Halloween — Bah Pumpkin!

The thing is I'm not fond of holidays. By not fond, I mean I really don't like them. And of all the holidays that I really don't like, Halloween tops the list. Okay, before anybody decides I should be strung up to the nearest scarecrow post for such a heretical utterance, you should know that I was an extremely awkward, shy child. It was excruciatingly painful for me to go up to a stranger's door and shout “Trick or Treat” even if the payoff was candy.

Just as painful was admitting to anyone that I felt this way. So every year I dreaded the end of October and the annual obligation to dress up in costume, pretend enjoyment and the ritual eating of those orange, yellow and white corn candies that even today, the smell of which makes me nauseous. I know — strange kid, strange adult.

In my defense, I will say that I GET that everyone else loves this holiday. And I am happy to report that none of my children suffers from this odd non-holiday malady. When my youngest son, age 2, finally figured out that if you went up to the door and held out your bag, you get CANDY, I was excited about his excitement.

All of this is my way of letting you know that I don't have any cool Halloween stories of my own to share. However, by coincidence, this month's Carnival of Genealogy has for its topic “Halloween and the Supernatural.” The carnival is a group of Genealogy bloggers who write on a given topic. This edition of the Carnival is being hosted by Jasia at her blog, “Creative Gene.” To read the 20 or so different blogs related to this edition of the Carnival go to http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2007/10/carnival-of-genealogy-34th-edition.html.

Until Next Time — Have a Happy (or if you like, Haunted) Halloween

Note this post first published online, October 31, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

Death Certificates — Sources of Primary & Secondary Information

Since we were talking about death certificates the other day, it seems like a good time to talk about the type of information you can get from a death certificate. For those of you who can view pictures posted with my blogs, I am posting a copy of Edwin J. McQuillin's death certificate. I downloaded this record from the Missouri Archives Web site. Edwin happens to be my first cousin, three times removed (hmm, sounds like a topic for another post). 

A death certificate is a funky little document, in that it can be considered a primary source for some pieces of information and a secondary source for others. A primary source is a document, photocopy, photograph, or written account of an event recorded at the time the event took place or shortly thereafter by a witness to the event.

Edwin's death certificate would be a primary source for the following information: 

1. Full Name 

2. Sex

3. Race or Color

4. Marital Status 

5. Occupation 

6. Place of Death 

7. Date of Death 

8. Cause of Death 

9. Place of Burial 

10. Date of Burial 

 Because this information was taken shortly after Edwin's death (two days later), it is reasonable to assume the information is accurate. Although a written mistake, a slip of the tongue or a miscommunication could cause an error, in most cases this information is correct. 

Secondary sources are those that are not primary sources. In other words, the information given was many months, years or decades after the event. So a death certificate is a secondary source for the following: 

1. Date of Birth 

2. Age 

3. Place of Birth 

4. Father's name 

5. Father's place of birth

6. Mother's name 

7. Mother's place of birth

Secondary information is only as reliable as the person giving the information. In this case, Ada McQuillin is the informant. Ada was Edwin's youngest daughter who was still living at home at the time of his death. A marriage record, census records, and a common pleas court case confirm much of Ada's information. Which brings me to the most important point — it is essential to look at multiple records when reconstructing an individual's life.

 Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Certificate of Death: Edwin J. McQuillin, Filed 10 Apr 1913. State of Missouri, Dept. of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Reg. Dist. 400, File No. 13431. Digital Record, Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City, Missouri. 

Note this post first published online, October 31, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 31 October, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

For Your Viewing Pleasure — Death Certificates Update

ONLINE GEORGIA DEATH CERTIFICATES 

In my September 8 post titled, “For Your Viewing Pleasure” (http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070908/BLOGS02/70906026), I listed four states that had death certificate records available online. Add the state of Georgia to that list. On Georgia's archive Web site, you may now search, view and save death certificates dated 1919 to 1927. There are also some death certificates available on the Web site from 1914 to 1918. The Web address for the Georgia death certificates is http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/gadeaths.php.

ONLINE ORDERING OF OHIO DEATH CERTIFICATES 

The Ohio Historical Society's Web site now offers a link to online ordering of Ohio Death Certificates spanning the years 1909 to 1953. (See http://www.ohiohistory.org/dindex/) Only those deaths occurring from 1913 through 1944 are indexed and available online, but you may request a death certificate for 1909 to 1912 and 1945 to 1953 as long as you provide all of the following:

1. First Name 

2. Last Name 

3. Year of Death 

 AND at least one of the following pieces of information:

1. Month and Day of Death

2. County 

3. Certificate # If they cannot find a close match to the information you have included they will “provide a copy of the original index page showing the names surrounding the name you provided. Your fee covers the cost of this search.” 

