If you would like further information, you can contact Dave at (419) 502-7620.
Until Next Time - Happy Ancestral Digging
© 3 June 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Sandusky County Kin Hunters Meeting This Sunday
Hey, guys, I received an email from Dave Golden of the Sandusky County Kin Hunters reminding me that this Sunday, June 8, is their regular monthly meeting. Scott Mitchell will be on hand discussing, “Researching Cherokee Ancestors.” The meeting, which is free and open to anyone with an interest in family history, will be held at 2:00 PM at the Sandusky Township Hall on Rt. 19 North in Fremont. Parking is ample and the building is handicapped accessible.
Monday, June 2, 2008
One SuperPower to Go - Please!
Over the past couple of days, I’ve been thinking about what superpower I could appropriate that would help me most in my genealogical snooping. I won’t delve into what short circuit in my brain would lead me into daydreaming about this possibility. Let’s just say anybody who would think it socially proper to a put a picture of their foot online, well who really wants to delve too deeply into such a disturbed mind. Nuff said!
Anywho, once the thought of acquiring a superpower had settled into my brain, it wasn't going away anytime soon.
The thing is, it took me all of two seconds to figure out what power I wanted. I mean X-Ray vision might be fun and all that but who wants to see everybody walking around like a big pile of skeletal bones? After a half an hour or so, it would get sooo old!
And no way do I want to possess the power of telepathy. I mean who wants to know exactly what negative thoughts the person sitting next to you is having. I certainly don’t want to eavesdrop on someone thinking, “Wow, that Terry has packed on quite a few pounds.” How depressing would that be?
The ability to fly would be cool. I could fly out to Utah to visit the Family History Library and if I wasn’t done researching by the end of the day, no sweat. I’d just fly back the next day. I wouldn’t have to pay airfare or hotel room costs. Sweet!
I could also use the flying thing locally. Just think how much gas money I could save by flying over to the local grocery store when I ran out of Pepsi, chocolate or other important necessities. And you just gotta know that all that flying burns mega calories – talk about a win/win situation.
Of course, there could be a down side to this flying thing. Like say, hunters mistaking you for, I don’t know, maybe a really big goose or something. And what if the prospect of a human being flying set the bird world into such a tizzy that they went all crazy like that movie, “The Birds.” I couldn’t live with myself if any of you got Tippie Hedrened because of something I had done.
Nope, all those powers, cool though they may be, are not the power I want. What I want is the power that Samantha Stephens had on the TV show, “Bewitched.” You know, that power where she could put everybody into a state of suspended animation by simply twitching her nose.
Think about it, what’s the one great impediment keeping most of us from doing some first quality genealogical digging. Time – am I right? So many things tugging at us - jobs, family, social obligations, emergencies, housework, yard work, sleep, getting the gray dyed out of our hair, daydreaming about superpowers – there’s always somebody or something dipping into our personal time bank.
With the rest of the world in suspended animation, I could take my own sweet time to get all my chores done, pop on over to the local probate court, take a drive over to that nearby cemetery and not kill myself playing catch up with all the other things that needed to be done while I was indulging in a genealogical craving.
And if the superpower gods were truly generous, they would make it a two-fer. I’d get not only the suspended animation power with a simple nose twitch, but also that teleportation thing Samantha used to do by merely snapping her fingers.
That way I could swoop on over to the Jackson County recorder’s office and look until my eyes bugged out for what happened to David Thacker’s land. Somehow I missed it when I was at the recorder’s office on my recent visit to Southern Ohio. Only unlimited time and patience will make me believe that the answer isn’t sitting there, undisturbed and waiting for me to find it – if only I had the time.
So how about it, you wouldn’t mind being put into a state of suspended animation for a good cause, would ya? I’d better start practicing my nose twitching - just in case.
Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging!
© 2 June 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Virginia is for lovers - of Genealogy!
I love the Library of Virginia. Now I have never been to the library personally, but thanks to the Internet and the library’s terrific website, I have been able to do quite a bit of research on my Virginia ancestors without having to leave Ohio.
Having two sets of ggg grandparents who came from Virginia and one set of gggg grandparents born in that state, I have a significant interest in Virginia’s history and its genealogical treasures.
Below is a sampling of services that you can take advantage of if you too have Virginia roots.
This list of catalogues was my first “find” on the LVA website. It’s always the first place I go when I find a new twist on the Virginia part of my family tree. Some of the indexes include:
Death Records Indexing Project (1853 to 1896)
Index to War of 1812 Payrolls and Muster Rolls
Index to Virginia Confederate Rosters Obituary
Index for Richmond Enquirer/Richmond Visitor
Petersburg Public Library Newspaper Index
Below is a list of some of the databases that have online images attached. It was a real treat to see a small outlined map for my sixth great grandfather’s land in what was then Frederick County of Virginia.
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants/Northern Neck Grants and Surveys
WPA Life Histories
Collection Confederate Disability Applications and ReceiptsConfederate Pension Applications Robert E. Lee Camp Confederate Soldiers’ Home
Applications World War I
History Commission Questionnaires
Revolutionary Bounty Warrants
Chancery Court cases are those involving two parties who are in dispute over conflicting claims. A judge listens to both parties and then renders impartial justice based on legal precedent, when there is precedent, or uses judicial discretion when there is not.
Types of cases found in Chancery Court would include estate division cases, settlements of dissolved business partnerships and resolution of land disputes.
This is an ongoing project for the Library of Virginia.
You can use the index to search for parties involved in chancery cases for a particular county. Entries show the last names of defendants and plaintiffs, LVA’s index number and also the original case number.
Some of the cases have been microfilmed, some are still found only in the original papers, but some have been scanned and put online in a PDF format.
Shenandoah County, for instances, falls in the latter category. I was able to find and VIEW a court case involving my ggg grandfather Joseph Good – which by the way, didn’t make him look very honorable.
For a list of what is currently available click here.
You will want to check back periodically, because as mentioned, this is an ongoing project.
LVA maintains a robust microfilm collection for each of the counties of Virginia and some of the major cities. Most of these are eligible for the library’s inter-library loan program. LVA does not charge for this service, however, my library, Birchard Library, does charge for the postage insurance to send the films back to Virginia.
Last time I ordered three films, the total charge came to $2.45, which netted me some, land deeds, some marriage records, and a peek at the index to a particular county’s wills.
The Library of Virginia allows you to order up to five films, which you may keep for 28 days. You can renew these for another 28 days if for some reason you haven’t finished with them in the allotted time.
It’s hard to believe, but it’s easier for me to research various counties in Virginia than it is for me to research Ohio counties. Paul Heinegg, who has researched free African Americans pre Civil War, has said that he used this same inter-library tool to research Virginia records for his book, “Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware.”
Check to make sure your local library participates in the inter-library loan program. If it does, you are all set to do some great long distance searching – close to home.
Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging!
© 28 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Al and Terry Search for the Covered Bridges of Vinton County
At the risk of making you want to stick your finger down your throat as I continue to rhapsodize over my brand new love for all things Vinton County, I’m posting the remaining pictures of the county’s covered bridges
While I was feverishly working my arm and back muscles, hefting around those large probate ledgers, my spouse was becoming buds with the very nice lady at the Vinton County Convention and Visitors Bureau. I swear I could drop that man in the middle of the Gobi Desert and he would come out with a newfound friend and directions to nearest watering hole!
We had made a half hearted stab at trying to locate the Ponn Bridge the day before with less than stellar results.
Me: “I think we should turn around.”
Hubby: “What was your first clue – the dirt road or the sounds of Deliverance?”
My Kentucky friend Linda, had given us superb directions to Curry Cemetery (Linda, we would still be driving in circles without those directions – THANK YOU), and at the bottom of the map she had included the covered bridge.
Proving that Al and I would be the nice, always get along couple that you either hate to love or love to hate on the Amazing Race, we nonetheless failed our map-reading test.
Al was trying to explain to the nice lady at the VCC&VB about our unsuccessful attempt when she too made, I kid you not, her own reference to “Deliverance.” Isn’t Ohio humor great?
So, when my husband met up with me in the lobby of Vinton County’s courthouse, he was loaded down with all kinds of goodies to help us navigate the back roads of Vinton County. With all those maps and guidebooks, not to mention a pamphlet entitled, “Covered Bridges of Vinton County,” we decided to go for it and spend the afternoon looking not just for Ponn Bridge, but all five covered bridges in the county.
Understand that the county apparently does not think it sporting to put up any signs indicating that you are in the vicinity of a covered bridge. Nor are they big on little conveniences like road signs – so while they might tell you in their pamphlet to turn onto Cox Road, you have no idea if the road you turned onto is indeed, Cox Road. Oh and Road 43 B intersects Route 32, three (maybe four) times and should not be confused with Road 43 A or 43C. (I know you think I’m exaggerating but trust me, I’m not.)
In any case, Al and I found all five of the bridges and we actually had a great time doing it. The hunt took us all over the county, led us to some beautiful sights, and was just difficult enough to make us feel like we had accomplished something each time we found one of the bridges.
Only one of the bridges, the oldest, Arbaugh Bridge, is open to traffic. Built in 1871 it was closed to traffic for 30 years before money was obtained through a federal grant to allow needed improvements. I don’t know what the price tag was for the improvements but it was worth every penny. It was so nice, we went through it twice!
If covered bridge hunting sounds like the kind of “sport” you might be interested in trying yourself, ODOT maintains a webpage with a map and directions to Ohio’s historic covered bridges that you can check out yourself.
Going on a trip or live in another state? No problem. A website entitled “Ohio Barns” has covered bridge listings for 42 states as well as directions for unique barns such as Mail Pouch Barns, Ohio’s Bicentennial Barns, Quilt Barns, Round Barns and just about any kind of special barn you can think of to enjoy.
Proving that once you start looking for covered bridges you just gravitate to them, we found, by accident, Byers Covered Bridge in Jackson County, and Helmick Bridge in Coshocton County.
Until Next Time!
© 27 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Walking on Humpback Bridge
Last week, my husband and I traveled to Southern Ohio. My father’s paternal lines, former Virginians and Pennsylvanians, for a time made their homes in Ohio’s Appalachian region during the nineteenth century. Within that region lies the least populated of Ohio’s 88 counties, Vinton County.
Vinton County is made up of forests, rolling hills, country roads, and small villages. In the spring it is a beautiful place to visit.
Its southern most township is Wilkesville, which is home to a small village of the same name. It is here, in this township and village of the same name, that my Smathers, Cope, Thacker and Marcum families made the connections needed that would eventually produce me.
The township is also the location of an unexpected treasure, a covered bridge.
Vinton County boasts five covered bridges within its borders. One of these, nestled on a forgotten stretch of township road in Wilkesville Township is the Ponn Bridge.
The bridge, which crosses Raccoon Creek, was built in 1874 by Martin E. McGrath and Lyman Wells. It has three spans, and is a combination of Burr Arch, King Post and Whipple truss designs. It is believed to be the only bridge of this kind still in existence in North America.
The Ponn Bridge, or the Humpback Bridge as it is also known, replaced another bridge that had been built in 1870. The older bridge, The Barnes Mill Bridge, caught fire a month after it had been completed. The Humpback was not completed until four years later at a cost of $1898.
The bridge, no longer open to local traffic, is unfortunately a magnet for graffiti artists, as you can see clearly in the photos below.
I tell you, there is something magical about walking through an old covered bridge that you know your great grandparents, as well as their parents and their grandparents would have also walked upon. I know – totally sentimental and sappy. But I loved every step taken, and my trip was all the more rewarding because of it.
Until Next Time – Happy Ancestral Digging!
© 25 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Ancestry Offering Military Databases Free – For a Limited Time
Just in time for the long Memorial Day Weekend – Juliana at 24/7 Family History Circle is reporting that Ancestry is offering free access to its military database until May 31. If you don’t subscribe to Ancestry but are in the mood to do a little research from home, here’s your chance. Click on this link and get started!
Maybe my mind is a little fried but I don’t remember seeing Michigan databases available on the FamilySearch Labs website, so if you already are aware of this – just excuse my tardiness on reporting this item. Below is a list of Michigan databases currently offered:
Michigan Births 1867 – 1902
Michigan Deaths 1867- 1897
Michigan Marriages 1868 – 1897
These databases have linked images – no relying on another’s abstracting abilities. You can see the pages for yourself!
I was surprised to find some of my Bettsville family members listed in the marriage index. It actually created one of those “ah ha moments” when I found my great grandmother’s brother, Ross Feasel, marrying his former wife. There had been a huge gap between their first child and their remaining children – now I know why.
The databases do not indicate how complete they are, which leads me to suspect that FamilySearch is merely at the beginning stages of adding to these databases, so you will want to keep that possibility in mind.
Seriously, if you have not checked out the FamilySearch Labs website lately, you may be pleasantly surprised at the number of databases that have been added.
Until Next Time – Have a Safe Weekend!
© 24 May 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder
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