Growing Your Genealogy with Living Family Member Interaction

Sometimes, you just have to practice self control when you're around your family.  ('m referring to the living ones and not the death ones who left no documents or photos behind.)  I bet, as the family historian, you've encountered some of the following situations:

• They just make one excuse after another for not going into (Fill in the blank - attic, basement, closet, storage facility, garage) to retrieve the (Fill in the blank - birth certificate, Bible, photo)  that you desperately need yet...
• You receive a frantic call at an inopportune time wanting to know if your family is related to a celebrity
• Your family expects you to help them for FREE join a lineage society
• Even though you've shared all the discoveries you've found and ignored the glassy eyed bored looks you've gotten in return, they want some arcane piece of info on some distant ancestor because someone at work or some show on TV made them think about that story you told, only you have no knowledge of what they're talking about because they've jumbled different people and events together in their minds
• You've bought the DNA kit, helped them follow the simple instructions, mailed it back for them and monitor it and they don't believe the results (even though your DNA and theirs is a close match)

Those are my top 5 pet peeves and over the past holiday season, each of them raised their ugly heads.  Two of the above became the most problematic. 
The first situation was the result of Ancestry's recent upgrade of their DNA results.  With the old results, one family member showed more Swedish than anyone else in the family.  As a genealogist, my take on it is "So what" as we all know that the percentages are fluid since they're based on the pool tested.  As the pool grows, so the results change.  I have explained this in the past but I guess somehow I'm not doing a good job.  In my family's case, the updated stats shifted the percent slightly making the former number 1 in second place and the the former second place in first.  No big deal, right?  Evidently it was.  Instead of just asking for my take on the change, the newly placed number 1 decided that the results were questionable and so purchased a test from a competitor.  Of course, the competitor's pool was different and the results varied but in this individual's head, those results were more valid (because they hadn't been updated yet).  Since the percents of test two were even less than the first test results, the individual became upset at all the 'misleading info and the waste of money."
It was time to take a deep breath.  I ignored the waste of money part since I had paid for the first test and the individual had gotten a deep discount on the second test.  I brought up my own results from several companies and showed how the results vary and again explained why.  I don't think it got through any better than the previous times I've explained but it did end the conversation on a positive note. 
The second situation was a family member who asked me to write down the birth and death dates for two ancestors.  When I did, I was informed that I was wrong.  I had to bite my tongue to not respond, "If you know the information why are you asking me?"  Instead, after a pause, I asked if the individual wanted a copy of the birth and death certificates.  The response was no.  I then asked why the information was being questioned.  The answer was it didn't seem like it had been that long ago when the individuals died.  Sure, as we age, time seems to go much quicker.  In this situation, I owned the problem as I jumped to the conclusion that the asker doubted my research when that wasn't the case at all. 

Family can be a help in our genealogy quest - not just with gaining names and dates of ancestors but in showing us character areas where we need to grow. 

What's a Genealogist? Hint: It's not a Gynecologist

Recently on a beautiful spring (in Florida - the robins just returned so hang in there northerners) afternoon, family members invited me to go to lunch at a local cafe in our downtown area.  Because this was a spur of the moment invitation, I hadn't changed from my casual Saturday morning attire.  I was wearing my recent Christmas gift from my sister-in-law pictured above and a pair of jeans.
When our waitress, Melissa, who has given me permission to identify her and share this story, handed us the menus, I found her staring at my t-shirt.  She immediately asked, "Are you a gynecologist?"  My family burst out laughing.  "No," I replied, "I'm a genealogist."  Obviously, the way I was seated at the table Melissa could not clearly read my t-shirt.
Melissa asked what a genealogist did and I explained that I was like a family historian.  A family member added that I help people find their past.  I added, "For people who are adopted and want to know about their birth parents, I'd work with their DNA.  For everyone, I would search for old records and photos to help them prove a family story."  Melissa shook her head yes, she understood.
As we dined, Melissa returned to check on us several times; each time she had another genealogical question.
The word genealogy is derived from Greek meaning the study of generations.  It surprises me that in a study done in December 2018 in the U.S., 34% of the respondents could not name their grandparents.  I'm never bothered by people asking how to get information to help them discover their past so I wasn't bothered by Melissa's questions.  Research shows that genealogy is one of the largest hobbies and I'm happy to add more people who are interested. 

Valentine Gift Idea - a Family Tree Poster

Valentine's is around the corner and here's a quick gift idea for family - a poster of your family tree.  I discovered that Geneanet has some free templates that make awesome (inexpensive) gifts.  I did this last minute before Christmas and the results were beautiful.

If you have a Geneanet tree you can follow the instructions below.  If not, first you need to create an account at https://en.geneanet.org/  Although they have a premium service, which is a nice option, you don't have to pay to become a member and upload a tree.
Download wherever you've saved your family tree and then upload to Geneanet on the ribbon under Family Tree - Import/Export a Family Tree.  Depending on the size of your tree, this may take a few minutes.

Once your tree is uploaded, open up the individual (or yourself) that you want to start as the base of your chart.  Then click on Charts & Lists - Ancestry - Printable Family Tree.  There are several templates from which you can select.  I chose a fan design and used a tree in the background on one and a lion on another.  You can also select up to 10 generations to include.  I saved it to a thumb drive and then took it to my closest big box office supply store.  They quickly printed it for me on poster paper and the cost was $3.17 ($1.08 a piece with tax).  Make sure you tell the sales person to leave a border around the poster if you intend to get it framed.  I didn't which I should have.

The only downside is that GENEANET is printed in large letters at the bottom right but for the price, I believe it's worth the advertising.
Now just think - you're family will stop asking you how so and so is related and when great grandpa died.  Well, maybe if your family is like mine they'll continue to ask but that's okay, you can redirect them to the chart.  I call it baby steps in training them to be interested in genealogy.

A Winning Genealogy Formula

Frances and Peter Landfair

Happy New Year!  I took a few weeks off from blogging and am delighted to be back.  My blogging break, however, didn't include a break from genealogy so in the next few weeks I'll be writing about my recent discoveries, insights and well, dumb luck, which I'll explain below.
I have always loved the holidays and it seems every year I get a genealogy gift from the universe.  This year, I got an extra special one.
I'm not talking about the unexpected adorable t-shirt my sister-in-law bought me that says "Genealogist because Freakin Miracle Worker is not a Job Title" or the archival pens I found in my stocking (thanks, hubby).  It's those Santa gifts that I cherish because they come when I least expect it and make me scratch my head trying to figure out how in the world they even came about.
Trying to bring logic to the situation, I came up with a formula  P1 + P2 = P3 whereas P1 is persistence, P2 is patience and together they equal P3 which is prosperity.  Perhaps there is no logic involved and as I said earlier, this was just dumb luck. 
This year, a few days after Thanksgiving, I saw a comment posted on Ancestry.com about one of the 10,000 plus pictures I've uploaded.  Yes, I know that those pictures I uploaded give Ancestry rights.  I understand I own the photos but these long dead people I do not own so I believe in sharing their lives.  Legally, they lost their rights when they died so I have taken responsibility to track who is taking those shared photos.  I figure it's the least I can do to honor them.
The Ancestry comment was from an individual I did not know;  he had identified the people in the photo above I had attached to my grandmother Lola Landfair Leininger.  Most of the photos I inherited were not labeled so I placed all the photos under my grandmother's tab as I assumed they had meaning to her since she had passed them to my father.  I did not get the photos until long after both of them died and there was no family members left to identify them. 
Around 2005, after a series of hurricanes had hit our area and being tired of lugging them around as we evacuated, I decided to scan and save the photos to CD.  I titled them Leininger Family Photos but that turned out to be a mistake.  Leininger was my grandmother's married name; I realized that many of these undated photos had clues that showed they predated her marriage and if she was the care taker of them, then the older ones would be Landfair and Kuhn (my great grandmother's line) photos.  At the time I saved to CD, I uploaded to Ancestry but I didn't realize that saving them as Leininger wasn't helpful to any other surnames related to that family as they wouldn't have shown up in an Ancestry search for those other lines. 
Over the years, I have received a number of inquiries from Leiningers who asked for more details about a photo or two.  I always persistently made a copy of the CD and mailed it off asking only that the receiver notify me of anyone they identify but none were ever able to help.
So, you can imagine my surprise and delight after patiently waiting 13 years to receive a comment identifying the Landfair children.  How did this poster know that these were Landfair children?  He had inherited the same photo that was clearly marked with their names.  I mailed off the CD to him but with the busyness of the season, didn't give it much thought. 
On Christmas Eve day I received an email that he had identified several more individuals that were closely related to him - his grandfather as a child and his great-grandfather.  He had never seen those photos and was so excited he was going to take the photos with him to share with his family to see if they could identify others.  Nine of the photos were eventually claimed as his closer family. 
In speaking with his older relatives, one who is in her 90's, he learned that our shared great-great grandfather, Peter Landfair, had only one photo ever taken of himself.  He did it because his family was insistent he be photographed and I know that I don't own that one photo because family lore says he was photographed with his back to the camera.  I would never know this story if I hadn't shared the CD with this distant cousin. 
On a side note, while sharing the photos he learned that a stash of them is residing in an unheated barn in the midwest.  (Yep, that would be my family; mine were found in an unheated damp basement).  He hadn't been aware of that and plans to rescue them this month.  I'm hoping that he finds that backside photo.  Even if he doesn't, I feel that the photos will lead to genealogy prosperity with lines we currently have no photos for and perhaps, we'll be able to connect with others and gain even more goodies. 
My New Year's resolution is to continue blogging, sharing and connecting.  I'm also wishing you and yours Genealogy Prosperity in 2019.

Interesting News on Lifespan

I read 2 articles this week (Thanks to the NEGHS Newsletter) that at first look appeared to be unrelated but as I processed the information, realized that they were indeed related.  The first, Life span has little to do with genes, analysis of large ancestry database shows by Sharon Begley clearly surprised me.  Not having a medical background, I assumed, wrongly it appears, that genes were a much stronger indicator to longevity.  The article is also interesting in that the data analyzed most likely included my people and yours, if you are an Ancestry.com member.  I have no problem with my tree info being shared for research purposes but if you do, and you didn't take the time to read the disclaimers when you were signing up, you need to be aware that your information is being used by third parties.
The second article, She was like a second mother': the German woman who saved our Jewish family history by Simon Finch drove home to me how fortunate my family has been in leaving areas of unrest in the nick of time.  Those that bravely fought for freedom, from Jacob Wilson Parrot,the First Congressional Medal of Honor awardee from the Civil War and my first cousin three times removed, to two Purple Heart recipients (WW I and II), George Bryant and George Willard Harbaugh, my husband's grandfather and uncle, all made it home safely.
Family mortality has always interested me.  Aside from the occasional accident, such as my great grandfather Frank Landfair falling off a train platform, to my Great Uncle Francis Earl Landfair, being struck my lightening while standing outside talking with friends, I attempted to deduce longevity by averaging the prior three generations of family members, taking into account gender, and adding two years for men and three for women to account for medical advancements.  This seemed to work for both my maternal and paternal sides.  I guess my data set was too small to make an inference.
I'd be interested to hear if you've looked at your ancestor's longevity and drawn any conclusions.  Let me know if you have!

Using an Index to Find What I Didn't Know Existed

Genealogist purists do not like using indexes.  I 'm glad I'm not a purist as I recently found an interesting record by accident while using an index.

Monthly, I get an email from Familysearch.org with updates about the site.  I always check out the section that lists the newly available online records. I find this especially important since the organization has stopped mailing microfilm to be viewed locally and a trip to Salt Lake City doesn't seem to be in my immediate future so I need to keep checking to see when records of interest to me are available online.

One of the new links was to Ohio Wills and Estates to 1850:  An Index  by Carol Willsey Bell.  I have many Ohio settlers from the early 1800's and I wanted to use the index to make sure I didn't overlook a probate record.

I understand the danger of simply citing an index as there might have been an error in recording the information.  Personally, I view indexes like Ancestry hints.  I might get lucky and I might not so let's roll the dice and hope for the best.

I was searching for a probate record for Edward Adams, my elusive 3rd great grandfather who showed up in Perry County, Ohio about 1815 when he married Mary "Polly" Dennis Hodge, widow of John Hodge who had been killed in the War of 1812.  Edward died shortly after being elected county auditor and was replaced in October 1822 according to the History of Fairfield and Perry Counties, Ohio.

I was delighted to find an entry on page 1 in Ohio Wills and Estates for Edward (Estate-1825 Perry Common Plea Minutes 64, page 10, page 68) and an Evi on page 2, who I was hoping to link together.  I also found a Samuel I had not known about.  One of Edward and Polly's sons was named Evi, an unusual male name.  The adult Evi in Perry County would have been about the right age to be a younger sibling of Edward so I was excited to see an entry for both  men.  I had also found a Susan Adams in the 1830 census in Perry County and I wondered if there was a connection. I'm now thinking she was the wife of Samuel.  Reviewing my notes I noticed I had never checked the Common Plea Court records in Perry County and that's where the index was directing me.

I quickly returned to the search engine at Familysearch.org and opened the microfilm for the Common Plea Court.  I click on Minutes v. A 1818-1820 Minutes v. B 1820-1822 and without paying close attention to the middle of the title, noticed that the last entry was for 1828-1831.  What I missed was that not all the records were filmed.  And of course, some of the records I needed weren't there.

Obviously, Bell had seen the complete records when she was recording the information for her book.  This gives me hope that the records are somewhere out there where I may one day find them.

The limited info I did find showed that Evi was the administrator for Edward so I was pleased in that connection although it did not state their relationship.  But I'm not disappointed at all because instead of finding what I was seeking, I discovered instead a court record for my 4th great grandfather, Peter Drum (1750-1837), which was on the page where I thought I'd find Edward's estate info.

1

I'm unable to find the bill of indictment so I don't know what he was pleading guilty to.  I did look up the fee of $4.19 and in converting it to today's dollars - it's about $20.00.

Here's the weird part...the day before I had emailed the Fairfield County, Ohio Pioneer Society for a followup as earlier this year, I had submitted a lineage society application for Peter Drum and I had not heard from the organization. I could have used the above record as further proof of his residence but I hadn't known it existed.  The day after I found this record I received a response that the application for Peter Drum was accepted and I would receive more information in December.

Now I intend to go page by page through these court records to see if there are other interesting discoveries to be made.  So glad winter is coming!





1 Court records, 1818-1854 Minutes v. B 1820-1822 Minutes, Peter Drum, Familysearch.org (https: familysearch.org: accessed 28 Oct 2018) p.2.

In Honor of Veteran's Day

Today, the world remembers the end of World War I.  Although no veterans or civilians are with us to recall the atrocities, the record of their experiences lives on through letters, diaries and recordings.  I am in possession of a collection of letters and wanted to mark the 100th anniversary today by sharing one with you.

With the United States Congress declaring war on Germany on April 6, 1917, 2.8 million American men were soon to be drafted to serve in what was then called “The Great War.”  Hoosier born George Bryant Harbaugh, a 22-year-old Deputy Sheriff with the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway in Gary, Lake County, Indiana, was sent to Camp Taylor, Kentucky for basic training.  Army Private George left behind his sweetheart, Elsie Wilhelmina Johnson, a 21-year-old Mother’s Helper living in Miller, (now Gary), Indiana. 

Elsie saved every letter and postcard received from George.  Only 3 letters from Elsie to George survive.  The following is a scan and transcript of the letter detailing his experiences when the Armistice was called on November (11) 11th at 11 AM:

ON ACTIVE SERVICE

                      WITH THE                                                                   AMERICAN RED CROSS

  AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

NAME

                 Geo B Harbaugh D

Infantry

U.S. Army.                                                                             

Dec. 16, 1918               

Allerey, France

My Dearest Elsie.-

Your most welcome letter of Nov. 17 received about an hour ago and I can’t tell you how tickled I was to get it.  I am expecting a lot more soon for the last one I got before this was dated Aug. 24 so I must have lots more somewhere.   I expect though, that they are at Tours at the Central Office and I’ve notified them of where I am so maybe they will reach me after awhile

You ask when you may expect me back.  That is hard to tell.  We may leave here tomorrow and may be here a month yet. My Division the 28^th , is in the Army of Occupation and is in Luxemburg I believe, but they say we can’t get back to our old companies anymore but are to go in Casual Companies and go home but just how soon, we don’t know.  But I think I’ll be back before March and when I get to New York, I’ll send you a telegram about when you can expect me.

I’m sure anxious to get back and I’m sure we can be nicely settled in that little cottage of Ours before next winter.  I’m glad you got the money all right as I didn’t get to see the chaplain after I gave it to him.  You see, we got paid off one day and we went into battle in a couple of days.  I didn’t know what might happen so I thought it best to send it to you.  I’ve got 5 months’ pay here now and if I get it before coming back, I’ll send it to you as I don’t want to spend it over here.  I wanted you to get something for your Xmas, though. 

So, you are looking for a house for us, are you?  ha. ha. The place below Gertie would be fine.  I didn’t suppose you would tell Gertie our happy secret but my only regret is that you haven’t the ring, too.  So Gertie was willing to have us for neighbors, was she?  Tell her for me that when Bob and I get together there will be some stories to hear.  I never heard where any of the other Miller boys were, but Bob was in the 26, or “Yankee Division”, from the New England states and the 28^th was from Pa.  We relieved the 26 Div. on July 25 and they went to St Mihael, then Argonne Forest so I never got a chance to see Bob.  I hope he came through the war all right. 

You speak of getting a letter from Ed Lemert.  Yes, Dear, he’s an awful good friend of mine and is almost as much as a brother.  I wrote to him quite often but I haven’t wrote for several weeks so guess I will write tonight.  I expect lots of my letters get lost but there was times it was impossible to write for  a week or two at a time.  Conditions here are not what you folks imagine they are.  I haven’t saw any real American Y.M.C.A. huts and as for a Y.M.C.A entertainment for the Infantry at least, is something unheard of.  I believe there is a nice Y.M.C.A.in Paris but we aren’t  allowed there.

I haven’t heard from Raymond Clemons since about Aug 1 and I believe I’ll have to write and see if he’s still alive.  I’ll have to write to Mrs. Clemons, too, I guess.  The 111^th Regt. lost lots of men at Chateau Therrey.  The Huns used liquid fire on them and that is horrible.  We got gas, shells, grenades and machine gun fire but the 112^th never got any liquid fires used on us.  Did you ever get the letter I sent that had a little pressed pansy in?   I picked it in the city of Fismes and the Germans were shelling it to beat the band.  We had two companies of our regiment captured there but they sure did pile up the dead Huns before they were overpowered.

Guess you must have had a grand time Nov. 11 from the clippings you sent.  We did here.  They have a bulletin board and on Nov. 11 it read “At 4 P.M raise H-l and I guess they did.  I was in bed yet then but we sure yelled  4 P.M here would be about 6 A.M. back there.  Bells all over France rang and everybody was happy, believe me.  I’ve only been here 7 months but that seems an awful long time but the other Allies have had 52 months of it so they sure was cause to rejoice.

Well, Pres. Wilson got a big reception when he came here and if it wouldn’t have been for the Yank soldiers.  He would never have come to France for it would have all been Germany by now.  But that will wait till I get back.  I won’t tell you too much else;  I can’t tell you anything new when I get back.

Well, I will have to close, Dearest, if I am to write another letter tonight so I’ll close hoping I may get more of your ever welcome letters real soon.

With Oceans of Love and Kisses and hoping I’m back with you by Feb. 22.

Your Own and Always,

George

Convalescent Camp

A.P.O. 785

G .Company

A.J. Bruggeman

(unreadable)

I am currently compiling the letters into an eBook with the working title, Thanks to the Yanks - World War I Letters from a Soldier Boy to his Sweetheart.