The cost of online ordering for each death certificate is $7 plus 6.75% sales tax for Ohio residents.

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Note this post first published online, October 29, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 29 October 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder

Pushing Daisies — A Show that Uses Genealogy as a Plot Point!

There are a number of things I would love to comment about but don't. Without some tie into genealogy, family history or even family I bite my tongue, sit on my typing fingers and remain silent. That's why I was delighted to see one of the new fall TV shows use genealogy as a plot point. 

Last Wednesday on ABC's “Pushing Daisies” a confederate sword from a Southern Chinese gentleman played a role in the convoluted tale. They even did a flash back to 1863 when Fambing Woo, the great-great-great-grandfather of Wilford Woodard, accidentally becomes a Confederate War Hero taking on the family name of Woodard.

A genealogical plot point is not the norm in network TV. But then the whole concept for “Pushing Daisies” is not the norm. Quirky is the most apt description of the show, and I have a hunch the writers never sat at the cool kids table — heck they probably weren't allowed anywhere near it. 

The premise is based on the idea that the hero, Ned, has acquired the ability to bring the dead back to life, once. A second touch by Ned, and they are consigned back to, well, death — forever. If Ned does not touch them a second time within one minute, someone else dies instead. To complicate matters, a shady detective, Emerson has glommed onto Ned's talents and has blackmailed him into partnering with Emerson to solve murder cases. Easy work when the dead person, brought back to life, tells what happened. 

Chuck, whose real name is Charlotte, and who as a young girl captured Ned's heart, is murdered in the show's pilot. When Ned brought her back to life, he couldn't bring himself to touch her again and have her die permanently. Therefore, he and Chuck can never touch and the director of the funeral home, a grave stealing scoundrel, dies instead.

If you have followed all of that, pat yourself on the back. Chi McBride, who plays the semi-shady detective, Emerson Cod is priceless in the role. He can deliver a sarcastic one-liner with the best of them. His discussion with Ned (Lee Pace) about how to pull up a bandage is great. 

Emerson: “I'm rippin' off the bandage.” 

Ned: “I'm not a ripper. I pull up the corner, a little at a time, then I run it under warm water. And pull it up some more. It's a process.” 

Emerson: “Better to rip.” 

Or Chuck's (Anna Friel) worrying, “Do you think dying has made me morbid?”

A show with snappy dialogue, a genealogical plot point, references to Winnie the Pooh, an Asian American with a soft southern accent, a sword fight — well what more could you ask for in an hour? Now is where I normally would be encouraging you to tune into this little novelty tonight at 8, but I'm not going to do that. This is an odd little show that takes an offbeat sense of humor (quirky and I are best friends), a suspension of disbelief, and a taste for tongue in cheek It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Instead, I am giving notice to family and friends that Wednesdays from 8 to 9 I won't be answering my phone. I will be cuddled up on my couch, chuckling to myself, hoping enough people are watching to keep the show around for a while. 

Until Next Time! 

Note this post first published online, October 24, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 24 Oct 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Seneca County Cemeteries

In yesterday's post, I mentioned my visit to some of Seneca County's cemeteries this past weekend. If you have relatives or ancestors who lived in Seneca County, you will certainly want to visit Kristina Kuhn Krumm's Seneca County graves Web site, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ohio/seneca/list.htm. She started the project in 2001, and thanks to the aid of many volunteers, it has grown to its present size.

It also offers a search engine that you can use to locate where your ancestor was buried in Seneca County. The nicest part for me — she has included maps taken from the book, “Seneca County Ohio Cemetery Inscriptions” (Tiffin, OH: Seneca County Genealogical Society, 1987). Each township has a map showing where each Cemetery is located. 

This turned out to be a lucky thing for me, because, while I was familiar with two of the cemeteries that Lois and Dawn wished to visit, a third, Bethel-South Bend Cemetery (see picture above) was one I had never visited. 

Bethel-South Bend is located near McCutchenville, and is not an area that I know. The signpost for Township Road 54 was no where to be seen, so unfortunately, I missed my turn, but thanks to the able map reading of Lois, my co-pilot for the day, we were able to get ourselves oriented and find the cemetery. 

