Showing posts with label Carnival of Genealogy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carnival of Genealogy. Show all posts

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Looking for Catherine

When I first saw her picture that summer of 2000, I admit I was not the tiniest bit interested. There was no sense of recognition, no feeling of familial kinship, just mild amusement at my mother’s latest passion, and maybe a sense of gratitude that I had not inherited the looks of the woman in the picture. I confess, now, to being a little embarrassed by my own shallow arrogance.

Still, there must have been something in that picture that reached out to me, because like a bag of forbidden Halloween candy, I kept stealing back to take a peek, picking up pieces of information here and there, studying them intently, looking for clues, trying to discover who Catherine Good Lynch really was.

 I discovered that she had married George Washington Lynch in Seneca County, Ohio on December 17, 1852. I learned that the family had moved to Crawford County, Illinois in 1874, before moving to what was then Greer County, Texas. (A boundary change later would put the county in Oklahoma.) Catherine and George had run a general store in Mangum, Oklahoma. She was the mother of four children, her second eldest, a son, was my great grandfather. I learned that she had died of typhoid fever in November of 1900, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Mangum.

 But knowing these few details was not enough. I wondered, who were her parents? Did she have siblings? 

 Through the census, I discovered three Catherine Goods in Seneca County. None was the correct age, but they were close enough to make me take a second look. Eventually I settled on Catherine Good, the daughter of Joseph Good. I narrowed it to this Catherine because of the family’s close proximity to the Lynch family farm. When I had finally discovered Catherine living in Crawford County, Illinois in 1880, I found that both of her parents had birthplaces in Virginia, and only Joseph’s daughter, Catherine fit the bill. But how was I to prove it? 

 Joseph had not made out a will, but he did have an estate. It was my first look at probate records, and while the clerks in Seneca County were helpful, there was nothing in the microfilmed papers to suggest a relationship between Joseph and Catherine. I began to collect names of other Goods who might be siblings, then reading the obituaries of these “maybe siblings” to see what I could find. I came up empty handed. Finally, one night as I drifted off to sleep, I thought, “What happened to the land?” For Joseph, who was a farmer, had farmed the land right up until his death in 1873. 

The probate record, mentioned nothing about land. By chance, I had made an Internet connection with a woman who did title searches in Seneca County. I posed the question to her in an email. She wrote back asking me for details of the land Joseph had owned. She told me she would take a look.

 Finally, one day, she wrote me that she had found the land, and noticed that there was a court case attached to it. This made her curious, and she said that she would see what she could find. A few days later, she called to tell me she had the case file, but in looking at a list of the heirs, Catherine was not mentioned. I was crushed. I had been so sure that Joseph Good was Catherine’s father. About 20 minutes later, she called back and said she had found “something.” She would not say what, but asked if I could meet her at her house later in the week. Without a moment’s hesitation, I said, “Sure.”

 On arriving at her home a few days later, she handed me a sheet of paper. On the top it read, “Statement and testimony of Susannah Miller.” It began as follows: “My name is Susannah Miller. I am one of the defendants herein and oldest daughter of Joseph Good, deceased. I was present when my father and my brother in law, Willis Morse, came to my house in Cass County, Michigan where I now live in September 1871 and heard my father give directions to said Morse in writing into a book he had for that purpose, the amounts he (my father) had paid on advancement to his children respectively and in number the amounts and items, and some of which I know to have been advanced viz: “ 

Susannah’s deposition went on to list her siblings, the children of Joseph, and the amount of money he had advanced to each child. The fifth name on the list, made my heart race. “To my sister Catherine Lynch $50.00.” Catherine had not been listed as an heir, having sold her share of the estate to a nephew-in-law, Dennis Blue before moving west. Dennis, anxious to get his share of the estate, which had been sold at a sheriff’s sale, was getting set to close the deal when Susannah and two other siblings, brought suit to halt the proceedings, thus the reason for Susannah’s deposition. 

 It had taken three years of tracking down leads, and in the end, my happy dance resulted from a generous, knowledgeable friend, a court case, and a $50 debt. It was as simple and as complicated as that. 

 Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging!

Written for the 65th Carnival of Genealogy - The Happy Dance. The Joy of Genealogy

© 1 February 2009, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 


Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Sandusky County Kin Hunters This Sunday

Sandusky County Kin Hunters 

Just a reminder, the October meeting of Sandusky County Kin Hunters will be held this Sunday, October 12 at 2:00 PM. Stephen Charter, Head Archivist of the Center for Archival Collections at Bowling Green State University will be the featured speaker. If you’ve ever had questions about this wonderful research facility, then maker sure you attend at the Sandusky Township Hall, Route 19 North in Fremont on Sunday. The meeting is free and open to anyone with an interest in Family History. There is ample parking and the building is handicapped accessible. 

For further information, contact Dave at 419-502-7620. 

Carnival of Genealogy 

The Carnival of Genealogy has posted its 57th edition. The topic was I Read It in the News. If I counted correctly (not always a sure thing) there are 47 genealogists participating this time. Thanks Jasia, for being such a good hostess! The next edition of the Carnival has the topic “Halloween Hauntings– Fact or Fiction” For more details, be sure to visit this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy at Creative Gene.

©8 October 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Sandusky County Kin Hunters at the Hayes President Library

I’m popular. Well, okay, not so much popular as I am in demand. Family, work, and my dirty house are all crying for extra chunks of time. And if you haven’t noticed, there is an exciting presidential race in full swing. (I think I have whiplash from trying to follow all the charges and countercharges that are floating around the Internet and TV – talk about silly season.)

So, I’m going to be dialing it back a bit on my blogging – unless of course, someone discovers how to add more hours in a day. Seriously – anyone - more hours? 

Carnival of Genealogy 

Jasia has posted a whopping 50 entries from 49 geneabloggers at the 55th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. There is a lot of great reading (and a fair amount of picture viewing) on the subject of “Show and Tell.” 

Sandusky County Kin Hunters 

A little birdie (okay, not a birdie but Dave Golden) tells me that this Sunday’s Kin Hunters meeting will be held at the Hayes Presidential Library this Sunday at 2:00 PM. Head Librarian, Becky Hill, will be presenting the program that is free and open to anyone interested in family history. For further information, you can contact Dave at 419-502-7620 

Well, that’s all from my corner of the world. Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging! 

PS Special thanks to Randy Seaver for including my post One Year and 199 Posts Ago, in his Best of the Genea-Blogs- 31 August - 6 September 2008.

© 10 September 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Genea-bloggers Galore!

Wow! When Jasia’s Carnival of Genealogy came to town last week, there were a whopping 39 entries. A Carousel Edition, many of the entries were from newbies to the Carnival.

If that weren’t enough, when the footnoteMaven published this month’s Smile for the Camera Carnival, she had 40 participants who wrestled with the problem of picking their favorite photo. 

Again, there were first time Carnival participants. Kudos to both ladies for giving a forum to genea-bloggers and family historians across the Internet! Thanks for all your hard work!

© 14  August 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

What's in a Name?

My friends call me Terry, but my real name is Teresa. The story goes that mom wanted to call me Terry, but Dad insisted that Terry wasn’t the proper name for a girl. So, I became Teresa.

 For financial, legal, medical, and employment purposes I am Teresa, for everything else I am Terry. (When I was 10 and decided I was going to be a singing star, I briefly went around signing my name as Tee Tee Brown – mostly on home chalkboards. Alas, my vocal chords did not live up to Tee Tee’s name.) 

My little sister called me Tissy, her toddler contraction for Terry and Sissy. Since this is the sister whose eyes I tried to poke out, I guess I’m lucky she did not call me Evil Fingers. 

When I was very young, my dad would often call me Trish Kalish. He’s the only person that has ever used this particular nickname He stopped using it about the time I went to kindergarten. But when he left me on the steps of Shepherd College's Gardner Hall at the beginning of my freshman year, his parting words to me were, “Bye, Trish Kalish.” I still get all teary -eyed thinking about it. 

I have signed my emails and letters, “TS,” “Ohio Terry,” “Yo Momma” and to one of my stepsons, “Your Evil Stepmother.” (Just say YES?) 

One of my favorite names is “Grandma Terry,” or even better, “Maw T-U, ” which is the name that my eldest grandson , now four, bestowed on me when he was beginning to talk I couldn’t have been prouder or happier with a name. 

 I’ve answered to Sloanie (derived from my maiden name Sloan), Terry Lynn, Babe and even, “Hey, You.”

A hundred years from now, should anybody be interested, I wonder which of my names will survive? When they start poking around in the ashes of my life, will they uncover its secret? That it has been my good fortune to drink deeply from the jug of familial love and that my thirst was quenched.

Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Written for the 54th Edition of The Carnival of Genealogy

© 14 August 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Oh Mojo Won’t You Please Come Home

I‘ve lost it, my blogging mojo. Worse, I’ve temporarily lost (at least I hope it’s temporary) my insatiable hunger for all things genealogical. I’m not sure how this happened. Maybe it’s something like the brain freeze you get when you woof down that first big bite of ice cream on a hot summer day. I’ve been woofing down all kinds of family history information and coming up with precious few leads. 

As a result, there are fresh new frustration dents on my desktop where head and desk have met. (Hey, maybe that’s my problem. Maybe I have self-induced brain damage. Nah!) I read where Jessica of Jessica’s Genejournal has a whopping 619 posts in only a year and a half online. Cripes, I’ve been blogging for eleven months and I haven’t even hit 200. Kudos to you Jessica – except you’re depressing the heck out of me. And now, I have absolutely nothing to say. Not one new unique Terry’s oddball brain inspired thing to tell you. Nada, Nothing, Zilch. (See, what I mean.)

So while I am out looking for my blogging mojo and my genealogical zest, here are two links to two carnivals that posted last weekend. Lisa of 100 Years in America hosted this edition of the COG. The subject was “Age.” And my prolific friend Jessica hosted the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy. The topic was research experiences and tips. Enjoy! 

Well, I’m off to find my mojo. Here mojo. Here zest. Hey, if you see them, just send them on home – PLEASE!

© 24 July 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 


Wednesday, July 9, 2008

A Whole lot of This and That

SANDUSKY COUNTY KIN HUNTERS MEETING THIS SUNDAY 

Just a reminder – This Sunday, July 13, the Sandusky County Kin Hunters will be having their monthly meeting at 2:00 Pm at the Sandusky Township Hall on Rt. 19 North in Fremont. Dave tells me the speaker will be Lolita Guthrie of The Ohio Genealogical Society. Her topic will be “Cemeteries, Our Buried History?” As always, the meeting is free and open to anyone interested in family history. Parking is handicapped accessible. If you have any questions or need further information, contact Dave at 419-502-7620. 

23RD ANNUAL OHIO GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY CHAPTER MANAGEMENT SEMINAR – SATURDAY AUGUST 16 

I’m tardy on mentioning this next item. The 23rd Ohio Genealogical Society Chapter Management Seminar will be held Saturday, August 16th, at the Holiday Inn of Elyria, Ohio located at 1825 Lorain Blvd (State Route 57) between Elyria and Lorain. This is free to OGS members and OGS Chapter members, and $25.00 for all others. Below is the schedule of events: 9:00 - 9:30 Registration (complimentary doughnuts and beverages available) 

ORDERS TAKEN FOR BOX LUNCHES:
($10.00 cash for each box lunch) 9:30 - 9:40 Opening Session E. Paul Morehouse, O.G.S. President Kenny R. Burck, O.G.S. Chapter Management Seminar Chair 
CONCURRENT SESSIONS 
9:45 - 10:45 Session #1
A - “Lineage Applications - Compiling Yours/Reviewing For Your Chapter” - Margaret Cheney 
B - “Taking a Look at Your Township and Village Records for Your Next Chapter Project” - Thomas Stephen Neel
C - “Developing or Locating Quality Programs for Your Chapter Members” - Gwen Gotham Mayer

11:00 - 12:00 Session #2
D- “Attracting New Members for Your Chapter” - Deborah Lichtner Deal 
E - “Deciding What to Publish and How to Get it Done” - Sunda Anderson Peters
F - “Whose Materials Are They?, Keeping Ownership of Your Chapter’s Possessions” - Bvenitta J. Williams 

12:00 - 12:45 LUNCH - Box lunch served with a $ 10.00 charge for each box lunch 

1:00 - 2:15 Session #3
G - “How to Find and Generate Quality Material for Your Chapter Newsletter” - Wallace D. Huskonen H - “Attracting, Directing and Keeping Volunteers” - Cinda Anderson Justice 

2:30 - 3:30 
“Meet the O.G.S. President: Your Chapter Relationship with OGS & Other O.G.S. Issues” - E. Paul Morehouse 

Closing Remarks and Door Prize Drawing (must attend to win) 

Kenny R. Burck, O.G.S. Chapter Management Seminar Chair Note: If you are planning to stay overnight at the Holiday Inn, the cost for OGS will be $79 plus tax. Deadline for reservations if staying over Friday night is JULY 16. Contact information for the Holiday Inn Phone: 1-800-321-7333 Internet: www.hokday-inn.com/cle-elyria If you have questions, contact Kenny Burck at 513-851-9549 or kburck@juno.com or OGS at 419-756-7294 or ogs@ogs.org.

CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY POSTED

The 51st edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! This edition was hosted by Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family. Thanks Thomas for a great job! The topic was Independent Spirit. It's always surprising how so many people can take the same topic and make it uniquely their own. The topic for the next edition is AGE and will be hosted by Lisa at 100 Years in America. (It almost feels like I'm announcing - Party at Lisa's!)

Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging!

© 9 July 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 


Tuesday, July 1, 2008

"Owed" to an Ugly Wife

The story goes that after a night of frolicking intoxication in Halifax, my 6th great grandfather, Daniel, woke up the next morning and found himself married. The spontaneous nuptials were bad enough, but worse, the “lady” in question was, how should I say this delicately - she put the UG in ugly. Grandpa did what anyone might do in just such a situation. He packed up, and quickly put as much distance as possible between himself and said wife. This occurred in July 1753 and but for one small detail, this story would have been an obscure forgotten incident 

The small detail - Daniel Schumacher, my 6th great grandfather, was a Lutheran minister and would be called on later to explain this little misstep in Nova Scotia. His flight took him south, all the way to Philadelphia where he presented credentials from the Lutheran pastor of New York City and from the ministerium of Lutheran pastors of Hamburg, Germany. The German papers identified young Daniel as a pastoral candidate, meaning he had studied theology at a German university. Though some were skeptical of Daniel and scandalized that he had performed the Lord’s Supper without proper ordination, there was such a hunger on the part of the German immigrants to hear the word preached in their native tongue, that a young man eager to take on the job of traveling minister was hard to turn down. 

Of course, the letters from the Hamburg ministers turned out to be bogus. And it was these very letters that the New York minister, Johann Weygand, had based his own letter of recommendation. Weygand had written to his colleagues in Hamburg 

“…candidate Daniel Schumacher. He arrived here from Halifax a few weeks ago, and, because of the deep respect we for your reverences’ testimonial, we permitted him to preach here, and since he had been quite destitute in Halifax, we furnished him with new clothing, and then sent him to Pennsylvania, where he may expect a prompt assignment, or perhaps one here in our own province.” 

Clearly, Weygand, whose financial support came from Hamburg, was anxious to let the group know that he was taking care of their young protégé.

In 1755, Weygand received a letter from Dr. Friedrich Wagner, of the Hamburg ministerium, stating that no one there could recall a candidate by the name of Daniel Schumacher. Additionally, there were complaints locally of Daniel’s cursing and drunkenness. The news of an abandoned wife in Canada had also surfaced. Slowly, Daniel’s web of lies and half truths began to unravel. 

The synod disassociated with him. He would never become an officially ordained minister, which left him particularly bitter and surly when it came to the folks of the Lutheran synod. He did, however, continue with what he perceived to be his true calling, preaching the gospel as an independent minister.

By this time, Schumacher had endeared himself to his congregations in what are now the counties of Berks, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill in Pennsylvania. In each church where he officiated, he started registers to record the events, and kept his own register with notes of all the baptisms he performed, over 1500 in all. 

For some of these baptisms, he created special, hand decorated baptismal certificates called, Taufscheine. These decorated certificates were a form of the Pennsylvania German folk art, known as Fraktur. He also decorated some of his church registers in the same manner. Daniel’s Fraktur works still exist today and are highly prized pieces of art. He also was an accomplished writer and poet.

 
An Example of Daniel Schumacher's Work from "Publications of The Pennsylvania German Society, Vol.1"

He encouraged, when appropriate, his parishioners to build churches, which were often the center of community life in the back woods of Pennsylvania. He continued to serve them and travel to their homes and churches, even though the ongoing French and Indian War made such travel dangerous. And though at times he could be found in the center of congregational controversy, he remained a popular minister whose flock was very loyal. 

He would marry a local girl, Maria Elisabeth Steigerwalt who must have met Daniel’s standard for beauty, have seven children, and own a 100-acre farm in Lehigh County in Pennsylvania. He died there in May of 1787. 

Daniel was a man of many talents and many flaws. It’s hard to believe that a large number of people with Pennsylvania Dutch heritage owe knowledge of their own ancestral history to Daniel Schumacher’s registers and that a significant number of people are walking the earth today because Daniel couldn’t stand to look at an ugly wife. 

Written for 51st Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy – Independent Spirit 

Sources:
Publications of The Pennsylvania German Society, Vol.1, Allentown, Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania German Society, 1968. Wertkin, Gerard C, editor and Lee Kogan, associate editor, Encyclopedia of American Folk Art, Routlege, New York, 2004. A History of Weisenberg Church, 1981.

Digital Images, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com, 2008.

© 1 July 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Sunday, May 18, 2008

What's better than a carnival coming to town - two carnivals!

The Carnival of Genealogy has been posted by Jasia at Creative Gene . This edition's topic was, "Mom, how'd you get so smart?" A pretty fitting topic considering last week's special holiday. 

Jasia, bless her heart (does using that phrase make me an honorary Southerner?), let people know that I now have an RSS feed. Thanks, lady! 

A carnival that posted last week on Mother's Day was my friend Footnote Maven's Smile For The Camera - A Carnival of Images on her new blog, Shades of the Departed. The blog was inspired by FM's own collection of vintage photographs. For those of us who love old photograph's this blog is a special treat. Mosey on over, and check it out! 

Until Next Time - Happy Ancestral Digging!

© 18 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 


Monday, April 21, 2008

Genealogy Quick Notes — The COG has arrived and Desktop Genealogist Archives

Carnival of Genealogy

The Carnival of Genealogy has arrived. The focus of this edition is inherited family traits. To check out the interesting variety of traits each of the genea-bloggers highlighted, go to http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2008/04/carnival-of-genealogy-46th-edition.html. The subject for the next edition is A Place Called Home.

Archives

If you read this blog on any kind of a regular basis, you've probably picked up on the fact that one of my frustrations is that there ARE NO ARCHIVES, so to speak. So rather than continuing my sniffling whine on the subject, I slapped myself on both cheeks and said to myself, “SELF, DO SOMETHING!” So I did.

I've set up a separate blog site specifically for archives of “Desktop Genealogist.” It's called “Desktop Genealogist Unplugged.” (I know, but I only told myself to do something. I forgot to order myself to be creative & original.) For now, it's strictly for archives and my plan is to update the site the first of every month with the previous month's posts.

The advantage of having archives is I can refer back to previous posts when necessary. I have some posts in mind in the next few weeks that may take advantage of this new capability. I didn't want anyone who clicked on a link to the archives to get excited, realize that they weren't in Kansas anymore (read The News-Messenger Web site), and think that their computer had been taken over by aliens, a malicious virus, or candid camera.

I haven't finished labeling the posts, and inexplicably I am missing seven of the darn things, so I am going back to figure out which posts I missed. This blog remains my main mode of communication, and therefore, I won't be posting anything new on the archived site. If that situation should change, I will let you know.

I have not corrected or rewritten any of the original posts. I figured if I started doing that I would be spending all my time working on old material, instead of researching and/or posting new stuff. I do confess, that I did change one word in one post, mainly because I think I made the word up out of thin air. And no, I'm not telling which word or which post!

The web address for the archive is http://desktopgenealogistunplugged.blogspot.com/.

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging!

Note: If you aren't reading Desktop Genealogist Forums you should be! Sandi posted that the following website has FREE access to Civil War databases until April 30!
The web address is http://alexanderstreet.com/resources/civilwar.access.htm. Way Cool, Sandi! Thanks for keeping us updated!

Note this post first published online, April 21 , 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

Terry

Terry

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