Simeon Barker born where Marlboro Mar. 30, 1811 shock son
of Enoch Barker where and Anna Rising dau of Jonathan Rising. Marlboro, VT.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Amanuensis Monday: Remembering Where
Ongoing
transcription of hand-written notes found in the BISHOP family file at the NewYork State Library in Albany.
Enoch Barker perhaps in Warwick, Mass.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Ancestry Offers This Year's Records Free
A little year-end gift from Ancestry.com to you: free access to the collections new in 2012. Included are vital records for Massachusetts, church records for Pennsylvania, New York immigration records from the early 1900s, the New York state census of 1892, and more. You can't beat free, but remember the goal is peak your interest so that you want more records that are in the subscription-only area.
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| You can search within the free records of 2012 and see the index and actual images. |
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| The Pennsylvania collections features a record from a neighboring New Jersey family. Excellent example of looking to neighboring jurisdictions for records. Ancestry.com Pennsylvania Church and Town Records 1708-1985 |
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Baby Girl of Poland 1942
An interesting cousin surfaced in my mother's DNA matches at 23andMe. A woman who was given away as a baby in Poland in 1942 during World War II has submitted her DNA in hopes of locating family. Identifinders International features two people who were separated from their biological families at young ages because of the Holocaust who are now seeking their families of origin through DNA testing. Because they were separated so young, they have little or no recollection of their origins.
Here is what the match looks like between Baby Girl from Poland and my mother:
They share two small segments, which could indicate that they are distantly related from at least two ancestral lines. As Baby Girl has no documented lines and I have no documented lines in Poland, figuring this one out is going to depend on other people with documented lines coming forward with their DNA and their family trees.
A geographical map of the locations of Baby Girl's genetic matches and the locations of their ancestors was created at Google Maps. This is a great strategy for seeing where genetic relations live and forming possible branches of the tree based on concentrations. Drawbacks include recent migrations, lack of knowledge of one's roots, under-representation of certain groups and areas in the database, and confused names as geographic names were altered to reflect the language of the contemporary rulers of the area.
The map definitely shows a concentration of relatives in the area where Baby Girl was given to her new parents. A very close relation is still needed to possibly identify her birth parents.
Here is what the match looks like between Baby Girl from Poland and my mother:
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| 23andMe |
A geographical map of the locations of Baby Girl's genetic matches and the locations of their ancestors was created at Google Maps. This is a great strategy for seeing where genetic relations live and forming possible branches of the tree based on concentrations. Drawbacks include recent migrations, lack of knowledge of one's roots, under-representation of certain groups and areas in the database, and confused names as geographic names were altered to reflect the language of the contemporary rulers of the area.
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| Google.com/maps Locations of genetic relatives and their ancestral lines of Baby Girl |
Monday, December 24, 2012
Amanuensis Monday: Barker and Allard
Continuation of transcription of hand-written notes found
in the Bishop family file at the New York State Library in Albany. When compared to the P in Permela, the name appears to be Barker and not Parker.
Family Record of Enoch Barker
Permela Barker born Aug. 7, 1801.
Fanny Barker born Jan. 8, 1804.
Nancy Barker born Jan. 17, 1806.
David Barker born Sept. 8, 1807.
Lois Barker born June 6, 1809.
Simeon Barker born March 30, 1811.
Mother Anna Rising dau. Of Jonathan Rising Marlboro, VT.
Family Record of Charles E Allard.
Edwin Simeon Allard born Oct. 21, 1879.
Elsie Dora Allard born March 24, 1881.
Lurena Adelle Allard born Nov. 4, 1882.
Charles Albert Allard born June 7, 1886.
Gracia Ruth Allard born Aug. 31, 1889.
Bertha Christine Allard born Nov. 16, 1891.
Clyde Melville Allard born Aug. 13, 1893.
Edna May Allard born Aug. 23, 1895.
Elsie Dora died Feb. 26, 1904. 19 yrs 11 mo.
Edwin Simeon Vistula, Ind. Mar. 11, 1907. 28 yrs.
Gracia Ruth June 25, 1913. 24 yrs.
Lurena Adelle Dec. 5, 1917. 35 yrs.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Utilizing the DNA of a Close Cousin, Part Two
The arrival of my mother's maternal first cousin at 23andMe enables me to more definitely categorize our genetic cousins into branches of the tree using autosomal DNA.
Of particular concern was the beginning of chromosome 15. My mother has several matches that share a long segment with her from the beginning, zero, through 24,000,000. These genetic cousins are usually from Latvia or at least one parent was. I figured that these people were from my mother's father's side of the family, as my maternal grandmother has no Latvian ancestry known to me. But we have to keep an open mind about our notions of our origins when we analyze our DNA.
When my mother's brother tested, he did not match any of these people. In addition, he and my mother did not match on chromosome 15 until the 24,000,000 mark. This is because you have two sides to your chromosomes: one is from mom, the other from dad. My mother and uncle did not inherit the same piece of the beginning of chromosome 15 from their mother.
So I could not be sure if these people matched my mother through her father or her mother.
Then along came the maternal first cousin, F.O. He and my mother match at the beginning of chromosome 15, thus revealing my mother's maternal side of this segment.
Isn't it amazing that in all of these people, the chromosome "broke" in the same spot?
Comparing F.O. to the other people who match my mother at the beginning of chromosome 15, we find that F.O. does not match these people. So we can conclude that this group of Latvian cousins matches my mother through her father and not her mother. Now to find the elusive common ancestor of all of them . . .
Of particular concern was the beginning of chromosome 15. My mother has several matches that share a long segment with her from the beginning, zero, through 24,000,000. These genetic cousins are usually from Latvia or at least one parent was. I figured that these people were from my mother's father's side of the family, as my maternal grandmother has no Latvian ancestry known to me. But we have to keep an open mind about our notions of our origins when we analyze our DNA.
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| Jody's mom versus JZ, TD, and dg. Question posed by this match: Do these cousins match through the paternal or maternal side? |
When my mother's brother tested, he did not match any of these people. In addition, he and my mother did not match on chromosome 15 until the 24,000,000 mark. This is because you have two sides to your chromosomes: one is from mom, the other from dad. My mother and uncle did not inherit the same piece of the beginning of chromosome 15 from their mother.
So I could not be sure if these people matched my mother through her father or her mother.
Then along came the maternal first cousin, F.O. He and my mother match at the beginning of chromosome 15, thus revealing my mother's maternal side of this segment.
Isn't it amazing that in all of these people, the chromosome "broke" in the same spot?
Comparing F.O. to the other people who match my mother at the beginning of chromosome 15, we find that F.O. does not match these people. So we can conclude that this group of Latvian cousins matches my mother through her father and not her mother. Now to find the elusive common ancestor of all of them . . .
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| Maternal first cousin F.O. versus the Latvian matches. |
Utilizing the DNA of a Close Cousin, Part One
Having my mother's maternal first cousin ("FO") in the database at 23andMe helps me isolate the matches into my mother's maternal side or paternal side. My mother's uterine brother ("AH") is also in the database. There are areas in the DNA of both siblings from their mother, but are not shared between them. One such instance is with my father's third cousin, RS. RS matches my mother but not her brother, so we cannot be certain if the match is through the maternal Irish side or the paternal side.
Fortunately, FO matches both RS and my mother on the same segment on chromosome 18. As FO is a maternal first cousin, this indicates that RS is related to my mother through her mother, even though RS does not share any DNA with my mother's brother.
If we travel back in my maternal grandmother's tree and back in some of the Irish branches of RS's tree, we will start to see the same ancestors.
Fortunately, FO matches both RS and my mother on the same segment on chromosome 18. As FO is a maternal first cousin, this indicates that RS is related to my mother through her mother, even though RS does not share any DNA with my mother's brother.
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| 23andMe |
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Close Cousin: Percentages
Two people who are related closer than third cousins will share a percentage of identical DNA within a predictable range. My new match at 23andMe, my maternal first cousin once removed, fits this predicted percentage.
My mother and her brother both share 11.9% identical DNA with their first cousin. As the next generation from these three, my share of the identical DNA should be cut in half. My mother's cousin and I match 5%. This percentage is on the lower end of the predictable amount shared. We should be grateful for this because the lower percentage bumped us into a second cousin prediction and allowed him to be revealed in my account as a match, enabling me to reach out to him.
For illustration purposes, my father and his first cousin once removed match at 6.71%. I match this first cousin twice removed at 4.44%, which is just short of the 5% I share with my first cousin once removed. That is how random DNA inheritance works. You end up carrying more DNA from some ancestral lines than others.
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| International Society of Genetic Genealogy Wiki |
My mother and her brother both share 11.9% identical DNA with their first cousin. As the next generation from these three, my share of the identical DNA should be cut in half. My mother's cousin and I match 5%. This percentage is on the lower end of the predictable amount shared. We should be grateful for this because the lower percentage bumped us into a second cousin prediction and allowed him to be revealed in my account as a match, enabling me to reach out to him.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Close Cousin Revealed at 23andMe
Last year, a close cousin appeared in my Relative Finder matches at the DNA testing site 23andMe. Little was revealed about this mystery man except that the match we shared, 5%, placed us in a second cousin range (sharing great-grandparents). 23andMe allows you to contact a match three times. I sent notes twice. When the website allowed me to sort my matches based on which parent was the match (you can only do this if you have a parent in the database), I discovered that this person matched my mother. He did not appear in her Relative Finder because their relationship was too close to be revealed without the consent of both parties, and he had not chosen this option on his end.
Last week, he came forward! He is a first cousin of my mother and her brother. His father was a brother of my maternal grandmother. We did not know of each other until we connected at 23andMe. Why? My grandmother was the youngest of five children. Her mother, Anna Preston, died in 1921, soon after my grandmother was born. The four older children stayed together while my grandmother was sent to live with other relatives who were willing and able to care for a baby. They were not close and the death of my grandmother almost twenty years ago further separated us.
We'll explore the DNA studies available through this new cousin in upcoming posts. For now, my top genetic matches in the database are my parents, my maternal uncle, my maternal first cousin once removed, and my paternal first cousin twice removed.
Last week, he came forward! He is a first cousin of my mother and her brother. His father was a brother of my maternal grandmother. We did not know of each other until we connected at 23andMe. Why? My grandmother was the youngest of five children. Her mother, Anna Preston, died in 1921, soon after my grandmother was born. The four older children stayed together while my grandmother was sent to live with other relatives who were willing and able to care for a baby. They were not close and the death of my grandmother almost twenty years ago further separated us.
We'll explore the DNA studies available through this new cousin in upcoming posts. For now, my top genetic matches in the database are my parents, my maternal uncle, my maternal first cousin once removed, and my paternal first cousin twice removed.
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| 23andMe Relative Finder Top matches for me The M indicates a match to my mother. The P indicates a match to my father. |
Monday, December 17, 2012
Amanuensis Monday: Parker and Coleman of Vermont
Sixth in a series transcribing the hand-written notes found in the BISHOP family file at the New York State Library in Albany. This paper lists the dates of birth and death of Simeon Parker (or Barker) and Ruthene Coleman, as well as their six children in the 1840s and 1850s. The last name may be Parker or Barker. In other records in the file, the name looks like Barker. In the 1850 census provided below, the name is Parker.
Family Record of Simeon Parker
Simeon Parker.
Born March 30, 1811.
Married Ruthene Coleman.
Born May 13, 1815.
Henry Parker. Born
June 23, 1839.
Houghton James Parker.
Born March 25, 1841.
George Francis Parker.
Born July 8, 1843.
Rosanna Viora Parker.
Born Sept 18, 1844.
Simeon Augustene Parker.
Born April 21, 1851.
Albertine Adora Parker.
Born Dec 6, 1853.
Rosanna Viora Parker died April 1. 2 y, 6 mo, 18 da.
Ruthene Parker died Feb 2, 1868. 52 y, 8 mo, 18 da.
Henry C Parker died Jan 18, 1893. 53 y, 6 m, 23 d.
Simeon Augustus Parker died Mar 2, 1900. 48 yrs, 10 mos, 9 dy.
Simeon Parker died Aug 3, 1900. 89 yr, 4 m, 4d.
Houghton Parker died Feb 9, 1926. 84 y, 10 m, 15 d.
George Francis Parker died Oct 12, 1933. 90 y, 3 m, 4d.
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| 1850 United States Federal Census Marlboro, Windham County, Vermont |
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Old Place Names: Westville, New York
In a previous post, Final Journey from Queens to Westville, I wrote about locating a place of death for Coe D Jackson. He died in 1888 in Westville, New York, according to the New York State Death Index. The current Westville is in Franklin County, New York, and I saw no reason why Coe would leave Queens County to die there as an old man.
Thanks to T. P. for sending me Coe's obituary, stating that Coe died in Lawrence. A little more searching provides a small article copied over and over on the internet that Westville was a name for Inwood, Queens County, in the 1860s through the 1890s. Lawrence was a neighboring area whose name remains as a village in the hamlet of Inwood. The area became Nassau County after Queens was divided in 1898.
A search of older publications at Google Books provided more details. Locating exact places when names and borders have changed over the centuries is tricky but crucial for more accurate research.
Thanks to T. P. for sending me Coe's obituary, stating that Coe died in Lawrence. A little more searching provides a small article copied over and over on the internet that Westville was a name for Inwood, Queens County, in the 1860s through the 1890s. Lawrence was a neighboring area whose name remains as a village in the hamlet of Inwood. The area became Nassau County after Queens was divided in 1898.
A search of older publications at Google Books provided more details. Locating exact places when names and borders have changed over the centuries is tricky but crucial for more accurate research.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
23andMe DNA Kits: Dramatic Price Reduction
In case you have not heard, 23andMe and drastically lowered the price of a DNA testing kit from $299 to $99. There is no subscription fee. I do not know how long this price will last.
This test is for autosomal DNA, which seeks to identify the pieces of DNA you carry from all of your ancestral lines.
I have several people in mind that I wish to test. The key to successful use of these DNA testing sites is to test family members from different branches of your tree. To date, I have tested myself, both parents, my mother's brother, and two of my father's cousins. Coincidentally, both of my father's cousins matched my maternal side- one to my mother and the other to her brother.
Hope that I am able to find a part-time job to cover the costs.
Also, please bear with me. I am using a new computer with Windows 8. Very confusing at present.
This test is for autosomal DNA, which seeks to identify the pieces of DNA you carry from all of your ancestral lines.
I have several people in mind that I wish to test. The key to successful use of these DNA testing sites is to test family members from different branches of your tree. To date, I have tested myself, both parents, my mother's brother, and two of my father's cousins. Coincidentally, both of my father's cousins matched my maternal side- one to my mother and the other to her brother.
Hope that I am able to find a part-time job to cover the costs.
Also, please bear with me. I am using a new computer with Windows 8. Very confusing at present.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Amanuensis Monday: Aunt Mary's Birthday
Fourth in a series of transcribing the notes in the BISHOP family file at New York State Library in Albany.
Today's item is a letter written on the 5th day of December, 1900 by Anna P Kelsey to her cousin Mary, requesting that she honor the 10th day of December as the 100 year anniversary of the birth of their aunt Mary.
Today's item is a letter written on the 5th day of December, 1900 by Anna P Kelsey to her cousin Mary, requesting that she honor the 10th day of December as the 100 year anniversary of the birth of their aunt Mary.
Cape Vincent, NY
Dec 5, 1900
My dear Cousin Mary
I received a letter from cousin Julia Wilson today (whose
address is 1032 Pine Street, Boulder Col) asking that we might as a family
celebrate the 10th day of Dec 1900, as it is the 100th
anniversary of Aunt Mary’s birth- “In the only way we can, scattered over the continent
as we are, by observing a special commemoration, a continual commemoration in
our hearts, giving thanks 1st for the noble lives of our grand
parents, and their children” of whom (your father and mine, together with Aunts
Mary, Maria, and Julia and Uncle Ogden,) we have such lovely remembrances.
2nd “That
not one of their posterity has disgraced the name.”
3rd “That
no quarrel, hatred, misunderstanding has ever entered the circle to spoil our
home love.”
And 4th a prayer for each of us, that we may
have grace given us to live worthy of the ancestry which is our, Worthy of
them.
Cousin Julia wishes me to “notify you of this call for
our centennial commemoration and give her your address. She will try on that day to send a short
telegram to you.[“]
Lovingly your cousin
Anna P Kelsey
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| 1900 United States Federal Census Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, New York Ancestry.com |
Monday, December 3, 2012
Amanuensis Monday: Johnson and Lindsley of Connecticut
Part Four in the transcription of hand-written notes found in the family file of BISHOP at the New York State Library in Albany.
We can search records for this family to make them more real. The Barbour Collection is digitized at Ancestry and is a great resource for these older Connecticut families. Frederick W Johnson of Wallingford married Nancy Lindley of North Branford on April 6, 1824.
Frederick H Johnson.
Born April 6, 1804. Died Jan 8,
1883.
Married
Nancy Lindsley.
Born Dec 22, 1802. Died Apr 18,
1849.
Children:
Henry H Johnson.
Born May 5 or 9, 1825. Died Aug
21, 1878.
Harriet L Johnson.
Born Feb 9, 1830. Died Feb 10,
1830.
Harriet L Johnson.
Born July 29, 1831. Died Mar 10,
1835.
Herman Johnson.
Born Feb 8, 1834. Died Mar 14,
1835.
Chauncey Johnson.
Born Dec 21, 1835. Died Aug 1901.
Frederick L Johnson.
Born Sept 21, 1839. Died Aug 23,
1908.
Nancy Adelia Johnson.
Born Feb 1, 1843. Died July 26,
1914.
Augusta Cornelia Johnson.
Born Jan 15, 1845. Died Dec 18,
1917.
Mary C Johnson.
Born Oct 22, 1848. Died Dec 7,
1848.
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| Ancestry.com collection |
We can search records for this family to make them more real. The Barbour Collection is digitized at Ancestry and is a great resource for these older Connecticut families. Frederick W Johnson of Wallingford married Nancy Lindley of North Branford on April 6, 1824.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Same Name, Different Spellings
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| Holbrook's City Directory for Newark, New Jersey 1895 Page 674. Fold3.com |
Helpful guidance from a century ago:
Members of the same family spell their name differently.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Final Journey from Queens to Westville?
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| Microfiche copied at New York State Archives in Albany |
According to the New York State Death Index, Coe D Jackson died 18 July 1888. [Middle name is Downing.] This date is consistent with online transcriptions of his gravestone at the Jackson Family Cemetery in Wantagh, Nassau County (was Queens County in 1888), New York. (Thank you Dyane for posting pictures of these stones!)
The problem is the location: Westville. There is a town called Westville in Franklin County, New York, near the Canadian border. All of Coe's life events took place in Queens or Kings Counties, New York. Coe's wife, Sarah Duryea, died two years earlier in Far Rockaway, Queens County, and Coe's estate was settled in Queens County. What was he doing 350 miles away in Franklin County?
Queens County was not part of New York City in 1888, so deaths in Queens were reported to Albany. My other thought is that Westville was a neighborhood or area in Queens whose name fell out of use. Yet I cannot find any mention of such a place in Queens in the 1880s or 1890s.
If Coe died in Franklin County, this information can lead us to locate additional records and family that we never suspected. We shall see where this trail takes us.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Choice of Wedding Venue
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| Microfiche copied at The New York State Archives in Albany |
Also note that this is an unfortunate indexing system for marriages, especially because you do not have quick access to the actual marriage certificates. Only one party to the marriage is listed. You can order the certificate for a fee and wait to see who the other person is. Otherwise, you need to know the last name of the other person in order to verify that you have the correct people. In this particular situation, I had the name Joseph Leary, son of Jacob Leary and Mary Sanderson.
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| 1940 United States Federal Census Ossining, Westchester County, New York Ancestry.com |
Jacob was 23 years old in 1940. His wife, Regina, was 25, and they had a one year old child. So we would look for a marriage from 1940 backwards. December 4, 1938 fits well for this time frame. The index entry for this marriage does not provide us with the name of Joseph's bride. We only have Regina's first name from the 1940 census. So how did I find Regina's corresponding entry?
I found Joseph Leary's exact day of birth in the New York State Birth Index: February 2, 1917. I plugged this date into my Family Tree Maker software. Up pounced new, little, shaking leaves. I found a family tree giving Regina's last name as Engman. I located a Regina Engman in the index with the same date of marriage, location, and certificate number as Joseph Leary. A match!
Then I sprinkled that family tree online with the exact date of marriage and the certificate number.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Amanuensis Monday: Two Babies
Part Three in the transcription of hand-written notes found in the Bishop family file at the New York State Library in Albany. This one is a little sad- two babies lived but a day.
Florence A Barker, born May 17, 1877.
Married Nov 12, 1902
William A Shaver, born May 13, 1872.
Pearl, born Jan 8, 1910.
Died Jan 8, 1910.
Boy, born July 6, 1911.
Died July 6, 1911.
Receipt from N. C. Edmed of Four Corners, Greenfield,
Mass. Automobile Repairing and
Adjusting.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Location, Location, Location! And the Name.
I made a connection at 23andMe, the genetic testing site that provides you with oodles of people who are related to you- somehow. The irony is that this person is not related to me.
We found each other through a common surname, Puterbaugh. She is a Puterbaugh descendant and I am not. I listed the name as a collateral line. William Puterbaugh married a distant cousin of mine, Mary Duryea Cornell, in the 1860s in Illinois. I had high hopes for this branch because Mary's father, James S Cornell, was instrumental in the founding of Yorkville in Kendall County, Illinois. His story is portrayed in history books and the ancestral angle is portrayed by genealogists. A win-win situation.
This Puterbaugh descendant provided me with a listing of her Puterbaugh line, complete with names, variant spellings, and most importantly- locations. Darke County, Ohio stood out for its name alone. No Puterbaugh-Cornell marriage appeared in her direct ancestral line, though. I realized that I had little about Mary's husband, William Puterbaugh, so I looked at Find A Grave to see if a descendant or kind soul had featured the man. I knew I had the right guy when I saw the specifics of his birth: 1840 in "Dark Co., OH."
So we now had Puterbaughs in the same location at the same time.
A few family trees and researchers later, I was able to decide that William Puterbaugh was a second cousin to my contact's great grandfather. Her cousin had married my cousin. This does not make us related, but it is funny that we connected through a genetic genealogy website.
We found each other through a common surname, Puterbaugh. She is a Puterbaugh descendant and I am not. I listed the name as a collateral line. William Puterbaugh married a distant cousin of mine, Mary Duryea Cornell, in the 1860s in Illinois. I had high hopes for this branch because Mary's father, James S Cornell, was instrumental in the founding of Yorkville in Kendall County, Illinois. His story is portrayed in history books and the ancestral angle is portrayed by genealogists. A win-win situation.
This Puterbaugh descendant provided me with a listing of her Puterbaugh line, complete with names, variant spellings, and most importantly- locations. Darke County, Ohio stood out for its name alone. No Puterbaugh-Cornell marriage appeared in her direct ancestral line, though. I realized that I had little about Mary's husband, William Puterbaugh, so I looked at Find A Grave to see if a descendant or kind soul had featured the man. I knew I had the right guy when I saw the specifics of his birth: 1840 in "Dark Co., OH."
So we now had Puterbaughs in the same location at the same time.
A few family trees and researchers later, I was able to decide that William Puterbaugh was a second cousin to my contact's great grandfather. Her cousin had married my cousin. This does not make us related, but it is funny that we connected through a genetic genealogy website.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Geographical Genealogy: Germany
I have a few German lines that are quite short in my trees- only a few generations- because tracing ancestors back in Europe can be difficult.
I have been playing with a website, GeoGen, that offers surname searches in a geographical genealogical context. You type in a surname of interest and the website generates a map showing areas of Germany where the surname is concentrated today. This can help guide you on where to look for records, but is not proof that any of your ancestors lived in any particular place.
Let's take Clara Patschke. She first appears in the 1870 United States Federal Census in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, age 29, born in Prussia. Prussia does not exist anymore. As Clara was leaving Prussia to come to the United States, it encompassed a large area of land along the North and Baltic Seas. In the 1880 Federal Census, Clara provides a bit more detail about her origin: Saxony.
Someone kindly sent me an 1877 baptismal record for a daughter of Clara, listing Clara's origin as Zeitz, Saxony. There is a town called Zeitz in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, which is next to Saxony, about 100 miles north of the modern border between Germany and Czech.
So we can plug in the surname Patschke at GeoGen to see where the geographic distribution of today's Patschkes.
If we look at the area where Zeitz is located in Saxony-Anhalt, we see a concentration of Patschkes. This is where we would hope to find a lot of people with the surname.
Next we can look for variants of the last name using the Name Graph feature. Patschke was spelled differently on every record I have found so far. Seeing additional alternate spellings can help me uncover more records.
I have been playing with a website, GeoGen, that offers surname searches in a geographical genealogical context. You type in a surname of interest and the website generates a map showing areas of Germany where the surname is concentrated today. This can help guide you on where to look for records, but is not proof that any of your ancestors lived in any particular place.
Let's take Clara Patschke. She first appears in the 1870 United States Federal Census in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, age 29, born in Prussia. Prussia does not exist anymore. As Clara was leaving Prussia to come to the United States, it encompassed a large area of land along the North and Baltic Seas. In the 1880 Federal Census, Clara provides a bit more detail about her origin: Saxony.
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| 1880 United States Federal Census Newark, Essex County, New Jersey |
Someone kindly sent me an 1877 baptismal record for a daughter of Clara, listing Clara's origin as Zeitz, Saxony. There is a town called Zeitz in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, which is next to Saxony, about 100 miles north of the modern border between Germany and Czech.
So we can plug in the surname Patschke at GeoGen to see where the geographic distribution of today's Patschkes.
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| GeoGen Geographical distribution of surname Patschke |
If we look at the area where Zeitz is located in Saxony-Anhalt, we see a concentration of Patschkes. This is where we would hope to find a lot of people with the surname.
Next we can look for variants of the last name using the Name Graph feature. Patschke was spelled differently on every record I have found so far. Seeing additional alternate spellings can help me uncover more records.
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| GeoGen Name Graph for Patschke |
Monday, November 19, 2012
Amanuensis Monday: Doolittle, Johnson, and Bishop of Connecticut
Part two of transcribing notes found in the Bishop family file at the New York State Library in Albany.
John Doolittle born Sept 3, 1794. Died July 22, 1873.
Ruth Melissa Doolittle born Jan 27, 1822-
Wallingford. Died Oct 8, 1900 N. Haven.
Married in Wallingford Dec 8, 1844 to Henry H
Johnson. Born May 9, 1825
Wallingford. Died Aug 21, 1878 N.
Branford.
Lyman Humiston Johnson born Oct 10, 1845
Wallingford. Died Sept 26, 1912.
Henry Herman born Mar 22, 1847 Wallingford. Died April 17, 1922.
Mary Matilda born May 3, 1849 Wallingford. Died June 22, 1921.
Charles Hobart born Jan 22, 1851 Cheshire. Died June 12, 1912.
Susan Adella born Nov 19, 1853 Hamden. Died Feb 16, 1909.
L. H. J. married Mary Lucinda Bishop, born Mar 21,
1849. Died July 12, 1913.
Nellie Augusta, Nov 16, 1869.
Harry Bishop, June 16, 1876.
Lyman Henry Jr, Aug 27, 1883.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Organize at the Scene
While researching on the recent trip to Albany, New York, I photographed lots of indexes of births, marriages, and deaths from the microfiche reader. The top of each page listed the event type (birth, marriage, or death) and the year, but not the state. If the desired information was near the bottom of the page, the heading was not visible.
A simple organizational trick eliminated confusion later. I hand-wrote the year, type of event, and state on a piece of paper and included the information in each snapshot. You do not want to have a great entry but no idea of its source.
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| New York State Death Index for the year 1926 on microfiche at the New York State Archives in Albany |
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| New York State Death Index for the year 1911 |
Monday, November 12, 2012
Amanuensis Monday: Doolittle and Porter of Connecticut
Transcription of Family Notes found in family file for BISHOP at The New York State Library in Albany.
Chauncey Andrews Doolittle born Dec. 28, 1877
Married May 25, 1910, in Meriden, Conn, Edith E Porter.
Children:
Lawrence Porter born Mar. 15, 1911.
Henry Andrews born Apr. 23, 1912.
Lois Edith born May 24, 1913.
Ruth Helen born Sept. 26, 1914.
Dorothy Margaret born Dec. 30, 1915.
Raymond Chauncey born May 31, 1919.
Robert Everett born Feb. 10, 1921.
Harry Stevens born Mar. 10, 1922.
Harry Burton Johnson born Feb. 21, 1904. [Maybe Brenton or Benton]
Ruth Mary 1897.
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| 1930 United State Federal Census Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Ancestry.com |
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Family Files at Albany
A gem to find in any library or depository is a family file. The New York State Library at Albany houses boxes of research deposited over the decades, oftentimes not indexed or otherwise accounted for, I was told on the tour. Contents of the files varies greatly from self-published genealogies to newspaper clippings and family bibles. Records end up deposited at the Library for a number of reasons, such as the family historian last living in the Albany area, and not necessarily because the family had any ties to New York.
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| Boxes containing family files New York State Library, Albany |
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| Custer Family Genealogy Self-published |
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| Copy of hand-written notes and Copy of marriage certificate from 1859 John Rorbach to Harriet Cook in Albany |
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| Posterior of actual photograph of Elting Family Bible |
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| Photograph of Elting Family Bible written in Dutch Dates in the 1700s |
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| Hand-written family notes concerning a Connecticut family including Bishop. This family historian recorded information on whatever paper available. I think I will transcribe this set of papers. |
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Double Cousin
An interesting match has surfaced among my father's genetic cousins at 23andMe. This cousin, N. H., shares three small segments with my father. N. H. is related on both my father's paternal and maternal sides. How do I know this?
D. W. is my father's paternal cousin, once removed. His DNA is so useful for sorting matches because anyone who matches both of them is related through the branch of my family tree that D. W. and my father have in common.
Here, we see that N. H. matches both my father and his cousin on the same segment of chromosome 4. Thus, N. H. is related to my father via the paternal line.
Next, N. H. and my father share a small segment on the X chromosome. The 23rd pair of chromosomes determines sex. Men have XY. The Y is passed from father to son relatively unchanged. The X is passed from mother to son. Thus, N. H. and my father are related through their mothers as well. X chromosome inheritance follows a very specific path, eliminating several lines of ancestry from holding the match.
N. H. and my father also share a small segment on chromosome 8. At this point, we cannot be sure which parent this segment can be attributed to.
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| 23andMe DNA comparison between N. H. and D.W. and N. H. and David Lutter |
D. W. is my father's paternal cousin, once removed. His DNA is so useful for sorting matches because anyone who matches both of them is related through the branch of my family tree that D. W. and my father have in common.
Here, we see that N. H. matches both my father and his cousin on the same segment of chromosome 4. Thus, N. H. is related to my father via the paternal line.
Next, N. H. and my father share a small segment on the X chromosome. The 23rd pair of chromosomes determines sex. Men have XY. The Y is passed from father to son relatively unchanged. The X is passed from mother to son. Thus, N. H. and my father are related through their mothers as well. X chromosome inheritance follows a very specific path, eliminating several lines of ancestry from holding the match.
N. H. and my father also share a small segment on chromosome 8. At this point, we cannot be sure which parent this segment can be attributed to.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Albany Research Trip: Sorting through the Finds
The research trip to Albany, New York lasted three days. I found a lot of useful information. I was unable to post because Internet service was spotty. I refueled the car in Albany and set out for home, where electric service was coming back after Hurricane Sandy. I was wise to stop in Albany for gasoline. The entire way back home was dotted with lines at gas stations, growing larger and with more police cars as I approached Northeastern New Jersey. My home suffered no real damage and the electric and heat had returned Saturday morning after going out on Monday. The food stores were slowly receiving new shipments of perishables. Schools were closed because they either had no electricity or were too damaged. More people were out riding bikes or walking to their destinations. Traffic lights were out at many intersections and large trees blocked roadways. At this moment, many blocks in town are still without power, heat, and water- while the first snowfall, Winter Storm Athena, is blanketing last week's destruction.
One of my goals in Albany was to uncover more information about Mary or Margaret Campbell, wife of Patrick Joyce. I have not found either of them in the 1860 census and the earliest child I can find was born in 1861. In the 1870 census in Pawling, Dutchess County, New York, Patrick Joyce is head of a household of four children under the age of ten; no wife. Mary Joyce is listed on the Mortality Schedule, having died in May of 1870, "Railroad run over by cars." She is a tail in my family tree- I do not know her parents. Growing up, I heard the story often about how the train caught her skirts and dragged her to her death- after she threw a baby from her arms to safety.
At Albany, the index of deaths for New York State begins in 1881, or eleven years after Mary's death. No luck there. A consultation with a researcher from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society raised an important point: A death by train could have occurred anywhere there was a railroad- not just in Pawling.
I expanded my search of digitized newspapers at GenealogyBank (you can access from home for a subscription or use Ancestry.com) and found a small article about the incident.
According to The New York Herald-Tribune [actually called the New York Herald in 1870], Margaret Joyce died in June of 1870, not May. The researcher was right: She was not killed in Pawling, but about 25 miles south, in Katonah, Westchester County, New York. She was not killed instantly, probably lingering a few days after the train severed her leg. I can only hope she was unconscious for those last days.
It is interesting (and fortunate) that she appeared on the Mortality Schedule because only deaths before May 31st of that year should be listed. The newspaper article places her death in June. So we have two dates of death.
My plan of action:
Contact St. John's Cemetery in Pawling where her husband was buried in 1905.
Contact the local historical society and town clerk for records they may hold for this family.
Search through more online newspapers using keywords of "Katonah" and "Harlem Railroad."
One of my goals in Albany was to uncover more information about Mary or Margaret Campbell, wife of Patrick Joyce. I have not found either of them in the 1860 census and the earliest child I can find was born in 1861. In the 1870 census in Pawling, Dutchess County, New York, Patrick Joyce is head of a household of four children under the age of ten; no wife. Mary Joyce is listed on the Mortality Schedule, having died in May of 1870, "Railroad run over by cars." She is a tail in my family tree- I do not know her parents. Growing up, I heard the story often about how the train caught her skirts and dragged her to her death- after she threw a baby from her arms to safety.
At Albany, the index of deaths for New York State begins in 1881, or eleven years after Mary's death. No luck there. A consultation with a researcher from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society raised an important point: A death by train could have occurred anywhere there was a railroad- not just in Pawling.
I expanded my search of digitized newspapers at GenealogyBank (you can access from home for a subscription or use Ancestry.com) and found a small article about the incident.
According to The New York Herald-Tribune [actually called the New York Herald in 1870], Margaret Joyce died in June of 1870, not May. The researcher was right: She was not killed in Pawling, but about 25 miles south, in Katonah, Westchester County, New York. She was not killed instantly, probably lingering a few days after the train severed her leg. I can only hope she was unconscious for those last days.
It is interesting (and fortunate) that she appeared on the Mortality Schedule because only deaths before May 31st of that year should be listed. The newspaper article places her death in June. So we have two dates of death.
My plan of action:
Contact St. John's Cemetery in Pawling where her husband was buried in 1905.
Contact the local historical society and town clerk for records they may hold for this family.
Search through more online newspapers using keywords of "Katonah" and "Harlem Railroad."
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Albany Research Day 1
Today was the introduction to the New York State Archives and Library by the helpful staff.
I concentrated on vital records indexes. New York City records are kept in New York City. Beginning in 1881, the rest of the counties were supposed to report births, marriages, and deaths to the State. Compliance was spotty at first, so I did not find a lot of records. At least I was able to look for myself to make sure.
Once you have located a potential record of interest in the index, you cannot readily obtain the corresponding record. You need to submit a completed application and $22 to the New York State Department of Health and wait for the certificate to come in the mail. This costs time, money, and effectively prohibits you from exploring common names. As an alternative, you can try the registrar of the county or the town where the event took place and see if they can provide the record faster or at a lower cost.
If you cannot find a record at the state level, you will want to try the local registrar anyway. Not all counties and cities reported events to the state in any particular year.
I concentrated on vital records indexes. New York City records are kept in New York City. Beginning in 1881, the rest of the counties were supposed to report births, marriages, and deaths to the State. Compliance was spotty at first, so I did not find a lot of records. At least I was able to look for myself to make sure.
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| Indexes to New York State vital records. Microfiche. |
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| Each calendar year contains an alphabetical listing of names. Counties are combined. These are deaths for the year 1900 reported to the State of New York. The number in the right column is the certificate number. |
Once you have located a potential record of interest in the index, you cannot readily obtain the corresponding record. You need to submit a completed application and $22 to the New York State Department of Health and wait for the certificate to come in the mail. This costs time, money, and effectively prohibits you from exploring common names. As an alternative, you can try the registrar of the county or the town where the event took place and see if they can provide the record faster or at a lower cost.
If you cannot find a record at the state level, you will want to try the local registrar anyway. Not all counties and cities reported events to the state in any particular year.
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| This is a nifty paper I saw hanging. The genealogy of New York Counties. Great resource. |
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