TUESDAY’S TIP ~ Working on your Brick Walls & unknown connections–How I Keep Track

If you’re like me, you have a few brick wall ancestors.  We all need a way to keep track of who we’ve researched and what we have or have not found.  No one wants to duplicate their efforts or work on a particular line and forget all the things you’ve located. 

Here’s how I have been keeping track of them in Legacy.  I’ve used this method for several years and so far, it’s worked well.

Two of my biggest brick walls are John C. Gould and Robert L. Bowden.  Who are their parents?  That’s been a burning question for nearly 2 decades now. Without knowing that I have not been able to locate any siblings or other family. This mystery continues, in  spite of DNA testing by many family members and having that DNA on all the sites.

In my Legacy 9 database I like to enter the families I am researching.  If they end up not being connected, that’s fine.  But this way I have kept track of my progress, made necessary notes of what I’ve located and what conclusions I’ve reached.  You could, I’m sure, easily do the same thing in RootsMagic, Family Tree Maker, Reunion or most of the other software available.  Although I haven’t used them all.

Let’s begin.  I find a family I believe is either connected or could be.  Or, that will assist me in my search.

I enter the person into Legacy as an “unlinked” individual.  Menu>Add>Add unlinked male or female. I don’t want these people attached to my tree, but I want them available in my database.  Adding them as unlinked, means they are searchable in my Index or Name List and I can see all their information at a glance.

(PLEASE CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

Notice that I have used double [[brackets]] in the suffix area of each name.  What this means is that my notation of “GOULD surname search” will not show up if I decide to print reports. 

BUT, it allows me to easily spot the people I’ve entered as part of this particular surname search project.

Here is a view of how this person appears in the Individual View in Legacy.

And how they appear in the Index View as well. You can see they are clearly designated.

Another thing I can do is create a list of ONLY these people.  I simply use the Search>Find>Primary Condition = Individual, Where To Look = Suffix, How to look = Contains, What to look for = [[Gould surname search]]

Here is the list of 52 individuals in my database with the Gould Surname Search designation

I treat these people as if they are connected to my family, in regards to my entries in Legacy.  They are assigned hash tags, sources, events and images.  I also keep research notes for them.  Just think, if I do ever find out they are connected, I can attach them to the rest of my tree with a mouse click or two.  Wouldn’t that be nice?

Example of some notes I have for Benjamin Gould

Speaking of hash tags.  When I began using these brackets several years ago, Legacy did not have the hashtag feature.  I now use that, as well, to indicate individuals who are in a particular group.  See the example below. It's a bit difficult to see, but you can enlarge it by clicking on it.

I’m sure there are many other ways of keeping track of your unconnected individuals.  But, this works for me.  

What is your method for keeping track?

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

LEGACY 8 & 9 –THE SEARCH FUNCTION–WHAT CAN YOU FIND?

Mystery Monday Brick Walls Posts - read all about my problem ancestors here

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

MAYFLOWER SOCIETY ~ Episode 8–I received my Certificates for 2 additional passengers - Stephen Hopkins & Francis Cooke

 

Last year I wrote about my journey to join the Mayflower Society.  I had applied through a paternal line that I believed lead to passenger, Edward Doty.  You can read all about that journey, from application to receiving my certificate, here Mayflower Society.

Once I was able to frame and proudly display that certificate, I had my eye on submitting a couple of supplementals for additional passengers I’m related to.  I asked the California Mayflower historian (Dianna S.) who had helped me originally, what the process was.  She explained it to me and even offered to fill out the forms for me.  She said since she has done it many times it wouldn’t be a problem.  That is a kindness I can never repay.

When the filled out forms arrived at my house I checked them over, as I was told to do.  Once I determined there were no errors, I wrote a check, put everything in the mail, sent it back to the historian and waited. They were mailed 30 Nov 2020. 

I received my certificates May 21, 2021.  Yes, I did another little happy dance.

It was a dream to be able to join the Mayflower Society and finding one ancestor was amazing.  Finding out I was connected to 2 others, came as a surprise.  However, it shouldn’t have.  Most members can connect to more than one of the passengers.  Why? Because there were not many people in the colony and the children of one couple married the children of another couple etc.

So here is a list of my descendants from both Stephen Hopkins and Francis Cooke.

 

If your in the process of applying for the Mayflower Society, I’d love to hear about it.  Which passenger are you connected to?  Maybe we’re cousins?

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Happy Father's Day 2021

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Who are all the men who came before us?  I try to tell their stories and learn about their lives. Some were adventurous, some studious, some a bit mischievous.  Whatever their stories I like to remember them.  

A shoutout to all the Dad's out there who are an integral and important part of each family.

Michigan Girl

CORA’S SCRAPBOOK ~ A day of the week calculator for the years 1801-1900

This is the story of my journey through Cora’s scrapbook.  Cora Emma Brown is my husband's paternal great grandmother.  She was born 3 Aug 1854 in Syracuse, Onondaga, New York.  She married Thomas Hall (1845-1897) on 5 Feb 1877 in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga, New York. They had one son, Charles Schuyler Hall (1878-1953). 

If you'd like to read all my posts about Cora, I will give a link at the beginning of each new post.  Here’s that link My posts about Cora's Scrapbook

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written about Cora’s scrapbook.  Today I present something she had pasted into her book that allows you to calculate the day of the week using this chart.

The instructions for using the chart on in a boxed area on the left hand side and read as follows:

NOTE – To ascertain any day of the week in any year of the present century, first look in the table of years for the year required, and under the months are figures which refer to the corresponding figures at the head of the columns of days below.  For example: To know what day of the week May 4 will be on in the year 1870, in the table of years look for 1870, and in a parallel line, under May is fig. 7, which directs to col. 7, in which it will be seen that May 4 falls on a Wednesday.

