TODAY'S POSTINGS

I've realized that I may lose my other blog, so decided to go ahead and repost the entries from it to this blog. So the following is postings I've made to my Genealogical Research Blog.  Hope you enjoy and continue to read.

One comment - people who have ancestors who kept journals or diaries are so fortunate.  I'm currently doing research for my other blog (Mary Winne Dexter Logue's Mayflower Line) and, being curious about how exactly the Dexter family came to Idaho and ended up in Long Valley, have been reading some histories of other pioneer families in Idaho.  One, 'Life on a Homestead - 160 Acres and a Passel of Kids', is based on journals kept by the author, William Humphreys' father.

Sometimes the era in which we are born doesn't necessarily determine our childhood/upbringing, as much as the economic circumstances.  In this book on life on a homestead, I can relate to many of the experiences they had.  Sure we always seemed to have a car and later a television, but how many children of the 1950's were still bathing in a metal tub in front of a wood stove, drinking spring water from a milk can because the plumbed well water wasn't safe to drink, eating canned fruit from a fruit cellar dug into a hillside, or using an outhouse because there was no indoor facility.

A picture of me in the late 1950s at our last home in Garden Valley, Idaho (near the Forest Service) with our dog, Laddie.

Did you learn anything?

April 28-30th I spent in Salt Lake City UT at the National Genealogical Society Annual Conference.  From the opening session with its virtual tour of the granite mountain vaults where decades of record collecting is stored to the two hour session on certification, I learned a lot.  And if I had not gotten a cold before I left Idaho, I'm sure I would have enjoyed so many more minutes of workshops and seminars. 

Even the days of snow showers didn't dampen the excitement.  And I was able to get in a few hours of research in the Family History Library.  Since it was my first time at the SLC Library, I didn't get a lot of data, but I know what to plan for if I get a chance to return.  I do wish I had felt well enough to enjoy the concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and special guest speaker, David McCullough, author of "John Adams."  By the time we were supposed to go to the convention center, I had just spent myself and could not make it.

Now I am back home and already swamped with research in new applicants for the Daughters of the American Revolution.  For privacy reasons, I cannot share the research I do for these persons, but I will continue to blog on what I do on my lines.  And I will share bits of information I picked up at the conference.

So happy researching and I'll be back soon.

Posted by Reba McMillan at 5/4/2010 6:48 PM

My Brick Walls

Since my entry for yesterday disappeared into thin air, I will list again some of the brick walls with which I currently deal.

Maria Chatrina ARMSTRONG (?) BOLLINGER (b. 1741 in Cumberland Co PA, m. Isaac Bollinger in 1763, d. 3 Jun 1798 in Maryland)
George LOGUE (b. 1720, Derry Ireland, m. Elizabeth (lnu) 1764 in Ireland, d. 1778 in Carlisle PA)
George CRAWFORD (b. 1750 in Virginia, m. Rachel STRINGFELLOW (?), d. 16 Dec 1795)
Elijah BENSON (b. abt 1620 possibly England, m. Betty ROBERTS abt 1642, d. unk in possibly Virginia)
Elizabeth STEFFEN (b. 1668 in Switzerland, m. Johann BULLINGER, d. abt 1745)
Mary LEIGH (b. abt 1701 in New Jersey, m. 1725 to Jonathan STOUT, d. 1776 in New Jersey)
Sarah TAYLOR (b. 30 June 1676 in Virginia, m. Robert POWELL 1690 in Virginia, d. abt 1745 in Virginia)
Elizabeth MUMFORD (b. 1696 in Virginia, m. Wm BLEDSOE Aug 1727 in Spotsylvania VA, d. 1799 in Culpepper VA)
and oh so many more...

Posted by Reba McMillan at 4/6/2010 4:39 PM

Planning for the Conference

Wow, I spent 45 minutes filling out my blog entry and I look at it today and it is gone - all that is left is "undefined".  How disappointing!

Well, here goes again. 

What I was talking about was the new track at the National Genealogical Society Convention for people who are looking to improve their skills and possibly get certified as genealogists.  It is called BCG Skillbuilding and some of the seminars are:  Evidence Analysis,  How to Cope with Families of Common Names, Understanding the Process that Creates the Records,  and Meeting the Standards for Report Writing.  Since I am definitely interested in certification and would like to be sure it is something I will like, I want to sample the skills before I invest the $3000 it will cost to get a certificate from the Boston University Genealogist Research Certification Program.

I'm having a lot of fun with this blog and have already been contacted by someone who is interesting in sharing information about one of my brick walls.  And I will soon take over the position of Registrar with my local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter, which will involve in researching direct descendant lines for prospective members.  If you are not familiar with the DAR application process, you must prove your direct descendency from a Revolutionary War Patriot.  This involves primary and secondary sources for deaths, births, and marriages.  DAR will accept the US Census Records as secondary sources (something that I found the Mayflower Society does not do).  So I have at least a year of fun researching ahead. 

I had listed a bunch of brick walls that I am researching, but since my data is not right here in front of me, I will have to add that as a new entry later.  Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any information or comments.

Posted by Reba McMillan at 4/5/2010 3:36 PM

Always an Adventure

You've got to love those brick walls.  Hours and hours can be spent trying to find those details and sources and if you are not diligent and record all those steps, a year or two later you may find yourself doing the exact same research all over again.  I found this true this past week as I was researching my Weaver line once again...

     I noticed some details were not meshing with one generation so I spent several hours going over online records to see why I had made the link from Samuel Weaver (b. 1755, Revolutionary War Patriot) to Daniel Weaver (1724) and from him to Thomas Weaver.  I finally came across a note on one website that said "the genealogical conclusions shown here about Daniel Weaver and his immediate family are based on very meager proof."  Following were deeds, Powers of Attorney, and census and tax records that made the same assumptions that I had made in my line.  Evidently I had read this at some previous time, but neglected to write the information down.

As frustrating as these times can be, I still love doing all these searches.  And I know the rewards when you finally get down to the facts.   

Posted by Reba McMillan at 3/23/2010 6:32 PM

Bullinger/Bollinger Line - Life is a Mystery

My Armstrong search the other day led me to search for Bullingers/Bollingers (Maria Chatrina Armstrong is said to have married Isaac Bollinger in 1783 in Berne, Switzerland).  So since I couldn't get much from the Armstrongs, I decided maybe I should look at the Bollingers, but guess what - they are as confusing, or maybe more so, than trying to find Maria Chatrina's ancestors. 

It reminds me of my adventures a few years ago working through the Yager/Yeager line of Virginia and Kentucky.  (All these are my maternal lines.)  There were so many John Yagers in the same area of Virginia, it was hard to determine which one was my ancestor.  But luckily a genealogist had worked through the sources and determined which John was which and I was able to determine that my ancestor is Piney Wood John Yager.  I found all this wonderful information online. 

So I guess eventually, if I do not have the opportunity to go to PA and Switzerland to look at original sources, I will find the research of some other diligent genealogist and be able to find my line.  I hope to one day be one of those diligent 'searchers of truth' myself and people can benefit from all my work.  The reason I made my Ancestry.com tree private was I found that many people were taking my research as sound, sourced information and it was just a work in progress.  I was finding my information in so many different lines and the owners were displaying it as correct. 

If you happen across my blog, please register a comment.  Maybe I can make a valuable connection.  Til then I'll keep recording my journey.

Posted by Reba McMillan at 3/13/2010 7:06 PM

Frustration 101

Sunday was another day of hours of research that ended me right back where I started. 

Maria Chatrina Armstrong (1741-1798) is my maternal 4th great grandmother.  At least I suspect her last name is Armstrong, she married first 'Isaac' William Henry Bollinger (1738-1770)  in about 1763 - and had Frederick Bolinger (1766-1843), my 3rd great grandfather.   After Isaac's death, Maria remarried Philip Ausmus.

I decided to research the data I have on Maria' maiden name.... whether she is related to the Armstrong family of Pennsylvania that brought us Colonel John Armstrong, Revolutionary Was hero (Hero of Kittanning) and friend of George Washington, and his sons who served in Congress.  (pictured is Johann Balthasar Bullinger, an ancestor.)

Four or five hours later, I still cannot prove that Maria Chatrina's last name was Armstrong.

Wow, I now have a start on the list of things to research at Salt Lake.  If I can make one break through on all my 'questionables,' brick walls, and unsourced data, I will consider the time and money spent well worth it.

I remember the sheer joy when after I had spent years trying to find my mother's grandfather's family - had posted queries on message boards and searched every source I could think of for John Crawford (such a common name) - one day someone answered one of those posts with images from the family Bible that listed John's mother, father, sister and brother with dates.  After years of searching that brick wall came tumbling down.  The person who had that information was descended from John's sister.

This made the years of work worth while and gives me the desire to continue on. 

Well, next time I'll try to work through another family tree 'mystery' and see where it takes me.  At least it is fun reading about the people who might be my ancestors.

Posted by Reba McMillan at 3/8/2010 10:55 PM

Beginning

(my parents in the 1940s)

I viewed the show on TV tonight "Who do you think you are?" with Sarah Jessica Parker. I got to wondering if I had any ancestors from Essex County, Mass, so I checked my Family Tree Maker to see for sure. Lots of relatives in Massachusetts, but no one in Essex Co at the time of the witch trials. Not true for my children, however. Their father's family (the Earles>Shumways) were in Essex Co around that time. Will have to dig deeper to see if any of them were involved in this black time in our country's past.

This was such a great idea for Ancestry.com and the tv execs - to bring this series to prime time television. I went onto Ancestry.com's website during the show and it was so busy that they had a notice posted about it. I myself have been interested in studying my ancestry for many years and have been active online for over a decade, using listservs and message boards to put out requests for information. My database now includes 5018 individuals - I currently use Family Tree Maker 2010 to keep my data current.

My goal with this blog is to share my journey from this point forward. I plan to attend the annual National Genealogical Society Conference in Salt Lake next month. They have a tracks for methodology and skill building in genealogical research that I hope to use, choosing seminars that will give me more ideas and skills to continue my search into my past generations.

So I will continue to write of my steps through the past.... Check back

Posted by Reba McMillan at 3/5/2010 12:00 AM | Add Comment