Kris also maintains a homepage with additional Seneca County information, including Township plat maps of 1874. She also has a link to other cemetery sites she has put on the Web including those in Crawford County, Wyandot County and some in Sandusky County. 

Kris's homepage is http://kriskuhn.net/. Thanks Kris!

 Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, October 23, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02 

© 23 October 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder

Fulfilling A Grandmother's Wish

I spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon with two charming cousins and their husbands wandering through some of Seneca County's cemeteries. Lois and Dawn, like me, descend from Joseph and Magdalena Good (the couple I talked about in my Ague Fever post). Their grandmother had always wanted to find and visit the grave of her great-grandmother Rosetta Good. Rosetta, the daughter of Joseph's son John Good and his wife Sarah Baker Good, died of typhoid fever in 1869, along with a younger brother Joseph and a sister Sarah Florence. Their common gravestone sits in Liberty Center's Cemetery that is located on State Route 635 just south of Bettsville. 

Rosetta left behind a 9-month-old son, John Heckman Jr. Apparently, the grandmothers of little John both wanted to raise him. A story handed down in the family of Lois and Dawn told of John's paternal grandmother sending a wagon down from Michigan, plucking him right off the school grounds and spiriting him back to Branch County, Michigan, where he would grow up.

I'm not sure of the accuracy of the story because John is clearly listed in the 1870 census in Michigan living with his grandmother. However, a court case involving the settlement of his great-grandfather's estate in 1874 does open the door for the possibility that John was living in Ohio at the beginning of the case, but was in Michigan by its resolution. (John has a 1/49 claim to the estate.) It may well be that young John had been passed back in forth between Ohio and Michigan more than once before he ended up in Branch County permanently. 

John's descendants knew that he had been born in Seneca County near Tiffin, but they had no idea where his mother, Julia Rosetta Good Heckman, had been buried. To complicate matters further, she is listed in the cemetery as Julia R. Good. This is how she is also listed in the 1870 mortality records, but in the Seneca County Probate Record, she is Rosetta Heckman, which makes the mind dance with all kinds of speculation. 

In any case, though their grandmother was never able to make the trip, her granddaughters fulfilled her wish, paying a visit to Rosetta's grave. It was nice to play a small part in helping them complete their grandmother's wish.

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, October 22, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©22 Oct 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

A Little Husbandly Concern

My husband has known for a month or longer that this Sunday I will be meeting with Internet Cousins and showing them some cemeteries in Seneca County. Yesterday, he decided that he m-a-y-b-e should express concern about me meeting up with four total strangers who could or could not, for all he knows, have nefarious (nefarious is my word of the week) reasons for driving from Michigan and Indiana to see a few graves. This little bit of concern didn't originate from his own brain. It took my daughter, who TRULY loves me, to poke the thought into his head. Even at that, his grilling me about the upcoming Sunday events didn't transpire until a full 24 hours later.

“Have you ever met these people?” my suddenly concerned spouse asked. 

 “Nope.” 

 “But they're related to you, right?” he said, being comforted somehow by some tenacious familial link. (Hello, honey, you've met my relatives. Do you really think they are the barometer of SANE?)

“Ostensibly, two of them are.” 

“Do you want me to come with you?” 

And here is where my husband gets his good husband seal of approval award. Because he knows, and I know, that the very last thing that my husband wants to do this Sunday is to go grave hopping with strangers. Strangers who, along with his wife, will be yammering about dead relatives. Good grief, NASCAR is racing Sunday, and my husband's devotion to NASCAR is about one notch above my devotion to genealogy. In other words, the man loves his NASCAR. Besides, time has not yet dulled the memory of our little Labor Day fiasco. But I also know, as does he, the moment he says the words, “Do you want me to come with you?” that he means exactly that. If I want him to be there with me on Sunday, he will do it. Which is why, sweetheart, when you make that totally inane comment, “I don't know how you can stand to live with me” I always look at you as if you were crazed. This is exactly why I can stand to live with you, bucko — that and you give a really good foot rub.

So it will be just me meeting with the Michigan and Indiana folks on Sunday. Who knows, maybe I will get an interesting post out of the deal. And my husband will get to watch his race in blissful peace and HAVE THE HOUSE TO HIMSELF. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

P.S. — For any relatives reading this post, it goes without saying I was talking about OTHER relatives when I made that sanity crack. Note this post first published online, October 19, 2007, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

©19 Oct 2007, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder