HAPPY 6th BLOGIVERSARY TO ME ~ 2010-2016

Hard to believe it's been six years since I began.  I wrote a few posts those first 3 yrs, but only got "really" serious in the fall of 2013.  Since then I've had so much fun.

• Blogging has made me a better researcher
• I've gotten to know some wonderful people in the blogging world
• I've had cousins contact me, who otherwise may never have found me
• I've discovered a love for writing that I didn't know I had

What could be better than all of that?

THANK YOU READERS

THANK YOU FELLOW BLOGGERS FOR SHARING MY POSTS

Here's to another year of discoveries and connections.

HERE'S A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF MY FIRST FEW POSTS 

My Very First Post - http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2010/01/blogging-about-family-research-day-1.html 

How to Find A Maiden Name & Locating a Marriage Record 

Breaking Down A Brick Wall 

Cheers,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

STEVE MORSE’S ONE-STEP WEBSITE ~ If you thought it was only for passenger records–Think again!

When I began doing family research I tried to learn as much as I could.  One of the first things I remember hearing about was Steve Morse’s One Step site for finding passenger records.  The site combined the records from Ellis Island and Castle Garden, making searching easier.

THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW

Oh, how this webite has changed over the years.

IF YOU HAVEN’T VISITED LATELY I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU TAKE A LOOK

HERE ARE JUST SOME OF THE GREAT RESOURCES YOU WILL FIND

• Passenger lists, not just from Ellis Island and Castle Garden, but Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and more
• Ships lists and photos
• Census information including images, ED finders, maps and more
• Some Canadian and UK census records
• New York Census records
• Some vital records
• All kinds of calendar conversions, zip codes, area codes etc.
• Foreign Alphabet translations
• DNA informaton, publications and more

Let me show you one example of how this site can help you.

I need to find a death record for my great granduncle, Vincent F. Thorp.  I have a Cook County, Illinois, Death Index that tells me he died on 4 Dec 1910 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.  The index gives me enough information for me to believe this is the right person.  The index does include an FHL film number.

I could go to the Cook County, Illinois website and try to locate a certificate number.  NOTE:  I happen to know that the death record images from this year are not online.

I went to Steve Morse’s site and looked under Vital Records (in the list on the left hand side of the home page).  Then went to Illinois Death Records (pre 1916)

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)


That takes me to the next screen, where I fill in information to try and locate my record.
 
TIP:  I generally begin with a broad net when I search.  Based on the requirement listed for this set of records, all I entered was a first name and the first two letters of the last name.



Will that be enough information?  Let’s find out.

YES!  Look what came up in my search!!



This certainly looks like the right guy to me, based on the death index.
 
Now I can order a death certificate using that certificate number.
So, now you know, if you didn’t already, that the Steve Morse website is about a LOT more than passenger records.

Please let me know if you’ve used this website lately.  If so, what did you find?

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

DETROIT ~ Street Addresses Renumbered in 1921–Here’s a list with the old and new numbers

Here’s a quick tip for those of you with ancestors who lived in Detroit, Michigan.

On January 1, 1921 new address numbers were assigned to many streets in Detroit.  There is an explanation at the beginning of this book as to why this was done.

So, if your ancestor was living at 107 Clarendon Avenue N. prior to the renumbering in 1921, the new address would be 8868 Clarendon Avenue N.  That’s quite a change.
 
This kind of change would have to be recorded in our family history in order to properly represent the location.  Sort of similar to when all the county lines changed over the decades.

NOTE:  Any location we list for our ancestors should always be recorded as it was at the time.  Not, as it was later on.  This is true of cities, counties, states, countries or street addresses.

This list for Detroit is published by Steve Morse on his website stevemorse.org.  We are all familiar with Steve Morse for his publication of immigration information from Ellis Island and Castle Garden.  But, his website contains much more than that now.

Here is a list of the resources on this site for Detroit, Michigan.



Here is the direct link to the PDF containing those old to new numbers.  Detroit Old and New House Numbers effective 1 Jan 1921.  It downloaded pretty quickly for me.  I immediately saved it to Evernote and tagged it for easy reference.

I didn’t know about this specific resource until it was posted on one of the many genealogy Facebook pages I belong to.  In this case it was the Detroit Genealogy group.  My thanks to Richard Nolan for sharing it.

I think I’ll go back to the Steve Morse site right now and see what other hidden resources he has that I didn’t know about.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

Detroit Free Press Newspaper Now Onine - 1837-2015

City Directories - A Treasure Trove of Genealogical Information

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY ~ John Russell 1743-1822 ~ Lawrence County, Ohio

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT WISEMAN

John Russell – 15 Dec 1743 to 28 Nov 1822

Age about 79 years

John Russell  is my 3rd great grandaunt’s husband’s father.  Not a blood relation or real close relative.  However, he just happens to be the person I was looking at today in my family tree.  He is buried, along with his wife, Patience, in Russell Cemetery, Aid, Lawrence County, Ohio.

He married first Susannah Day, unknown date, and they had 6 known children: James, John, Lawrence, Rachel, Esther and Elizabeth.  Next he married Patience Piles (15 Feb 1773 to 19 Sep 1852) – to them were born Jemima, Anne, Jane, Armilda, Thomas, Manoah Bostic, Samuel, Jeremiah, Sanders, Francis and James.

It is their son, Thomas, who married my 3rd great grandaunt, Lucinda Boggs.

I have a LOT of ancestors from the Lawrence County, Ohio area.  Many of their descendants are members of The Lawrence Register Facebook page.  We communicate and share information all the time.  They are a wonderful group of people.

 

TIP:  I encourage every researcher to take advantage of the groups on Facebook for the areas where your ancestors lived.  Some are more active than others.  But, you will find connections and very helpful people in most of them.  At least that has been my experience.

Now, time to explore a little more about this Russell family and their descendants.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

A GREAT DISCOVERY - Ask for Help and You Just Might Get It!

MYSTERY MONDAY - Who's Your Daddy?  Brick Wall Post #3 - Rev. Isaac C. Hunter 1798-1842

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

TUESDAY'S TIP ~ Legacy 8 ~ How To Determine When You Last Modified a Record

A quick tip for today.

I was researching a particular line of my family, that I’d not looked at in quite a while.  I don’t have any general or research notes on this person, so I wondered when I had last looked at her. 

Here’s how to find out.

From the Family View – click in the very lower right hand corner, in the blank area, next to the M:1.

 (CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

This is the screen you will see next.

Now I know that I have not looked at this ancestor since I entered her into my database on 1 Aug 2011.

HERE'S ADDITIONAL INFORMATION I RECEIVED AFTER I POSTED THIS - If you are reviewing a person in your database, but you haven't made any changes, if you click "save" it will change the modified date.  If you click "cancel" the modified date will remain the same.  I have a habit of clicking save every time I view anyone's record, but I think I will change that habit after learning this.  Sometimes, I'm just taking a look and I don't want the modified date to indicate changes were made.
 
It’s always kind of surprising when I see how long a time passes until I get back to a particular ancestor.  And, surprisingly, I don’t have a particularly large database, just 4796 people.  And, I research almost daily.

That your tip for today.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

IT'S TIME FOR THE YEARLY PROGRESS REPORT ~ FAMILY STATISTICS FOR 2015 - HOW DID I DO?

This is a topic first shared by Randy Seaver on his Genea-Musings blog.  I enjoy seeing my progress for the year, so I’ve taken a look at these numbers for the last 3 years.

These various reports that I generate in Legacy 8 will tell me how much progress has been made in my family tree.

HERE IS THE REPORT FROM 2014

 Have I made progress in my research?

• Have I added more people/individuals?
• Do I have more Master Sources?
• How about my source citations, more or not?
• How does my percentage of citations compare to last year?

 




HERE IS MY REPORT FROM 2015 – Let’s compare

I see an increase in almost every number, so that’s good news.

One of the statistics I’m always interested in is my Citations.  Have they increased from last year to this year?  What is my percentage?
 
To get that number I divide the Citations by the Number of Individuals – 10834 divided by 4796.
 
That gives me a percentage rate, per person of 225.9%.  That’s an increase of +3.2% from last year.  This means I continue to cite my sources and have improved over last year.
 
Let’s take a look at the other numbers compared to last year.

	2014	2015	CHANGE
Number of Individuals	4363	4796	+433
Number of Families	1543	1681	+138
Unique Surnames	1143	1223	+80
Master Locations	1561	1742	+181
Master Sources	712	703	-9
Citations	9719	10834	+1115
Master Events	4228	4861	+633

I’m happy with what I see.  I’ve added 1.5 individuals per day, 3 citations per day and 1.7 events per day. I suspect the small drop in Master Sources is probably just me cleaning up my list, which I do regularly.

My primary goal has never been to see how many people I can have in my tree.  I’ve been researching for 12 years.  Since I’ve been retired these past six years, I research almost daily.  My primary concern is to document what I find and do thorough work, while growing the tree.  These results prove to me that I am meeting my goals.

DO YOU HAVE GOALS FOR 2016? 
If so, what are they?

• Better sourcing
• More people added to your tree?
• Go back & review the family members you added long ago?

Whatever they are, I wish you a successful year.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

2015 ~ A LOOK BACK AT MY TOP 10 POSTS AND A SHOUT OUT TO FELLOW BLOGGERS

A LOOK BACK

First of all, I’d like to thank all the readers that take time to stop by and read my posts.  I always enjoy your comments and input.  It’s been a fun year for me and I’ve enjoyed sharing my journey with you.

Next, I’d like to thank all the other bloggers out there who keep us all informed, up to date and entertained.
 
A SPECIAL THANKS to the bloggers who have a “Best of” post each week or each month and have mentioned my blog in their list.  You may visit my mentions page here.

Some of those who have mentioned me in their lists are:

Randy Seaver in Genea-Musings – Best of Genea Blogs
Jana Iverson Last in Jana’s Genealogy and Family History – Fab Friday Finds
Jo Henn in Climbing My Family Tree – Noteworthy Reads
Gail Deaver in Genealogy a la carte - Creme de la Creme
Miriam Robbins in Ancestories – Friday Finds and Follows

HERE ARE MY TOP 10 MOST READ POSTS OVER THIS PAST YEAR.  Please click on the title to go to that post.

• Adding Sibling Links to FindAGrave
• Digital Folder Organizing & Naming Made Easy
• Tuesday’s Tip – How to Determine Which War Your Ancestor May Have Participated In
• Ancestor Wall of Photos ~ It’s Finished – Here’s How I Did it
• Michigan Death Records Online ~ Where Can You Find Them?
• Legacy 8 – Adding a Hyperlink to Your Media File
• Adding a Record to Legacy From Ancestry ~ Step by Step Instructions
• Evernote – A Very Useful & Free Tool to Help You Organize
• Tuesday’s Tip ~ Street Guide to City Directories
• How to Conduct a Location Specific Search on Family Search

I do hope there will be many more informative posts that will bring you to my blog in 2016.  We never know what lies ahead for our genealogy world.

 

May all your brick walls come down.  OK, how about just one or two?  That’s what I’m hoping for.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION