Lessons Learned From A Past Pandemic

My backyard poinsettia is in full bloom, the radio is playing holiday tunes and I should be baking and partying with those I love.  Except I'm not.  I hope you aren't either. With a reported 16,000,000 million cases and nearly 300,000 deaths in the U.S. from covid as of today per Google, I can't stop thinking about the picture above.  

Yes, it is morbid, depressing and haunting.  Taken outside the Croatian Church, then located on 23rd Avenue in Gary Indiana on the 21 February 1919, the deceased man in the center in the coffin is my maternal great grandfather that I never met because of his untimely death at age 43 of broncho-pneumonia brought on by influenza.  Joseph Kos was one of the estimated 675,000 U.S. deaths from the 1918-1919 H1N1 Pandemic. 

We're approaching half way to the number of deceased from 100 years ago and we're not yet close enough to see the end of the spread of covid.  That saddens me immensely!  For all of the advances in health care in the past century you would think the current death rate would be low.  Interesting how we rely on modern medicine when simple old fashioned hand washing, distancing and masks could have significantly lessened the death toll.

My mother, Dorothy Koss Leininger, didn't remember her grandfather as he died when she was an infant but his death changed the course of her life forever.  History is repeating itself again and still we haven't learned.  

Joseph emigrated from Croatia, then part of Austria-Hungary, in January 1910.  This was not his first time in the U.S., as he had initially come in 1893 but returned home to marry Ana Katherine Grdenich on 10 February 1895. Family lore says he joined the military and served in the cavalry but after sustaining a kick to his head from a horse while it was being reshooed, he developed epilepsy and was forced to leave the service.  With jobs scarce he decided to return to the U.S. After his arrival in New York he worked as a laborer for the Pullman Company.  He's found in Chardon, Geauga, Ohio in the 1910 U.S. federal census as an alien speaking no English.  

With his Pullman job, Joseph traveled the country and ultimately ended up in Chicago in 1913.  Residing in Pullman housing, he sent for his wife and two children, Mary, my grandmother, and Joseph Jr. (Josip), to join him.  Ana was soon pregnant and gave birth to daughter Barbara on 14 Sep 1914 in Blue Island, Cook, Illinois.  

Joseph arranged for daughter Mary to wed John (Ivan) Kos, a villager and purported second cousin who had happened to also arrive in Chicago and worked for the Pullman Company. Mary and John wed on 28 January 1917 in Chicago; their first child, my mother, Dorothy, was born in Pullman housing on 14 April 1918.  

The family moved sometime in the latter part of 1918, renting a home at 1521 Garfield Street in Gary, Lake, Indiana.  Joseph and John found work with the I.I.B. Teaming Company which supplied laborers to U.S. Steel Corporation.  To save money, instead of using the available street car, Joseph and John commuted the 1.5 miles to work and back daily via bicycle.  With contract tracing unavailable in those days, it is not known where or how Joseph contracted the flu.  My grandmother believed it was from work which was likely, as the conditions inside the mill were brutal - unheated, with poor ventilation and large numbers of unmasked men toiling round the clock and then riding home exhausted in a cold rain would lower anyone's resistance to infection.  As an immigrant with WW1 being fought overseas and knowing you are the bread winner your family depends on added further stress.

The last photo taken of Joseph, shown above, shows the funeral attendees maskless and not socially distancing.  I have no idea why.  Perhaps they were mask slackers but I doubt that as my grandmother always washed her hands as soon as she came in from any errand.  I suspect they didn't know they should.  I suspect that U.S. Steel did not mandate that workers wear a mask.  By clicking through the death certificates on Ancestry I can see many men who worked as laborers dying of the same conditions during the same time period as Joseph.  Possibly Joseph caught the flu from one of the men who died shortly before him, perhaps not.  John also was ill but he recovered.  

The man on the far left of the photo was the funeral home director; maskless, he clearly did not require a face covering be worn.  The man holding the wreath to the back left of the coffin is John Koss, Joseph's son-in-law.  The young man holding the wreath on the right is Joseph Jr.  Next to Joseph (look closely) is my grandmother Mary, hidden by a black veil. I like to think she was the only one with any sense to wear the face covering but knowing her well, I think her choice was due to a fashion statement.  Next to Mary was her mother, Ana, Joseph's widow.  The others in attendance were neighbors and parishioners of the Croatian Catholic Church.  Missing was my infant mother and Barbara, Joseph and Ana's youngest daughter.  Who was watching those girls is unknown.  

How Joseph's untimely death affected my mother was profound, though as a baby she was unaware of the event.  John became the only breadwinner in the family and with the loss of Joseph Sr., the family's income was cut in half.  Joseph Jr. was forced at age 17 to leave school and seek work.  Money would become even tighter as Mary was pregnant with her second child, Anne Marie, who would be born 6 months after Joseph's death.  

More tragedies came in quick succession to the family - a scarlet fever epidemic that infected both children required the family to quarantine.  With no money for a physician, my grandmother relied on her neighbor's home remedy advice to treat the family.  John then had to have a leg amputated as a result of an injury at the mill.  When recovered, he could no longer ride his bike to work and had to spend money on the street car. The KKK threatened the family and burned a cross in the empty field in front of their home.  A fire started by a candle caused extensive damage and burned my mother's only toy, a doll.

A little over 10 years after Joseph's death the Great Depression hit.  John's wages were cut, the family took in boarders, raised vegetables, rabbits and chickens to survive but it wasn't enough. Dorothy, as the eldest, quit high school at the start of grade 10 to work in a hardware store.  Her lack of a diploma hindered her job prospects for the rest of her life.  

During the current pandemic I've been thinking a lot about the 1918 one.  If Joseph hadn't succumbed to the flu would my mother have been able to finish high school?  She had always aspired to be a dietician but going back to school was out of the question.  Her working enabled Anne Marie and her younger siblings, George and Marilou to obtain their diplomas.  How would my life have been different if my mother had found a career she loved and that paid better than the minimum wage jobs she held?  Would I be the frugal genealogist I am today if money hadn't been so tight while I was growing up?  

My memories of my great grandmother are of an old woman always wearing black who sat quietly in deep thought.  What was she thinking about?  Never remarrying after the man she loved so dearly died, she spent the next 47 years of her life residing with her adult children, changing residences every few years depending on the needs of their growing families.  If Joseph had survived, how would her life have turned out?  

My grandmother, the apple of her father's eye, missed him the rest of her life.  His death was a loss that could never be replaced.  The extra burden of being the sole breadwinner put a strain on my grandfather, John.  Would his health have been better and would he have lived a longer life if Joseph had lived?

The pandemic fatigue I'm feeling is put into perspective whenever I compare it to the 1918 pandemic my ancestor's experienced.  I do not want my adult children to miss my husband and I as my grandmother missed her father for the remainder of her life. I do not want any grandchildren I may someday have to wonder about the grandparents they didn't get the opportunity to know.  I've learned from my family's experiences that thriftiness is beneficial.  I don't panic over shortages of goods.  I've always kept a fully stocked cupboard and supplement with my garden.  My children do the same. 

The holidays will be different from past ones for all of us. In a season that personifies hope, I'm remembering the past and hope 2021 will be brighter.  I am taking the next two weeks off from blogging but will return in the new year.  Be smart - stay safe!

 

 

Have an Enslaved Mystery? This New Online Tool May Help.

On Tuesday, a new FREE database became available - Enslaved:  People of the Historic Slave Trade lists 500,000 individual names of the once enslaved.  You may browse by entering a person's name, place, event or source.  I gave it a whirl yesterday and although I didn't find what I was looking for, think it's a wonderful source to add to every genealogists' tool kit.

The site is definitely a work in progress but then, so is every genealogical database.  The goal is to enter as many names/places/events that documented an enslaved individual.  With many records held in private hands, that has made the endeavor all the more difficult.

It's been estimated that there were over 10 million Africans who survived the passage to the new world in bondage.  The majority were transported to South America, Brazil in particular.  

The enslaved who resided in Roman Catholic areas were often Baptized.  Hence, names are more likely available. Unfortunately, that was not always the case.  Entering the search term "Brazil" in the database provided me with 45,753 responses but the majority do not provide a name for the enslaved.  Instead, a name of the seller or purchaser is given with a date.

I have been trying to identify the names of the enslaved individuals who were probably brought from Barbados to the New Jersey Colony by my 7th "great*" STEP grandmother, Thomasin Hassell Holinshead about 1720.  Thomasin's father was a sugar planter in Barbados.  No records have been found of his death or the sale of his plantation although the location has been discovered on island maps.  

Thomasin's husband, my 7th great* grandfather, Daniel Hollin[g]shead was not a man of means but happened to marry for the second time the sugar heiress' daughter.  Within four years of the marriage they had relocated to New Jersey where Daniel sold vast tracks of wilderness.  He died intestate (of course!) in 1730.  

I only know of the enslaved individuals from Thomasin's will of 3 Jan 1757 made in Somerset, New Jersey.  She interestingly selected her youngest daughter, Elizabeth, to serve as administrator.  Records exist that Thomasin was not pleased with her oldest son, Francis, who had served as administrator for his father, Daniel's estate as he squandered most of the funds. Thomasin left him and her other surviving children 1 shilling, about $15.30 in today's money.  Says alot!

The clip above shows the part of the will that provides me the clue that Thomasin had enslaved individuals.  I do not know:

• How many?
• Ages?
• Gender?
• Names?
• How long they had been with her?

I have tried to find a will for administrator Elizabeth but her life is sketchy.  Mug books mention that she married late in life and had no children.  Her husband's name has been recorded as Thomas Dean of Abington but that, too, is odd.  Elizabeth's brother, William, had relocated to Bucks County, Pennsylvania and named a daughter Elizabeth.  That Elizabeth was the second wife of Thomas Bean of Abington.  I've seen dates of birth for Thomas Bean ranging over 20 years so maybe there was more than 1 as there was more than 1 Elizabeth Hollinshead.  No record for a Dean was ever found.  

I tried the enslaved database to see if I could find any sale for a Holinshead (with multiple spellings) for New Jersey or Pennsylvania.  Zilch.  Then tried for New Jersey which lists 78 people and Pennsylvania, showing 244. None were in the areas I was looking for - Somerset County, New Jersey and Buck's County, Pennsylvania.  

Although I wasn't successful I applaud the site for it's compilations so far, ease of use and making it free which ironically, lists all those who weren't.  

*NOTE - clearly they weren't so great enslaving individuals and other records found show Thomasin wasn't so great to my 6th great grandmother, her only stepchild, but that's another story.  

Blast from the Past - Old Holiday Photos

Season's Greetings!  You may be feeling like the folks were in the photo above after your Thanksgiving feast.  Their enthusiasm for the holiday is well, a little underwhelming.  Maybe a smaller family gathering would have been a good thing back then.  

Whenever I think of all the work that goes into a family get together I think of this picture from my husband's side of of the family. Taken about the mid 1930's, from left to right is Clifford Thompson, George Harbaugh, Bert Thompson and Ruth Johnson Thompson.  In the midst of the Great Depression, the decorations were scant.  Don't know if it was a heavy meal or the numbness of having to spend the holiday with extended family that put them to sleep.  

The picture was taken in the living room of George's parent's home.  Ruth was George's maternal aunt.  We're missing the rest of the extended family who lived there - George Sr., his wife, Elsie, and their other children Bob and Betty.  Ruth and Elsie's mother, Louisa, also lived in the household.  Where was Bert and Ruth's daughter, Jeanne? Maybe upstairs playing with cousin Betty.  Did Helen Johnson Chellberg, sister to Elsie and Ruth, also come with her husband and three children?  Beats me - somethings we will never know.  

I've been reading a lot in the past week about people being thankful for not having to travel this holiday season.  I can relate to that as I dreaded the holidays when our home was cramped with 40 plus people. All those dishes long before dishwashers!  No quiet space at all!  Lines for the bathroom!  Cigar smoke and alcohol breath - yuck!  Although I loved those people a bunch I liked them a lot better a little at a time.  

This weekend I've spent looking at old family holiday photos.  Some years were prosperous and others, not.  No matter what your holiday plans are for this year your experience will be long remembered not just by you, but by those who know you.  If you can't be all together, keep in touch - via phone, Zoom, letter/card/text - as best you can.  Ask the questions you always wondered about, like where was Helen Chellberg in the mid-1930's?  Although the pandemic made this year seem to move slowly, next year just might be too late to get your family questions answered.  

I recommend you each out - reconnect - and remember those far away loved ones.  Now is the time!

Genealogy Thanks

 As we all prepare to have a less than typical Thanksgiving, I want to pause and reflect on all the genealogy things that I am thankful for this year.  Sure, it's been difficult with all the archive closures, Zoom conferences and the inability to visit far flung relatives but let's look at the bright side for a moment.  

I am thankful that the pandemic allowed me to:

1.  Reorganize my office.  I took the time, since I had lots of it this past summer, and made my work space more efficient.  I replenished supplies, pitched those pencil nubs and found items I didn't even recall I had! This was always on my to-do list and now it's not.

2.  Pitched old family records.  Don't gasp - I scanned many of them.  I found my deceased mom, 2nd cousin and sister-in-law's health records. I had tax returns from the 1970's that we lugged from house to house over the years.  Before the tax code changed, we kept the receipts for improvements made on a home we haven't lived in for 30 years.  Found the flood insurance settlement when we lost everything in Hurricane Elena in 1985.  I think going through these old documents of other difficult times in our lives made the current situation more tolerable.  It was a testament that this, too, shall end one day.

3.  Cleaned my Cloud backup storage.  Cuddled up on the sofa with the laptop and on a week of rainy days, spent some time each day moving files around or deleting them entirely.  Now I've got even more space for when I am able to get back out into the world to research without having to pay for more space.

4.  Attended Conferences from my backyard.  I know that virtual conferences aren't the same as in-person but if it hadn't been for the pandemic, I would have had to miss many that I was able to attend this year.  I don't think I've ever sat through a lecture and not learned something or been reminded that I should try what I already knew to solve a research problem.  I'm so looking forward to Roots Tech, too!  

5.  Save $!  As a long time reader you know I'm a frugal person and look for genealogy deals whenever I can.  Although my business did take a hit this year, I was fortunate that my first quarter was larger than in previous years.  Can't explain how that worked out and am thankful that it was. Another way I saved was the organizations that made their records available for free or lowered the price for a limited time at the start of the pandemic.  I looked in places I never was able to search before and found lots of info.

6.  Researched my own family.  Since business was down, I was able to spend time on my own family.  In the past few years, this has been severely limited so I was glad for the time to do this. The value of a research log cannot be emphasized enough; I didn't have to waste much time in picking up where I had left off by reviewing where I had previously searched.

7. Made many new virtual "friends."  Thank heavens for the archivist that continued to answer queries, search a vertical file or scan and email a page from needed text.  Although never considered essential workers, they most definitely are to a genealogist and I greatly appreciative of their dedication.  I also reached out to relatives I had never connected with before and together, we worked to solve family mysteries.  

8. Caught up on my reading. All those journals, magazines, books and pamphlets/flyers/brochures I've picked up from past trips have been examined, noted in my tree or pitched.  I have a pile in the garage ready to donate to our local library as soon as they begin to accept material again.  Finally went onto websites and requested that I stop having journals mailed to me when I certainly can download and read them on a tech device.  

9.  Planned for the future. I have taken the time to review my findings and know where I want to travel when it becomes safe to do so.  In the past, I'd get a last minute offer to travel and then take an extra day to do my own researching if I had family that once lived in the area.  Now I know what I don't know and have identified possibly where the answers might lie.  Of course it won't be 100% accurate but it's a better way to use my future time then the spur of the moment approach I often had to do.

10. Learned more about myself.  I never knew I could become a homebody.  Last week, a colleague mentioned how much she hated being home.  I'm not there yet.  I am very content and that is the biggest surprise I've had.  Prior to March 14th, I came home late most every week night, ate a rushed often take out meal and went to bed, then up at 5 and out the door soon after. Since I was a teenager, this has been the longest period of time I haven't been on a flight.  I've only topped off my car's gas tank 3 times in 8 months and only then because I wanted to keep a full tank during our hurricane season.  I'm thankful for my close family who I enjoy being with 24-7 who have made this dramatic change of lifestyle doable. 

Adversity truly does reveal character. Our ancestors have experienced life's turmoil and paved the way for us to have it easier than they did. Although the upcoming holidays will be far different from any I have previously experienced, I'm thankful for knowing their life story.  It gives me strength and hope for better days ahead.  Have a wonderful Thankfilled week!

2020 Genealogy Holiday Gift Guide

With the holidays around the corner and the zingers of 2020 impeding the typical holiday shopping spree, I'm providing my guide early this year to insure the shopper stays safe and the receiver gets the gift on time.  

Most of these items can be purchased locally so do try to support your small businesses and organizations.  Others can be purchased online but please buy soon so that the chain of folks that helps you get the item aren't stressed even more than they already are.  Let's show some gratitude we've survived this wretched year and spread the kindness!

My gift guide includes items for a few dollars and up into the hundreds as I understand it's been a tough year financially for just about all of us.  As my mom used to say, "It's the thought that counts."  

1.  A comfortable desk chair - Hubby and I purchased two in May as we were spending so much time in ours and mine refused to let me adjust the height.  We had it delivered and assembled ourselves but if that's not an option use NextDooor to find a local handyperson who can do the assembly on the porch. Your genealogist's back will thank you. 

2.  A Second Computer Screen - If your genealogist is using only one screen it's time to add another; I've had two for years but I honestly could benefit from more.  Sometimes I put the laptop next to my work area for a 3rd view when needed. Sure, we know how to change the size of what we're viewing but with old documents, sometimes we just need the whole screen.  Your genealogist's eyes will thank you!

3.  A Magnifying Glass - If the To Do list includes going through boxes of old family letters or photos, a magnifying glass, with or without a light, is a must.  Think Sherlock Holmes, here - the smallest clue might be missed that could solve the mystery so an inexpensive magnifying glass might just save the day.  

4.  Assorted Coffee/Teas or a reusable water bottle - whatever is the preferred non-alcoholic drink is a well received gift for anyone but especially the genealogist who needs a quick caffeine jolt or calming tea.  I stress the non-alcoholic for a reason - your genealogist needs clear analytical reasoning so skip the booze. A reusable water bottle with a tight fitting lid is also a great idea to stay hydrated without risking a spill.  

5.  A foot massager - which can fit nicely under the work area.  If it has a heat feature it makes it even better on those long cold winter nights of researching.

6. An elliptical for sitting - When in the researching zone, we often forget to get up and move.  This handy exercise device allows for individuals to sit and move the lower legs.  I love to see how many "miles" I've gone without leaving my desk.  If your genealogist has a standing desk, the device still works. Until we're able to go back to running up archive stairs or parking in remote and walking to the library, the sitting elliptical will get a lot of use.

7.  Gift Cards - to your genealogist's local restaurant, grocery or office supply store.  If you aren't sure what your favorite genealogist's office needs are, know they have to eat!  Less time cooking means more time researching and you're supporting the local economy which makes this a win-win for all.

8.  An annual subscription to a new site - This year I joined Academia.edu and I absolutely love it!  I was trying to research Barbados in the 1600's  and there isn't many records that I found useful.  I wanted to better understand what life was like there and Academia.edu helped me with that goal.  Journal articles are available on a wide range of topics and the site also hosts members to have a webpage so others can connect with them.  JSTOR.org is another awesome site that provides journal articles and books that may be of interest. Plans start at $19.50.

9.  Donation to a local genealogy/history society - with long term closures and the deaths of members, many organizations are suffering.  If your genealogist says - "Don't get me anything!" then follow their directive but give in their name to an organization that they support.  Typically, I'm a doer and not a donator but this year I have given to several organizations that I wasn't able to support in person.  

10.  Last but not least - Give the recipient time by listening.  I'm serious.  Although this monetarily costs nothing it is probably the most valuable gift that can be given.  We know you could care less about your fourth cousin twice removed who married your third cousin once removed.  Just try to look like you care.  Back in the day when the world was "normal" we could attend conferences and meetings to share with others the great discoveries we made. Simply listening is a wonderful gift to give!

Church Records Provide a Hopeful Clue to the Bird Family

New Jersey, Marriage Records, 1670-1965, digital image; Ancestry.com:  accessed 11 Nov 2020, citing FamilySearch.org microfilm 000961018.

With Hurricane Eta descending on my area I decided to spend this rainy windy prelude to the storm searching for my mysterious Bird family.  All I know is that my paternal 4th great grandparents:

• Hannah Byrd was born in New Jersey, possibly Monmouth, about 1775.  She married Thomas Duer about 1797.  The couple relocated about 1808 to Trumbull County, Ohio where she lived for the remainder of her life, dying in 1858 in Mahoning County, Ohio.  Mahoning had been split from Trumbull County. Hannah may or may not be the Hannah Dyer that married on 22 September 1831 in Jackson, Trumbull County, Ohio widower James Preston who lived on the land next to Thomas and Hannah's. No divorce records have been found and Hannah returned to using Duer as her last name in the 1840 U.S. federal census. She was buried in Jackson Township Cemetery, North Jackson, Mahoning County, Ohio.
• Spouse Thomas Duer was born about 1775 in New Jersey, possibly Sussex County.  He died, probably unexpectedly since he was intestate, on 29 November 1829 in Jackson Township, Trumbull County, Ohio and is buried in the Price Mills Cemetery in Pricetown, Trumbull County, Ohio.  The cemetery was not the closest to his residence at the time, however, it was known as a cemetery for those of the Presbyterian faith.

There certainly are a lot of "probably/possibly/maybe" in what I know!  Records are scant for the New Jersey area at the time of their birth, the start of the American Revolution.  

I have discovered many Berd/Bird/Burd,/Byrd families in New Jersey but never able to determine that any had a child named Hannah.  

Some researchers have surmised that Hannah was a Quaker, as there has been records found for permission for a Mary Duer to leave Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1806, about the time my Hannah relocated to Ohio.  Except I have found no evidence that my Hannah was using the name Mary.  

There is also a record of a Hannah Byrd from Monmouth, New Jersey, recorded with a Joseph and Thomas in a Quaker index but there isn't enough information to determine that was my Hannah.   

There are a sizeable number of Duers that were of the Quaker faith and as I learned this past summer, the Presbyterian and Quaker Duers were distant cousins that kept in contact with one another through the 1700's in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  That leaves the possibility that Presbyterian Thomas Duer married Quaker Hannah Byrd.  

What I could never reconcile was when and where Hannah and Thomas met.  I have no records that Thomas was ever in Monmouth as I have no records that Hannah was ever in Sussex.  

On a side note, imagine researchers in the future looking back at our time period to try to figure out where their ancestors met - will there be records of dating aps available?!  Hmm, what a mess that will be.

Last month I decided to try to trace the path of the only Bird that was in Trumbull County, Ohio at the time that Hannah was alive to determine if there was any connection between the two of them.  

Benjamin Bird, born about 1872 in New Jersey and who died before 1860 in Ohio, was the one and only individual with a similar surname.  Possibly he was a younger brother or cousin of Hannah or maybe not related at all.  When I began to search for New Jersey records for him, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find the info I have posted in the picture above...Benjamin, along with an Elisha and Margaret Bird, were all married in Pleasant Groves, now Warren County, then Sussex County, New Jersey by a Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Joseph Campbell, in September and October of 1809. These flimsy findings may just lead me to Hannah's parents.

Today, I'll try to determine the relationship between Elisha, Margaret and Benjamin. Hoping that a Hannah shows up, too! I will likely not find further church records from Trumbull County as the circuit riding minister records for the time period are scant.   Perhaps there is a connection between them, not only in Sussex/Warren but also in Monmouth. I can't wait to get started.

Halloween Hope

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Just hit me that I have not been in a library - archive - on a research trip - in 7 1/2 months.  I'm ready for a reset and suspect you are, too! 

The Mysterious Byrd Family

Skipped blogging last weekend because I was consumed by work from my other job - lots of teaching units were cut in my district and I was tasked with making new schedules for students.  Planned on blogging yesterday and got attached by wasps so my hand is swollen and I'm typing with only one hand now so this will be short!

Did the Tombstone Cake work in helping me find new info on my brick wall ancestors?  Sort of!  I ended up selecting Hannah Byrd, one of my paternal 4th great grandmothers, who was born in New Jersey and died in Ohio.  

With all the way to spell Byrd - Bird - Burd - Berd, it's always made the search difficult.  

My mistake was thinking that she was born in Sussex, New Jersey as that is where her husband's family was from.  I decided to research the only other Bird that lived in Trumbull County, Ohio at the same time she did and discovered he was born in New Jersey but not Sussex.  Looks like his father was born in Sussex but moved shortly after marrying to southern New Jersey.  So I'll be following the trail to see if I can connect the two as they are about the same age and could be siblings or cousins or not.  

Funny, though, I decided to randomly pick a Kindle free book for October and chose Spellbreaker, a fiction story about a young witch in London who does not cast spells but breaks them.  Sort of like a female Robin Hood who helps the peasant farmers when the Baron claims they never paid rent and have to repay.  Had to laugh as one of the main characters just happens to be from Barbados.  My goodness, those Hollingsheads just won't let me move on!

A Strange Way to Select a Genealogy Research Project

Had a strange Sunday morning courtesy of my family.  

I got a wake up call from one of my adult kids asking me to list my top 12 dead ancestors that I needed  info on.  That made me laugh as I was thinking yesterday I need to move on from my Duer-Hollingsheads who I found a wealth of info for over the summer and now things have dried up.  Like most of the world, I'm over the pandemic and am starting to make plans for when we can travel again. While gardening, I thought I would list relatives I planned on researching by geographic region so that I could identify areas for trips in 2022 (yeah, I'm being overly cautious here.)

Within minutes I emailed my kid a list of 24 ancestor brick walls - 12 on my side and 12 on my husband's side.  

A few minutes later I got another call that said, "Mom, you have to pair that list down to 12 total!"  Okay, sigh, 6 from each list.  

Since I was already on email I started reading and found I had two Ancestry messages over night and one email message addressed to my website.  Two were regarding Leiningers and one was Harbaugh.  People who discovered books and photos as they were cleaning and looking on Ancestry or my blog, found the named folks on my tree.  They were hoping to give the items a new home. Since I didn't list one Harbaugh or Leininger on my brick wall list, this was personally hysterical as those two lines always seem to nudge me when I am working on other family.  

Minutes later, my kid brings over the cake pictured above.  On each tombstone is one of the names I had supplied that are a brick wall.  The chocolate pudding cake with cream cheese frosting was delicious.  The "dirt" on top is crushed Nilla wafer cookies dyed with food coloring.  Child had bought the cake mix at the start of the pandemic and said, "Let's bury this thing and move on." I agree!

I also got a homemade awesome Ancestor Hunter T-Shirt.  Neither of my kids have interest in genealogy but they are crafty and when the mood strikes, no telling what they'll come up with.  

The weather was beautiful so we decided we'd have cake and coffee outside.  I was walking down the cobblestone path my husband had installed several years ago and took one step off onto the "grass."  Unbelievably, my right leg sunk to mid calf.  My kid grabbed me as I sunk, originally thinking I had lost my balance and was about to fall. 

There is a reasonable explanation of why the ground gave way in that spot - we had a heavy rain last night and several years ago, a 200 + year old oak tree had been growing there.  We had to have the tree removed after a third of it blew down in a hurricane. The roots have been decaying for years and we guess, with the heavy rain, the ground just collapsed.  

I've never been stuck in quick sand but it was a creepy feeling to all of a sudden just sink into the ground.  I had difficulty pulling my leg back out of the hole.  Don't know if my ancestors were ticked off or not but it was weird to be holding Daniel Hollingshead's candy tombstone while I sunk over a foot into the ground. Yes, I know I need to move on from Daniel but I am still searching for his lost Bible so he remains up on the top of my list. 

We settled down to eat a slice of cake and child says, "I had real trouble with one of the tombstones. Catherine Jarvis's keeps falling over and hitting Wilson Williams."  Umm, Catherine was Wilson's daughter-in-law!  They lived near each other in Long Island, however, Wilson's "stone," which I have blogged about in the past, is no longer in the cemetery next to his wife, Margaret Hicks.  It was this same child of mine that had discovered that at the Family History Library several years ago.  Of course, with no interest in genealogy, there was no remembrance of the names and the finding. 

If there's a message in all this I have no idea what it would be.  I re-read my original Wilson and Margaret posts you can find here and here. They are still on my brick wall list as I need further proof of their parents.  Family lore gave me the parents' names but I have no proof of that.  I'm thinking that's who I need to research this afternoon, along with Catherine Jarvis.

If I find something wonderful I will definitely share it and use this unique approach again!  Since the world has certainly gone insane a novel way to research just might be what's needed.  Consuming the name of a dead relative on a candy tombstone is weird but fits right in with the spirit of the month.  Happy Hunting!

That Creepy House in Your Neighborhood

 

It's October and even though 2020 has been a nightmare, it's my annual month to blog about the creepy in genealogy.  Last week, I wrote about my new neighbors and this week, I got another new set as a family moved into the rental next door. 

When you were a kid, I bet there was a house in your neighborhood that the older kids told you was haunted or where a witch or a monster lived.  In my memory, there were two homes that I was warned to stay away from late at night.  (In reflection, I was never let outside late at night so why in the world I would be afraid is beyond me today.)  

The first house supposedly had been used during the Civil War as part of the underground railroad.  Late at night, anguished crying was heard coming from the basement.  

The second house, though, was only two homes east of my grandparent's house.  It was on the main road, route 6, and set far back from the street.  The small front yard was overgrown with vegetation and even midday from the sidewalk, you couldn't really see a house.  My one year older than me neighbor, Carol, insisted that monsters lived there and would eat children.  She heard this from her older wiser brother, Tony.  She dare another neighbor, Raymond, and I with walking up the front door and knocking on it.  We must have been about 8 or 9 years old.  I took the challenge but only got a few steps toward the house when I turned and ran back to the safety of my friends.  Raymond got about as far as me and also turned back.  When we challenged Carol to do it, she shrugged and said she wasn't stupid and wouldn't take the risk.  

Just like holding our breaths when we passed a cemetery (ironic, isn't it, as genealogists we certainly don't do that now!), we'd stop breathing when we rode our bikes or roller skated past the house.  Later that summer, on the wooden telephone pole on the south side of the sidewalk, a nail had been driven into the pole and lots of leaflets hung down.  I ripped one off to read it with my friends but we didn't understand most of what we were reading.  We decided it was dangerous so we ripped all of the papers down and debated what we would do with them.  Should we leave them on the ground?  That was littering and not good.  Should we take them and throw them in a garbage can?  But if they had a spell on them we would be transferring it to our home.  Guess it never occurred to us to walk around the block, down the alley and place it in the spooky home's own garbage cans.  We opted to leave the papers on the ground.  

Shortly after, my mother somehow got wind of what we had done.  Perhaps our next door neighbor, Mr. Bauer, had spotted us or our loud arguing over what to do had alerted her that something was up, since no one had air conditioning in those days and everyone knew everyone else's business.  I was so proud of myself for fighting "evil" I told my mother I had ripped down a pamphlet and it was from the monster and we were stopping others from getting eaten.  I remember the pained look on my mom's face.  She told me I must go back, pick every pamphlet up and put them back where I found them because there was this law that said there was free speech and I was breaking it.  Huh?!

I didn't like disappointing my mom and now I was afraid as my friends weren't with me for back up on my newest quest.  I tried to get out of it by saying I would do it after lunch.  Mom said no lunch until I did the right thing.  I told my mother if I never came back for lunch it was because the monster ate me.  She told me, as she had many times before, no monster was going to do that.  She said she would accompany me and I immediately felt better.

I picked up all the papers though some had blown into the street.  She retrieved those.  We tidied them up and I couldn't reach the nail nor did I have the strength to punch the paper through the head.  She ended up doing that for me; one pamphlet at a time.  We then went home for lunch.

Over lunch, mom asked me why I thought monsters lived there.  I related Carol's story.  She told me that two people lived there, an elderly widow and her invalid son.  We should respect their delicate condition.  After lunch, she told my friends the same thing. 

Carol must have told her parents as the next day she told me that her parents said my mom was liar and that the family were monsters.  Calling someone else's mom a liar was fighting words and things got heated.  We didn't come to blows but we did huff off mad at each other.  

At home, I told my mom what happened and she laughed.  I saw no humor in the situation.  I wanted her to tell Carol's parents they were liars.  My mom sat me down to explain that people have different views of life and that Carol's parents had fled Spain's dictator, Franco, just a few years earlier and that they would consider a Socialist sympathizer a monster which evidently, was what was on the pamphlets.   That afternoon my mother explained political systems.  Prior to then, my understanding was democracy was best and per the the nuns in school, we should always thank God for not being raised in communist Russia because there, the government made children tell on their parents who prayed at home and the parents would be killed.  

So before I start getting hate mail, my mother was a staunch Republican.  Those long dead nuns probably wouldn't be happy with me for thanking God that my mom didn't live to see the current state of the world but that's really what I'm most glad for this week.

Today, I live between two families who are strongly supporting opposing candidates.  My neighborhood is up in arms over one of the signs that has a word I would not publish in my blog and is visible to children who play in the park across the street.  Others are saying it's free speech. The neighborhood association rules prohibit political signs but the board refuses to act.  

When the world gets to be too much, I find solace in genealogy.  I always get insight from those dusty records and the lives of the deceased.

I decided to do some genealogical sleuthing to discover info about the occupant "monster" from my childhood neighborhood.  It was a good way to take a break from my own brick walls (had a major disappointment that I'll share in the future, sigh) and learn a little bit more about the people I knew as a kid.  

I approached the task the same way I would with a client; writing down everything I did know.  Using Google maps I got the address.  Looked at the property tax records which wasn't very helpful since the family I was searching was long gone.  From previous experience, I know that most of the city records are missing; when the city went into foreclosure the county requested the property records but not all were delivered according to county officials.  The city officials dispute that (of course). I would also have tried to check the vertical file at the library but unfortunately, the city has shuttered all of their libraries due to financial difficulties.  

Using online sources only, I began to investigate the family residing in the home.  Census, death certificate info, immigration records and family tree information gave me additional information to ponder.  I never met the family that lived in that house in the 11 years I lived two houses away.  I now have a greater insight on them; they really did have a difficult life.  

Maybe the answer is praying that more people take the time to learn from the past so we can all have a harmonious future.

Your Family and the Neighbors

This is the second weekend that has been absolutely beautiful in my part of the world and I spent it putting in my fall garden. Yesterday, our new neighbors, who actually aren't new, inquired as to what we were growing.  They plan on putting a raised bed garden in next weekend along our shared fence line.

So, how is a "new" neighbor not new?  Well, they lived one house north of their present location for two years and moved one house south in May when the former owner decided to move into a condo after his wife died the previous year.  The condo he moved into is next door to his deceased wife's first husband.  They all remained good friends.  

The house that the "new" neighbors moved from was purchased by someone they knew from the New England state they formally lived in.  This new to me neighbor is their old friend.

Same thing happened to the house on the corner of our block - the person who built it decided to buy some property on a lake a few miles north where he could retire.  He sold it to a Midwest family.  They lived their for two years and decided to move to a home not far away with more amenities.  They sold the "old" house to a relative.

One of my adults kids bought a home two years ago that's only 4 minutes from me (if I miss the light).  The insurance agent we recommended is the brother of someone who I used to eat lunch in high school with and who was a good friend of my husbands.  That high school is 1500 miles from where we all currently reside.

My own family flipped houses, too.  I have a nice brick bbq grill my husband and son built based on a memory of one of the house flips.  My grandparents decided their first home had become too large so they had a smaller house built a few miles away from the original home in Indiana in the early 1960's.  One of the "extras" they selected was a brick bbq in the backyard.  Looking back on it now I find the choice amusing because they had no experience with outside grilling.  They used the grill only once, a Memorial Day weekend, when I was 5.  I distinctly remember it because the house their original home they sold to my uncle and his family the year before.  Being small, I have no memory of the family's real estate transaction.  I do have some memories of visiting their prior home for holidays and regular visits.  I distinctly remember playing hide and seek with my cousins in the new house as I climbed into a window seat and fell asleep.  That caused the adults to hysterically run around looking for me.  The window seat became off limits to us after that. But back to the bbq grill...

The reason I remember the grill is because on that particular Memorial Day weekend my grandparents were giving a going away party to my uncle, recently divorced, who was going to move to Florida.  They had bought their old home back from him and this was the last family get together in their "new" home.  He was the only one in the family that knew how to light charcoal.  The problem was there was a downpour shortly after he lit the briquettes and they were quickly extinguished.  We ran into the house and since we were a large family in a small home, the women went to the kitchen to prepare the food on the stove and the rest of us were sent to the basement, which was pretty much empty.  The adults brought down some folding chairs and the kids sat on the bare concrete to eat our hot dogs.  

I share this story because 60 years ago my family, much like my neighbors, played musical households - selling to a family or friend and in our case, returning to the original home.  

Sure, family, friends and neighbors traveled in wagon trains, passenger ships and on barges to emigrate to a new community.  I hadn't really thought much about that being a common custom continuing today until my back yard chat with those "new" "old" neighbors yesterday.  

In this ever changing world that requires almost daily adaptions, it's nice to think that we still seek the comfort of our loved ones to rely on in our neighbors for support.

DNA Ethnicity Surprises

 

Ancestry.com has again updated their DNA Results Summary.  Sure, it's only as accurate as the number of people who have tested.  What my latest results tell me is that Ancestry has had a whole lot more Swedish, German and Slavs testing and not many Balkans.

I know this because the updated results show I am 42% Eastern European and Russian and 41% Germanic Europe.  

In Ancestry's last update, I was considered French; today I am of German ancestry. 

My paternal line would not have thought much of that finding; with a name like Leininger they would have accepted the Germanic Europe as fact.  The truth is more complex - the ancestors that were forgotten most likely would have been livid with the designation as they considered themselves French. My two times great grandmother was christened as Marie Marguerite not the Germanic Maria Margarette.  Her spouse was christened Jean Leininger and not Johan.  They resided in the Palatinate, the region that flipped several time between what is now Germany and France. They wisely spoke both French and German. Funny that the land has stopped switching but the ethnicity indicators haven't.  Ancestry would be smart to have a Palatine region noted instead of moving ethnicity results every update.

Interestingly, the results do include 5% of an ethnicity estimate as French and the region is the Riviera, where my Lamphere's (Landfairs) did reside in the 1600's prior to fleeing France for London and then Ireland and then Virginia.  It appears they intermarried with relatives and others who fled with them and that is somewhat supported in that I now have no Irish identified.  Well, that's not quite true, either...

My Irish is encompassed under my Scottish designation.  

I also find it interesting that I have Welsh separated from England (which encompasses Northwestern Europe now).  I am most definitely Welsh with my people moving to Cheshire for a time.  That is shown in the map, along with the northwest section of France.  That is also correct as I have some William the Conqueror folks originating in that French region.  

My maternal line, though, would have my grandmother in requesting her money back.

Family stories shared by my grandmother say her side moved to the what is now the outskirts of Zagreb, Croatia around the time of Christ because of overpopulation on the island to the south where they once resided.  That would most likely have been Kos Island, part of Greece today.  The now defunct National Geographic project did route my ancestry on that trail.  Grandma said my grandfather's people had already been in the Zagreb region when her people arrived and they had been Gypsies. National Geographic's results showed that, too.  Using records, I can show that my maternal line was in the Zagreb region as far back as the 1600's.  Based on a title the family was awarded, I can show some were in the region as early as the 1100's.  For 900 years, they resided in a small area in what is now known as Croatia.  According to Ancestry, I'm 3% Balkan.  

Explaining to my grandmother how Ancestry obtains their results would have been maddening.  I'm sure some of you are going to have to try with an older relative.  I send you good thoughts in doing that!

I am quite impressed, though, with Ancestry and their Swedish results.  Look above as I have shown how Southern Sweden is shown by region.  I have worked very hard to get most of my husband's Swedish lines identified and they are from the area Ancestry identified.  I'm looking forward to someday seeing a trend like this for my other ethnicities.

Ancestry has also released a section called StoryScout.  It's housed under DNA and includes information that you may have provided in a tree.  I didn't spend much time on this but I did take a look and it reminded me of something that is important to do and I honestly fail at it.

The section is based on census and military records from the 20th century.  Sure, I've saved those records to my ancestors 20 plus years ago.  I know where they lived, who they lived with, blah blah blah.  What gave me pause, however, was that it correctly showed my maternal grandfather and noted that his income was nearly twice that of an average man at the time.  He made $1400.00 per year when the average was in the mid $700.00's.  Wow.  This explained to me why my immigrant family could afford a car in the 1920's, a phone in the 1930's, travel to California in the 1940's and to Europe in the '60's.  Now I understand why grandma, when babysitting me, would drag me to the nice stores and dress shops and had her hair done each week.  Duh!  They never flaunted their wealth and dutifully shipped supplies several times a year back to the old country.  Thanks, Ancestry, for taking one small data point in the census and giving me an insight I hadn't he thought about.  Try it, it might work for you, too.

More Tech Safety Suggestion

Last week I blogged about my Evernote account being hacked.  I reached out to some tech savvy colleagues for advice and wanted to share something with you that might be helpful.  

An IT engineer recommended that I check my email accounts for hacks by visiting https://haveibeenpwned.com

That's not a typo - it is pwned and not owned!

Enter your email address on the page and click pwned?

I have several email accounts and I entered all of them to check.  I was surprised to find that one had been breached.  It was a government site from last summer that I use for genealogy research.  I changed the password on that site and just to be more secure, changed my email password.  

While changing my password I had another "Aha!" moment; I never took the time to really check out my email Security settings.  The devices I have connected to the email are shown but I had to pause at the Third-party apps with account access.  My bad for not reading the small print and clicking "I accept" when visiting an organization's website!  I had given permission unknowingly to two retail organizations to have access to my calendar and contacts.  It was quite easy to disable that!  I've begun my holiday shopping so after I'm done, I plan on rechecking my email account to see if I somehow give permission for access that is unwarranted.  

Just like covid, behind the scene activity to your tech tools can maliciously effect you!  Take a few minutes to check it out and stay safe!

Evernote Info to Keep Your Info Safe

I haven't used Evernote in awhile, so imagine my surprise this morning to receive an email that someone with a Mac in India signed on to my account 7 hours earlier.  Definitely wasn't me or anyone I know!

Being somewhat paranoid, I tend to not click on links sent to me in emails.  Instead, I used my current Kindle to go directly to Evernote online as I haven't downloaded the ap to that Kindle.  

Another surprise - I was unable to disable the device as my account was accessible only from the Kindle that I had the ap downloaded to.  I'm really not understanding that since the hacker didn't have the Kindle with the ap on it!  Unfortunately, I'm not tech savy enough to figure out how to access my account on a different device so I then spent time on a Kindle hunt to find the device with the ap.

Took me a few minutes to figure out where the old Kindle was and to fire it up.  After getting through the ad to purchase more Evernote services, I clicked on Settings and Devices.  Sure enough, there was the hacker's device.  Clicking "disable" hopefully blocked the hacker from having some afternoon fun with my account.  

The hacker didn't find anything useful as after taking notes, I transfer them to whatever computer I'm using as soon as I'm done with a meeting or archive visit.  I keep nothing on Evernote.  That practice wasn't established because I didn't trust Evernote to keep my documents safe; it was my process to use Evernote in settings that aren't conducive to paper and pens/pencils, such as in a library stack or outside at a cemetery with the wind blowing.  Now I'm glad that was how I used the ap!

I decided it would be wise to change my password.  I'm a little miffed with Evernote as you cannot easily do that.  The directions online say to go to Account Settings and click Security Summary.  I don't have that, possibly because I never purchased an updgrade package.  My only option to update a password is to email them and then they send me an email and then I go back to their site and change the password.  All this for a device I don't even use any longer.

So, adieu, Evernote.  I've uninstalled the ap on the old Kindle after clearing the cache and signing out of the account.  I won't be downloading it to my new one, either.  When the pandemics over I'll be using the note ap on my cell instead.  

Time Sensitive - Saving Your Ancestry.com Messages

With only 3 days left before Ancestry.com pulls the plug on your access to old messages sent to you in their system, you'll need to follow the instructions below soon or your old correspondence will be lost.

It's quick and easy but times a wastin'!

First, after logging in, click on the envelope icon on the right side ribbon next to your sign on.

Next, you'll see swirling circles while the page loads.  On the bottom left the following message will be displayed:

Click the green button "Download Folders"

It doesn't take long.  Underneath the button your messages will be downloaded to your computer as a zip file:

Clicking the zip file will display any folders you may have created to save correspondence.  Mine looks like this:

It is saved to your computer's download file.  Go to the Download Folder on your computer, find the file and drag it to where you want to save it.  For the purpose of this blog, I just moved it to my desktop but will be placing it in a Cloud.  

To view a message, simply click on it.  In the Baines folder, the message will be saved to look as follows:

Yes, just like the comedian "Mr. Bean," I have Beans in my family!  

This simple task will take you less than 5 minutes.  Why would you not want to save information from far flung family members?  It's also a good way to go back through old correspondence as a missed clue may be unveiled.  Many of my messages contain email addresses and if I haven't written to the individual in awhile, I might not be able to locate the address quickly if I need to in the future.  Since you just never know where genealogy is going to take you, I'd rather be safe then sorry by saving the data today.

Education in a Pandemic

Today's blog is not about genealogy so you can stop reading now if that is your interest  Instead, it is my take on the current state of the educational environment.  I am writing this because I am furious.  Our today becomes tomorrow's history.  I want the future to learn from the past.

I missed writing last week as I was consumed with my newly designated title of ESSENTIAL WORKER and due to the lack of communication, cooperation and consistency in government policy, was working 16.5 hour days with no compensation for the overtime or weekend work so that children can go back to school and die alongside their teachers.  It makes my heart break.

My long time readers know I try very hard to not to be political in my weekly blog.  I understand bureaucracy moves slowly.  I respect free speech and differences in opinion.  I have been an educator since 1977.  I did not choose that career to get rich or for the summers off (we don't get paid and we work most of the summer unpaid planning and taking training).

That said, I will not stand by silently when peoples' lives are needlessly risked.  Don't believe it (like one of my neighbors who insists there is no reason to wear a mask), here's the facts - a 6-year old girl died Monday of covid in the same school district that the person WITH NO BACKGROUND IN EDUCATION who is UNELECTED but APPOINTED by the governor and who, like those currently tweeting that the virus will magically go away, refused to allow the school district where this child died to deliver educational services for an additional 3 weeks online because "Step aside, folks, there is nothing to see here!"  These bullies threatened to withhold all state funding if school does not resume with a brick and mortar, aka traditional, model by the end of August.  

Due to the wavering decisions and the utter lack of concern for children, their families and the public school staff, I, along with my colleagues across the country, have worked tirelessly to try to make the smallest classes possible for social distancing and to quickly trace students from period to period WHEN THE VIRUS ATTACKS.  This is not an IF, this is most definitely a WILL. 

For those that don't believe that, here's the truth...in my small school that opened to teachers only 3 weeks ago, we have already had 1 teacher with a covid diagnosis in the second week.  At my previous school, in the same time period, with about the same number of staff, they've had two.  My husband's school has had two since April, one in the last two weeks.  If you have this many infections with educated adults all wearing masks and social distancing, using hand sanitizer and washing their hands well, you don't think you're going to have a problem when the students return?!  Think of yourself as a kid.  Instead of playing cooties the elementary kids will be playing covid.  Middle schoolers can not stay out of each others faces and forget social distancing with high school and college - they are huggers!  The children are doing developmentally what is normal but these times are not.  If we can't save them from themselves their is blood on all of our hands.

I am outraged at the system that allowed this to happen  I also question how a teacher became an essential worker in the last week.  If that's the case, why do we close schools for weather problems?  

Just come out and tell us how many in power view our role - you want cheap childcare and if you lose a few, well, that's life!  You never cared about educating children before; if you had, you would have funded us adequately so the little darlings didn't have to go door to door selling overpriced junk.  My husband and I wouldn't have had to spend our own money for years on items our students needed.  If the value of education was really a priority there would be no threats to withhold funding.  I am so sick of the lies.

If I read one more article or hear one more news story about teachers being happy to return to school this fall I'm going to scream.  NO THEY AREN'T.  Like the rest of humanity, they long for the good ole days, last seen this past February, when they could make a difference face-to-face with their students.  Those days are gone for now and what is needed more than anything else is prioritizing life over what once was.  

If everyone had done what was the right thing to do we wouldn't be faced with this problem today.  Children wouldn't be dying.  Those kids that return to school and live through this will not have to have the burden for the remainder of their lives of knowing they brought home an illness that killed their family.  They won't have to face the grief at the loss of their beloved teacher.  This madness can be halted and I'm praying someone, somewhere has the power and the sense to do the right thing.  

I'm also sick of hearing about students falling educationally behind.  Here's a quick and simple solution for that - just have everyone attend year round once the virus is behind us.  Cut out the electives for the summer term and just teach the basics.  Duh!  If we can have students skip a grade then the whole issue of learning loss is a moot point anyway.  Studies have shown that students who do not start school until age 8 can compete academically in a short time.  Funny how our leaders, and I use that term loosely, pointed to Nordic countries who kept schools open last spring as what we should do.  Those are the same countries with well funded educational systems that don't have young children in formal education.  They have physicians and dentists available for the children.  Heck, I can't even get Walmart to donate free eyeglasses to my needy kids anymore.  So again, I ask, if education is so vital, then why are the basics not provided for our children?  

No electronics in the home?  Seriously, except for the last two generations NO ONE WAS EDUCATED BY USING THE INTERNET.  Here's a novel solution - have local districts pay the local newspaper for a subscription for every family.  The lessons can be incorporated in the newspaper.  It's delivered daily to the family's door.  You're developing a generation who will learn more about their community and the world. They are practicing reading and math by analyzing the charts and graphs.  Vocabulary is enriched.  You're insuring that the press remains a vital and important partner in the community.  Why are we not doing this?  As much money as schools saved on paper and ink they can certainly afford to purchase a year newspaper subscription for their students.  Actually, in my community, the newspaper is already free electronically for our students.  If schools wanted to save even more money, they would just need to purchase a paper edition for those that don't have electronics.  

I am fortunate to be able to be eLearning but several of my fellow teachers were not granted the same privilege I was, even though several has serious medical conditions and two are still recovering from covid's long lasting side effects.  

If you have taken the time to read this I want to thank you.  Send good thoughts or pray or whatever you believe in because my colleagues, my students, their families and the greater community needs all the help it can get.  

Analyzing Data Clues to Solve Mysteries

Remember the old board game, Clue?  Maybe you saw the movies or read the books about the game instead.  That's the kind of week I had but it was in real life.

I juggle two careers; one in education and one in genealogy.  I love them both!  I'm not loving what is happening in either right now.  I miss my students.  I miss traveling to archives. 

Since I highly value both humans and the bread crumb records they leave behind, I follow safety guidelines.  I realize not everyone believes that the virus is real or it will have dire consequences for them if they are infected.  I don't agree with those that refuse to wear a mask or social distance or go out when they aren't feeling well but I respect their difference in opinion - just stay away from me and my family!

That being said, my hubby and I have requested that we continue working from home via an eLearning platform this upcoming school year and were granted that privilege.  Should have been simple but unfortunately, it wasn't.  One of us was told DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES COME ON CAMPUS and the other was told YOU WILL BE WORKING FROM A SAFE LOCATION ON CAMPUS.  We work for the same school district and have the same job title and work with the same grade level of students.  We both were determined to have the same level of risk which is why we were granted the eLearning permission. Both of us were highly successful using the online platform since March. We are both former National Board Certified Teachers and deemed accomplished by our district. No one can explain why we have different instructions as to how to execute our roles.

Since no one can provide us a valid reason, we have both decided to Zoom into meetings when we're notified they are occurring.  I cannot tell you how thankful we are that we have made the decision we did.  On Wednesday morning a Zoom meeting was held in a classroom with 12 on site attendees and 3 off site. The sign in sheet and pen were passed around onsite for attendance and one took off his mask briefly to address the group but was told to put it back on and complied.  The next day, the administration was notified that one of the onsite attendees was diagnosed with covid.  Due to Hippa, the name of the individual cannot be disclosed.  Hence, the game of real life Clue begins. It is a no brainer to figure out who has it as everyone knows who was in attendance and who did not show up for work the next day.  So much for Hippa confidentiality.  If only finding records of our ancestors or determining relationships for them could be so simple!

Last Saturday afternoon I was notified that I won a free Clooz software packet.  I had been entered into a drawing from visiting the NGS online Exhibit Hall last month.  Since the May NGS Conference had to be cancelled, the event was moved to online with breakout sessions available for viewing (after purchase) on July 1st.  Also available was a link to corporate sponsors who would have been available face to face if the conference had been held.  Some of the sponsors offer product discounts or give aways for visiting their "booth."  That was how I came to be the lucky winner of  Clooz 3.

If you aren't familiar with Clooz, it is a program to document data with features that help in analyzing the inputted information to determine identity and relationship.  The program will export to your family tree and offers more than 200 report formats to help with analysis.  I thought this was just what I need to help sort out my Duer family that reuses names (John, Thomas, Daniel) several times in each generation.  I've also long sought one document that would conclusively show that my Thomas is the son of John.  

Notified by email, I downloaded the software and on Sunday, watched several of the 12 introductory videos at the site.  The presenter has a personable, calming voice and demonstrates where to click and how to enter data.  

I have a lot of records on my Thomas and John Duer so I'm not yet done entering the information into Clooz to begin using the reports. I spent Sunday adding People, Sources and Census info.  I still have more to go but somehow, I did something wrong and cannot find the saved file.  I am clueless (pun intended!) where I saved it!  So, I plan on spending time today determining where all my data went from last weekend and moving forward with the program.  Hopefully, Cluz will give me some clues where it's hiding.  

New(er) Genealogy Resources For Your Toolbox

I've been consumed with my Hollingsheads for the last two months so I've not blogged about a few awesome resources I've come across that may benefit you.  Some are free, some are not.  Here they are:

• MyHeritage Photo Enhancer is a wonderful tool not just to fix blurry photos but also get a better view of fuzzy documents.  I tried this out in June when I was having difficulty transcribing handwriting from a Quaker document.  I also tried it on an extremely blurry group photo I had of my husband's Harbaughs but the original photo was too small so it didn't work well.  You can read more about this here.
• New York Genealogical and Biographical Society began Beta testing in March their new online collections.  I was not a participant due to other commitments though I did use it briefly in June and July when I was in need of New York records.  Here's more info about the update.
• Want to attend a training/conference/Zoom/GoToMeeting, etc. session but know you're not available at the day/time it's being presented?  No worries - most organizations will record and make the session available for viewing later.  Go ahead and sign up anyway.  You'll probably get an email with a link to view later.  I had to miss an APG Virtual Chapter meeting in June and an American Ancestors class in July but was able to watch what I missed at my convenience later.  So, go ahead and sign up for the event even if you can't attend!
• Academia.edu is a new tool in my toolbox and I honestly couldn't have analyzed my Hollingsheads in Barbados as I did without it! There is a membership fee, ballpark about $50 annually, that I've more than gotten my money's worth in the last two months.  The site allows you access to unlimited journal articles and papers by educators on a wide variety of topics.  I selected history and the Caribbean in particular to learn more about the time period I was researching (1650-1750).  That allowed me access to archaeological studies recently done to gain a better perspective of what life was like then, historical works revisited (so I could easily find primary sources), and opportunity to contact social scientists with questions directly.  The site is not just for history enthusiasts but that's the only part I've used.  Membership also provides you your own website, which I have not set up since I already have my own, but it's a nice feature and looks like it's quick and easy to use if you're new to webdesign.  If you've used JStor, this is similar but I've found that it contains more info if you're focusing on a sliver of time and place.  
• Don't forget YouTube and your local Genealogy Society!  I recently watched a wonderful video about River Pirates.  I had no idea there was such a thing in the Midwest, nor was I aware of some of the terror that reigned in small communities due to deranged families. It also never occurred to me that there was poor workmanship back in those days that resulted in lives and supplies being lost.  I heard about the topic from my local genealogy society; one of the member's brother was the speaker and I'm so glad I viewed it.  Hubby and I went to school in Indiana and that topic was never addressed in the curriculum!
• Last but not least, and probably more important than everything mentioned - if you haven't noticed Ancestry.com has updated their messaging system.  Gone are the folders you may have previously used to save correspondence with other members.  You can download it so you don't lose anything.  I strongly urge you to do so TODAY as it will be gone this month.  I don't know what they did yesterday but I had 11 messages.  I had recently reached out to several folks who had some Hollingsheads in their trees but it wasn't 11.  In reviewing the messages, I discovered most were not new (9) and the two that were were old - one was from November 2019 and the other from June 24, 2020.  Guess they got lost in cyberspace but it did make me look bad as I try to respond within 48 hours!  Check out this feature to see if the update they did before dawn's early light this past week affected your messages.

Finding the Family Jewels - Bibles, Included!

Ever wonder what happened to an object that was once held in high regard in your family but has since disappeared?  Maybe you aren't sure if there ever was such an item but you'd like to explore the possibility.  This blog is for you...

When I began internet genealogy back in the 1990's we still had dial up service.  Remember that?  Going through your home phone line to connect resulted in no one being able to get a phone call while someone was surfing.  With all the junk calls I get daily, I'm thinking that wasn't such a bad option, but I digress.

Back then, my husband would joke that it was okay he couldn't make a phone call because I was hunting down the family jewels.  Clearly, our families never had much jewels but I did wonder whatever became of the muskets or hoop skirts or Bibles.  Most likely, the muskets broke and when the hoop skirts were no longer haute couture they were either repurposed or trashed.  The Bibles, however, never went out of style so what happened to them?

Your first step in locating the long lost item is to research if it ever was.  Start by asking your oldest living relative.  I know that no Bible was brought from the old country by my maternal side because I asked my grandparents, who were the gateways, if they brought it with them.  Both said they brought one suitcase filled with clothes.  Case closed, pun intended!

I never asked my paternal grandparents that question, though, because my grandmother died when I was a child and my grandfather remarried, moved away and we never had contact again.  My father then became the oldest relative and his reply was, "You'll get the book when I die."  Huh?  I questioned further and he meant there was a family history book that had been written in the 1970's and he intended for me to have it.  Except that didn't happen. Since my step-mother would not give it to me, my second step became casting a wider net.  I had two aunts but neither responded to a letter I wrote (this was before wide use of email) so I posted on a genealogy website that I was looking for a copy.  Two people responded that they had copies and provided me a look up.  One even reached out to the author who was living in Europe and he sent me an electronic database of his book.  Today, you can easily accomplish this by messaging distant family members who have online trees that contain the ancestor whose information you're seeking or you can check worldcat, Google Books, Hathi Trust, Internet Archives and Archive Grid to see if the whereabouts of what you're hunting is listed there.  Facebooks' Family Treasures Found would be another site to check.  One of my aunts eventually responded and sent me her copy.  Patience is key here for lots of reasons; perhaps the site you messaged isn't used much by the recipient or life just happened to get in the way.  In my case, my Aunt wanted to check with her two daughters to make sure they had no interest in the book.  They didn't so that's how I ended up with a copy.  Actually, I ended up with two copies because my step-mother took pity on me after my mother died and gave me the book.  So now, I have two - one for each of my kids or for another family member that may sometime in the future contact me with the same request.

Getting the information through look up was wonderful, however, if what you're seeking is a one of a kind item then this approach may get you closer but not really fill your need.  Step 3 will save you time and it's quite simple - just go online and research if what you're seeking is documented to have existed and if so, when and where was it's last location.

If you're following me, you know that I've been working all summer on my Hollingshead line.  In my research to verify the identify of Daniel Hollingshead in three locations (England, Barbados, New Jersey Colony) I looked everywhere online and emailed numerous archives to check for information that hasn't been digitized.  It was during the online portion of the research that I discovered Daniel had brought a Bible with him from England as it was noted in old biographical books highlighting descendants in the late 1800's.  To aid in keeping the whereabouts of the Bible's locations known, I went to Step 4, I created a timeline.  For simplicity here, I'm not including the source citations but my timeline in Excel notes exactly where the information came from so I can analyze it later:

1683 Leicestershire, England - Daniel's birth as reported in 5 books (1965, 1911, 1900, 1886, 1882)

         Lancashire, England - Daniel's birth place as reported in 2 books (1870 & 1857)

1686 Leicestershire, England - Christening record for the 2nd Daniel born (1st  Daniel 1679-1685)

1688 Bible printed in Oxford, England

You can clearly see the problem with the conflicting place and dates. Further research shows no Daniels born in Lancashire during this period.  Only two Daniels were born in Leicestershire during this time, both to the same parents.  Probably every book is wrong with the birth year as there would be no reason for the family to name a 2nd child Daniel until the first one was deceased.  Yes, some families do that but this line hasn't shown that to be the case although they often reuse names when a child dies.  More likely, Daniel 2 was born between 1685 (1st Daniel's death) and 1686 (christening record).  Typically infants are baptized soon after birth but that might not have been the case.  A family member may have seen the 1683 recorded but was really written was a sloppy last digit that should have been a 5. 

Here's another problem the timeline unveils - the published date of the Bible would be AFTER Daniel's birth, no matter what year is correct.  Still, I want to locate it as it would hopefully confirm the birth location and would have been the next closest document made to Daniel's real date of birth.

Here's the next problem - The Bible mentioned in some of the books state that Daniel brought the Bible with him when he came to New Jersey. I need more info to further develop the timeline.

If you're wondering why I would need to know where the Bible was kept that long ago it's simply because if it is found, I need to understand how it was passed along.  Since I don't know if the Bible contains any genealogical information as many Bibles exist and families don't record vitals in them, I need to know where it's been so I can validate the information it contains, if any.

Ship manifests haven't been found for him so it's not known exactly when Daniel emigrated.  The books mention he, along with several brothers, were in the Battle of Blenheim.  So, did Daniel take the Bible with him in battle (August 1704)?  No clues there.  Did Daniel return to England after the battle?  Don't know! At the time of the battle Daniel was not the oldest son so the Bible would have likely been in the possession of a brother who died in battle.  If the Bible had been brought to Blenheim, Daniel would have assumed ownership of it at that time.

It's probable he did return to England after the battle and took the Bible with him when he decided he was permanently leaving England so that would have been between 1705-1711.  The last date is when his first child was born in Barbados; since he met his wife in Barbados he probably arrived between 1705-1710.  So my timeline continues:  

1705  Battle of Blenheim (now Germany)

1711  Daughter born in Barbados

1714  Wife dies in Barbados

1715  Daniel listed in Barbados census

1716  Daniel remarries in Barbados

1717  Daniel purchases land in New Jersey Colony

1717-1718  Two children born to second union in Barbados

1721  Beginning of numerous land sales in New Jersey Colony

1730  Daniel dies intestate in Somerset, New Jersey Colony

Step 5:  To determine where the Bible went after Daniel's death is to expand the tree to include all of Daniel's children from both of his marriages.  You also must keep in mind customs from the time period. Understanding how the family thinks is key to finding the current location of the item.

My line follows Daniel's first child, Mary.  She would not have inherited the Bible for several reasons - she was from the first union and she was a female. Clearly she was not a favored child by her step mother as she was not named in the will.  Daniel had older sisters in England so if the family was unconventional for the times, an older sister and not Daniel would have kept the Bible after the oldest sibling died.  I know that Mary did not have the Bible as there was no documentation found in her line to ever note she had it.  There is no documentation that any of the female children ever had it. 

Daniel's eldest son, the second child, would seem the person to have inherited it but that does not seem to be the case.  Numerous books and documents show that Francis did, as the oldest male, manage the assets after Daniel died intestate and quickly lost them.  From the will of Thomasin, Daniel's second wife, she acknowledges his ineptitude by naming one of her youngest daughter's as administrator to her estate and gives each of her adult children only a shilling.  Her manumitted slaves receive most of the proceeds from the remaining estate.  You may think that the administrator would have received the Bible, since she was given the responsible task of handling the final paperwork, however, she had married late in life and had no children so she did not get the Bible.

Two of Daniel's male sons had died before his second wife.  They had no children so we can eliminate them from the hunt.

That leaves one line - 6th child, 3rd son William.  Oh joy, William had 9 children.  This may seem overwhelming but following what we know - most likely to be passed to a MALE with CHILDREN, we can quickly eliminate who got it.  It appears that son James inherited it as books from 1882 & 1886 state his son, Stroud Jacob's wife, had the Bible in her possession after Stroud died, along with "old family papers."  So now I want to find both the Bible and the papers.  

First, I want to understand why Stroud had the Bible.  He was the third son and fourth child.  The eldest died with no children, we can skip the female (sigh) and the next son left to go out west and never married.  Makes sense why Stroud would have it.   

Fast forward to 1900 when the Bible was known to be in the possession of one of Stroud's grandchildren, a Jeannette Jackson.  WOW!  How did a female get so lucky?  Times were a changing and it seems everyone of the now fewer children got something.  Harriet, the oldest, had died but her oldest daughter was Jeannette who got the Bible.  Stroud's second child had died childless.  The third child, James' son received a breast pin that was passed down to Edgar Pinchot Hollingshead.  The eldest, a daughter, received a painting on ivory of one of Daniel's sons, William (same line).

Now this should be easy, right?!  1900 wasn't that long ago and so we just need to track Jeannette and we've found the Bible.  Not so fast...Jeannette died unmarried and childless in 1923.  Two brothers predeceased her.  Her sister married but had no children.  Now we're at a dead end.  Not!

STEP 6 is to research further in new areas.  Since we're looking for a record from less than the last 100 years newspapers are the way to go.  Thanks to a "cousin" helping me with the search, a record was found in a Pennsylvania paper (and the Bible came to New Jersey first, remember!) that said an Elizabeth Malvern Hollingshead was going to "loan" the Bible to a local historical society in 1924 for an event that was to be held.  Loan is the key word here but still, I reached out to the historical society to see if a) they still have it on loan or b) they reborrowed it sometime since and know where it is.  Alas, they do not but they do have the "old family papers."  Bingo!  I've at least traced part of the missing items.  I'm awaiting their lookup for confirmation of vitals.

Now it's time to go back to Step 5 and trace Elizabeth's line to the present.  That was done and the most likely candidate was emailed at his work email.  He hasn't responded.  I know he's reading his work email because it was an interesting system - it notified me that he had been on the site the previous day to my email. 

Finding a long lost heirloom is a matter of patience and persistence.  Keep notes, enlist others to lighten the load and you will hopefully find what you seek.  Happy Hunting!