious to our family. I believe Aunt Doris may have the Hayley-Dikes Bible.
Aunt Carol has the Hayley-Reed Bible.
and maybe Uncle Bert might know where the Cook-Reed Bible is stored.

This question is not on my list of questions; but......
Do all families have Family Bibles? and where do you get them?

Wow wow I just remember your parents have not received a Family Bible. It was very customary for the bride and grooms families to converse before a wedding and decide who would give the Family Bible to the couple. It was always considered an important "wedding gift". In our family; it was Aunt Josephine who usually bestowed the Family Bible on the new couple. The custom now is for a couple to go to a department store and register for their gifts but before department registries (at least in my family); the families would share information and compile a wedding gift list making sure the new couple had all that was needed to start a new home. The Family Bible was always on that list.

Thank you for your answers. Can we have more interviews at another time?

yes of course.

End of Interview

This interview merely scratched the surface of this young person's interest in her family history.

What was important about this interview was the preparation of questions. Having questions already written out for the young genealogist helps the flow of the interview.

Short but mind provoking answers are best when answering a young person's questions. The questions will then lead the young person to where they are interested in learning more.

Rather going into long stories of ancestors; a date to fill a binder full of stories might help the interview to proceed. Plus I really thought it would boost her grade on the project.

When asked about a remembered ancestor keeping it simple is best. Such as I remember being with grandpa in the garden as a child, or grandmother taking me to church. Since this young interviewer is very hair-do conscience I chose to speak about Granny's long hair.

Regarding family heirlooms; good question! It was not important to elaborate as to the fact many heirlooms had been pawned off long ago....lol etc. But it gave me an opportunity to document important information that if my interviewer decided to read in detail her genealogy in the future --- she might find a path to a primary source of information.

This question led to an inquiry that again spoke about family culture and traditions. Where do people get Family Bibles? But it also rambled my own mind on a terrible slip of neglect!!

Needless to say I have just added to my Christmas list! Now to just compile a list of next generation families with no Family Bible!!! A Family Historian's work is never done!!!

Regarding my highschool friend starting genealogy...

Thanks everyone for the comments on my recent post of working with a new genealogist. I met my friend last week end at the Santa Clara Seminar. That was a very well organized seminar. The speakers were fantastic! What was fun was the references to software. Unlike many seminar I visit, every time a software program was mentioned , the speaker would say something to the affect, "oh you are all from the silicon valley, so of course you know this program."

There was a silent auction. My friend had bid on the Roots Magic Software package, but alas was out bid. Being a Roots Magic fanatic myself, I am going to suggest that he does purchase this fantastic program!

It was fun meeting up with my high school friend. When I genealogies in Northern California I seldom travel solo. So he had an opportunity to meet my son, daughter in law and four grandchildren. (lol). My son had been working on a car before he picked me up from the conference, so my friend met my son in an old colored t-shirt!!

I will keep you posted; my friends roots are from Goshen Indiana. The Santa Clara Seminar was heavily directed to individual county, state research. Great sites were introduced at the seminar to state and county data collection. Several states/counties had government officials dedicated to helping people access their records. This was great to see. Example Shelby county, Tennessee.

So I am going to learn some information on Indiana records. working state to state I am gaining a wealth of information that I hope can be of use to help others find their American roots. The first step sometimes to getting back to their homeland roots.

An example of systematically reconstructing a families migration trail across America resulted in some very surprise findings for a society member. Recently I was working with a gentleman with the surname PRICE. With that surname the gentleman had assumed English roots. Wow only four generations back and we discovered PRICE was a derivative of a very German name! From there we were able to find his ancestors nationalization and transport papers from Germany. Therefore the state to state approach has been useful for some when researching roots.

I find helping others with genealogy has widen my knowledge and skills as a genealogist. To that end I am working on a very small but hopefully useful project at the Chula Vista Library. I am hoping to help some of our 100 plus members focus and continue on their own journeys. We have an excellent but under utilized library system. In my humble opinion.

I recently presented some data on the Kansas data collection system. I am hoping to "zero" in on other states of interest. Randy Seaver recently did a members survey of our membership. Hopefully he can help me understand some of the interest of the group.

I would like to start a kind of "Birds of a Feather" study group where we can really focus on the areas of interest and make suggestions to our society book purchaser books that will truly aid people in their research.

So how do I tie up the loose ends of this seemingly rambling blog? I am going to investigate if we have Indiana roots in our membership and gather those birds of a feather and do some in depth research in that area. Gaining working knowledge of individual states has honed my research skills in a very beneficial manner.

Focusing and deeper understanding of records benefits my capacity to truly aid my fellow society member in a deeper research. What is problematic for me on that subject is the redundant over hashing of "OLD" genealogy information. I liken it to lectures on databases using Excel 1998. There is just so much more out there!

Oh and did I happen to mention ROOTSMAGIC!!!!

Bean Counters Everywhere ----- Unite!!!!!

This was so funny I had to blog about it!!! I recently prepared a genealogy research presentation that included a section on the State of Kansas census records. I found this 1895 disclaimer, it could have been written by someone named RUTH!!! Although some could find this disclaimer very annoying-----I think it is absolutely hilarious!! No account for people's sense of humor!!!




Special Note

To quote from the 1895-96 biennial report of the State Board of Agriculture, which conducted the census:

Owing to delay by the legislature in the appropriation of funds for printing the necessary blanks for use of assessors, these could not be delivered to them until two or three weeks later than the law requires assessment and enumeration to begin, and this fact resulted in much of the detailed information being hurriedly or carelessly collected, and in some cases entirely omitted.

The assessors of Comanche, Finney, Saline and Seward counties, countenanced by their county commissioners in so doing, used the unfortunate delay as a pretext for refusing to make any enumeration whatever, and the returns from portions of Atchison, Cherokee, Gove, Lyon and Marion counties especially, and various others in some respects and to some extent, are for the same reasons so incomplete as to make their showing, not only for their respective counties but for the state as a whole, very unsatisfactory to this office ...

Email about Starting Genealogy Research

I am starting to learn --- genealogy is a lot like religion, sex, politics, dieting and raising children.

There is no "one" way. There is no "right" way, There are just ways.

Also just like the subjects discussed --- those subjects are difficult to discuss in "mixed" company without a strict forum.

I received an email, which I am sharing here in part. Based on my education and experience I am going to reply to this person interested in genealogy. I am using this format to encourage others to comment and add "words of wisdom".

My answers will be in itialized bold: Some of my answers may surprise the experts. I am open to discussion to all and any comments.


EMAIL BEGINS:

Now that I'm retired (retired??? you are the same age I am!!! retirement is not a reality -- it is just a con, to make us get up every morning and suffer through our work week) one of the projects I want to do for myself and family is to do more research on my family name. Great!!! and you are correct -- it is for you and your family. Since you are heavily involved with genealogy, 10-16 hours a day can hardily be considered heavily involved!I thought I would ask you what I should absolutely do vs. what I should absolutely avoid at all costs. I know there are lots of web sites, some excellent and some a waste of time and money. BINGO! you got that right!

I want to do as much as I can on my own, as I enjoy learning new things, do you also enjoy bashing your head against brickwalls?? tired red eyes?? and isolating yourself alone in a dark, cold closet for hours? but I'm also a strong believer in avoiding pitfalls wherever possible.My suggestion here is to equip yourself with a head helmet, thick-up to the hip water/mud boots, bug spray, plenty of caffine, and a good comfortable chair.

Also some motion sickness pills for those long trips down those pitfalls.

Because you are asking to go on a journey -- not like anything else in the world!!

I have a family bible AHHH The Best Start ever. I do not know them but I love your parents and grandparents already. that actually takes me back several generations, back to a grandfather born in Goshen Indiana in 1800. OH that explains so much to me!! of course Indiana!!! Yep, you fit the Indiana mold!

This information includes siblings and of course I have recent information. I also recently spoke to a long lost cousin that lives near Fresno that has some information that she is wanting to share with me. I have found a bunch of "SURNAME"'s in Goshen Indiana which is where the above grandfather was born, and spoke to them but none of them have a clue as to how we are connected. They say there is one buried there in Goshen that they don't know the relationship to them. I actually met one family and it was spooky to Sharon and I as I had just lost my father a few months before we met and the father could have been my father's twin. Very very kool!! Hank Jones has written books about this unusual phenonmenon--- genealogy seredepity.

Anyway, I assume Ancestry.com is software I should buy and then sign up for. EEEEKKKKKKK STOP___Advance to GO___Do not collect $200.00____Start over!!!

They have a version that allows me to install on two computers and I know Sharon is wanting to do the same with her family so I thought I would get that... that is if you think this is the best one for me to get started with. Also there is a Family History Library just down the street from us Can I come live with you??? I want to live near a FHL!!! I have even had people suggest I become an LDS just for my genealogy study!!!! that has genealogy records. A couple of people that live in our area said they used it and it was very helpful.


Hope I'm not imposing too much by asking, but I would sure appreciate your advise before getting started. I am so excited about this!! Beyond words. Now for my first suggestions and the whys?????

I will gather some data for you ---- and direct you to some good first steps.

Set up a well-lit, quiet, out of the way area, gather some folders, put aside 3 blank notebooks. Set up your time to spend each day, each week, each month, and we will begin your input of "facts known" on a "free" web site, develope a first pedigree chart, and family group sheets. Get a map of USA.

More to follow; soon very very soon!

Red Letter Day ---- Looking for Chapin Descendents

After several weeks of little genealogy internet work I posted the following innocent enough facebook status:

Ruth Himan working on Missouri ancestors who trusted only in Jesus Christ and John Deere!

I got the quote from a Bruce Haynes song titled "Jesus and John". Bruce sings with the Presley Family in Branson Missouri.

This was followed with 16 comments that resulted with


Carol Yates Wilkerson (a long time facebook friend and genealogist) declares to Ruth via facebook

, this is a red letter day!

and I replied with introducing another "found cousin: Heather Rojo" to Carol
Soon I see:
Carol and Heather Wilkinson Rojo are now friends, which I replied with a "like"

It would take work --- but we should try to identify more Chapin cousins going to Springfield Mass next April.

and an event of a Chapin reunion of Genebloggers is being formed.

Heather Wilkinson Rojo (via facebook) Are you all going to the Springfield Mass Genealogy Convention in April? NERGC? I just made hotel reservations. We could have a reunion at the foot of Chapin's statue!

Yes we need to coordinate this reunion for the NERGC ----
a shared meal with a huge genealogy chart; shared photos, stories etc.

We could bring books, magazine articles etc. to share.

I will see if my aunt and any other relatives want to join us.

I need to give myself this trip for Christmas!

So keep posting and connecting the dots.

This was

TRULY A RED LETTER DAY FOR THE CHAPIN COUSINS

"A Celebration of Family History" event announcement

This blog is a sharing of information only. As a member of the CGSSD Computer Genealogical Group of San Diego, I attend meetings often and receive regular newsletters. This event was too good not to share........


Message from Del Ritchart, CGSSD President:

I recently watched the DVD of "A Celebration of Family History" event held in Salt Lake City in April 2010 as part of the National Genealogical Society 2010 Family History Conference. I recommend the DVD, especially the discussion by historian David McCullough. Information for purchasing the DVD is included in the report on the "A Celebration of Family History" DVD written by Dick Eastman in his newsletter from October 26, 2010. It reads:

"A major 2010 highlight in Salt Lake City was definitely "A Celebration of Family History" a once-in-a-lifetime event that will never be forgotten by those fortunate enough to have attended. Now, all can enjoy this remarkable, inspiring event on DVD. To purchase the video (which will sell for $4.50, includes shipping and handling) or watch video highlights, go to celebration.familysearch.org. The DVD features a celebration of family history through music, stories, and the captivating words of renowned author and historian David McCullough and President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The event includes moving musical numbers by the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square and inspiring video presentations showing the impact family history can have on individual lives."

I hope my blog readers get a chance to watch this event and post their comments here. I would love to share your thoughts.