Keeper of the Records

Blogger Introduces Dynamic View

2011-04-14T11:08:00.000-04:00

Do you have a blog on Blogger? Well, they have just introduced “Dynamic Views”. Watch this:

To check this out, simply add /view to my URL. So, keeperoftherecords.blogspot.com will change to keeperoftherecords.blogspot.com/view.
To enable this on your Blogger blog, first you have to check your settings. Blogger says:

These dynamic views will work on your blog if all of the following are true:

Your blog is public. Your readers don’t need to sign in to view your blog.

Your blog has feeds fully enabled. In the Settings | Site feed tab, you have enabled either Full or Jump Break for your Post Feed.

You have not disabled dynamic views. In the Setting | Formatting tab, the option for Enable Dynamic Views is set to Yes.

I think this is pretty cool! There are other photo –rich blogs that I read where the thumbnails in the flipcard view will be awesome for searching! Kuddos to Blogger for a job well done. Now if they could just create a button somewhere instead of having to type /view in the address bar…

©2010 Joanne Schleier - All Rights Reserved.

Victorian Hair Art: Part 3

2011-04-03T09:00:00.003-04:00

Hopefully you’ve followed me around during my travels last summer when I discovered hair art which I wrote about in Part 1 and Part 2.

In Part 3, I’m home and learning more about what this is all really about.

“Braided hair from family members surrounds the detailed history of the marriages and births within their family.”

Photo by Richard Gwin (Source)

There is quite a bit out there on the internet about Victorian Hair Art/Work. It seems that prior to the age of craft stores galore and photographs, there was not a large amount of supplies available for handiwork. That coupled with the sentimental value of a part of the human body that doesn’t rot, hair, means that people discovered a way to preserve a connection to one another by taking the hair and making into something tangible. Something of value that spoke to the human heart about one’s connection to another human being.

Hair wreath’s were made from one person’s hair or more more than one for variety and color variations. Some added beads. They are constructed using wire or braiding the hair and shaping it. Then they were most often mounted inside a shadow box lined with a fabric similar to that which lines coffins. Hair wreath’s were made from hair taken usually while someone was still living. Although there are some that were not and some from the living and the dead combined.

“This shadow box with a picture of a girl in mourning is lined with material usually reserved for a coffin. The wreath apparently is made with hair from the girl and the girl's mother, who had died.”

Photo by Richard Gwin

Often times, hair was cut from a beloved after they died. It was a remnant of them as a living being. And it could be preserved. Remember too, that once photography was invented, people often took photos of the deceased in order to remember them. Seems strange to us now, in light of the fact that we can capture their image in photos, their movements in video and their voices in audio. But, what if none of this was possible? It’s was the closest you could be to someone no longer living, to have a strand of their hair.

“This picture shows how hair was used as lockets.”

Photo by Richard Gwin (Source)

Then there is hair jewelry. Sometimes, young lovers were separated and a woman would braid her hair into a bracelet for her beloved to remember her with until her returned. More common was mourning jewelry. A child, so very young, would die and hair was made into mourning rings. Sometimes people would include it in their will that they wished to have jewelry made for certain people for mementos. George Washington ordered no less than 5 mourning rings made from his hair. Did you know that there are at least 3 extant samples of Thomas Jefferson’s hair? Taken off his head after he died?

Thomas Jefferson’s Hair

(Click image for source)

“Thomas Jefferson's hair cuttings were taken on Jefferson's deathbed as keepsakes by his only surviving daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, and other family members. Three samples came to the Library of Congress in clearly identified envelopes with the papers of Jefferson. Martha wrote on one envelope: "My dear father Thomas Jefferson." The hair samples are cuttings without follicles and therefore are useless for DNA studies. Only the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation is known to have custody of additional cuttings of Jefferson's hair.” (Source: Library of Congress website)

There are still hair artist’s today. In fact, there is a Victorian Hairwork Society… and they have “Hairball Conventions”!

Arlington Cemetery in Washington D.C. houses the Museum of Mourning Art in a building modeled after Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home, “since it was Washington’s death that inspired American settlers to create and invest in mourning art.” (Museum of Mourning Art Website).

On YouTube I found a video, yes, I did, but I believe it’s the ONLY one on hair wreath’s.

There are even some hair wreaths on Ebay selling for $675-$895! There must be some serious collectors out there.

There’s also another museum exclusively with items made from hair – Leila’s Hair Museum in Independence, Missouri. Her website says “There are 159 wreaths and over 2,000 pieces of jewelry containing, or made of, human hair dating before 1900. For $3.00, the public in invited to look at these locks at Leila's Hair Museum.”

You’ll be amazed at the images you see if you do a Google search and select “images”.

So, I hope that’s enough information for you about Victorian Hair Art! I will continue to be intrigued by this most interesting curiosity. It’s most intriguing isn’t it?

I just happen to have a trip planned for next week in which I was going to visit both Mount Vernon and Arlington Cemetery as a part of it! Now is that not just the most uncanny coincidence? Perhaps I’ll have to deviate from the plan just a bit to visit the Museum of Mourning Art.

And publish an update post, of course!

Victorian Hair Art: Part 2

2011-04-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

My last post should have grabbed your attention if you were not familiar with hair art. It’s also known as hair work.
Remember to click on the images to see a larger view.

I got my first introduction to this in June of 2009. Well, imagine my surprise when, just 2 days later and further into our summer trip, I saw some more! We had made our way to Des Moines, Iowa for a family wedding and our love of living history compelled us to visit Living History Farms in Urbandale, Iowa about 7 miles away. Here you can travel through 300 years of time.

But for me, as usual before any trip, first things first.

Yes, I really did have to go. And, yes, this is where I really went.

My daughter’s paternal grandmother only had an outhouse when I met her father, so this suburban girl had gotten used to it.

Except the smell as you can see.

I was quite the spectacle when I was in “training” to use Grandma’s outhouse. Very entertaining, I’m sure. Grandma always had a mason jar of soot from the fireplace and you're supposed to add a spoonful to the “hole” when you’re done to keep the smell down and the flies at bay. They didn’t use one here!

Actually, I don’t think it was that bad, I’m just such a drama queen!

Our first indoor tour was the 1900’s farm house.

So adorable – I could totally live in a house like this with it’s wooden floors, simple interior and white picket fence.

And what is that hanging on the wall in the parlor?

“NOOOOOO! You’re kidding me?”, I say… out loud.

Excuse the blurry picture, but this is what I ended up with.

You’ve got to be kidding me! I’ve never seen this in my life and now twice in one week?

Is this a divine message and I should be getting something here?

No, I’m not going to try to make hair art or start collecting it, if that’s the divine message!

Sure enough! It’s more HAIR ART! Only this one has MORE HAIR and many different colors of it too!

With beads added in.

I’m still not sure what to make of this new discovery and once again my fellow tourists left me. I was trying to take more photos without glare (see me in the glass?).

Well, I still can’t believe it. But it was an affirmation for me to learn more about it, for sure.

Onward. Now here’s an 1875 upper-class Victorian home we went through.

Look what I find… AGAIN in the master bedroom!

What’s more is that this upper-class lady also has a chamber set.
A brush, hair irons, doo-dad for hat pins…

AND WHAT’S THIS? Could it be a hair receiver?

That’s exactly what it is! One question answered! A real hair receiver!

Amazing.

I guess she would clean her brush and also pull her hand through her hair to grab the loose strands, I know I used to, and add it to her little dish.

And remember when you have hair like this:

Photo from Flickr by 9teen87's Postcards

It probably mostly fills the dish in one sitting.

Finally, we visited the general store.

Neat stuff! I would love some of this to decorate my 1970’s ranch house! HA!

And I’ll take that wood-stove please!

Mason jars, oil lamps, coffee grinders, tins – oh my!

Love the wooden boxes for spices.

And the shoes. Look at all those buttons! I die.

Wait, what’s this? Oh, no don’t tell me.

Linen handkerchief's, combs and HAIR JEWELRY?

OK! I can’t take it anymore! I SEE IT! Hair, hair everywhere!

I’ve had enough and I wanna go home {whine}!

Really, I just wanted to get back so I could get on the computer and learn more about this ~~unmerciful hysteria~~ mystery.

I’m not done yet.

Coming soon: Part 3.

Victorian Hair Art {yes, that’s right} : Part 1

2011-03-30T09:00:00.003-04:00

I discovered something last summer. My first thought was “eeeew, that’s gross”.

That’s still kinda what I’m thinkin’.

While visiting Ottumwa Iowa where my parents-in-law met, their friend took my husband and me to their History Museum. Everything was as you’d expect, history of farming, occupations, the role of women, the development of the town, the train depot and fire department evolutions, a telephone operators switchboard which was cool to see among other things.

And then I saw this (click to view larger images):

Looks like art to me, possibly hand made…but what is the medium?

Oh wait… here are the details.

I will never be the same.

I’m a crafty person and have an appreciation for art, but this… this is too much.

I stood there staring at this nature inspired flower thingy – made from hair. Not horse hair or artificial hair.

Real human hair! It kinda grossed me out and intrigued me at the same time, in a Ripley’s-Believe-it-or-Not sort of way.

The guys had moved on in the museum, but I was fixated on this peculiar thing. It must have been so very time consuming. And the amount of hair!

Mine was long enough for something like this until Thanksgiving 2008 when I donated it to Locks of Love. It was REALLY long.

Or so I thought it was. Until I saw hers.

My hair was down to my waist and took about 3-4 years to grow it that long. My guess is Mrs. Buncutter NEVER cut her hair.

This was traditional. Women tied their hair up in a bun, as was the style, never wearing it down in public. I’m surprised when I see photos like this with hair cascading down. Undoubtedly, these photos are all about the hair when you see them. Until the early 20th century, one would never venture outside without a cap or hat. And washing hair was done once a week – even my grandmother didn’t wash hers everyday like I do. I digress.

My curiosity grew and I wondered… a lot. Why did they do this? How did they do it? What is a hair receiver and what does one look like?

Stay tuned for answers and more pictures in Part 2.

One Lovely Blog Award

2011-03-25T16:34:00.001-04:00

I've received this award for One Lovely Blog from Mary over at Me and My Ancestors. This award was originally created by Sara at Works of Art by Sara.

It's such a good feeling to receive an award when sometimes I'm just wondering if people even read my blog or are interested in what I post! Thank you Mary! I think everyone also likes recognition for something they put their heart into, so in keeping with passing this on, I'd love to recognize some of the blogs I enjoy and recently started to follow. Please take a peak at these blogs if you're not familiar with them already.

Valerie at Begin with Craft

Scrappy Gen at The Scrappy Genealogist
Kathleen at The Misadventures of a Genealogist
Tonia at Tonia's Roots
Nolichucky Roots
Michelle at The Turning of Generations
and last but not least,
Brandt at Brandt's Rants

I will be posting comments on these blogs to inform them of their award!

Sara says:

"Here are the rules that MUST be followed:

1. Add the logo to your blog.

2. Link to the person from whom you received this award

3. Nominate 7 or more blogs

4. Leave a message on their blog, letting them know they are "One Lovely Blog"! "

Organizing with “Dear Myrtle”: February

2011-03-23T08:00:00.003-04:00

Continuing to play catch-up with Dear Myrtle’s Organizing Checklists, I am now working through February’s. Also, an update for January, today I bought 6 more binders and 10 more sets of tab dividers because I got a $10 coupon bringing my total investment for supplies to $250.46. Creating those binders will be added to the list of things to do.

Here’s the breakdown for February:

Decide on a genealogy management program: I already use Legacy Family Tree Software.
Volunteer at FamilySearchIndexing.org: I’m registered to volunteer for this, but my genealogy volunteer efforts at present are towards my local society.
Check that surnames in binders A-F are in the database: Well, I had to modify this one a bit. I printed the family group sheets for the binders I’ve already made from my database, so I know they are all in there. Plus, I can’t work alphabetically as I said before, because not all the binders are made yet.
Make sure individuals mentioned in papers are cited in database: This is precisely what I’ll be working on for February’s list!
Sort photos: Already done.
Rename digital photos: A work in progress.
Subscribe to blogs in Google Reader: I should unsubscribe to some because I can never keep my list empty – always trying to play catch-up with this! I love my reader!
Join a genealogy-related mailing list: I have joined a couple and never have time to read the emails which frustrates me. I try to eliminate and self-created must-do’s so I don’t punish myself by feeling badly that I can’t get it done.
Scanfest: I use this time to scan. I am volunteering currently to digitize our societies quarterlies so we can add them to the member’s only section of our website.

These are the four containers in my office of sorted photos I started in my Archiving Project. They have been then and the process has been halted. Long story short. I order my archival supplies from Light Impressions Direct. I placed an order for more photo sleeves in October 2010. When I didn’t get them just before Christmas I called and they said they were back-ordered. I’ve called many times where there was no answer, a chronic busy signal and today’s call left me on hold for 6 minutes with no answer. I am so bummed! Grrrr! I may have to switch to another supplier, but I already have supplies from them from my first order and I really want it all to match! You know?

So, still playing catch-up…on to March! or march onward… or something like that.

Organizing with “Dear Myrtle”: January

2011-03-21T08:00:00.002-04:00

I know it’s March, but I’ve just started in March, therefore I’m still in “January”! {Rolling eyes }!
I told you how I’m switching back to binders here. I've decided it’s a good time to make this change for myself and had heard about Dear Myrtle’s Organizing Checklists at about the same time, so why not play along? It’s not too late and you can certainly start now if you want to follow along. Just go to the link and begin!
Here’s how I’m doing so far for January":

Back-up genealogy data: I already have a Dropbox account, but I noticed this would not work for me. I use Legacy Family Tree software and pointing my genealogy database file to Dropbox in the past caused “Error 91”. I contacted technical support and got this reply:

“There isn't a bug in Legacy. The problem is that everytime you add or edit information in Legacy you click Save, Dropbox instantly wants to upload your file because it has detected a change. The work-around is don't use Dropbox as your regular Data folder. Only add your family file to Dropbox after you are done working in it and have closed Legacy.”

This resolved the problem for me and I’ve been doing it this way ever since. Especially because I share files between my desktop where I do data entry and my netbook. In addition, I only have 2GB of space on Dropbox and my photos and documents folders combined are already too big. This will not be a long-term solution unless I pay for more space, which I won’t do. I'm looking into a free work-around solution to using Dropbox and will keep you informed.

Clear off computer desk: This is an ongoing challenge for me the way my office is set-up, but I am finding solutions for the way I work. Consider this a work in progress. Btw, I did take before pictures all around my office. I had already begun a photo archiving project, so the part about sorting photos is handled.
Check office supplies: Oh my, my, my! This one was a surprise because I had to buy new binders and extra-wide tab dividers a little at a time. I already had boxes of sheet protectors and a label-maker. I also splurged on a ream of lavender colored paper, cream colored paper for the Family Group Sheets and sticky-tabs . Total spent was $181.94 not including tax.
Set up the computer desk the way you really want it: It’s already set up the way I want it.
“Golden Clipboard”: Isn’t necessary, I just ~~impatiently yell for~~ nicely call my husband to come rescue me!
Make Surname binders: I’ve made some, and will purchase more as we progress through the next phases of entering data from the binders. Mine won’t be alphabetically entered, as I’ve created the binders for the names with the most information first.
Create family group sheets for DIRECT LINE, COLLATERAL LINES, place all important docs in sheet protectors, file NOT PROVEN docs: All done for the binders I’ve made.
Prepare Scanner: Already had that set up.
Attend Scanfest: I attended this once in the past and could not chat and focus on page numbers I was scanning in chronological order. I enjoyed the chat, but had to decide to do one or the other and not both to be most productive at scanning.

That has me caught up…to February!
Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Started Re-Organizing…

2011-03-18T08:00:00.016-04:00

Being a part of my society’s Beginner’s Course 2011, I sat through many classes which were inspiring to me. One was the Organizing class. Though I have “a place” for all of my genealogy, it doesn’t seem to be “working” for me. The system is wrong. I can’t make the best use of what I have. I can retrieve what I want when I want it which is a key element for ME, but I can’t get the big picture by easily looking at one surname at the same time. I started as a binder-girl as I mentioned here, then because binders wouldn’t fit in my two walls of built-in bookshelves (scaled for BOOKS) in my office, I switched to hanging file folders like this:

This followed an index for the contents of the folders I kept on my computer and printed for the first folder you see in the bottom right corner of the photo: the Index File, incase my computer was not running.
So, I’m switching back to binders after I emptied my office closet, including the rod for hanging clothes (this was a bedroom). I put in an el cheapo bookshelf and sized it just for binders.

This was before the transformation:

The new bookcase in - oh yes I forgot to mention, I had this brainy idea when I was home alone and being stubborn and impatient I hauled it up the stairs from the basement by myself!

And here it is today with several binders already made:

I,m very proud of my new surname binders which I'll talk about in detail in another post!

I have many more binders to make, but this is where I am right now. It’s been a lot of work!

Until next time,

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011!

2011-03-17T18:59:00.000-04:00

I'm proud to be Irish - and I know this for a fact thanks to genealogy!

Changing My System… Again

2011-02-28T10:38:00.000-05:00

The ProGen study group is helping me learn to write research plans, reports and analysis which I currently do in a notebook. Now, I am much better at these. Also, my papers, though organized, do not flow for me when in process and trying to analyze. I lose track of where a record is in the flow of: transcribe, make back-up copy, add to computer folder, print hardcopy for folder (or not as I was trying to “go digital”) and then having it all together when I wanted to analyze was a problem.

I used to be a “binder” girl, but my current office has two full walls of built in bookshelves. They are only tall enough for BOOKS except for the top shelf which is near the 8’ ceiling! I’ve been waiting for the room redo, but I just can’t function in a messy office so I will wait no more!

It’s back to binders!

So, I found Dear Myrtle is at it again for 2011 with her Monthly Organizing Checklist’s. I decided it couldn’t hurt to follow along someone who has already tested this specifically for genealogists…and she uses binders. I may modify some of it, because I’ve learned some of what works for me along the way.

I know it’s February already, but I’ve almost caught up since I just began January’s checklist mid-month. Except for the binder assembly, which I plan to do piecemeal. There are too many surnames and I want to scrutinize what I have and make a few reports in preparation for my trip back to Virginia in April and the Virginia class I’ll be taking at IGHR, Stamford University, Alabama, in June. (Woot-woot! Yes, I got in and I am already planning my trip, since it’s my first time there.)

To say the least, I am very excited to be aiming towards what I know works for me. The hard part is knowing that it will take a lot of time to get it all how I want it. But I’m thrilled that I’m close to a solution. I also can look back at the reasons why I shifted from what “worked”. I was piling the binders onto the flat surfaces in my office until it drove my nuts. The solution was putting a pre-made bookcase into the closet. Concealed storage solution. Love that!

Marietta Diner is an EVENT!

2011-01-27T09:00:00.003-05:00

~~There is one reason why~~ There is a whole case full of reasons why I go to Marietta Diner. If you ever go to or through Marietta, Georgia, then you have to come here! You will not leave hungry – I promise you! Celebrities have gone - as their autographed posters are one the wall when you go in. Like Miley Cyrus and Guy Fieri.

Just plan on at a minimum of 10 minutes to browse the menu because it runs the gamut. I think that’s why they bring you the spinach in filo dough – to tide you over while you try to make a decision.

I wasn’t too hungry tonight and, of course, ~~you~~ I have to have dessert.

So, I started with my friends cup of soup which she didn’t want.

Wait… back up.

Here’s my advice. Pick your dessert first. Go to the counters and “ooo” and “aah” and make a fool of yourself while you take pictures.

You don’t understand. These cakes, pies, cookies and everything else are HUGE.

Big, fat, huge.

Take a look. {Try not to drool all over your keyboard, k?}.

Cakes, OH MY!!!

And pies and cheesecake (and my buddy, Sarah, below) She goes for fruity and I go for chocolate.

Fruit? Uh-uh.

Decadent. Chocolate. People.

Take a closer look.

Baklava Cheesecake ya’ll.

And if you can’t get your face close enough to see if you really want that one or not… Never fear, they’ll pull it out of the case and show you the cut-away view.

And don’t forget how big they are.

So, I find the one I want. Chocolate, of course.

Now that that’s done, where were we?

Oh yes, the soup. Cream of broccoli. That’s my veggie for tonight.

{Don’t say it, I know what you’re wanting to say.}

Then I ordered the patty melt and got so distracted by ~~the size of~~ Sarah’s steak that I forgot to take a picture of mine. Here’s hers.

Yes, I had a tape measure in my purse. (I make custom window treatments and it’s one of my shopping-for-fabric necessities).

So, we whipped the tape measure out knowing the photos won’t show the true scale of the thing. That’s not centimeters. Nope – that’s a 14-inch plate with an 8-inch long steak on it! And, oh by the way, Sarah ate the whole thing because it was just that good… and got her dessert to go!

And here’s the part I’ve been waiting for… Million Dollar Cake. Brownie on the bottom, cheesecake in the middle and chocolate mousse on the top! I think that’s decadent enough for me! Four inches tall too!

YUMMY! (That was my thought before the first bite)!

I forget what Sarah’s was called, but it was a whopping 6+ inches!

DH was there too and that’s his thumb! He was full and tired – he got the Beef Burgundy and helped me with my piece of cake. I ate enough of it to be able to close the to-go box and we called it a night!

So, come on over and visit Marietta Diner and bring your appetite!

Disclaimer – I don’t have any affiliation with Marietta Diner and they did not compensate me in any way for this post. I did, however, find out that a whole cake can be purchased for $60.00, so if you’re reading this, Dear MD, well… you know.

Some of My Early Virginia Ancestors

2011-01-17T22:45:00.000-05:00

I’m here in Colonial Williamsburg because DH has a woodworkers conference he’s attending for the week. With all of the holiday planning and unplanned weather in GA, I did not do very well getting my research plan ready for our stay. Fortunately, we came to the same conference last year and I did have a plan then. Only I found that once I got home, my research notes from one book I studied were hard to interpret and I knew some of it was transcribed while other parts were abstracted… and I didn’t notate which was which. So, today, I spent 5 hours in the John D. Rockefeller library with that same book cleaning up my notes and adding more details from it.

But I’m happy now!

So, tonight I spent some time making a report from my database of all of the direct-line surnames from Colonial Virginia. It’s very basic, but I have other details with me so this is just for reference. Here’s what I came up with – a total of twenty.

# of Greats:	Surname:	Given Name:	Details:
9th	Banks	Katherine	d. 1686 Henrico Co.
9th	Biggs	Johanna	1642-1693
9th	Boddie	William	d. 1717 Isle of Wight Co.
9th	Brown(e)	John	Isle of Wight Co.
8th	Burton	Ann	d. 1746 Mulberry Island, Warwick Co.
9th	Chambers	William	1630-1677 Surry Co.
9th	Durant	Elizabeth	Widow of Richard Durant, m. Col. Thomas Pettus
6th	Ford	Christopher	b. 1730 d. 1788 Amelia Co.
9th	Hassell	Edward	m. 1675 Lower Norfolk
8th	Haynes	Christopher	d. Mulberry Island, Warwick Co.
8th	Humphrey	John Sr.	b. 1690 Surry Co. d. 1738 Brunswick Co.
8th	King	Dorothy	b. 1675 VA d. Spotsylvania Co.
7th	Lewis	John Zachary	b. 1702 Spotsylvania Co. d. 1765 Spotsylvania Co.
7th	Maule	Christian (female)	1706 moved from Chowan Co. to NC
8th	Overton	William	m. 1670 Yorktown
9th	Prime	Elizabeth	b. 1648 Isle of Wight Co. d. 1714 Surry Co.
10th	Ruffin	William	d. bef 1674 Isle of Wight Co.
7th	Stuart	Archibald	d. 1761 Augusta Co.
8th	Waller	Col. John	d. 1754 Newport, Spotsylvania Co.
8th	Waters	Elizabeth	m. Yorktown

I do this every time I travel to a state for a visit to an archives or repository for research (usually in a spreadsheet). It keeps everything in perspective and gives me an overview of surnames from the area. Now, this is NOT my research plan, as those are very specific goals. Try adding this to your research plans and reports when you plan your next trip! It really helps me!

Did You Know I Have Wild Turkeys?

2011-01-10T13:06:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am the corn Corn Lady. Or the Turkey Lady. I’m sure my neighbors have a name for me.

We have wild turkeys that have been coming through our neighborhood for about 5 years now. They are usually the gobblers (males), as the hens are more skiddish than the males. I do get the females on occasion but they are less likely to come near me. I have to drop the corn under the tree and then back-up from the area. With the boys, I can get right up close and be in their space. I call them “my boys” and I cluck at them the way they cluck at me! We have a good relationship and I love having them. Until last winter, they used to go away all season and I would watch out my kitchen window as I did dishes looking for “my boys” to come home.

One spring the grass had grown real tall and I noticed that around our tree the grass was waving around in spirals. It was the strangest sight. I went onto the deck for a closer look and then spotted the mama hen. Her chicks weren’t quite tall enough to stick out above the tallest blades of grass – there were eight of them moving around in circles never straying too far from their mother. And all the neighborhood must have heard me exclaim “I have BABIES!”

See, I believe I called them to me. That’s a long story. But they are my buddies, MY boys. They are here to teach me something. I collect their feathers in the spring, I give some of them names, I watch them strut during mating season and try oh so hard to catch them on film as any proud mama would do! I even caught the mating ritual on video. Now let ME tell YOU about the BIRDS and the bees!

Anyway, as the blizzard hit Atlanta last night I said a prayer for my boys. I knew they wouldn’t be roosting this night in the tallest of Georgia pines like they usually do. This morning I had a loner hunkered down under the feeding tree…waiting. He started calling for me, which they’ll do if I don’t see them and go out right away “where is she, I’m hungry already!”. I went out with my bucket of corn and he ran at me and clucked at me – and I clucked back saying “here I am and I’ve brought you food and I’m glad you’re OK”.

And I love you, my boy.
Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

In Need of Some Fun Genealogy Research!

2011-01-06T20:03:00.000-05:00

‎"I pwedge awwegiance to da fwag of da United States of Amewica, and two da wepubwic for which it stands, won nation undew God, idiwisible, wif wibewty and justice fu aww."
Elmer Fudd
Transcribed by Joanne Schleier
Too much genealogy transcribing makes a girl do strange things...
(No disrespect for the Pledge was intended in this post)

©2010 Joanne Schleier - All Rights Reserved.

Google Announces “Shared Spaces”

2010-12-21T23:09:00.004-05:00

Yes, my friends, Google has done it again and opened their beta version of Shared Spaces. So, when I heard about it I went to check it out to see what it can do to help with genealogy, of course!

I have been using Google Wave to collaborate with a couple of cousins about our research together on common ancestral lines and I think the general consensus has been that it’s a MARVELOUS tool for doing just that! But Google announced in August that it would no longer be developing Wave as a stand-alone product, but that they would carry that technology to another product – Shared Spaces. It is still in Google Labs and not fully developed yet.

If you have a Google, Twitter or Yahoo account, then you don’t need to sign up for this new service – you’re all ready to start a Shared Space. Once you start one, then you copy the link to share with friends, colleagues, or in our case, fellow researchers! There is even a real-time chat area to have discussions while you’re collaborating.

I could see how this would be a great tool for planning a trip – like for research or a conference. First you could create a Yes/No/Maybe gadget to determine who’s attending with you. Use the Travel With Me or Trippy gadget to plan it all out together. Add the AccuWeather.com gadget to tell you what the weather will be like while visiting your destination. There’s even a carpool gadget and people can pick their seats! SHOTGUN! Set up the Waffle gadget to create the itinerary. And finally the Remaining Time gadget to countdown to the big event!

I’m still usin’ Google Wave! I only wish more people used it in conjunction with email ~~because it would be easier to add a contact to a Wave if I didn’t have to invite them first~~! Please try Google Wave to collaborate with other genealogists! You won’t regret that you tried it and if you don’t like it you can come tell me so because I feel so strongly that if you're not using Wave to collaborate, you're missing out!

I have not used the new Shared Spaces because I just learned of it tonight, but I don’t think it will replace me makin’ Waves. Maybe I’ll go play cards there. Let me know if you try it and what you think about it too, k?

P.S. Speaking of Spaces, still can't figure out the double spaces between paragraphs problem here. Sorry about that!

©2010 Joanne Schleier - All Rights Reserved.

Can You Help Fix Double Spacing?

2010-12-21T11:01:00.000-05:00

My blog adds a double space between paragraphs and I've tried everything to fix it. Does anyone know how to keep a hard return to a single line? My guess is that it's some part of the HTML code within my theme and not individual posts. Help!
©2010 Joanne Schleier - All Rights Reserved.

Personal Genealogy Update – First One!

2010-12-20T12:24:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy preparing for the holidays and have neglected my genealogy hobby. It’s hard to find the time to write a blog post, let alone work on the family tree! I decided to at least post about what I’m thinking genealogy-wise because just because I don’t have time to work on it, doesn’t mean I’m not thinkin’ about workin’ on it!

I’ve been asked to speak at our Genealogical Society of Cobb County’s Beginner’s Course in February – 2 lectures, and the handouts for those are due on the 8th of January. I’ve had months to put them together, but there was always something pressing that needed to be done and, after all, I had plenty of time! So, now they’re due soon and the holidays are here. Conundrum! I’ve been working on them in my brain and have it all mapped out, so it shouldn’t take me long to plunk it onto a presentation format, get the handouts done and create the bibliographies. I will also be the president of said society beginning 2011 and have to create the agenda for the January 4th board meeting.

I was given a poster-size blank pedigree chart from a fellow genealogist and last month got a copy made so I can keep one as my master. I plan to fill it all in with pencil so I can eyeball the 8 or so generations and see the gaps. This will help me to focus my research.
In addition, I can hear the research that I did in North Carolina back in November screaming at me from my office “come look at all of these wonderful photos of original land and probate records and add us to your database with transcriptions”! I can hear you, you don’t have to scream. It’s fun to see relationships stated right there within a Will and be able to add folks to the tree!

I also plan to do a research plan for my Virginia ancestors as my husband has another meeting in January in Colonial Williamsburg for a week and I plan to hit the John D. Rockefeller library running! Weeee!

I have two chapters to read for the ProGen study group this month as well.
I’ve prepared for the IGHR registration at Samford University. Printed all relevant materials and put them in a packet, wrote to a veteran and asked questions about courses and accommodations, marked my 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices for courses and put that January 18th registration date reminder on my calendar!

I’ve mulled over the idea of pre-writing some posts in January for some of the carnival of genealogy ideas. Not having time during the year to write as frequently as I’d like is a common problem, but if I could carve out a chunk of time to write say 5 posts for one carnival and add them to the cue, maybe that will make for more frequent posts for my readers in January.

I finally got a copy of my original DAR application back from my chapter. Somehow I never got my copy when I was installed, but I have it now. I need it to work on my supplemental applications. Last I checked, I have 11 or so more patriots and found a father and son during my NC trip to add in. WOW. I never even thought I would have ONE patriot! I am still trying to absorb the idea. As an adoptee, I had convinced myself I would never know my ancestors and now this!

I did add a couple of pages to my blog. The “About Me” page and the “Surnames” page. Been meaning to do this for a long time. The assignments we’ve been given for ProGen has given me a lot of ideas for blog pages. Perhaps I’ll add a page for organizations and societies I belong to and another page for my Bookshelf. I haven’t decided yet.

So, that’s what’s happening! See how busy I am working on genealogy even though I am not doing the fun part of my personal tree! Sheesh! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday and keeping those screaming genealogy criers from your office quiet until you can play!

©2010 Joanne Schleier - All Rights Reserved.

Marriage Bond For Young Ryal [Royal] & Edee [Edith] Blackman, Duplin County, NC

2010-12-05T19:08:00.003-05:00

Transcribed by Joanne Schleier
State of No. Carolina
Duplin County
Know all men by these presents that we Young Ryal and Frances Hill both of the County aforesaid are held and firmly bound unto his Excellency Richard Caswell Esquire Governor of the Said State in the full and just Sum of five Hundred Pounds Currency of the said State to be Paid to the Said Governor or his [missing] in office to which payment Will and Truly be made to we bind our Selves Each of his own heirs Executors and administrators Fondly and Severally firmly by these presents Sealed with our Seals and Dated this 20th day of July- anno Dominic 1779.
The Condition of the above Obligation is Such that whereas the said Young Ryal - above bounded hath the Day of the Date here of Made application for and obtained herein License of Marriage between him and the said Young Ryal and Edee Blackman of the [said County] (Singlewoman) and hath obtained [license], Know if it shall not happen at any time hereafter that there is any lawful Cause or Impediment to obstruct the said Marriage, Then the above obligation shall be Void and of no power other wise to stand and remains in full force Power and Virtue,
Signed Sealed + Delivered in the Presence of
Wm Dixon, C. C.
Young Ryal {sealed}
Frances Hill {sealed}

Source: Duplin County, North Carolina, Probate Records, Marriage Bonds, Rhodes-Young, Box 5, For Young Ryal & Edee Blackman, 1779; State Library & Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh. Digital Photo of Original: Copyright 2010 Joanne Schleier. Photo taken with permission on November, 23, 2010.

Have You Cleaned Out Your Shoebox on Ancestry.com?

2010-11-09T16:15:00.019-05:00

Be honest with yourself. When is that last time you logged in to your Ancestry.com account for the sole purpose of working on those records you’ve saved to your shoebox?

Your shoebox is a holding bin for those items you find, but don’t have the time at that moment to scrutinize or figure out where to put it. A nice touch, I think, because I use it A LOT. But, if you’re not self-disciplined enough to come back to them regularly for clean-up, you’ll find your shoebox may be overwhelming! Not to mention, you may be missing a key piece of information which could help you with your research.

Here’s a page from my shoebox:

Generally, these are not my direct-line ancestors or I would tackle them right away and not save them here for later because I like to stay on task and not be distracted by another find, though there are some exceptions.

Once in a while, I set aside time to go to my shoebox and work exclusively for a specific period of time. I usually set a timer for an hour, for example. Otherwise, it’s never getting done. After an hour, the timer goes off, and I can come back another day. But at least I’ve given an hours time to working on something that I would otherwise put off entirely because I don’t think about it!

Practice self-discipline to tackle those things that you don’t want to have to do – some people call it “eat your frog”. I keep a list of long term or ongoing projects like this called “Current Initiatives”, inspired by the book by Mark Forster called Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management. I address these projects a little at a time knowing that I am making progress on all of them. That gives me the satisfaction of knowing that I am not neglecting them or forgetting to work on them at all.

Did you know you can also go here to find items you’ve downloaded or printed? Look at the image above at the tab behind the “saved records” tab. I really like this feature for going back to a history of what I was working on last.

So, have you worked on your shoebox items lately? How do remember to go back to it? Maybe this post was just the reminder you needed!

New Tool: Embeds Audio File to Blog

2010-11-05T01:26:00.000-04:00

My Portrayal of Ann Calhoun Matthews

2010-11-02T14:56:00.014-04:00

The Long Cane Indian Massacre - February 1, 1760

This is a post I've been considering for a long time, as my Baskin ancestors were involved. Though not present at this massacre, they were a part of this community and recovering those lost. I decided to finally write this because I was recruited to act out a skit as part of the ghost tour at The Living History Park which my husband is involved in in North Augusta, South Carolina at their recent "Spirits of Hallowed Eve" event. It was to be set in the 18th century, 3 to 4 minutes long and repeated as many times as there were groups to come through.

I wanted to portray someone relevant to the area of North Augusta. Also knowing that I had ancestors from the area, I thought I could tie the two together and make it personally of interest and challenging. See, the Baskin’s, Calhoun's, Picken’s and other families of Scots-Irish descent immigrated together and migrated throughout the colonies together until finally settling in the Long Canes Settlement. Almost a year ago I researched the massacre by traveling to different sites relevant to its history (I'll add those in a separate post or this will be waaaay too long!).

With but two days left to prepare, (yes, I procrastinated) and through my study of the massacre, I honed in on Ann Calhoun Matthews because her story would be intriguing portrayed in first person - and she actually lived to tell it. About three weeks prior I had gotten poison ivy, oak, or sumac on my forearm. The blisters were gone but what remained looked like a burn scar which would fit perfectly into my act. (I tried to take a picture of it myself in the mirror once we returned -for this post).

Everything you're about to read is true - except for the part about her shoes. Ann was known to have "worn shoes made from the bark of the special tree" which I assume to be birch bark? I didn't have any so I borrowed some 18th-century moccasins made from deerskin and changed the wording a bit.

As the group approaches led by lantern light, they hear the sound of a woman singing a Native American song just inside the tree line behind a fire. She stops when she sees the group and addresses them…

What are you doing here? You shouldn't be in these woods in the middle of the night? Oh... I suppose you're wondering the same thing about me, a woman all alone in these woods and where is my party? Perhaps I can explain myself by making my introduction. (she curtsies) I am Ann Matthews. (still curtsying - eyes glancing upwards to read their faces) Ann CALHOUN Matthews?... I can see from the expression on your faces that you are not aware of my story. I shall tell it, lest it be forgotten.

Photo by Larry Gleason

This land we are now standing upon once belonged to the Cherokee Indians. When the white settlers came in they tried to claim it as their own. The years between 1759 and 1761 were known as the years of The Cherokee Wars. Not far from here lived the Scots-Irish in a place known as the Long Canes Settlement.

On February 1st, 1760, under the leadership of my uncle, Patrick Calhoun, many families joined together to seek refuge across the river in Augusta, Georgia where there was a larger white settlement and more provisions. We had 13 wagons and carts, 150 or so of us, mostly women and children were making our way when we got stuck in a boggy place. The 40 to 50 men left their wagons to free us from this place when all of a sudden 100 Cherokee Indians on horseback attacked. Panic ensued and women and children could be heard screaming and seen fleeing in all directions into the woods.The men where not at the ready, for their rifles where in the wagons. My older sister, Catherine, who was nine, was tomahawked in the back of the head almost immediately. Others were taken by the Indians, including my sister Mary and me. I was only five years old at the time.

Photo by Larry Gleason

Two days later Patrick Calhoun returned with some Rangers to seek those who had run off when he came upon a bloody field. Twenty-three women and children had been brutally murdered including his mother, my grandmother, and the matriarch of the Calhoun clan, Catherine Calhoun, who tried to flee for her life at age 76. He buried them all in a mass grave.

Twelve years later, Andrew Pickens negotiated the release of the captives from the Cherokee Indians. A group such as this (pointing to the group) was there to see the spectacle and retrieve loved ones they believed have been taken. Among them was my father, William Calhoun. I stood before him at age 17. But he did not recognize me, for I was an Indian maiden and could not speak English. Were it not for the burn scar (shows them the “scar”) he would not have known that I was his Ann.

It was on the same day, however, that he learned the fate of my little sister Mary. For she was but two when we were taken into captivity and could not walk fast enough to keep up with her captors, so they scalped her and threw her little body into the Long Cane Creek.

I was not so accepted upon my return to the Calhoun family, for I had cultivated the ways of the Natives, and they found me strange. I was taught to never show excitement or emotions… among other things, under threat of punishment. I was often seen before the sunrise fleeing into the woods and there spending the whole day into the night talking to the spirits of those we cannot see and hearing them glide from tree to tree. I was once observed eating lizards and frogs uncooked. I still cannot wear the shoes of the white men (she lifts her skirt to show her shoes) for I am most comfortable wearing the hides of the four-leggeds upon my feet.

This land, the earth-people taught me, cannot be claimed by any man. We are here to keep and protect our Earth Mother. For we are merely borrowing her from our grandchildren.

Did you hear that? I do not think you should tarry long in these woods! Go now and be gone, for there are spirits who lurk about in the shadows! (She returns into the tree line and begins singing again).

The end!
Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Young Royal of Sampson County, NC - Part 2

2010-11-01T12:04:00.001-04:00

After looking at the Will of Young Royal (Here and updated here), we continue with more documents within the folder of probate records. Here is one from the Supreme Court on February 15, 1894. The source information is on the image.

As Transcribed by Joanne Schleier
North Carolina
Sampson County
In Supreme Court
February 15, 1894
Before the Clerk

Alexander R. Carver being duly sworn says: That there is now in file in the office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court the last will and Testament of Young Royal made and executed on the 12th day of July A.D. 1818: That the subscribing and entrustees hereto are H. Royal and Robert Butler: that the said Young Royal the maker of said will and the said H. Royal and Robert Butler, the said subscribing witnesses are all dead.: but he is not acquainted with the handwriting of the said Young Royal and H. Royal and Robert Butler and he is unable to prove the hand writing of the said Young Royal maker and H. Royal and Robert Butler witnesses.

He therefore asks that said will be admitted to probate and magistration without proof.

Subscribed herein and before me Feby 15, 1894
[Signature] A. R. Carvey
[Signature] J. S. Bizzell CSC
[END]
Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Will of Young Royal – Another Page

2010-11-01T11:03:00.000-04:00

In continuing to analyze photos that I’ve taken during a research trip, I wrote this post Will of Young Royal: July 12, 1818 Sampson Co., NC. However, I discovered another page, sort of… It is the back cover of his will. So, here is is for you. Source info is on the image.

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Updates… LOTS of Them!!!

2010-10-28T00:24:00.004-04:00

Forewarned: Long Post Ahead...

In continuing with updating my blog theme, I spent some time today looking at other improvements. I’ve changed all of my labels to cluster them together into categories by hyphenating them. I wish there was a way that Blogger would create a hierarchy for them. Then a reader could go to Surnames and then see all of the names under that. Instead, I changed them, one-at-a-time no less, to Surname – Name. I also thought this would help designate these names as such. For example, my Royal surname could be mistaken for Royal as in imperial or sovereign. I also did that for Places and eliminated counties and towns, keeping just the state.

Also, because the new theme is wider in the posts section, I went back and enlarged many of the pictures and fonts. That way, viewers may not have to click on them to see them large enough.

Then I started to go through old posts and see if there were any “dangling” items I said I would bring up in a later post and never addressed. Or updates to posts. Here goes…

In 2010 Has Arrived! I mention that I’d like to start a hand-written diary. Didn’t happen. Other priorities. My around-the-house improvements are in full swing! I am pulling things out of storage, clearing out, cleaning up and de-cluttering continuously and with fervor! {It helps that hubby and I became empty-nester’s in July… and no one has moved back home yet:-) I’m plugging away at that cross-stitch and, after attending a Sampler’s Guild meeting by happenstance (you know I believe there are no accidents) I picked up some tips, a better frame, and magnification clip-on glasses, which all help immensely. I go on to say that writing down my goals for that post helped to put it all in perspective. My latest ProGen assignment was to write an education plan, in which I included some other goals and unfinished items “to-do list” style. Once again, I emphasize how that helped me keep my goals on the forefront of my mind and keep them there until they’re addressed. MAKE A LIST OF YOUR GOALS!!! In: life in general, related to your research, or anything else! It really does help.
In My Genealogical Superpower I talked about how I like to help others and teach. Since then, I have signed up to be a contributor at Find-A-Grave, done look-ups for two people at the GA Archives for friends across the country on GenealogyWise and agreed to repeat my “Internet Tools for Genealogy” at my county society’s upcoming Beginner’s Course 2011 in addition to another one about logging your research and citing sources (details have not been discussed further).
In the Land Records for Female Ancestor? post I talked about how I’m cleaning up records in my Ancestry.com family tree to show actual records instead of text. I am STILL doing this as I work on any family line. What a pain! Can’t we get the Software people to work with Ancestry so that GedCom files can be synchronized instead of merely uploaded or downloaded? (I think Family Tree Maker does this, but I don’t use that one). Also, I’ve learned a whole lot more about researching land records since then and it makes me smile at my naiveté’ back then! ;-)
I have not worked on my pockets mentioned in Threads of Time. I put that away to focus on my unfinished cross-stitch project mentioned above. However, I did make a unembroidered pair of pockets for their practical use out of plain linen and an 18th century women’s wool cloak with the hood lined in silk. I finished a new polonaise style dress and coordinating petticoat.
More of Tee's Crewel: I have continued to work on cleaning out my storage room and found yet another of Tee’s pieces of crewel work! But you’ll have to wait to see that in another post! I still need to hang it and take a photo.
Keeping up with my goals, see Progress for Goals in 2010, I am still archiving photos and VHS tapes at home – a long-term project. I’ve pulled another of my grandfather’s trophy’s from a yacht race and polished it (silver), I’ve printed a couple of retouched photos to frame, and decided I don’t like all the clocks together on one wall and plan to move them around the house into places where I’d like them better and separate from each other.
Organizing Photos: Manage Folders on Your Computer: I finished making a new folder structure. However, I have many subfolders in my Dump_From_Camera folder that need to be named, tagged, edited and moved. Will it ever end?
From FGS Conference 2010: Recovering Back Home: I still have not gone through my FGS materials. They are on my desk in one of my To-Do project pockets. Oh, and those same friends that “hate me for winning all the time” were at our genealogy meeting the other night when our speaker announced that she had 2 door prizes. Her lecture was on the Georgia Land Lotteries. She asked us to identify the date of a particular year’s land lottery when they started issuing grants (referring to her handout). I was the first to see the dates from July 22 to August something. Then the speaker clarified asking “what was the starting date?” “July 22nd”, someone else answered. We all thought the person with the answer would be the winner when she said, “Who has a birthday around July 22nd”? My hand went up… “July 28th”. Followed by someone else. Speaker asks “is is less than 6 days from the date”? “Nope”. I felt daggers in my back from my friends eyes and glanced over my shoulder to see them looking at me with “that look” and big smirks on their faces! They told me later that they “were going to make me buy the chicken wings at dinner because of this”! Geez, I can’t help when I was born!!!… and, oh, by the way, we all thought it was the first to answer who got the prize, not a birthday thing! Maybe I just should keep my mouth shut! HAHA! But I won a CD entitled “Georgia Colonial and Headright Plat Index, 1735-1866” by Mary H. Abbe published by the R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation and Georgia Archives in 2005. I can use this for my McVicker/Royal/Brown ancestors of Henry and Dooly Counties, Georgia! How exciting!!!

(They love to tease me, but they still love me too).

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier
Photo credit: called REBOOT! by http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark-magnusson/.

Will of Young Royal: July 12, 1818 Sampson Co., NC

2010-10-20T18:41:00.003-04:00

Source:
Sampson County, North Carolina, Probate Records
Wills, 1778-1953 Rachels-Ryall
Young Royal, 1894 (3 pages)
State Library & Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh

Photo taken with permission
Digital photo of original: Copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier

As Transcribed by Joanne Schleier:

[Page 1]

In the Name of God Amen

I Young Royal of Sampson County & State of North Carolina being of perfect mind and memory (blessed be God) and Calling to mind the mortality of man knowing that ' Tis allotted for all men Once to die do make this my last Will and Testament; But first of all I Recommend my Soul into the hands of Almighty God who gave it to me and my Body to be decently Buried at the discretion of my Executors but Touching of Such Worldly Estate as it has pleased God to bestow me I give and bequeath in the following manner and form (to wit)

First I Give and bequeath unto my Beloved Son Rezin [Reason] Royal the land that I Bought of John Major Known by the name of the Phillips place and all the property which I have Given him heretofore.

Secondly I Give and bequeath unto my beloved Daughter Sally Butler wife of Travis Butler one Negro Girl named Lynder [Linda] and the property which I have here to for given her.

Thirdly I Give and bequeath unto my beloved Daughter Sabra Brown wife of Robert Brown One Negro Girl Named Hannah and the property which I have here to for given her.

Fourthly I Give and bequeath unto my beloved Son William Royal One Negro Boy Named Harry Also One Bed and Furniture.

[Page 2]

Fifthly I Give and bequeath unto my beloved Wilson Royal One Negro Boy Named Jorden [Jordan] also one bed & furniture; and if Either William or Wilson Royal should die and never return to receive said property that the one who Shall Return to have both their parts; and if it Should so happen that Neither of them Returns the property that I have left to them to be Equally divided amongst the rest of my Children.

Sixthly I bequeath and Give unto my beloved Daughter Betsey [Betsy] Westbrook One Negro Girl named Clarrender [Clarinda] also the property which I have heretofore Given her.

Seventhly I Give and bequeath unto my beloved Daughter Polly Royal wife of Hardy Royal One Negro Girl named Hazel also the property which I have heretofore Given her.

Eighthly I Give and bequeath unto my beloved Daughter Mary Butler wife of Robert Butler One Negro Girl named Phillis [Phyllis] also the property which I have heretofore Given her.

Ninthly I Give and bequeath unto my Beloved Daughter Rebekah [Rebecca] Royal Two Negro Girls by the names of Ciller [Cilla, possibly short for Priscilla] & Cherry one bed and Furniture.

Tenthly I Give and bequeath unto my beloved Raiford Royal All the Lands That I Now Possess Except the piece that I bequeath to my Rezin [Reason] Royal to belong to the said Raiford after

[Page 3]

his mother death also I Give and bequeath unto my beloved son Raiford Royal Two Negro boys by the Names of Simmon [Simon] and Jonas also one bed and Furniture and all the Plantation Tools of Every Description Except the Blacksmith the Tools.

Also I Give and bequeath my beloved Wife Edith Royal the Remainder of my property which I have not mentioned or Given to my Children after paying my Just Debts During her natural life time and after her death to be Equally Divided among my Children heretofore mentioned.

P.S. William and Wilson Royal are to Receive their part of my property when Called for by them which I have above stated.

I hereby make and appoint my son Rezin [Reason] Royal and my son in law Travis Butler Executors to This My Last Will and Testament this annulling all other Wills or bequeaths by me hereuntofore made this 12th Day of July One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighteen.

Signed Sealed and Acknowledged before
"H." Royal and Robert (his "x" mark) Butler
Young (his "x" mark) Royal
[End]

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Time for Changes

2010-10-15T18:31:00.020-04:00

The season is changing. It feels like fall. The weather is cooling, the wind is picking up. It looks like fall. Leaves are changing colors or falling from their branches. Mums, pansies and other fall flowers are in bloom.

I feel like changing too. My blog design that is. You may have noticed the small changes I’ve already made. I’ve added my personalized signature to each post and removed the generic “Posted by: Joanne”. I wanted a wider area for the posts to allow BIGGER photos! The sidebar is smaller and I’m thinking about adding some pages instead of some of the information in the sidebar. I’ll leave that just for the archives, labels, subscribe, etc…, you know, that standard stuff.

I’ve become an affiliate for Paper Tiger software. I got mine in July 2007 and LURRRRVE IT! I has saved me so much time and effort and I just had to find a way to tell people about this amazing product. I purchased it for use with my custom window treatment business way before genealogy was even on my radar. Back then they only had the desktop version and becoming an affiliate cost major bucks and lots of training. Now, you can be an affiliate for for free and they have an online version now too. Where do I sign up!?!? So, at the bottom of the page you’ll see a new banner. I’m going to talk more about Paper Tiger in later posts. If you do genealogy, I can’t imagine a better system to keep your papers, materials, books and other ~~junk~~ stuff organized.

When I decided to change the column width, I had no choice but to change my header. I “don’t do HTML” and have no desire to waste my time learning it! So, out with the old and in with the new! I really liked the simplified look of my other blog so, I just copied all the settings! The only problem I have is the background color of the header on the other is a solid mustard color and I ~~don’t remember~~ can’t figure out how to change that. Maybe you can help? I literally opened the other blogs design options and copied and pasted the settings into this one. But that darn mustard didn’t want to come over!

I think it’d be neat to have a page of the surnames I’m searching and perhaps a better “about me” page.

For now, this is OK. I just wanted to let you know it IS the same blog & author, just a new look!

Insomnia Does an Archivist Good!

2010-10-12T22:14:00.002-04:00

OK so first, I do not recommend this to all of you genealogists working on your archiving projects (little disclaimer there), but I can’t tell you how happy I am that I was able to plow through a ton of negatives ~~last night~~ this morning!

{Doing happy dance… oh yeah}!

Every once in a while I get these bouts of insomnia. For me, that means that I can’t sleep and don’t feel tired until sometime way after midnight. Going to bed would just mean tossing and turning, so I stay up and do something relaxing until I feel sleepy (while my husband is catching up on some major zzz’s and REM sleep including the occasional snore… {jealous}). I don’t think that this happens often enough to interfere with my daily life and I don’t like allopathic doctors or medications. So, I just ~~deal with it~~ take advantage of it when it happens. My mom and grandmother were night owls too. We get our creative bursts of energy after the sun goes down. “No I’m not a witch, I am you.” (Sorry, I just had to).

Well, last night I went to bed at 3:30am! I tossed and turned until 4:00am which was the last time I looked at the clock. WHAT!?!? WOW, that was HIGHLY unusual. The thought occurred to me that I might not sleep at all! Which would be fine with me until it catches up with me later!

Fortunately, I have several projects in the works and the one I chose to work on allowed me to sit on the couch with the TV on. I had already compiled all of my negatives, sorting them by type, 35mm, 110 and disc camera films. My focus was on the 110 size negatives stashed in an old can opener box. (For Shame!) WELL!!! At least I saved them all! The biggest mistake I made was separating them from the prints in the first place and not noting the date, subject, location or anything! ~I can’t tell you how much I’m learning!

I set up my little area, brought in the films and supplies and got to work. I went through each image on each film and found the corresponding print which wasn’t to hard ‘cuz I already” sorted” in the previous phase of the project. On the back of the each print in the corner I wrote (using my archival safe pen) “110” for the type of negative and then “N#”, “N” for “negative” and the number on the strip that correlates to the image.

To see the itty-bitty image, I used both my floor lamp and desktop Ott-Lites. I wore some reading glasses (I don’t wear prescription glasses) and added some clip on Magna-Clips magnifiers in a +3.00 for when I couldn’t see anything without them. I love these things for my hand sewing because they flip up and down. Figured they’d work for this too – BOY HOWDY – they sure helped a lot!

Some of the prints were collected already by subject in folders and I made a spreadsheet to help me locate each set. I better save how I set that up for another post. Just know that this is NOT the initial stage of my project, or the last. Still other prints were in an album – not chronological, but all mixed together (what was I thinking?). And best of all (just because I like sarcasm) they were in one of those albums with the sticky glue behind the images – I think they call it a magnetic album. YIKES! I only have one of that kind of album and now it’s half empty {grin}. Mostly “Germany” and “Spain” are out of it.

I put each set of negatives in it’s own archival sheet protector, temporarily, with the prints I could find and a note with how many prints on the strip, the size of the prints (this helps to find missing ones because I can look at the size of the prints) and subject or anything that might suggest a possible match for one missing like “Kera (my daughter) wearing yellow sunglasses”.

I put all the sheet protectors in a 3” binder, temporarily again, and labeled the binder “WIP Germany” for “Work in Progress”. That sets it apart from sets where all the prints are found and ready to put into archival page protectors for the particular print size. Which is the next phase…

For now, all the 110 negatives are accounted for! Thanks to a sleepless night (I think?)!!! Now the negatives for the disc film is going to be worse because they’re even smaller! Fortunately, their aren’t a whole lot of those – because those cameras were ~~crap, cheap, worthless~~ poor quality. But good, I guess, if you’re in the sandy desert fighting in a war…

I hope I’ve given you some help if you’re struggling with what to do with all of your images and negatives. I’m no expert, but I have learned a lot and want to do the best I can to have it all make sense to the ~~poor soul~~ lucky person who inherits all my neatly organized, indexed and labeled photos!

NOW GO TO BED! {Just kidding}.

*I have no affiliation and I am not being compensated for or by any of the products or companies I’ve linked to. I just wanted to answer the questions before they were asked.

Brown Family: Henry County, GA Deeds

2010-10-09T19:26:00.005-04:00

Here are some extracts of deeds pertaining to the Brown family in Henry County, Georgia. I first found them indexed in a book and later got copies of the originals from the Georgia Archives. There were more entries within this book (see bibliography at the end of the post), but these are the ones I had time to make note of during a trip to The Brown House in Henry County.

Also of note, in one of them, the justice of the peace is my fourth great-grandfather Duncan McVicker - signed "D. McVicker, J.P." His eldest son, John McVicker, married Mary Brown, thereby linking the two families.

Unfortunately, the hard copies I printed from microfilm are so bad that I won't bother scanning them to post here. Perhaps I'll be able to get a digital copy with my thumb drive next visit to the state archives.

These records proved, among other things, that John McVicker's wife's father's name was Robert Brown and that Robert Brown had once lived in Dooly County, Georgia.

From Deed Book H., page 575 & 576:
Mar. 31, 1838
Francis Adams sold to Sabry Brown both of said County on Mar 31, 1838 for the sum of $400 Lot #186 in Dist. 2, 202.5 acres.
Wit. Wm. Kimball
Wm. Adair
Rec.d October 4, 1838

From Deed Book J., page 189:
Dec. 20, 1838
Jordin R. Richardson sold to Balus Brown, both of said county, for the sum of $300, 101 & 1/4 acres of land lying in Lot #199, Dist. 2.
Wit. Wm. Kimbell
Geo. W. Thurston
Rec. Dec. 14, 1839

From Deed Book J. , page 189:
Feb. 3, 1839
Geo. W. Thurston to Baylous Brown, both of said county, for the sum of $160, 101 & 1/4 acres of land lying in the east half of Lot #199, Dist. 2.
Wit. T. Dixon
D. McVicker, J.P.
Rec. Dec. 13, 1839

From Deed Book J., page 166:
Sept. 13, 1839
Jasper M. Sansom sold to Balis Brown, both of said county, for the sum of $775, 101 & 1/4 acres, being of south half of Lot #247 in Dist. 2.
Wit: Lewis Tyrus
Abel Lemon J.J.C .
Rec'd. - Sept. 30, 1839

From Deed Book J., page 346:
Oct. 3, 1839
Bales Brown sold to Jasper M. Sansone, both of said county, for the sum of $775, 101 & 1/4 acres of land described as the south half of Lot #247, Dist. 2.
Wit. John P. Puckelow J.P.
John Kimbell
Timothy T. Parham
Rec. Oct. 2, 1840

From Deed Book J., page 576 :
Feb. 19, 1842
Baylous Brown to Sabra Brown, both of said county, promissory note in the sum of $100, Lot #199, Dist. 2.
[Signed] Baylous Brown
Wit. Archibald Brown
Wm C. Ferrell
Rec. May 29, 1842

From Deed Book M., page 407:
Jan. 25, 1843
Rec'd of Sabra Brown $198 in full in right of my wife for the balance of her legacy as her part from her deceased father Robert Brown.
[Signed] John McVicker
[Wit.: none]
Rec. May 17, 1851

From Deed Book M., page 407:
Feb. 17, 1844
Rec'd of Sabra Brown, administrator of the estate of Robert Brown, late of Duly [Dooly] County, Georgia, in full payment of my said estate.
[Signed] Archibald Brown
[Wit.: none]
Rec. May 17, 1851

From Deed Book M., page 407:
Jan. 29, 1846
Rec'd of Sabra Brown, administrator of the estate of Robert Brown, Dec'd, and Guardian of my wife, Atha Brown, $85.50 in full payment and right of my said wife as her part of the estate of her father, Robert Brown.
[Signed] Robert Sandifer
[Wit.: none]
Rec'd - May 17, 1851

Bibliography:
Turner, Freda R., editor. Henry County, GA., Land Records, 1824-1838, Deed Books C/D, F, G, H. 2 Volumes. McDonough, Georgia: Genealogical Society of Henry and Clayton Counties, Inc., 1993.

Painting Goes Back to Artists Family

2010-10-04T13:12:00.002-04:00

Exhilaration!!! That's an understatement of what I'm feeling right now!

One of the long-term projects that I'm working on right now is to deal with all the the antiques my mother had in her home when she died in 1991 and her mother's belongings from when she died in 1994. I know many of you archivists will squirm a when I say they have been stored in cardboard boxes in my basement ever since. EEK!

I have already dealt with the furniture and most things which are sentimental to me or to my brother. What remains are the things I don't know what to do with which they had in their homes.

One of the items is a small painting, oil on canvas. The canvas is about 5 x 7 and it's in a gilded frame.

I don't know whether this was my mothers or grandmothers, though it looks more like my grandmother's style. I don’t know where it came from, though we were probably living in New England at the time they acquired it. I personally think it's charming, but between their stuff and mine, I really need to purge as much as I can! If it's of value I sell it. If it's not I donate it.

But this one was special because of this (click on it to see it larger):

The artist's signature included her maiden name and married name. Viola Files Dube’. So I did a search on Ancestry.com and only found one tree with her complete name. I contacted the owner who said the artist is his great grandfather's brother's wife. And that his mother would be thrilled to have it because "Uncle Herman" was her favorite uncle.

So, it's boxed and ready to ship. THISisFUN!!! And I will be smiling all the way to the post office knowing that it was returned to the original family.

Marriage Record for Archibald Brown and Amelia Kimbell: January 23, 1853

2010-09-08T08:00:00.001-04:00

SOURCE:
Henry County Probate Records Office
Henry County, Georgia.
Marriage Record Book, 1851 - 1868

Page 32

Photo taken with permission at the Henry County
Probate Records Office, McDonough, Georgia.
Digitized version of original - Copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Will of Sabra (Royal) Brown: February 17, 1844

2010-09-07T15:57:00.008-04:00

SOURCE:
Henry County Probate Records Office
Henry County, Georgia.
Will Book A, Page 339, Henry County

Photo taken with permission at the Henry County
Probate Records Office, McDonough, Georgia.
Digitized version of original - Copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier

Transcription:

Georgia, Henry County
In the name of our God amen, I, Sabra Brown, being of sound mind yet frail in body knowing the uncertainty of life & the certainty of death wishing to settle all my worldly affairs agreeable to my desire do make this my last Will & Testament in manner & form following (viz,)

In the first place, I bequeath my soul to God who gave it & my body after death to the dust from which it came to be decently intered in some family or church burying ground.

Secondly) I wish all my lawful debts & funeral expenses punctually & promptly paid.

Thirdly) I give & bequeath unto my three eldest children (viz) Baylons Brown, Eliza Richardson, & John Brown each Five dollar's as their portion to them & their heirs forever.

Item 4th) I give & bequeath unto my son, Archibald Brown, the Hundred acres of Land I now live on being the North half of Number One hundred & Eighty Six in Second District of Henry County also blue feather bed & furniture to him & his heirs forever.

Fifthly) I give & bequeath unto my two youngest daughters, Mary McVicker & Atha Brown, my negro boy, DemSe [Dempsy?] & all the residue or remainder of my property both real & personal not other wise dispostd of, the Nett amount after all expenses paid to be equally divided between my said two daughters, Mary McVicker & Atha Brown to them & their heirs forever.

Lastly, I do hereby constitute & appoint my worthy friends The Heart, William Kimball, William Adair & Richard B. Jones, Executors to this my last Will & Testament Given under my hand & seal

This 17th of Feby 1844. Signed, sealed, publish & declared, In the presence of us the undersigned
Sabra {her "+" mark} Brown

Wit:
Wm. C. Farrell.
Wm. H. Kimball.
Benjamin F. Kimball.

Tombstone Tuesday: Charlie Cole WILLIAMS and Rachel Jane (BASKIN, McPEAK) WILLIAMS

2010-08-31T10:54:00.007-04:00

Charlie C. Williams July 24, 1871 - April 7, 1934 &
Rachel Jane (Baskin, McPeak) Williams November 8, 1865 - April 1, 1949.

Watson Cemetery
Arlington, Tarrant Co., Texas.

Source:
Ancestry.com. Selected U.S. Headstone Photos [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Photos provided by Allen Wheatley, teafor2.com.

FGS Conference 2010: Recovering Back Home

2010-08-22T13:34:00.016-04:00

My husband, Chris, and I just returned from the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in Knoxville Tennessee. It ended yesterday and our drive home was only three hours. This is only the second genealogical conference I’ve ever attended, but I know from other conferences, including FGS last year in Little Rock, Arkansas, that there is a lot to absorb in a small amount of time. So I push myself to the limits, eat on the run, make sure my mornings include a cup of Java, and maximize every minute of each day.

Even though it’s only been a few days, there are sacrifices which we all have to make. When we arrived home my bird feeder was empty, my mailbox was full, my plant looks like this,

and my bananas look like this!

Oh and silly me...
Ancestry.com had offered free scanning of old photos and documents. Since I’m already working on my own scanning project I thought I could take advantage of this big company's scanning capabilities. All you had to do was sign up ahead of time for a session, bring your items to scan, and they would do it for you and digitize them giving you a free thumb drive! Well, I thought they had those high-speed scanners that would scan your printed photographs at high speeds - like 100 per second. So I brought this:

Boy, was I wrong!

The scanners they brought were for large or oversized photos and documents which were manually (meaning one at a time, by a human being) laid on the flatbed and a button was pressed which triggered the cameras button. They must’ve thought “this woman is crazy”! But they were kind enough to scan probably a couple hundred loose photos onto two thumb drives. I’m very grateful because it’s less work for me, but I sure learned my lesson not to do that again!

I couldn’t possibly tell you all of the neat tips and tricks that I learned at the conference. That’s why they have a conference after all. But I can give you at least one. When you travel anywhere for researching and your using your thumb drive, make sure you put an address label on it with your identifying information in the event you lose it.

I will usually attend a conference with a list of items I wish to purchase from the vendors in the exhibit hall. The only thing I had on my list was the Professional Genealogy book because I just signed up for the ProGen course and it begins September 1st. I spied another book which I had been told about and wanted, not for genealogy but for the Living History work that my husband and I do, called Woman’s Life in Colonial Days.

Most people know I love my Legacy Family Tree Software and in Little Rock I had purchased AniMap. I played around with it a little but I haven’t been utilizing it because I don’t know the software very well. I found this AniMap tutorial CD at the Legacy vendor. And my one and only impulsive buys was also a Legacy product Map My Family Tree - because I would love to start using more maps in my research.

Everyone who registered for the conference was given 30 tickets to drop into the boxes for drawings at the vendor tables. This year significant prizes were given away including an iPad, a cruise, a trip to Salt Lake for seven days and so many other goodies I can’t list them all here.

I don’t want y’all to hate me, but the truth is - I always win prizes from drawings - ALWAYS. Last year I won a year subscription to OneGreatFamily.com. My friends tease me about winning all the time and it’s a big joke! I had my eye on the iPad this year. Friday night they announced the big giveaways and one of my friends from our local society one the trip to Salt Lake! The names were all announced and I didn’t win a thing.

However, I never checked the bulletin board at the end of the conference which announced other drawings not part of the slew of grandiose announcements Friday night. While driving home my husband says to me rather nonchalantly “oh by the way, I checked the list on the bulletin board and you won a premium account with MyHeritage.com for a year!” Well I’ll be!!! I had picked up a free copy of their software on disk, but this!?!?

I’m not sure whether or not to tell my friends or they might un-befriend me!

As we get back into the swing of things, prepare grocery lists, answer e-mails, follow up on phone calls, nose-to-the-grindstone and all that kind of thing, here’s one last tip. Take all of your conference materials, handouts, CD’s, vendor materials, contact’s business cards, - the whole banana, and consolidate them so you can sort through it after the return-home rush of tasks. I have very little that I’ve kept, as I try to weed out things along the way, but everything I have has found its place in an expandable pocket which I’ll keep in my office by my computer to work on in small bites.

My next big event is the Atlanta family history Expo 2010,November 12 & 13th in Atlanta. My goal is to sort through all these conference materials before then. Wish me luck!

Progress: Archiving Photos and VHS Tapes

2010-07-21T16:24:00.004-04:00

Well, I am still progressing, ever so slowly, with my archiving project. I am rather proud of myself because I am very much a "starter". I have loads of enthusiasm and motivation when I begin a project and generally find that I don't like to finish up what I've started because the "newness" of it has worn off! To date I have endured watching a total of 17 tapes! Mind you that some of these are probably 8 hour tapes! Here's the breakdown:

5 - Christopher Lowell
2 - Room by Room
2 - History Channel
4 - HGTV
1 - Football
1 - Blank tape
1 - Cheerleading competitions
1 - Sci-Fi Channel

So far, I haven't found any of the home movies or televised video of my family to actually capture from the tapes. In other words, I am not recording all of these shows to DVD. I'm only playing all of them to search for those key pieces I wish to record. Also, I learned of a neighbor's elderly mother who still records her TV shows on VHS and I was happy to donate my old ones after I viewed them! LOVE THAT! ReCyClInG at it's best!

My stepdaughter's mother also gave her a box of VHS home movies and I started converting those to DVD for her. So far, I've converted four.

Not bad, I'd say, as my pile is getting noticeably smaller! The downside to this, which turned out to be a good thing in the end, is that I find myself anchored to my desktop computer. I did manage to get quite a few tasks caught up at the beginning and then ran out of things to do. So, also part of my archiving project (which is why it turned out to be good), I started scanning photos to digital. I have a bookshelf of many photo albums which I attempted to archive many years ago. These are those chunky mini albums about 4" x 6" in size but thick.

After educating myself on the "proper" way to do this since then, I realized my first attempt was ALL WRONG! The books themselves were not archival quality. Although they are labeled, there is no index to speak of for quick retrieval. And I really would like a uniform look to all my photo books so they don't appear to have been bought at different periods of time.

The solution? Start scanning photos to digital! After learning I could "gang scan" photos, which I'll cover in another post, I started whizzing through the pictures. I already have one and a half albums completed! I also purchased archival page protectors and books from Light Impressions.

I'll try to write more about my process and hopefully that will inspire you to get started archiving your own photos and videos. Also if you have any questions I might be able to answer, just leave me a comment.

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Converting VHS Tapes to DVD

2010-06-15T14:07:00.009-04:00

Do you have shelves or boxes full of VHS Tapes? Are they labeled or indexed so that you even know what's recorded on them?

Here's my stash of VHS tapes in my closet...

Yes, they have been there for YEARS...and I don't know what's on them. This is Phase II of the project because I already separated the Purchased Tapes from the Recorded Tapes. This stash is only the tapes I recorded. I do know that there are some tapes within the stash that have some precious recordings on them that I will want to preserve by converting them to another type of media.

This has been one of those PROJECTS that is going to take a lot of preparation and a lot of time to complete. I call anything that requires more than one action or task a "project". This has been on my list of things-to-do for a very long time.

So, it was time to tackle this - as VHS tapes are prone to deteriorate over time. I did keep them in a controlled environment away from direct sunlight, temperature controlled and with low humidity, i.e. my office closet.

I pulled our old VCR from the living room, the only one left in the house, into my office and researched how to connect the cables from it to my computer. Now, I already have a program installed on the computer which will copy and burn to DVD. You will also need some kind of conversion device as VHS is ANALOG and it needs to be converted to DIGITAL.

That was all finished and the first test run was done. The result? The old VCR ate my tape! I tried another and it didn't play either - therefore, it wasn't the tape, but the machine.

So, it went in the garbage and I found myself purchasing a new VCR! I know, at this day and age they are almost obsolete and I am buying a new one! But it's needed. I bought one from Wal-Mart with a VCR and DVD player combination. They had a machine that plays a tape and burns to disc all-in-one. But I saved the money knowing that I already have the software needed to do it on my computer. You could pay the extra few bucks and save yourself the trouble of the computer software and conversion device.

So, here is the new VCR in my office attached to my computer. I also pulled out the old "rewinder" machine. It is exclusively used to rewind your tapes and save the wear and tear on the VCR.

Now, when I am sitting at my desk, I play a tape with the volume up loud enough to hear the content but not distract from my task at hand. I am playing an old HGTV episode of "Room by Room" as I write this.

I know that I mostly have HGTV and DIY recorded as well as some History Channel programs. But, I am mostly interested in finding an old image of my grandmother. She was a model in New York and always told me about how she was a "Chesterfield Girl" on a billboard. She described being a platinum blond with big white teeth holding her cigarette in a red convertible with a red scarf blowing in the wind. She was 5'9" and beautiful.

I never saw the image. Or any of her other modeling images because they were destroyed in a flood in the basement. That only added to my desire to see one. I also found in the 1930 census that she was 21 and a "saleswoman for ladies wear". Then one day, I was watching TV (and can you imagine that I happened to be recording?) when her image flashed up on the screen! I was beside myself in shock! It was one of those spiraling images that flashed up large and then disappeared for another to follow just behind it. I couldn't believe my eyes! I played it over and over, paused it and watched it in slow motion! It was her! Exactly as she had described it. Sadly, I couldn't tell her about finally seeing it as she had passed away.

I also have some TV commercial I was in and other TV shows. Nothing big - no voice, just an extra in most of them. I'll be sure to post some images once I find them.

It has been a week and I have gone through four tapes. I only recorded one segment off of "The Christopher Lowell Show" of a beautiful room redo that I had not forgotten about. The rest went into the trash. BOY DOES THAT FEEL GOOD! Finally started the project and finally cleaning out the closet to capture the memories I want to keep and discard the junk!

If you have VHS tapes that you wish to preserve, I highly suggest that you convert them now to a newer media. Don't procrastinate, get started now.

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Are You A Genealogy Geek?

2010-06-02T20:57:00.003-04:00

You might be a genealogy geek if:

You'd rather go to a genealogy conference than a tropical summer vacation destination.
You'd rather visit a cemetery than people who are living.
You spend more time on your computer after midnight than during the day.
You're daily "newspaper" reading consists of genealogy related blogs in your RSS feed reader.
The friends you choose have the same ~~addiction to genealogy~~ passion for doing research on their ancestors.
Snow days make you grin from ear to ear as you relish in the thought of a "genealogy day".
Most of your photos are black and white or sepia toned.
Eating and sleeping are not priorities anymore.
Regardless of how the conversation starts, it ends with you discussing your ancestors.
The cabinets are bare, the laundry is not done, the bills are not paid, you have not bathed, but genealogy RSS feeds are all read.
Your annual tax return is already spent on this year's conferences, online database subscriptions and memberships to more than one genealogy society.
You walk around with a magnifying glass in your purse.

Ancestor Approved Award - April 4, 2010

2010-04-03T22:11:00.007-04:00

These three blog authors have awarded me the Ancestor Approved Award! They also write family history related blogs. Be sure to visit their sites.

Michelle at The Turning of Generations
Carol from Reflections From the Fence
Bonnie/Valentinoswife over at Amore E Sapore di Famiglia

Sometimes you wonder if anyone is even reading what you post! This is confirmation that people are reading my blog and some consider it award worthy - so a big THANK YOU to them!

With the acceptance of this award comes the obligation to "list ten things you have learned about any of your ancestors that has surprised, humbled, or enlightened you” and also to “pass the award along to ten other bloggers who you feel are doing their ancestors proud.”

I really took a long time to tackle this one. Not that I was procrastinating, but because I had house guests last week! Thanks for your patience. So here goes...

The first thing that comes to mind are all of those ancestors of mine who have served in the military, especially during wartime. I am humbled by their service to country, flag, and freedom.
Next I think about all the farmers! I know these first two are somewhat broad, but I can't seem to get anything to grow - did not inherit the green thumb. Everytime I go to the grocery store I am humbled by farmers who grow the food that keeps me and my family alive. I had a lot of ancestors who were general farmers.
My 3rd great grand-uncle, Judge Allen Baskin, was accidentally struck by lightening and died.
Immigrant ancestors come to mind. Specifically, my 9th great grandfather, Col. Thomas Pettus, from Norwich, England. He was the youngest of 12 children - almost certain not to inherit anything from his father. Believed to be a widower (not proven yet) he came to Jamestowne in 1638.
I'm surprised to have many Jamestowne ancestors! Love reading about this time in history and the "starving time", Indian attacks, and other calamities that occurred which people continued to endure to gain freedom and become land owners in their own right.
Having read a lot of accounts about migrations westward, I am truly amazed at what people endured to make a new life for themselves in an often unknown place. Similar to emigrants, I am humbled by their courage.
My great grandfather, Henry Ermon McVicker, lost both his first wife and young twin children during the 1918 flu epidemic.
Hugh Baskin was one of my Revolutionary War patriot ancestors. He rode a horse 394 days from May 12, 1780 to July 12, 1783.
Three of my female relatives married their husband's twice (married, divorced them, then married them again).
I am still astounded that I was able to walk into the Abbeville, SC Courthouse and put my hands on Hugh Baskin's original will from 1790!

Thanks again to those who recognized my blog with this award! It's my pleasure to pass it on to bloggers I follow!

Joanne

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Splendid Genealogy Course at the John C. Campbell Folk School

2010-04-03T21:01:00.007-04:00

What could possibly be better than talking genealogy for an entire week? How about doing it at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina during their Scandinavian week? Yes, I am still recovering from what was to become colossal proportions of motivation and inspiration that I left with. But there's more...

One quickly becomes acquainted with how the bell tolls before mealtimes and enjoying delectable Scandinavian cuisine while mingling with other attendees, each one eager to discuss the handicraft they're learning in their course. These include ceramics, paper cutting, blacksmithing, woodworking, wood turning, felting, weaving and much more.

Someone asked me which course I was in, quickly followed by "do you have any Scandinavian ancestors?" Well, I didn't think I did. So my answer was "no". However, that answer left me unsettled until I was able to access my database to do a search for any Scandinavian roots. Sure enough, my fourth great grandfather, James Wood Headstream, immigrated from Sweden and finally settled in Monroe County, Arkansas! (Meatballs with gravy! I AM Swedish!) Needless to say, I changed my answer to THAT question for the rest of the week!

My course was taught by genealogist, Ann Mohr Osisek, from Florida. She was a delight - keeping the atmosphere very relaxed and encouraging conversation. She brought with her a whole library of books, some of which she liberally distributed to purge her collection. I acquired enough books and periodicals to keep my nightly reading regime "genealogy-focused" for at least a decade!

One of the highlights of my week turned out to be totally unexpected. You may recall reading an earlier post on my third great-grandfather, Pleasant Nelson Simpson. While doing research on Ancestry.com, I met a cousin who also happens to live in Georgia. Well, that was several months ago and we've been communicating via e-mail but have been unable to meet face-to-face.

On the first day of the course, I tried wrapping up my e-mails. I sent my cousin a note explaining where I was and that I would have limited internet access to check my mail. That evening I checked my mail to find her reply. She told me she was coming to see me there at the school! (Cruising Viking Ships! Are you kidding me?) She was only 20 minutes away via winding road! I called her right away and she arranged to come to the school the next night.

My third cousin once removed arrived and like two long lost friends we embarked on a two-hour non-stop yack-fest exchanging details about ourselves and our common ancestor. She loaned me two ginormous books and promised to return the next day to retrieve them.

It keeps getting better...

She came to the class, welcomed by all of my classmates who heard the story of our ~~reunion~~ meeting and made an announcement. See, we'd been unable to prove Pleasant's third (or fourth) marriage. Didn't even know the wife's name, but had read about it in a book. He was 70 years old at the time! She originally inquired about their marriage record via phone to the county in Texas that held the records. They told her they had the license and that it had "expired" written across it. The clerk was going to investigate and call her back.

She had received the call with the news that Pleasant Nelson Simpson and his third wife, Emeline Frances (Wilson) Williams, never picked up their marriage certificate which she found in the basement! She was sending the original to my cousin! (Great Gotlanders - I think I'm going to faint!)

I am still recovering from all the excitement at the Folk School's Scandinavian Week. I spent a lot of class time on-line doing research and brought a file folder of data to enter into my database while I listened in on the lessons. Here are the results:

Before:
Individuals: 4747
Families: 1650
Sources: 286

After:
Individuals: 4917
Families: 1716
Sources: 300

The difference concludes that I added the following:
Individuals: 170
Families: 66
Sources: 14

I brought home a smile, as sense of wonderment and accomplishment, new friends, a new cousin and the John C. Campbell Scandinavian Recipes book! I always knew that the Swedish Chef was my favorite Muppet for a reason!

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Organizing Photos: Manage Folders on Your Computer

2010-03-19T11:40:00.002-04:00

One of the biggest frustrations people have is trying to retrieve something quickly at the time they actually need it. Including myself! Last year, I thought I had a brilliant idea to restructure all my photos in a parent folder for the year (i.e 2003). That way everything would remain in chronological order and I could see all of the photos in order no matter what the subject was. That turned out to be a really bad idea!

Partway through the process I realized that when I went to retrieve something in particular, but couldn't remember what year it was, I was at a loss to locate it quickly. Then I wasted time seeking where it actually was and became agitated in the process! Here's my new structure, partly based on my old structure, only more definitive.

1. Start by creating folders within the "My Pictures" folder in File Explorer. Find this by right clicking on the start menu. Select the My Pictures folder then click File-New-Folder. Do not get too specific. Name your folders with broad "categories". Think in terms of it being a general keyword. If you already have a folder structure in place, then you may wish to just revise what's there based on the photos you have. I call these my "parent" folders. 2. The next step is to add more descriptive folders under each of the folders you created in step one - if you need them. I call these my "subfolders". The plus signs to the left of the photos in the picture above indicate that there are subfolders underneath. I may create one additional set of subfolders under these (a third folder from My Pictures), but remember that each time you go to retrieve one photo, you'll need to click through several layers of folders to get there so minimize this effort if at all possible. Think in terms of grouping your folders based upon the subject or event where you took the pictures. For example, if it was a birthday party and you took 40 photos than those 40 photos should be grouped together in their own folder. Try not to separate a grouping that was shot together into separate folders. It's a misconception that you can have too many file folders on your computer (the ones I call "Parent Folders"). You can create as many folders as is necessary in order to retrieve something quickly. Think of all the folders and subfolders you have in a file drawer within a filing cabinet. It's the same concept. You generally would not have a folder within a folder within a folder - three folders. You would have a folder within a folder - only two folders.

I also prefer to begin the subfolder name with the year followed by a descriptive name, which could just be a string of descriptive keywords, to help trigger my memory of the event,occasion, or subject. Here's an example: in February 2002 I swam with the dolphins at a park called Xcaret in Mexico. Instantly I know that this is under my "Travel" parent folder. Because, logically for me, that's how I set it up. The subfolder is "2002 Feb_Mexico_Xcaret _Dolphins". I just used a string of keywords or tags that make sense to me. When I think of the event, what comes to mind is "Joanne-swimming with the dolphins" but that doesn't make a very concise folder name. Instead I've chosen keywords that will trigger my memory. Remember, it's all about retrieval.

One more thing. I've found it helpful to have a parent folder named "Dump_From_Camera". Each time I connect my camera, I don't always have time to go through photos right then and there and "file" them. I just create a subfolder there with the date i.e "2009 07 28". Then when I have time to sit at my computer, I can go to Dump_From_Camera and sort the photos into the parent folders where they belong and create the subfolder. It saves time and keeps them in order. When your done, go ahead and create the same structure under "My Videos". I'm still working on tweaking the hierarchy of folders in my system and narrowing down what's there. Then I'll work on the actual file names for each individual photo. I'll write again once I get there!

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

Progress for Goals in 2010

2010-03-16T14:53:00.008-04:00

It's already March 2010! Can you believe it? I've been diligently working towards getting my goals accomplished. You can read about them here: 2010 Has Arrived!

These are the things I've been working on recently:

Research: My local genealogical society finished up their Beginners Course with two field trips. The first one was to the Georgia State Archives. I am an officer and took the tour the last two years in a row so I opted to spend this time doing research on my McVicker/Brown Georgia ancestors.
Education: The week following, our field trip was to the National Archives Southeast Region. The Georgia Genealogical Society hosted an all-day lecture there which I attended instead of their tour.
Education: I watched parts 1 & 2 of Research Logs:The Most Important Tool for Organizing Your Genealogy.
Organizing: Inspired by #3 above, I created a new research log template.
Organizing: As part of an ongoing project to manage all of my photos, I have restructured the file folders within My Pictures on my computer. I'll share my method in another post.
Organizing: I have finally compiled all of my genealogy books, binders and other reference materials into one spot designated exclusively for them.
Heirlooms:

I brought three of my mother's oil paintings to show to an antique dealer for some advice.
I polished my grandmother's silver tray and also showed it to the antique dealer who advised me not to have it re-plated.
I polished one of the two silver tea pitchers.
I cleaned and hung three of my mother's antique clocks and one barometer and my cuckoo clock from when I lived in Germany. (I can't afford to have her clocks serviced and working yet though). Excuse the treadmill in the photo, but I wasn't about to move it!
I polished one of my Grandfather's Trophy's. My husband is going to apply a finish to the mahogany and we will reattach it with brass tacks. (It was a yacht race and he was a crew member - still searching for more information about this race).

I still need to register for the 2010 FGS Conference and next week I am attending a week-long genealogy course at the John C. Campbell Folk School in NC. I'm also presenting to our Beginner's Course on Saturday - "Internet Tools for Genealogy".

That's quite a bit of progress. I guess I didn't realize it until writing this post! How are you progressing with your genealogy/archiving goals? I hope this post was at least motivating for you! Keep going a little piece at a time.

Copyright © 2010 Joanne Schleier

More of Tee's Crewel

2010-02-22T14:28:00.012-05:00

I've found more pieces of my grandmother's crewel. I think you can click on the image to zoom and see the stitching if you like.

FYI - Her nickname was Tee. Being of Lithuanian descent, her given name was Thais (sounds like Thai-eece). My brother and I were her only grandchildren and as kids we called her TeeTee. An image of her is above on my blogs title bar (removed since changing my blog theme in Oct. 2010). She is the one in the First Communion dress with her bible and rosary - love those shoes!

I wrote about a piece she made in another post: Threads of Time. This piece she also finished in 1973. I love how the one coral colored flower stands out. Also, it was probably her second favorite color next to aqua.

This next one was made in 1973, 2 years before the ones above. I love the colors in it and came to have a thing for owls in my adult life.

I don't know the provenance of any of the pieces I am presenting in this post. Unlike the prior post, nothing is written on the back of these. Unanswered questions are: Which one was her first? Did she use a pattern or design them herself? Though, I do remember her working on them sitting on her day-bed in her room and me going in to snuggle beside her or get a hug and she would say "wait a minute dear, let me put down my stitching", always obliging my request and always calling me "dear".

This next one is unlike the prior four which are more of a Jacobean style. I know it was also for me; I am the Leo in the family. It seems to be a 1970's design. I suppose it's even possible that she found this somewhere, maybe even a garage sale, and purchased it. It is not signed by her as the others are and because it is a different style than she did, it's highly probable.

I'm pretty sure that is all the crewel she kept. I have no way of knowing if she made some to give as gifts. My storage clean-up is a work in progress, so I'll soon find out if I've missed any.

I plan to address the fact that, to my knowledge, none are framed with archival quality materials. That will have to wait. I have too many other goals prioritized.

Threads of Time

2010-02-13T21:58:00.020-05:00

You're not going to believe this.

First a little back-story...

One of my husbands passions is woodworking - making colonial Windsor chairs, to be specific, with hand tools the way they did back in colonial times. This lead us to setting up a booth, on occasion, at different venues which would attract buyers or people interested in taking a class on learning the craft. He displays his chairs and demonstrates the process of making them.

This, combined with his interest in American History, the Revolutionary War, the founding of our country and our interest in genealogy, led us to dressing in period appropriate clothing for these events. No small task, as everything must be authentically created. For me, that means hand sewing a lot of period clothing because the sewing machine was not invented until 1846.

Part of my ensemble for my 18th century wardrobe includes pockets. The pockets of the day were not sewn into the inside of clothes, but instead attached to a ribbon which ties around the waist underneath your skirt. These were oftentimes embroidered with wool thread which is called crewel.

Mannequin at the Dewitt-Wallace Museum in Colonial Williamsburg depicting 18th century undergarments.
Photo Copyright 2010 Joanne Schleier

Side view of the pocket.
Photo copyright 2010 Joanne Schleier

Close-up of hand-stitched surface embroidery on the pocket.
Photo Copyright 2010 Joanne Schleier

My maternal grandmother used to do crewel and I've had her work stored away since she passed away in 1994. I remember also storing her books about it and yarns for a time and then later purging a lot of my sewing related stored items in an attempt to rid myself of clutter (something that is a continuous process which gives me great pleasure). I try to stick to the rule that if I haven't used it for a year then I toss it. However, this was something I was emotionally attached to. I saved it all for many years before admitting to myself that I would probably never take up crewel work.

And the story goes on...

So, now I had a strong desire to learn crewel for my pockets. I thought of how enriching it would be to be able to use my grandmother's yarns, now belonging to someone else since I donated the whole lot to Goodwill. What a shame. I almost felt numb and found it difficult to begin the project. Every time I thought of starting, I would instead start a mental self-sabotage with remorse and regret. Strong thoughts of self ridicule. My grandmother would have been proud if she could have seen me pick up her hobby and use her supplies so carefully chosen by her.

I purchased the linen and decided to ~~rebel~~ divert from what was acceptable and use 21st century embroidery threads including ribbon and synthetic fibers for my pockets and make my own design. Who would see them anyway? I had an inspiration from a 21st c. book.

Today, I was in my sewing room in the basement and began to draft a pattern for the pockets overall shape and embroidery design. I was through with the shape when I stepped into the connecting storage room where the framed pieces my grandmother made are stored. I was looking for inspiration for my pattern...again.

I found a piece she made that I liked the most. It was professionally framed under glass.
Crewel piece done by my grandmother in 1971.
Photo Copyright 2010 Joanne Schleier

The stitching is 10¹/₂" by 14"; the frame is larger. (It would not fit completely on my scanner so I scanned two images from it and merged them back into one. I looked at the piece with different eyes. I had read several books about stitches, patterns, techniques, and tools. This is good work. I turned over the back of the frame and look what I saw...

Back of the crewel piece:
Tee Rambeau
1971 Nashua
New Hampshire
for Joanne Beylouny
from Grandma TeeTee
Photo Copyright 2010 Joanne Schleier

This was made for me! She finished it when I was 3 years old. I couldn't believe my eyes. I felt like she was right there beside me! I spoke out loud to her and said "thank you Tee, I am so remorseful that I gave your supplies away at a time when I've really come to appreciate what you did for me".

Something told me to walk toward the shelves where boxes of my mother's and grandmother's belongings are. I looked at all the boxes, numbered and marked with an "A" for "antiques" to tell me the contents were theirs. But then, I noticed a blue plastic trash can on the shelf. It had been there so long, I never "saw" it. It was of those plastic containers with a lid in the shape of an old round trash can. We used to store my daughters lego's in it in her room when she was a child. I knew the lego's were long since donated - my daughter is 24.

Oh heaven! Could it be? I think I remember putting her crewel yarns in there about eight years ago... but then I swear I donated them. I grabbed the can with the framed crewel work in the other hand and ran back to my sewing table to see what was inside. I opened it harriedly with my heart beat increasing in my chest.

Inside were the cards of colorful wool. I was real. I started tearing up and said "oh thank you!" many times as I dug deeper and pulled them out a handful at a time. She had tied similar colors together which had similar numbers. I laid them all out and was filled with so much joy and pride.

There are 82 cards in all. Crewel yarns sorted by color/number laid out on a five foot table.
Photo Copyright 2010 Joanne Schleier

Tee raised me and my brother with our mother (her daughter) and became a second parent. She was there for us in every way. What a beautiful lady and such a wonderful gift. I am so glad I was wrong about donating them. It will mean so much to me to use her threads.

And so, I will start again with a renewed sense of appreciation for the time and attention to detail our ancestors paid to the slightest thing. Even concealed pockets. Or perhaps a treasure for a granddaughter who will perhaps place it prominently on the wall to look at everyday and be reminded that she was loved. And so, it hangs now where I will see it everyday and think of her. Thank you, Tee.

Dont' Miss Faces of America - Starting Tonight!!!

2010-02-10T11:13:00.002-05:00

Tonight on PBS is the first episode of a mini series that is genealogy based - Faces of America. You don't want to miss this! Between this and the upcoming Who Do You Think You Are? premiering in March on NBC, genealogy is going to get a lot of exposure. Do you remember when Roots hit the airwaves in the 1970's? It started a wave of inspiration for searching our own roots (I was too young then, but still, I'm aware of this). If you haven't begun your own quest into your past...get ready to become motivated!

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Economy

What A Surprise!

2010-02-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

I found a vintage photo behind another one inside a frame!

One of my ongoing projects is to take all of my original photos, digitize them, print copies, and create a photo collage on the wall.

I definitely want to preserve the originals for posterity, so those won't be hanging on the wall, but instead will be preserved in archival materials.

But the question arose as to what to do with a photo inside an original frame. Do I scan the photo within the frame and print that? Or do I remove the photo from the frame scan just the picture and then print it?

When in doubt, ask someone else who knows. So I did. I asked Denise over at The Family Curator blog. She was quick to reply with her lengthy and detailed advice. I followed what she said exactly.

The photo is of my mother when she was a little girl. I don't know exactly how old she was and can only assume it was taken somewhere in New York where she was raised. At some point in time, before she passed away, she did tell me that the frame was handmade by a first grader named Gerard Snowver. He had a terrible crush on her and gave it to her as a gift. We named our rabbit after him (Gerard lived at least eight years, the rabbit, that is).

First, I was to scan the photo in the frame. Here's the result:
Next, remove the photo from the frame and scan that. Here's the result:Surprisingly, on the backside of the photo in my grandmother's penmanship is this:And so my mother was five years old at the time the photo was taken and they were living at 30 5th Ave., New York City to be precise! At this point, it is premature to do the "genealogy happy dance" because underneath this photo, I found another photo of my mother:This one was folded to fit inside the frame. Nothing was written on the back. I do remember seeing this as a child and, therefore, I know it was my mother.

I've decided to make a print of the photograph within the frame, put it into another frame under glass to hang on the wall. The carving on the original wooden frame has so much character and interest that I would hate to leave it out.

Thank you so much Denise!

So, NOW I can do a genealogy happy dance!!!

My Ancestor Talked to Me!

2010-01-29T07:00:00.004-05:00

My husband is attending a conference in Colonial Williamsburg - YIPPEE! That means that I can do more research on my Jamestown/Williamsburg ancestors, the Pettus's, for a few days. The other evening I was waiting for him to finish up so we could go to dinner. It was cold and it was POURING! Now, had we driven my vehicle, I would have had an umbrella. But does my husband keep one in his car? NOOOOOO.

I made my way to the bookstore in the area of the Williamsburg Merchants - in the rain - ~~determined to purchase an umbrella now that I was soaked to the skin anyway~~ purchase another new journal. The last one I bought was at the same store. I wonder why it is that when I travel, I want to write more?

Anyway, I get to the book store and thumb through the leather journals until I find one the right size, unlined and about half the cost of the rest of them. ~~I had already seen that the umbrellas were by the door and I'd grab one on the way out so I could have both hands free to fondle the covers and pages of the journals~~.

I turned to leave when all of a sudden, the radio that had been playing pop music with a disturbing beat (for a bookstore), sounded as though it was playing one of my favorite songs - Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. The sound was so faint. I was determined to figure out if my ears were playing tricks on me. Did they change the station? How could they go from pop to this on the same station? It called me to attention and drew me in. I looked a the ceiling to find the nearest speaker. As I strained to hear the soft melody, I walked in that direction.

It was real. So, I stood there, KNOWING. Because I believe this is how the spirit world communicates with us (a little nudge, some recognition of something, a deja vu moment) I waited, in disbelief for the "aha".

I was under the speaker now and it was the song I thought it was. As I looked around me, I was now right in front of the bookshelves of local interest, including Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown. OK! Now what? Well, there was a book I had been interested in picking up about an archeological dig that was done on the 17th century plantation site of my 9th great grandfather, Col. Thomas Pettus, they are called Littletown and Utopia in the area of Kingsmill.

I am browsing the shelves as I listen to the music, which still has me in disbelief. Then suddenly, there on the BOTTOM shelf, the very last book in the CORNER, wrapped in plastic no less, is the book I've been wanting to get my hands on - Kingsmill Plantations 1619-1800 by William M. Kelso!

I picked it up still listening to the music. I smiled and said "thank you" out loud to acknowledge whatever angel, guide, ascended master, ancestor, God - whatever you want to call that energy.

I have heard of this happening to many-a-researcher, both amateur and professional. In fact, at the my first conference last year, FGS in Little Rock, AR, I purchased 2 books published on the subject called Psychic Roots...Serendipity and Intuition in Genealogy and More Psychic Roots by Henry Z. Jones, Jr. I read both of them in about a week!

Do you trust your instincts? I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me. If you are awake to the hints and heighten your senses - you will have it happen to you too. When you least expect it. Like dodging the rain by finding yourself a bookstore while you're on vacation. Even though it happens to me quite a bit, I still can't believe it when it does. So, I decided to blog about it - every time. Then I can tabulate how much it happens and how frequently. This was the first time this year, so maybe at the end of the year, I'll count the frequency.

Has this ever happened to you? If you're a blogger, write a post about it and share your link with me and my readers in the comment section. I'd love to read yours!

Land Records for Female Ancestor?

2010-01-22T06:00:00.006-05:00

I've been cleaning up my online database on Ancestry.com because when I uploaded my GEDCOM file from Legacy, it does not translate the sources by attaching Ancestry's Historical Records, it makes it all text. I like to look at Ancestry's tree with the link to the record right there so I can click once on it and be looking at the actual record. This enables me to scrutinize specific data and review records as necessary in my research. So, I am manually attaching records I've already cited in order to do this as seen here: (CLICK to enlarge)

In doing so, I've made a discovery I would not otherwise have found. I was already aware that my 4th great-grandfather, Duncan McVicker, acquired land in Louisiana beginning in 1852 as a result of serving in the Georgia Militia during the Cherokee Removal and receiving land grants. While adding these historical records to Ancestry's tree, I noticed underneath the results for Duncan McVicker in the Lousiana Land Records database the following:

You can see I've attached all of Duncan's land records to him in my tree because of all the green check marks to the right of his name. However, underneath him is his wife or daughter, Sarah, followed by his son, John, my 3rd great-grandfather whose land records I'd already known about. The discovery was Sarah's land! And hers was the earliest date. So, one can see that, as usual, welcome NEW discoveries always lead to more questions! How come Sarah McVicker got land? Did the couple purchase it in her name? Was it his daughter? Could it have been a grant? Underneath John is Margaret, another daughter! It never occurred to me to look for land in her name at that time, being that she is a female. I would not have done a search on the female names alone for land.

I'm glad I made the choice to re-enter these records in Ancestry! What a payoff! I believe there is a price for everything, but there are also rewards for diligence when you least expect it!

Sorting Out the "Living" on Ancestry.com

2010-01-15T09:00:00.005-05:00

I was working on my tree in the wee hours this morning on Ancestry.com and I had an epiphany! I uploaded my GEDCOM file from Legacy some time ago and opted to keep those living relatives of mine private, so they ALL show up as "Living" on my Ancestry tree. How am I supposed to tell one "Living" from another?

I was adding a photo of three people, two of whom are living (myself and my brother), the other is our maternal grandmother. When I went to tag the two living people from the photo I had to choose from a list of names. This is all fine and dandy if there are not two people with the same name. I have come across the same problem trying to attach a record to someone when there is a Sr. and a Jr. by the same name with no birth years. Do you know how many "Living's" are in my tree?!?!

But, alas, it occurred to me! How about filling in the first name field with the RIN# or record number for the individual from Legacy's database? At least that way I will know one "living" from another. For example, I am RIN #1 and that makes me "1 Living" in my Ancestry tree. My cute big brother is RIN# 1477, and here he is as "1477 Living". So, for the sake of adding information for me to analyze data and make comparisons, this works for me!

My Genealogical Superpower

2010-01-13T14:11:00.005-05:00

Inspired by a post with the same title as mine by Stephen Danko at Steve's Genealogy Blog, I decided to create my Superhero avatar (at The Hero Factory) and find out what title I was to be given. Looks like I am "The Impossible Soaring Angel"!!! [Cue the music and give me a sidekick!] Although, some people would call me "The Impossible... No, that's it. Nothing more, just "The Impossible". [My husband comes to mind here.] Here is what my avatar looks like:

I like my stick! It is symbolic of the connection I feel to all things, especially Earth. Weapons are not required to be a true superhero. You can help people with kind words and deeds, and knowing what to say at the right time. That's what I like to think my genealogical superpower is. Helping others. I started my video tutorial site, RelativelySpeaking.TV, with the idea that I could help others with the technology/computer skills part of genealogy that they fear as a way of giving back to them because they helped me to begin to learn how to get started doing my research. I also took 2 whole days in another state's archives to help a friend with his research. He has difficulty reading and with my help he was able to make a lot of progress.

The Pink and the Skirt represent the feminine. All things giving and nurturing. Also relating to Mother Earth because everything we need to live flows from her. I use my feminine intuition A LOT to guide me in my research.

I don't see the angel wing's as mine, but symbolic of our connection to the Divine. Without which I don't think a lot of the synchronicities in my life and research would have occured. And to remind me to be thankful for each and every day of my life and my loved ones and ancestors who came before me.

I hope that explains my Genealogical Superpower. I think others might say that am good with technology too. Maybe this post will inspire another reader/writer to write about their Genealogical Superpower too!

2010 Has Arrived!

2010-01-07T13:49:00.005-05:00

Vintage New Years Postcard
Originally uploaded by riptheskull

I have the flu... since December 27th to be exact and this down time has allowed me to reflect about the past and how I want 2010 to change for me. Genealogically speaking, 2008 was a year of organizing my files, entering more accumulated data into my database and filing it all and bringing things up to date - like correspondence. I felt organized! Everything was "getting done" and my to-enter-and-file pile was next to nil.

2009, on the other hand, proved to be a disaster! Things fell apart. Literally. I had my desktop computer die during the first quarter and spent a long time during its slow demise having files back up again (because the duration of how long it would run before shutting itself down was so unpredictable). Then, I was able to have a new one built by summer, and needed time to restore my data and install software to get things up to speed.

In the meantime, I continued to do research, travel to repositories and take hundreds of photos - all to be entered. So, there was definitely an imbalance of what I gathered and what was entered and filed away. Come December, my laptop died. Oh, bother! For 2010, I'm planning to get all of this accumulated data entered and filed - a monumental task considering all the papers, correspondence, photos, & books I'll need to sort through.

I also plan to write more - in my blog as well as starting a diary. I love to write with a fountain pen and inkwell, so this requires a little more planning than just carrying a book and pen. I believe I'll have to set up an area where I can address this task daily and when I travel, I'll just use my favorite fountain pen with the ink inside. Even if I only enter a few lines...I feel compelled.

I also have a huge laundry list of things I want to do around the house, from hanging more art, to repairs and sewing more for the home. It's time to tackle those ugly tasks once and for all. Then there are those ugly unfinished projects that loom around in the back of my mind and haunt me. Won't tolerate that anymore - they will get finished. I plan to write them down and address them one at a time.

For example, unable to get around much while sick, I pulled out a cross-stitch which is so tedious I had put it away for over a year. Every stitch is another color! I changed my mind about it by thinking in terms of each square-inch being an accomplishment, working about an inch at a time, and found I can do this while watching TV and get a sense of satisfaction when I finish a whole inch. Much better than thinking in terms of the entire canvas - "I'll never finish this" idea.

I also have to keep up with my duties as VP of the genealogy society and continue to come up with content and produce videos for my other site. That is on top of the household chores and regular tasks needing to be done. Just the act of writing this post has helped. I feel better having focused my attention on goals I wish to accomplish, writing them down and challenging myself to "change my mind" about them, or how I can change my thoughts to inspire achievement as opposed to feeling overwhelmed and frustrated.

Wish me luck and I encourage everyone to do the same. Write down your goals and ask yourself what you wish to achieve and what keeps you from doing it? What needs to change in your thoughts about those goals to get you motivated? Maybe just breaking down a monumental tasks into small pieces will do the trick.

Happy 2010 ya'll!

Photo of Pleasant Nelson Simpson

2009-11-09T16:03:00.010-05:00

Isn't the Internet a wonderful tool for helping us with our genealogy? I just discovered a third cousin once removed and we've been sharing information via e-mail about our common ancestor, Pleasant Nelson Simpson, who is my third great-grandfather.

She shared with me this photo of Pleasant, with his son, grandson, and daughter-in-law, which someone else shared with her!

Circa 1903 Left to right: Pleasant Nelson Simpson (grandfather, abt 79 years old also two years before his death), Louis Poindexter Simpson (son, abt 37 years old), Dexter O. Simpson (grandson, abt 12 years old), Eva Jane Richardson Simpson (daughter-in-law, abt 31 years old). Probably taken in Texas.

My line from him goes like this:

GGG grandparents - Pleasant Nelson Simpson married Elinder Katherine Martin
GG grandparents - Emily Susan Simpson married William A. McVicker
G grandparents - Henry Ermon McVicker married Edna Mae Williams
Grandparents - Rachel Mary McVicker married Sterling Norman Beard Junior
Parents - Living
Me

Many thanks to the person who originally shared this photo and to my newfound cousin who shared with me.
Blogged with the Flock Browser

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My Favorite Song of All Time

2009-09-26T23:17:00.008-04:00

This is a blog-prompt from Randy Seaver at http://www.geneamusings.com/. He writes: Here is your assignment for the evening - if you wish to participate in the Fun (cue the Mission Impossible music): 1. What is your all-time favorite song? Yep, number 1. It's hard to choose sometimes. If you made your favorite all-time Top 40 music selections, what would be #1? 2. Tell us about it. Why is it a favorite? Do you have special memories attached to this song? 3. Write your own blog post about it, or make a comment on this post or on the Facebook entry.

Well, He is right. This one was difficult. To choose just one meant cutting out so many others! I asked my husband and he told me the song I had in my head as my number one (way to go Chris!). So I have to say it is: O mio babbino caro (Oh my dear papa) is an aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918), by Giacomo Puccini {Wikipedia}. I have never seen the opera, but is was in the movie Room With A View with a very young Helena Bonham Carter from a very long time ago. That is the rendition I like the most, from the movie. A very similar rendition is sung by Sissel here:

2. It is so full of emotion and I love violins! And it's timeless, obviously. I love movies and music that make me cry. I majored in theater performance and I especially love the American Golden Age of musicals. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart... When we learned to portray a character, we could justify breaking into song at that moment because you were at the height of EMOTION. I love that! "My emotions are so intense right now that all I can do to express it is SING!" Don't you love it? Try watching a musical now and NOT think about that! It speaks to me too, knowing now that my biological paternal grandmother was Italian.

3. Done!

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Finding the Sandifer Cemetery [VIDEO]

2009-08-31T14:48:00.010-04:00

My apologies to those of you who've been waiting to see this! I tried to upload it to YouTube and it was one minute and 17 seconds too long and had to find an alternative to post it!

This is the story of my journey to finding the burial location of my third great grand aunt. The video is about 11 minutes long.

The following shows my relationship to her (my direct line is bold):

Robert Brown married Sabra Royal
children were:
Baylons Brown
Eliza Brown
John Brown
Archibald Brown
Mary Brown
*Atha Brown (she is the subject of the video)

Mary Brown married John W. McVicker
their son, William Archibald McVicker married Emily Susan Simpson
their son, Henry Ermon McVicker married Edna Mae Williams
their daughter, Living McVicker married Sterling Norman Beard Jr.
their daughter, Living Beard had a child with Living Rodriguez
Joanne Schleier - that's me!

UPDATE (August 31, 2009) - I noticed since posting this that there is a skip in the audio at a moment when an important point is made. We had to get the manager because this cemetery is behind a locked gate! If you wish to make a visit to the cemetery yourself, you should call ahead to make arrangements.

*Hint: to watch this in full screen click the button to the left of the numbers in the lower right-hand corner.

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Letter of Dismissal Guardianship

2009-08-23T20:13:00.003-04:00

In continuation of The Probate Records Index of Mary Brown...

This post consists of Item #5 & #6 in the above referenced index, both appearing in the same Minutes of the Court Book on page 201 (See source below).

This concludes all of the entries listed in the General Index under Brown, Mary (minor).

Transcription follows the image.

From Keeper of the Records

SOURCE:
Henry County Probate Records Office
Minutes of the Court 1840-53, Henry County
Page 201

Photo taken with permission at the Henry County Probate
Records Office, McDonough, Georgia.
Digitized version of original - Copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier

Transcription:

Upon the application of Sabra Brown Guardian of Archibald Mary + Atha Brown for letters of dismissian from said Guardianship

It is ordered by the Court that the clerk of this Court do issue a citation in the premises requiring all persons Interested to show cause on or before the next July term of this Court wife said Guardian should not be dismissed from her said Guardianship and that disorder be published in some public Gazette of this state according to law

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Annual Returns for 1838-1841

2009-08-23T19:47:00.003-04:00

In continuation of The Probate Records Index of Mary Brown...

Item #4 lists annual returns from Sabra Brown to the court of Henry County (see prior post). This post is page 2 of 2.

It would appear from this document at each of the three minor children listed continue to have a slave/servant for the years of 1838, 1839, 1840, and 1841.

Transcription follows image.

From Keeper of the Records

SOURCE:
Henry County Probate Records Office
Annual Returns Book C 1840-53, Henry County
Page 63

Photo taken with permission at the Henry County Probate Records Office,
McDonough, Georgia.
Digitized version of original - Copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier

Transcription:

March Terme 1838

The Inferior court in session present their Honors
John C. Sheffield Thomas Marshall Talton Kemp

At this time of the court Sabra Brown was appointed Guardian of Archibald Mary + Atha Brown minors of Robert Brown Deceased and gave Bond with securities in honors of the Court

1838 December 1st
returned on assc of Archibald Brown pardant $2868 1/4
collected for Negro hire $56.00

an assc of Mary Brown pardant $32,33 1/4
collected for Negro hire $106.00

an assc of Atha Brown pardant $29.16 1/4
collected for Negro hire $86.00

1839
an assc of Archibald Brown pardant $12.00
collected for Negro hire $138.00

an assc Mary Brown pardant $6516 1/4
collected for Negro hire $175.00

an assc of Atha Brown pardant $59.46 3/4
collected for Negro hire $137.00

January Term 1841
The Inferior court in session for Ordinary business and the representation of Sabra Brown that she was desirous of remaining the guardianship from this County and had given bond in the County of Henry ordered that livve be granted her remain said Guardianship
Extract from the minutes
Alexdr Meriwether
Recorded January 31st 1842
Abel A Lunan DCCS

1840
an assc of Archibald Brown pardant $7568 3/4
collected for Negro hire $61.00

an assc Mary Brown pardant $111.00
collected for hire $61.00

an assc Atha Brown pardant $7247 1/2
collected for hire $100.00

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Annual Return for 1841

2009-08-23T18:53:00.006-04:00

In continuation of The Probate Records Index for Mary Brown...

Item #4 is for Annual Returns that Sabra Brown was required to file once she became Guardian of her minor children, Archibald Brown, Mary Brown & Atha Brown after the death of her husband.

This annual return equated to submissions for the hire of a "Negro" or slave/servant; one for each child.

This is 1 of 2 pages for this entry. The next post will be entry #4, 2nd page.

Transcription follows image, as usual.

From Keeper of the Records

SOURCE:
Henry County Probate Records Office
Henry County, Georgia.
Annual Returns Book C 1840-53, Henry County
Page 62

Photo taken with permission at the Henry County
Probate Records Office, McDonough, Georgia.
Digitized version of original - Copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier

Transcription:

Annual Return of Sabra Brown Guardian for the orphans of Robert Brown deceased for this year 1841

Amount of articles furnished Archibald Brown 3624
" " " Mary Brown 5291
" " " Atha Brown 6228

Boy Servant Recd for the hire of of Negro Woman Harriet 25,00
Amount Recd for the hire of Negro Man Arthur 90,00
Amount Recd for the hire of Mavindo 3550

Sworn to before me
January 6, 1842
Abel A Lunan

Sabra "her X mark" Brown

Recorded January 31st 1842
[signed] Abel A Lunan

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Letters of Guardianship (from the letter book)

2009-08-23T17:56:00.011-04:00

In continuation of The Probate Records Index of Mary Brown...

Item #3 is a Letter entry in Letter Book A related to the guardianship of the minor children of Robert Brown.

Transcription follows image.

From Keeper of the Records

SOURCE: Henry County Probate Records Office

Letter Book A

1835-1852

Henry County

Page 26

Photo taken with permission at the Henry County Probate
Records Office, McDonough, Georgia.
Digitized version of original - Copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier

Transcription:

Georgia
Henry County

Know all men by these presents that Whereas at this Term of the Inferior Court Sitting as a court of Ordinary for the County aforesaid in the year Eighteen hundred and Forty Sabrey Brown made Application for the appointment of Guardian of Archibald Brown Mary Brown and Athea Brown Orphan Children of Robert Brown Decd And the said Sabrey Brown having taken the Oath and Given the Bond Prescribed by law These are therefore to authorize and Require the Said Sabrey Brown Guardian as aforesaid to Take charge of all the goods and chattels lands and Livements Rights Credits and effects which May come into her hands as Guardian of the said Boards and also to take Charge of the Said Wards and to do and Perform all and Singular the duties required of her as Guardian of the Said Archibald Brown Mary Brown + Athea Brown by the Laws of this State in Such cases made and provided Witness the Honorable Abel A. Lernon one of the Justices of said Court this 16th Day of November 1840

William L. Gordon, CGO
Recorded this 28th Day of Nov 1840
[signed] Wm L Gordon Clerk

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Guardians Bond

2009-08-23T17:55:00.002-04:00

In continuing with The Probate Records Index for Mary Brown ...

Item #2 is the actual Guardians Bond specifying that Robert Brown's widow, Sabra Brown, has posted the amount of $5000 dollars to the court for the guardianship bond of hers and Roberts minor children. It also obligates her to maintain, educate, and clothe them. From this point forward, she will be required to file an annual return with the court proving that she has provided for the "orphans".

It's hard for me to imagine those times for Sabra. I still do not know what it was that made her move to Henry County. Could she have already had family there?

In 1840 her son Archibald was 19 years old, daughter Mary is 16 and Atha is just 12.

From Keeper of the Records

SOURCE: Henry County Probate Records Office, Georgia

Guardians Bond Book 1838-71, Henry County

Page 35

Photo taken with permission at the Henry County Probate Records Office, McDonough, Georgia.
Digitized version of original - Copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier

Transcription:

Georgia, Henry County.
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS,
That we, Sabrey Brown William Adair Samuel Stigall and William Kimbell

acknowledge ourselves jointly and severally bound unto the Judges of the Inferior
Court when sitting as a Court of the Ordinary of said County, and their successors and
assigns, in the just and full sum of five thousand

Dollars, to the payment of which, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, and
the heirs and executives of us and each of us, jointly and severally, by these Pres-
ents. Sealed with our seals, and dated this sixteenth day of
November 1840

The Condition of the above Obligation is such, That if the above bound
Sabrey Brown
who was this day appointed Guardian of the person and property of
Archibald Brown Mary Brown and Athea Brown
Orphan Children of Robert Brown
deceased, she acknowledging of the same by acceptance of
said appointment, and of Letters of Guardianship of this date; shall well and truly
maintain, clothe and educate said orphans according to their circumstances, and
shall take good and lawful care of their persons and property according to the
laws of this State, and shall annually make a just and true return of all her
actings and doings here in, unto the said Court, then this obligation to be void: else
to remain in full force.

In Witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, the day
and year above written,

Wm L Gordon G., C., O.
Recorded this 20th day
of Nov 1840
Wm L Gordon clk

Sabrey his "X" mark Brown L.S.
William Adair L.S.
Samuel Stigall L.S.
William Kimbell L.S.

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Letter of Guardianship (from minutes book)

2009-08-23T16:36:00.011-04:00

In continuing to follow The Probate Records Index for Mary Brown...

Item #1 is a Letter of Guardianship from the minutes of the court book in which the widow, SABRA BROWN, posted to the court the sum of $5000 dollars bond for the guardianship of her three minor children: ARCHIBALD BROWN, MARY BROWN, and ATHA BROWN. Transcription follows image.

From Keeper of the Records

SOURCE:
Letter of Guardianship
Book: Minutes of the Court 1840-53, Henry County
Page 49

Photo taken with permission at the Henry County Probate
Records Office, McDonough, Georgia.
Digitized version of original - Copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier

Transcription:

Ordered by the court that Sabrey Brown be and she is hereby appointed Guardian of Archibald Brown Mary Brown and Athea Brown orphan children of Robert Brown Deceased by her giving Bond and Security in The Sum of five thousand Dollars

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Probate Records Index for Mary Brown

2009-08-15T22:05:00.010-04:00

Well, this may not seem like much for those readers anticipating great "AHA!" images, but this is where I started on my trip to Henry County and I would like to publish what I found in chronological order, if only just because it makes sense to me.

My goal was to find parents of my third great-grandmother Mary Brown. I began with the general index book and searched under her name finding a "minor". This proved to be the first "X" on the treasure map I was about to begin and prove to be invaluable. I am pretty sure to zoom in or download your own copy of the image just click on it. It should take you to my Web album on Picasa. So for a start, here it is:

SOURCE: The General Index to Proceedings of Estates, Court of the Ordinary, Henry County, Georgia Book No. 1 from 1821 to Dec. 31, 1939, Henry Co. Page 55, BROWN, Mary (minor) Photo taken with permission at the Henry County Probate Records Office, McDonough, Georgia. Digitized version of original - copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier.

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Marriage Record for John McVicker and Mary Brown

2009-08-10T16:58:00.019-04:00

This is the marriage record for my 3X great-grandparents on my biological mother's maternal line: John McVicker and Mary Brown. They were married in Henry County, Georgia, on October 20, 1842.

From Keeper of the Records

SOURCE: Marriage Record Book 1837-1851 Henry County, Georgia Page 206 Photo taken with permission at the Henry County Probate Records Office, McDonough, Georgia. Digitized version of original - copyright 2009 Joanne Schleier.

Now do you want to know why this is so awesome to me? This record is held at the Henry County Probate Records Office in McDonough, Georgia. This is about an hour drive from where I currently live.

Back story: I was born in Texas and then was officially adopted. My new family moved to New Hampshire where I was raised. After my adopted parents divorced, my father moved to Georgia. Beginning when I was about seven years old, my brother and I spent our summers with our father. Finally, the week of my 13th birthday, our mother moved the family down to Georgia so we could be closer to our father.

It was not until I was 26 years old that I was reunited with my birth family: father, mother and half siblings, aunts, cousins, my paternal grandparents and my maternal grandmother. They all still lived in the western United States. Nanny, as my grandmother is called, spoke of her ancestors being descended from Tennessee and North Carolina as far as she knew and with some Cherokee lineage.

Forever the inquisitive one about both family trees, I began to take my quest for answers about my families seriously and began learning more about genealogy, joined my local genealogical society, and finally admitted my new-found obsession. My biological sister, Jennifer, got me started on our mothers maternal line. All of the information she gave me was well documented and some lines very well developed. In this particular case, the McVicker line was very well developed; yet, John's wife, Mary, remained elusive and we only knew the couple to have lived in Texas.

My further research on this line found them earlier in Louisiana and earlier than that in, none other than, Henry County, Georgia! So, my biological line, which I didn't grow up knowing about, had lived very close to where I live now because my adopted Dad ended up moving here! Now, I do not believe in coincidence. There are no accidents. God has a plan and everything is laid out in perfect order. And so, I have come full circle back to the place of my family's origins. I am home.

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Blogging with Purpose

2009-08-10T16:05:00.007-04:00

This blog is being specifically made for my genealogy research. I hope that it ends up being a place where I can publish my findings to share them with others. My genealogy research and findings continue to flourish, and it is something that has been consistent for years now. Knowing that, I believe this will be a long-standing blog. If we share common surnames, it will be a destination to further another's research.

And now for my little Disclaimer & Terms of Service (TOS):

Copyright: I won't publish anything for which I do not have a source. If, by chance, I happen to forget to cite the source, please know that you can contact me and I'll be able to add that information. If I use or make mention of another persons photos or material, I will be sure to credit them. Likewise, any photographs, images or other content that you might share or use of mine, I ask that you appropriately credit me as these materials are copyrighted and link back to my site.

Content: I am responsible for the content on this site but not the comments from visitors (I have modified settings to be able to moderate comments to eliminate personal attacks, obscene content, spam, etc.). I only have control over the content I publish in this blog and cannot be responsible for how another person may use the content found here or other sites I've linked to.

Joanne

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