HOW I FOLLOW A TRAIL OF RECORDS & ANALYZE WHAT I FIND–HENRY HART FAMILY - PART 1

MY GOAL:  CAN I PROVE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MY 2ND GREAT GRANDFATHER & A REPORTED FIRST WIFE?  SOMEONE HE IS SAID TO HAVE MARRIED & HAD 4 CHILDREN WITH, PRIOR TO MARRYING MY 2ND GREAT GRANDMOTHER.

I WILL SHARE WITH YOU, IN THIS POST AND UPCOMING POSTS, HOW I FOLLOW THE LEADS AND WHAT I FIND.

Here’s how it began today
I wanted to find out more information about a first wife for my 2nd great grandfather, Henry HART.  According to some online trees at Ancestry.com and information I have rec’d from a descendant of the first wife, her name was Sally “Sarah” SUMNER. 
I knew that, according to this information, Henry & Sally had four children, Lucy A., Hiram Harper, Benjamin Tyler and Nancy Malinda.  

What I have:  This is the typed family group sheet I received from my cousin, Judy.  There is a lot of information on this page.  HOWEVER – no sources are included.   
NOTE:  There are very specific dates on this sheet, so you have to assume they came from somewhere.  The question is:  WHERE?

What I don’t have:

• Proof of the marriage of Henry HART & Sally SUMNER
• Birth records for any of the four children

What I need:

• Records that will provide the information listed above
• Records that will link any of the children to their parents, such as marriage records listing the parent’s names or death records listing the parent’s names, census records with children living with the parents, cemetery records, probate records.
• It would be nice to have more than one source that provides evidence of the family bond.

How I proceeded:

I began with the first child I had listed.  Lucy A. Hart  born 5 Sep 1816 (this date comes from information from a cousin named Judy, and has not been verified or sourced). Further reference to this source will just say "cousin Judy.”

• I looked on familysearch.org for any record of Lucy A. Hart.  I searched using many criteria beginning with what I knew, her name, her date of birth (I only entered the day), her probably place of birth, Canada, and her parents names.  During the process of the search I added & deleted many different criteria, like first names, places and even dates.

 TIP:  By doing this you are broadening your search and increasing your chance of finding what you are looking for.

Results for this search – Nothing that matched.  Now what?

Let’s go over to my tree on Ancestry and see what I have for her.  Are there any new hints on the tree?

Here is a screen shot of my entry for Lucy and the hints attached.


As you can see I only have her name & date given to me by cousin Judy.  The only hints given are several Ancestry Family Trees (which I’ve already reviewed and have nothing more to offer) and the exact same typed family sheet I already have.
I conducted a search on Ancestry and did not find anything new for Lucy.

TIP:  Since I have 3 other children listed for this couple, my time can be better spent by moving on to the next child, for whom I have more information.   I can come back to Lucy later.  Maybe in researching her siblings I will find more information on her too.

In the next post of this series, I will move on to the second child, Hiram Harper Hart.  I have a lot more information to begin my research on him.

Until then, keep searching,
Michigan Girl

Copyright © 2013    Diane Gould Hall

MYSTERY MONDAY–WHERE IS THE WRECK OF THIS CIVIL WAR ERA PADDLE STEAMER?

SHIPWRECK HUNTER FINDS STEAMER "KEYSTONE STATE" IN LAKE HURON

 

This photo is from Wikipedia and would be similar to the Keystone State.  Although it is a picture of another vessel of the same name that served during the Civil War.

I found this article in the USA Today this morning.  It’s the story of a wooden steamer ship that sank in Lake Huron during the Civil War.  This was a Union Navy vessel.

Here is the article from USA Today:

“The Keystone State was in trouble. Big waves slammed into the wooden steamer's sides as it rocked in the water near Port Austin under the weight of a powerful November storm.
And then it was gone, swallowed up by Lake Huron that day in 1861, claiming the lives of all 33 on board.
 
The ship's final resting place was a mystery for 150 years. But Monday, veteran shipwreck hunter David Trotter, 72, of Canton plans to announce he and his crew found the side-wheel steamer in July at the bottom of Lake Huron — the latest in the nearly 100 vessels Trotter has discovered in more than 35 years of Great Lakes shipwreck hunting.
 
Trotter — who will announce the discovery on his website,www.shipwreck1.com — said he didn't think he'd ever find the Keystone State.
"My expectations were diminished because there was no reason to think she was this far north and in the middle of the lake," Trotter said.
 
Steamer history

The ship was among the largest steamers of its time. According to some historians, it might have sunk with its crew while secretly hauling Civil War supplies.
 
The Keystone State also was notable for helping European immigrants settle in the Midwest during the mid-19th Century, according to maritime historian C. Patrick Labadie. He said its discovery can shed light on ship construction methods of the era and how people used to travel.
 
"This one stands out," Labadie said. "It's a unique wreck."
 
The Keystone State was built in Buffalo, N.Y., and launched in 1849, when most shipbuilders didn't use written plans. It was just under 300 feet long and had twin stacks, a walking beam engine and giant paddle wheels on either side that were nearly 40 feet in diameter.
 
It was the second-largest steamship on the Great Lakes at the time and was among a class known as palace steamers, said maritime historian, author and artist Robert McGreevy.
"The interiors were made to look like the finest hotels. They were quite beautiful inside," he said. "They had leaded glass windows and carved arches and mahogany trim."
Along with posh accommodations for the wealthy, its steerage had plenty of space for immigrant travelers heading from Buffalo to destinations like Chicago or Milwaukee. Records show the boat also had room for 6,000 barrels of freight.
 
An economic downturn in 1857 sidelined the Keystone State and other similar ships, which were deemed too expensive to operate. Some were scrapped. Railroads had been expanding, offering more ways to travel and move goods.

"But when the Civil War started in 1861, all these ships that were laid up, all of a sudden they were worth a fortune again," McGreevy said. "(The Keystone State) was pulled out of storage in 1861, refurbished and sent to Detroit to pick up a cargo that was already waiting for her."

Emergency shipment

The Keystone State set out from Detroit, bound for Milwaukee, around Nov. 9, 1861.
Its manifest listed iron hardware, farm implements and barrels of grain. But some believe those words disguised the real cargo: munition or other Civil War supplies.
"It was an emergency shipment," McGreevy said. "It was in November, and usually a ship like this would not make an urgent trip the full length of the Great Lakes that late in the year. ... There was a lot of southern sympathy in Michigan at the start of the Civil War, and there was a real threat of sabotage."

Others are skeptical. Wayne Lusardi, state maritime archaeologist, said it seems unlikely that the ship would have carried munition in a direction away from the conflict at a time when many didn't expect the war to last beyond a few more months.

For several days, no one realized the ship had sunk, Trotter said. Then debris was spotted by another ship and later washed ashore near Lexington.  The ship wasn't carrying any lifeboats, a curious detail that could point to the urgency of its final voyage.

Side-scan sonar

Using a side-scan sonar device on Trotter's 32-foot powerboat — the Obsession Too — he and his team found the shipwreck the weekend after July 4.

“It's the sense of discovery, the sense of exploration. It's always been a passion of mine to find things that no one has found before.”
— David Trotter, shipwreck hunter

The zebra mussel-covered wreck is in nearly 175 feet of water, 25-30 miles northeast of Harrisville. Trotter said the location is 40-50 miles from where the ship was last seen on the surface.

Crew members made 30 dives on the site from July through September.
"The stern is kind of broken up and crumbled. The boilers are in good condition, the engine is in good condition," said diver Marty Lutz, 56, of Warren. "The wheels are both standing. ... It was pretty amazing to see those sitting upright on the bottom like that."

Divers shot video for DVDs that Trotter will sell online and use in presentations as part of his Great Lakes Adventure Series program. Trotter has a surveying company, Undersea Research Associates.

Still, excitement about the discovery was tinged with disappointment. Divers didn't find any cargo or the gold that was rumored to be on board, Trotter said.
"We still haven't unlocked the key to what her intent was at the time she left Detroit," he said.

Shipwreck experts believe the crew may have jettisoned the cargo in a panicked, desperate attempt to save the doomed ship. McGreevy said the only way to know what the Keystone State contained would be to search the vast area believed to be its final route.”
"I think it's going to remain one of the mysteries of the Great Lakes," he said.

To see articles from the Detroit Free Press back in 1861, concerning this vessel, go to this site http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/42563/data

I enjoy finding articles and stories about our history.  Until today, I had never heard of this steamer or the story behind her.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2013   Diane Gould Hall

SATURDAY NIGHT FUN–DEAR SANTA-GENEALOGY WISH LIST

WHAT ARE YOUR GENEALOGY ORIENTED WISHES FOR SANTA TO LEAVE UNDER THE TREE THIS YEAR?

 Your list can include technology items, apps or research related items.

Here is my letter:

Dear Genea-Santa,
I have tried to be good this entire year.  I have begun posting regularly on my blog and hope that it is helping people.  I have joined a couple of new societies in order to show support.  I’ve helped family and friends with their genealogy questions.  I have added a lot more people and sources to my database.  I’ve even tried to spend more time on other things in my life, like family & friends and spend less time in my office.  

Dear Santa, here is my list:

1. Absolutely my number one wish is to be able to link (with substantial proof), my 2nd Great Grandfather, John C. Gould to his parents and/or any siblings.  Oh please Santa!
2. To become a bit more focused in my research….well, ok, a LOT more focused. 
3. To get a  1T or larger external hard drive for backing up all my data.
4. To make another trip to Salt Lake City.

I have left you some egg nog and special snicker doodle cookies so you won’t leave here hungry.  
Thanks for listening and tell Rudolph and the elves hello for me.

Now, readers, tell me what your genealogy wishes are this year.  Leave me a comment or a link to your own blog.

I have posted this as a response to a post on Genea-Musings at http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/12/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your-dear.html

Thanks for the suggestion Randy.

Here’s to all your wishes being fulfulled,
Michigan Girl


The URL for this post is: http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/dear santa

Copyright © 2013   Diane Gould Hall

DECEMBER 7, 1941

"A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY"

Let us remember on this day, all those who died, were injured and went on to fight in a brutal and long war for our freedoms.





GOD BLESS ALL OUR VETERANS, SOLDIERS & THEIR FAMILIES - WE ARE GRATEFUL BEYOND WORDS

LEGACY 8–A QUICK GUIDE TO LABEL & TAB COLORS

I’ve been playing around with the color schemes in Legacy 8.  I have found SO many ways that you can customize your colors.  Even BETTER than version 7.5!

However, I apparently missed one little thing regarding the label colors when you view the Individual’s Information screen.  The labels for entries that have sources was colored red and I wanted them to be blue.  I went to one of my favorite Facebook pages TECHNOLOGY FOR GENEALOGY (here is the link to the page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/techgen/) and posed my question about how to get those labels to change.

   

Of course I knew that someone in the group could answer my question, and they did.  Thank you to Michael Giallella.  And now, as you see in this screen shot, my labels are blue.

HERE IS THE ANSWER TO MY QUESTION:
Click on the “Options” tab, then click on “Change Colors.” 
When the little box pops up, then click on “Click here to change other user-interface colors.”  

      
Now you’ll see a screen called “Set Interface Colors.”  Click on the “OTHER COLORS” tab.

From there you can click on each of the choices at the bottom of the screen and change those colors to any number of choices.  I clicked on “Sources” – “Text color for Label Showing Attached Sources” and selected my blue.  Then I clicked on “Select this Color” and BINGO!  My labels were now blue.

Sometimes it takes us a while, when we get an upgrade or new version of a favorite program, to get used to the new interface.  

TIP:  When you are using a new version or upgrade of any software, be sure that you really play around with it and become very familiar.  Otherwise you will become frustrated and spend too much time looking for things you used to know how to do.  If there are tutorials, read them, if there is a book or CD’s, consider purchasing them.  And never ever be afraid to ask.  For us as genealogists we have access to so many others who share our passion and are happy to help.  If you haven’t taken advantage of the wealth of information and help available on the Technology for Genealogy page on Facebook, then I highly recommend you check it out and join the group.  You’d be surprised what you will learn.  

SOMETHING ELSE I LEARNED JUST A DAY OR TWO AGO – How to change the colors on the tabs

Go to OPTIONS and click on the “Tab Color” icon third from the left.  You can also use the “Tab Style” icon to change how your tabs will look.   You’ll get a drop down list when you click on the icon.  

I chose “Access 2007” and “Multicolor Tabs” and this is how mine now look.  You can tell that I like colors.

Have fun with your program and don’t be afraid to “play” with your options. 

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright © 2013 Diane Gould Hall

SATURDAY NIGHT FUN - LEGACY 8– FAMILY STATISTICS REPORT

Since I opened the Deluxe version of Legacy 8 yesterday afternoon, I’ve been playing around with the program.  I like to learn as much as I can about a program I’m going to be using every day.  And, since I was very familiar with version 7, I have work to do. 
As I was clicking on each individual tab at the top of the program, I was looking at the options as I went along.  I clicked on the “REPORTS” tab and saw an option that I don’t remember seeing in version 7.  The option was “Statistics Report.”  I wonder what that is?  You can see it is the 5th icon from the left.

 
When I clicked on it I was completely surprised!  There was this grand report with ALL sorts of interesting data from my family file.  I was so excited I read each page (it’s 6 pages long).  Then I created a PDF version of the report.  I rarely print anything to paper these days, but somehow I wanted to be able to have this handy at my desk.  Plus, I was able to go out to the living room and bore my husband with “yet another” genealogy tidbit.  He is very long-suffering, believe me.  It’s just the two of us here in the house, so who else am I going to share all these wonderful discoveries with?  I mean, besides you, my loyal readers?
Here are just some of the statistics this report creates for you:

• Total number of individuals
• Births by era (it gives you the number of people born in each century)
• Average lifespan of Individuals (again, by century and then by gender)
• Longest marriages by century
• Most popular given names
• Most popular surnames
• Most popular locations

Here are the 6 pages from my family file.  I was surprised by some of these and not by others.  Probably my biggest surprise was the incredible number of people in my file who use Detroit, Wayne, Michigan as a location – 766.  The next closest number is 393 for Ohio.

  

  

  To take a closer look at any of the images above – please click on them to enlarge.

For those of you who are using Legacy software and have begun using version 8, I think we are very fortunate.   I’ve always enjoyed this program and the features it offers us.  

Like many of you, I’m not eager to embrace changes.  Especially if I’m very happy with something I’m currently using.  It’s the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality.

So far, I’m happy with version 8.  I know there are a few glitches they still have to work out and I’m sure they will.  I’ve already submitted a couple of suggestions.  

I’m off to find more fun new features.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright © 2013   Diane Gould Hall

FAMILY "RECIPE" FRIDAY - HOW TO KEEP HAIR CURLED BACK IN 1906

My grandmother, Florence BOWDEN MILNE left us a spiral bound notebook, which I refer to has her journal.  The entire notebook is written in her hand and was begun about the time of her marriage to my grandfather, Joseph, in 1906.  In it she left a treasure chest of family information and wonderful clues to life back in the early 1900's.

  

                                                               

 
 
 
  
 

On the left, my Grandmother at age 18 - when she began her notebook and on the right when she was about 60 years old.

 

A recipe doesn't necessarily have to be something that is for cooking.  With that in mind I will be sharing various types of recipes, both for cooking and for other things from my grandmother's journal.  These items range from recipes for shampoo to how to keep hair curled (featured today), to curling fluids for your hair,  cures for blackheads or acne, chocolate fudge and how to tell if your wood-burning stove is the correct temperature.  You'll see them all here as the weeks continue.  So, please come back often.

TODAYS FEATURED “RECIPE”

TO KEEP HAIR CURLED

Please enlarge the picture above, by double clicking on it,  if you want to see it more clearly

 

This “recipe” or formula calls for Gum Arabic, Bichloride of Mercury and Sal Ammoniac.  

• Exactly what are those items?  They certainly aren’t common to me.  
• Are they even still around today?  Let’s find out by taking a look online.

 

“GUM ARABIC also known as acacia gum, chaar gund, char goond, or meska, is a natural gum made of hardened sap taken from two species of the acacia tree; Senegalia senegal and Vachellia seyal. The gum is harvested commercially from wild trees throughout the Sahel from Senegal to Somalia, although it has been historically cultivated in Arabia and West Asia.

Gum arabic is a complex mixture of glycoproteins and polysaccharides. It was historically the source of the sugars arabinose and ribose, both of which were first discovered and isolated from it, and are named after it.

Gum arabic is used primarily in the food industry as a stabilizer. It is edible and has E number E414. Gum arabic is a key ingredient in traditional lithography and is used in printing, paint production, glue, cosmetics and various industrial applications, including viscosity control in inks and in textile industries, although less expensive materials compete with it for many of these roles.

While gum arabic is now produced mostly throughout the African Sahel, it is still harvested and used in the Middle East. For example, Arab populations use the natural gum to make a chilled, sweetened, and flavored gelato-like dessert.”

You can find this description of Gum Arabic with much more information about it at GUM ARABIC on wikipedia.

 

BICHLORIDE OF “MERCURY or Mercury(II) chloride or mercuric chloride (archaically, corrosive sublimate) is the chemical compound of mercury and chlorine with the formula HgCl₂. This white crystalline solid is a laboratory reagent and a molecular compound. Once used as a treatment for syphilis, it is no longer used for medicinal purposes because of mercury toxicity and the availability of superior treatments.”

You can find this description of Gum Arabic with much more information about it at BICHLORIDE OF MERCURY on wikipedia.

 

“SAL AMMONIAC is a rare mineral composed of ammonium chloride, NH₄Cl. It forms colorless to white to yellow-brown crystals in the isometric-hexoctahedral class. It has very poor cleavage and a brittle to conchoidal fracture. It is quite soft, with a Mohs hardness of 1.5 to 2, and has a low specific gravity of 1.5. It is water-soluble. Sal ammoniac is also the archaic name for the chemical compound ammonium chloride. The Romans called the ammonium chloride deposits they collected from near the Temple of Jupiter Amun (Greek Ἄμμων Ammon) in ancient Libya 'sal ammoniacus' (salt of Amun) because of proximity to the nearby temple.^[4] Salts of ammonia have been known from very early times; thus the term Hammoniacus sal appears in the writings of Pliny,^[5] although it is not known whether the term is identical with the more modern sal-ammoniac.^[6] In any case, this salt ultimately gave ammonia and ammonium compounds their name.

It typically forms as encrustations formed by sublimation around volcanic vents. It is found around volcanic fumaroles, guano deposits and burning coal seams. Associated minerals include sodium alum, native sulfur and other fumarole minerals. Notable occurrences include Tajikistan; Mt. Vesuvius, Italy; and Parícutin, Michoacan, Mexico.”
You can find this description of Gum Arabic with much more information about it at SAL AMMONIAC on wikipedia.
 

Many of the items used in my grandmother's recipes aren't even available to us any more.  But, what fun it is to look at them.

 

Have we ever thought of our ancestor's lives without all of our modern conveniences?  Even something as common as shampoo had to be made by hand. And we can use curling irons and hair spray today to keep our hair curled.

 

Can you find any old recipes from your family?
 
Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl 


 
Copyright © 2013 Diane Gould Hall