This is quite clever. Sometimes I think “how did they figure this or that out, back in the old days?”  It seems they could always find a way.

Of course today we can Google the question or ask Alexa, or use our genealogy software programs.

I tested this little handy chart using my Legacy calendar feature.  I picked several months & days in different years. The chart was correct each time.

Why do we as genealogists need to know the days of the week?  I find for me, it most always has to do with a newspaper article or obituary or death notice.  You’ll find the article and it will say “last Sunday” or “next Wednesday.”  We are left to figure out those dates based on the date the newspaper was published. 

If you need a quick way to find days of the week in the 19th century, you might want to print this out and keep it handy.

What other reasons can you think of to use a day of the week calculator?

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

A LETTER FROM MY GRANDMA–1980–Florence Milne writes to Diane Gould

I don’t know about you, but I cherish any correspondence that I have from my parents, grandparents or other family members.

I must have always known I would be a genealogist, because I saved SO much stuff that some people may have tossed.

In this case it’s a letter from my maternal grandmother to me, written 14 Sep 1980.  Florence Lenora Bowden Milne (1888-1986).  She was living in Detroit, Michigan at the time, with her daughter Joan Milne Morrison (1915-.1985).  She had recently moved back to Detroit, after living in Houston, Texas, where my mother was living.  My mother, Patricia Milne Gould Cornelius (1924-2016) is her youngest daughter.

Here is a transcription of her letter.

Across the top of the letter she wrote “hands shake and writing awful”

Sept 14 1980

Dear Diane

You must think I am a very neglectful grandmother but it just seems like so many things come up and people coming in.  So if you can forgive me I will try to do better.  Joan is slowly recovering then just as we are having a breathing spell she over does and she gets the shaking inside again.  You know that the last bad time in hospital she stopped breathing and in their efforts to revive her they broke 3 ribs.  So that complicated everything but it is all coming out well.  We have a very nice apt in a big complex, quiet and beautiful grounds.

I don’t know if I shall ever get rested but the Lord provides the strength we need.  I used to knit bed socks for Red Cross in Houston but  “    “ (meaning Red Cross) has no such thing so when the most of the confusion etc. died down I didn’t have a project on hand but Joan’s church has a lady ____ 3 homes (orphans and others) she supplies with bed socks but old church members (?) she needed knitters.  She supplies the money for yarn!  So I am in business again.  I finally got toenails & eye glasses fixed but need to have lower plate repaired.  Joan can drive now so my g son does not have to do my needs.  I finally got a letter from Pat.  I was worried about them and in the letter very little news but – Bless my dear for writing.  Love for you and Norman

Grandma

My grandma loved to knit and talks about knitting bed socks in this letter. I actually have a pair of her bed socks.  A cherished heirloom. 

I also have my grandmother’s desk.  I wonder, did she write this letter while sitting at that very desk?

My grandma was the family historian and genealogist.  I know she would have been thrilled with all the records and information we have access to today.  And, I think she would be very proud of me for telling our family stories. 

If you’d like to read more about the great family information she left me, please click on this link My Grandmother’s Journal.

Do you have family letters that you enjoy reading over and over? 

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

MOTHER’S DAY 2021–To all the Mom’s who came before–Thank you

In this image is everyone from me to my great grandmothers.  Here are their names, as I honor them today, and all the women before them.

Patricia Anne Milne – my Mom -1924-2016

Florence Lenora Bowden – my maternal grandmother - 1888-1986

Marie Wallace Lindsay – my paternal grandmother – 1888-1970

Florence Hunter – my maternal great grandmother – 1869-1946

Mae Eve Thorp – my paternal great grandmother – 1862-1946

Susan Gillespie – my maternal great grandmother – 1860-1947

Elizabeth Fitzcharles – my paternal great grandmother – 1864-1914

Happy Mother’s Day

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

WEDDING WEDNESDAY~Marion Long & Delphine Fink–My husband’s Aunt & Uncle

Today’s post is about my husband’s maternal Aunt & Uncle.  While Marion & Delphine may have been their given names, to everyone who knew them, they were Aunt Honey & Uncle Bud.

“Bud” was born 2 Nov 1914 in Cumby, Hopkins, Texas to parents Francis Marion Long and Lillian Gertrude Taylor.  By the time of the 1940 census he can be found living with his mother and his sister, Buna, in San Diego, California.

“Honey” was born in Buffalo, Erie, New York 26 Sep 1919 to parents Heinrich August Fink and Freada Emma Doller.  Her family moved to San Diego, California in 1935.

Bud had enlisted in the Navy as an Apprentice Seaman on 4 Jan 1934.  Is that what brought he and his mother and sister to California?  Bud reenlisted 13 Jan 1942.  That was just a little over a month after the bombing at Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II.

According to their daughter, Tammy, this couple met in 1938. On 14 Nov 1943 this engagement announcement appeared in the San Diego Union newspaper.

The couple was married at Rolando Methodist Church in San Diego by Methodist Minister, James F. Robert.  Witnesses listed on the marriage certificate are Honey’s sister Dorothy and her brother Elwood Fink. Their daughter, Tammy, was married in the same church 26 years later.

Their first child, a son, Kenneth Joy Long was born 27 Aug 1945 (died 2 Jan 2006). A daughter, Tamara Gail was born in 1947 and a son, Robert Dale in 1951.

This marriage lasted for 61 years, until Bud’s death in 2005.

Both of these people were a lot of fun.  Honey had a great sense of humor and could always be found with a smile on her face.  Uncle Bud was a great cook and enjoyed gardening.  They were both very big personalities.  Time spent with them was always memorable.

I honor them here today.  And want them to know they are missed by so many.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION