Wednesday, April 30, 2014

WEDDING WEDNESDAY - GORDON HALL & DOROTHY BROWN


I always enjoy, in fact, I'm elated, when I find newspaper articles about my ancestors.  This particular announcement is for the wedding of my husband's parents.  

It was published in the San Diego Union on 22 Aug 1948.  This was Gordon Hall's first and only marriage.  Dorothy, who's maiden name was Fink, had been married to another man named Brown.

Gordon and Dorothy had one child, a son.  I am lucky enough to be married to that man.  We met very briefly in 10th grade, but didn't marry until many years later.  


WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT FOR 
GORDON C. HALL & DOROTHY BROWN



I hope you can locate newspaper articles that tell about your ancestor's lives too.


OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
WEDDING WEDNESDAY - Things are not always wha they seem or what they say
WEDDING WEDNESDAY - Where were they married?
Happy Hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHT RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Saturday, April 19, 2014

VACATIONS–WE ALL NEED ONE ONCE IN A WHILE

clip_image002

Hi Readers – I want to let you know that I will be on vacation for a couple of weeks.  But, I've left you some posts that will show up while I'm gone.  And, please see the list below for some of the more popular posts from the past few months.

Please keep an eye out for those posts while I'm gone.


MEANWHILE - HERE ARE SOME OF THE MORE POPULAR POSTS FROM MY BLOG

ADDING SIBLINGS TO FINDARAVE 

EVERNOTE - A free tool that will help you organize your research & everything else

FACEBOOK - How it can be very useful in your research 

DIGITAL FOLDER ORGANIZING & NAMING MADE EASY 

PASSPORT APPLICATIONS - So much information 

MICHIGAN DEATH RECORDS ONLINE - Where to find them 

HOW I FOLLOW A TRAIL OF RECORDS & ANALYZE THEM - PART 1 
HOW I FOLLOW A TRAIL OF RECORDS & ANALYZE THEM - PART 2 
HOW I FOLLOW A TRAIL OF RECORDS & ANALYZE THEM - PART 3 


I’m excited because part of our trip will be spent in Scotland, home of many of my ancestors. I’ve always dreamed of going to Scotland and now we are.  

clans-of-the-scottish-highlands-and-lowlands-map

You can bet I will write about it when we get back.  



I appreciate all of you for taking your time to visit my blog.  

Happy hunting and I'll see you soon,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHT RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Thursday, April 10, 2014

LEGACY 8–THE SEARCH FUNCTION–WHAT CAN YOU FIND?

about legacy screen

Today I thought I would take a look at the different types of occupations in my family tree.  That being said, in order to run a report in Legacy 8 I have to have entered the occupations.  

The place to do that is in the Events/Facts section of the Individual’s Information. 

Here is a sample of how it looks in Legacy:
Click on any image in this post to enlarge it
Occupation_Lindsay Richard

You can see that Richard Lindsay held several positions. I have highlighted them.  Because he was an elected official for two of the positions he held, I entered them as such.  However, for them to show up in a list I would either have to re-enter them as "occupation" or add "election" as a separate search criteria.  This is an unusual scenario as I cannot think of any other family members for whom "Election" is an event. 

Here are the positions he held:
  • Estimator at Large
  • City Clerk
  • Printer’s Devil
  • Printer
I sorted the events by name, rather than by date, so that they would show up the way I wanted them to.  Because I entered two of the events as “elections” rather than “occupations” they won’t show up if I run an ‘Occupation’ search & report on Legacy.  Unless I add another criteria for “election.”  Seeing this makes me think I need to adjust those entries.  That’s the beauty of writing this blog and also of doing reports.  You find things that need to be changed in your database.  

Do you use the Events section in Legacy?  If not, then when you are running reports or looking at a chronology/timeline, you won’t have all the information you need on your ancestor.

Back to occupations.  Now I will run an occupation report in Legacy 8.

To do this you go to the “Search” tab and to “Find.”

Then select your criteria and click on “create list.”

Occupation search screen

I’ll do a broad search first and see how many people have occupations listed.  This created a list with 123 individuals on it.  These must be the only people in my database for whom I’ve added occupations in the events field.  I don’t think that’s a very good percentage considering I have 4,158 people in my database.  And, 2,229 of them are males.  I can see I have work to do.

Here is a screen shot of the top portion of the list.  I selected my 2nd great grandfather and you can see his Events are highlighted on the right.  I could click on any of the tabs on the right and look at information for Charles Milne.

Occupation - Charles Milne

Now let’s run another search for everyone I might have in my database listed with the occupation having to do with cigars.  I remember running across cigar makers in my research.

This time I changed my search criteria as follows:

occupation second search criteria

This created a list with 3 people on it.
 
CHARLES BROWN - CIGAR MANUFACTURER IN NEW YORK 1875

MONSON THORP, JR. - CIGAR MAKER, NEW YORK 1866

























I’ve highlighted two of the three people above. Please notice how many events I have added to these individuals.   
TIP:  The more events you add, the better story you can have of your ancestor's life.

I hope this has given you some new ideas about how to use the “Search” function in Legacy 8. There are so many different kinds of reports we can create. I know I haven’t even scratched the surface. 

But, we have had fun, haven’t we?

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

Legacy Census List – How I will Use It to Search for My Family
Legacy 8 – A Quick Guide to Label & Tab Colors
How to Find Your Family Statistics in Legacy 8

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright © 2014 Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHT RESERVED. NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Sunday, April 6, 2014

NATIONAL SCOTTISH TARTAN DAY–MY SCOTTISH SURNAMES

 


Today is National Scottish Tartan Day.  I’m extremely proud of my Scottish heritage, which comes from both my paternal & maternal lines.  Three of my eight great grandparents came over from Scotland.  There might be a fourth if I could break down one brick wall.

I thought I would post a little about the 3 clans in my line and a picture of their tartans.  When you Google a particular name and the word tartan you get several choices for each clan.  Apparently there are variations in each tartan pattern.  I just picked the one or two I preferred for a particular name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan_Day
“Tartan Day is a celebration of Scottish heritage on April 6, the date on which the Declaration of Arbroath was signed in 1320. An ad hoc event was held in New York City in 1982, but the current format originated in Canada in the mid-1980s. It spread to other communities of the Scottish diaspora in the 1990s. In Australasia the similar International Tartan Day is held on July 1, the anniversary of the repeal of the 1747 Act of Proscription that banned the wearing of tartan.
Tartan Days typically have parades of pipe bands, Highland dancing and other Scottish-themed events.”
 
Here are three of the Scottish surnames in my ancestry.  I have looked online and found various sites that have the origins of the names.  They vary from site to site.
 
LINDSAY   
Clan Linsday tartan
 
Origins of the clan
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Lindsay
The Lindsays were prominent in both England and Scotland from the late 11th century.[1] Sir Walter de Lindissie accompanied David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon to claim his throne.[1] Walter's great-grandson, Sir William de Lindesay, sat in the Parliament of 1164 and was later a justiciar.[1] William Lindsay held the lands of Crawford. The chief's premier title was later Earl of Crawford.[1] Sir William Lindsay sat in Parliament as Baron of Luffness in East Lothian.[1] His wife was Etherlreda who was a granddaughter of Cospatrick who ruled most of Northumbria.[1]
Sir William Lindsay's son was Sir David Lindsay who married a member of the royal family named Marjory.[1] David died in 1214 and was succeeded as Lord Crawford and High Justiciar of Lothian by his son who was also called David.[1] This David also inherited the English estates of Limesay and Wolveray.[1] One of his descendants was another Sir David Lindsay who was Chamberlain of Scotland in 1256.[1]
 
MILNE
Clan Milne tartan
 

Origins of the surname
 
In Scotland this ancient name is found mainly in Aberdeenshire. It is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and in most instances a topographical surname for someone who lived near a mill, derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "mylen(e)", Middle English "mille, milne", from the Latin "molina", a derivative of "molere", to grind. The mill was an important centre in every medieval settlement, normally operated by an agent of the local landowner, and in some cases the surname may be an occupational name for a worker at the mill or for the miller himself. A family of the name Miln(e) were farmers at the Mill of Boyndie for generations. One Gilbert Milne had a grant of the chaplainry of Golspe in 1575, and John Miln was servitor of John Scrimgeour of Glaswall in 1610. A Coat of Arms granted to a Milne family of Aberdeen in 1692 depicts, on a gold shield, a blue cross moline pierced ovalways of the field between three black mullets, all within a blue bordure wavy. The Crest is a galley with oars erect in saltire proper, and the Motto, "Dat cura commodum", translates as: "Vigilance ensures advantage". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Johannes de Molendino, which was dated 1382, in the "Episcopal Register of Aberdeen", Scotland, during the reign of King Robert 11 of Scotland, 1371 - 1390. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
The surname Milne originates from the clan of Gordon, according to various sources I have found.
© Copyright: Name Origin Research www.surnamedb.com 1980 - 2013
Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Milne#ixzz2kfaNo1vn
 
WALLACE
 
Clan Wallace tartan - 2   Clan Wallace tartan

Origins of the surname
 Wallace is a Scottish surname derived from the Anglo-Norman French waleis, which is in turn derived from a cognate of the Old English wylisc (pronounced "wullish") meaning "foreigner" or "Welshman" (etymology; see also Wallach and Walhaz). The original surname may have denoted someone from the former Kingdom of Strathclyde who spoke Cumbric, a close relative of the Welsh language, or possibly an incomer from Wales, or the Welsh Marches. The Kingdom of Strathclyde was originally a part of the Hen Ogledd, its people speaking a Brythonic language distinct from Scots Gaelic and the English derived from Lothian. In modern times, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the surname has been used as an Americanization of numerous Ashkenazic Jewish surnames.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_(surname)


This is just a bit of background on some of my Scottish heritage.  

I wrote about my MILNE surname on Surname Saturday back in November 2013.  You can read that post here SURNAME SATURDAY – MILNE

We are traveling to Scotland in the next few weeks and I can’t even tell you how excited I am.  It will be my first visit.  We will walk the same streets as my great grandparents and even see some of the places they lived.  I’ve looked at Google Earth and Maps and they are still standing.  You know I'll have some great stuff to share when we return.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION





Friday, April 4, 2014

PASSPORT APPLICATIONS–SO MUCH INFORMATION!


passport-us

We all love to find records that are rich in genealogical information.  Dates & names & places are what we hunt for all the time. 

Today I was doing a bit of research on my FRAMPTON line.  This is a surname on my maternal side.  I was working on the children of my 4th Great Granduncle, Rev. Elijah Frampton, Sr. and his wife, Lucinda Trowbridge.  They had 4 children that I know of.

FRAMPTON_Mendal G_photo from Passport Application_1922
PASSPORT PHOTO FOR MENDAL G. FRAMPTON


 From that research I was led to a grandson of Elijah & Lucinda Frampton, named Mendal G. Frampton.   I entered him on my tree in Ancestry (after entering him in my Legacy database).  Then what do I see.  Shaky leaves. You know.  Those tempting hints at the top of your Ancestry page.  

It’s not my practice to look at each one of those shaky leaves, every day.  However, when I have entered new people and that leaf begins shaking right away, I can’t help but wonder what might be there.  



What I found were several records for Mendal G. Frampton.  One of those records was a United States Passport Application.  

US passport page from ancestry
ANCESTRY PAGE FOR ENTERING YOUR SEARCH CRITERIA

I have only run across a couple of these in all my research.  Apparently my family didn’t go overseas much.  OR, I just haven’t researched the right members of the family yet. 


FRAMPTON_Mendall_Passport application_27 May 1922_page 1
PAGE 1 OF APPLICATION FOR MENDAL G. FRAMPTON
FRAMPTON_Mendall_Passport application_27 May 1922_page 2
PAGE 2 OF APPLICATION FOR MENDAL G. FRAMPTON INCLUDING A NOTE SIGNED BY HIS MOTHER


 
PAGE 3 OF APPLICATION INCLUDING A PHOTO OF HIS WIFE


WHAT A RICH SOURCE OF INFORMATION!

WHAT MIGHT YOU FIND ON AN APPLICATION?
  • Name
  • Exact DOB
  • Place of birth
  • Father’s name
  • Current residence
  • Occupation
  • Complete physical description of the applicant
  • Signature of the applicant
  • Photograph of the applicant
  • Letter or statements from family members
  • Where & when they were traveling
If that isn’t a genealogist’s dream, I don’t know what is. 

WHAT WILL I DO NEXT?

I will enter all the information from the application into my Legacy database and cite my source.  Then I will begin looking for other documentation that will bring additional evidence of the facts stated on the passport application.  Since applicant’s have to have a notary verify their identity, it’s highly likely that the information is correct.  Do people try to lie and use false information?  Of course, some do.  But, that’s exactly why you look for additional sources for the data you found.

What I did find from this application was the name of Mendal’s wife.  I then searched the Ancestry database for her passport application and found it.  

That’s all for today.  I just wanted to share this with you, in case you haven’t played around with this particular set of records yet.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
SHAKY LEAVES ON ANCESTRY
FOLLOWING LEADS ON ANCESTRY
HOW I FOLLOW A TRAIL OF RECORDS - PART 1 
HOW I FOLLOW A TRAIL OF RECORDS - PART 2 
HOW I FOLLOW A TRAIL OF RECORDS - PART 3
 
Back I go to look for more passport applications.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

EVERNOTE–A VERY USEFUL AND FREE TOOL TO HELP YOU ORGANIZE GENEALOGY AND EVERYTHING ELSE

evernote4

I have debated on writing this post for a few weeks now.  Why?  Because I am not an Evernote specialist by any stretch of the imagination.  I began using the program about 6 months ago.  What I’m going to do in this post is tell you where you can go to learn about this wonderful program.

I belong to several genealogy Facebook groups  and I kept hearing about Evernote this and Evernote that.  I’m always curious and continually strive to learn and improve my skills at all times.  So, I downloaded the FREE program onto my desktop and my iPad. 
Once I downloaded Evernote I played around with it a bit, but have to admit that I wasn’t quite “getting it.”  I didn’t do anything with it for a month or two.  Then one day I decided that I needed to take some time and really explore this program everyone seems to rave about.  I watched the tutorial online at their site.  Then I did what I usually do when wanting to learn something new, I turned to YouTube.  That is a site that can teach you about everything from composting to how to use software programs.

Here are some links I found by Googling “Evernote tutorials.”  Of course there are many more out there and you may find some that explain it better or differently, but these will get you started.

http://www.cyndislist.com/evernote/how-to/
https://evernote.com/getting_started/
http://evernote.com/video/
The following link is very informative.
http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/how-to-use-evernote-the-missing-manual-full-text

WHY USE THIS PROGRAM AT ALL?
  • Every note you put into Evernote is OCR’d and searchable.  Can’t remember where you put that note about your Grandmother’s birthplace?  Just enter her name or the place or something that might have been included in the note and Evernote will find it for you.
  • You can tag your notes.
  • You can create notebook stacks.  I have a notebook called  SURNAMES and I have several surnames notebooks under or stacked in that master notebook.
  • You can email items you’ve found or want to save, directly to your Evernote account.  You are given a specific email address just for your use.
  • You can create audio and video right from the program.  Take a picture, record a voice note.
  • You can sync to all your devices.  I have Evernote on my desktop, laptop, iPad and iPhone and they all contain the same items.
  • You can share your notebooks with others and allow them to add to them
That’s just a partial lists of the features.  Are you convinced yet?

Here is a screenshot of Evernote on my desktop:

Evernote screenshot

There are a list of my notebooks on the far left.  A snippet view of some of the posts from my Blog Post notebook in the middle and then on the right, a larger view of the note I have highlighted.

I have shared notebooks with my brother, John, who is also a genealogist.  If you look at my notebook list you will see that I have one for Gardening, Household tips, my Mom’s info (she is in assisted living and I need to keep all her paperwork, medicines, cards etc. handy at all times), one for Recipes and another for our upcoming trip to Scotland. 

Another free application offered by Evernote is their Web Clipper.  If you have ever used a screen capture program, that is what this is.  It allows you to mark up, add text, highlight etc.  And then, allows you to save that clip to a specific notebook, that you designate within Evernote.

Here’s a screen shot I captured yesterday, with Web Clipper.  Then I played around with all the features in web clipper.  I’m just learning to use this feature and needed to practice.

Evernot web clipper shot

I wrote this so that maybe you will have an idea, now, about what everyone is talking about when they mention Evernote. 

FYI:  There is a similar program offered by Microsoft that is also free.  It’s called OneNote.  Many people use it and like it.  Some people even use both programs.

I hope this post has been useful and somewhat informative. It certainly isn’t meant as a tutorial as there are many of those already available.  

Other bloggers have written about using Evernote.  One noted blogger, Thomas McEntee wrote about it and you can find his post here: EVERNOTE - Your Virtual Genealogy Assistant

Let me know if you begin using Evernote and if so, what tips can you share with me?

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
FACEBOOK - How It Can Be Very Useful in Your Research
FAMILY SEARCH - Going Back & Getting Those Other Pages
SETTING GOALS, FOCUSING ORGANIZING - How do we Handle These Issues?

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION