An ‘Ah-ha!’ Moment

So, I learned a few days ago that my great-great-grandmother Fanny McCune, whom I had been unsuccessfully looking for the last seven years, actually was Fanny Marcum — which explains why I couldn't find her! 

Technically, her name was actually Francis Thacker. Her mother, Clarinda Thacker, had Fanny (or Francis) four years before her marriage to Enos Marcum. My family had discovered the McCune name from her daughter's death certificate. 

Having recently purchased “Evidence Explained,” I was being a dutiful family historian and adding my huge backlog of death certificate information to my software database. I had done about three of these, when I came to the death certificate of Lizzie Cope Smathers, Fanny's daughter. Hmm, I said to myself, looking at the record under 200% magnification, that McCune doesn't look very clear. So, I went to take a quick confirming look at the death certificate of Lizzie's brother — John Ceope. (No, that's not a typo; this family started adding an extra “e” to their name — no doubt just to confuse me.) 

John's daughter, Claudia, had been the informant and she had listed the name Fanny Marcum for the mother of John. Now, I'd like to say that this was the “AH-HA!” moment for me, but no, it wasn't. Because instead of thinking Ah Ha, I was thinking — Hmm, the granddaughter didn't realize that her grandmother's last name was McCune. So, I set aside Lizzie's death record, and went on to the next one.

 A little while later all that putting sources and citations into my database was getting a bit old, and I was itching for a reason to stop. So, on a whim, I went onto Ancestry.com and typed in “Francis Marcum,” and as I expected no viable candidates appeared in the search results. Not wanting to end my little break quite that quickly, I then typed in “Fanny Marcum” and once again, as expected, no match for my Fanny. Still not ready to face the large stack of death certificate input that lay ahead of me, I typed in “Francis Markum,” and there she was aged 16 in the 1880 census. 

Some simple searches on FamilySearch.org, a cross check to the Vinton County Web site and some more searching on Ancestry and things that hadn't made sense before now suddenly did. So about 45 minutes after I should have had my “AH HA!” moment, the light bulb finally went on. 

Funny to think that if I hadn't gotten “Evidence Explained,” hadn't been taking care of database housekeeping matters, hadn't had online access to Ohio Death Certificates, hadn't subscribed to Ancestry.com and hadn't been looking for an easy distraction, it might have taken another seven years for me to solve the riddle of Fanny McCune/Marcum. Sometimes, genealogy is just like that. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, January 25, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 25 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

News to Know — FamilySearch Labs Records Online

I'm not sure if everybody who reads this blog realizes all of the cool things going on at the FamilySearch Labs Web site. They have been indexing a whole slew of different types of records. Some are already available and ready for viewing online. So why should you care? Well, for those of us living here in Ohio, the ability to see the actual death certificates from the Ohio Historical Society's own Death Index is enough to make you do a genealogical happy dance. That's right you can SEE THEM, SAVE THEM, PRINT THEM. 

To view the records, you must first register. You can do that by going here http://search.labs.familysearch.org. Next, you have to be patient while you wait to get your confirmation e-mail telling you that you have completed the registration process, and can now go online. Not all the records available for viewing have been indexed, but the Ohio Death Certificates are not only searchable, but there are advanced options that allow you to search, for example, by a mother's maiden name.

Of course, the indexing is only as good as the information that was supplied on the actual death certificate, but the possibilities of finding lost siblings for great grandma or great grandpa are lovely to contemplate. Records (that's the ACTUAL IMAGES) available for viewing that have been indexed and are now searchable include: 

1. 1900 US Census 

2. 1895 Argentina Census 

3. Freedman Bank Records 1865-1874 

4. England, Cheshire, Register of Electors 1842-1940 

5. Maryland, Cecil County Probate Estate Files 1851 -1940 

6. Freedmen's Bureau Virginia Marriages ca 1815-1866 

7. Georgia Deaths 1914-1927

8. Utah Death Certificates 1904 -1956 

9. Ohio Death Certificates December 20, 1908-1956 

Other records are available for browsing (such as 1942 World War II Draft Registration cards, which are about 30% complete), along with indexes or abstracted information (such as Ontario Deaths 1869-1947 or Texas Death Index 1964-1998) which have been indexed and are searchable. I have to admit when I first heard about the agreement brokered between The Generations Network (parent of Ancestry.com) and the FamilySearch folks allowing free access to Ancestry.com at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, along with 13 of the largest regional family history centers,

I wondered if that meant that FamilySearch may have quietly agreed to stop putting records online that people could view for FREE. I'm suspicious that way. I guess only time will tell how this all plays out for the little guy living out here in corn country. 

If you would like to be a part of the indexing movement going on at FamilySearch Labs, you can read the details at http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/index.jsp. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note this post first published online, January 23, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 23 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Somebody Had A Good Last Week

For Jasia of Creative Gene (http://creativegene.blogspot.com/) last week turned out to be a fairly good week. She won Blaine Bittinger's free Genetic Genealogy Test (http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/2008/01/04/win-a-free-genetic-genealogy-test-from-the-genetic-genealogist/) on Saturday and earlier that week a second blog, Creative Genealogy (http://creativegenealogy.blogspot.com/) was listed in Kimberly Powell's post “10 Genealogy Blogs Worth Reading” at About.com:Genealogy (http://genealogy.about.com/od/blogs/tp/genealogy.htm). 

If you haven't visited Jasia's Creative Genealogy Blog, you might just want to check it out — scrapbooking, photo tips and more to help marry your creative spirit and genealogical endeavors. My heart still belongs to her Creative Gene Blog. Her writing is like the hot cup of chocolate she mentions in her intro for this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy — warm, satisfying and that lingering sweet taste on your palate. My proof — Jasia's entry, “It's a Small World After All,” that is included in the 40th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy (http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2008/01/carnival-of-genealogy-40th-edition.html). 

There are 21 other great reads from this month's edition. The theme focused on connections that each genealogist has made with living relatives. If you've been thinking about reaching out to “touch someone” in your own genealogical quests, these stories will be inspiring for you! Congratulations Jasia!

And congratulations go to each of the 10 talented bloggers who made Kimberly's list. Kimberly also has posted a list of over 40 of her favorite blogs at http://genealogy.about.com/od/blogs/ . Most are on my own gotta read list and since our Web site doesn't support blog rolls, I'm betting Kimberly won't mind if we use her wonderful list as a surrogate. She's been kind enough to give brief descriptions of each. 

So bring on Old Man Winter, and dry your eyes over the never-ending writers’ strike — here is some great reading to keep you entertained. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Note this post first published online, January 22, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 22 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

In Honor of Martin Luther King Day

In honor of Martin Luther King's birthday, I am presenting two links in my post for today. 

The first is a link to a Web site that carries the text of Dr. King's speech given in August 1963 — almost 45 years ago. http://www.juntosociety.com/hist_speeches/mlkihad.html. Though we hear snippets of it every year, you might find a full text reading of the speech interesting. Dr. King's words are still beautiful and inspiring some four and a half decades later. 

What does Martin Luther King Day have to do with genealogy, you ask — maybe nothing or maybe everything. The U.K.'s “The Observer” posted an interesting article back in July, called “The Genes that Built America.” I find it curious that I discovered this piece written in a British publication rather than an American one. It's long and thought provoking. Maybe thought provoking enough for some to find it troubling — for me it has provided some moments of reflection and introspection. 

You can read it here: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,2124456,00.html. Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

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

© 21 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Correction to My Post about My Grandmother

I received a very nice note from my daughter who liked my post about her great-grandmother. She did, however, correct me on one thing. Though she admitted to loving grandma's cookies, she admonished me with: “But to call her cookies your children's favorite totally undermines the memorable goodness of Grandma's zucchini bread. I remember it being so good that you'd forget that there was, you know, zucchini in it!”

I stand corrected, that's two votes for cookies, and one vote for zucchini bread. Unless, of course, I get a similar note from her brothers. As my daughter would say, who knew? 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! 

Note this post first published, January 17, 2008, online at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

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

Sources and Citations — How T-Ball and Genealogy Are Sometimes Alike

I remember going to my youngest son's first T-ball game. All that compressed little boy energy hung over the field like a gray cumulonimbus cloud getting ready to burst. The coach positioned each child on the field and they were prepared, that ball WASN'T going to get past them. The first batter swung, connected and a dozen gloved wonders took off in pursuit of the ball. Two of the “teammates,” the quickest to arrive at the spot where the ball eventually rolled to a rest, tussled with each other to take control over the precious trophy. All the while, the batter, flushed with success at having batted his first ball, in his first game, easily ran the bases. 

Coaches gestured wildly, fathers screamed, “Throw the ball, throw the ball,” older siblings smirked, and mothers beamed with lopsided smiles at their misguided offspring. The problem wasn't, of course, a lack of enthusiasm or commitment on the part of the young players. The problem was they had yet to learn the fundamentals that would allow them to play the game the way it was meant to be played — baseball at its best is its own form of poetry.

The same could be said of my first experiences in genealogy. I had the enthusiasm. I had the commitment, but I hadn't yet learned the fundamentals that would allow me to do the research and the recording of information in the way it was meant to be done. I realized early on the value of recording where the information came from. Without documenting the source of the information, it was hard to go back and determine how or why I had added an individual to my family tree. So I added this information to the note section of each individual. 

At some point, it dawned on me, AH HA, there was a section of the software made expressly for this purpose, and I began, I'll admit, to put the information haphazardly into the appropriate section. Sometime after that, I realized that there was no consistency in how I was entering the information. I dug out my old APA style guide, and struggled to use the information I found there to come up with some kind of standard. By this time I HAD A MESS!

I did some online searching, and found several articles on the subject. Each time I thought I had it figured out, a new problem would arise. For example, the death certificate I received in the mail and the one I found online, should they be recorded in the same manner? 

As each new online source became available, I became uncertain what appropriate form the citation should take. Enter Elizabeth Shown Mills's new book, “Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace,” which tackles among other things, just this type of quandary. 

As of today, I have my very own copy of Ms. Mills' book to read and thumb through at my own leisure. I've only gotten as far as the Table of Contents and the Forward — already I'm impressed. She sums up the whole idea of the quest for evidence and the need to evaluate sources so eloquently: “History is not a collection of raw facts we simply look up and copy down. The past is still a little-known universe that we explore with curiosity and confusion. As we probe its depths, we appreciate resources that save us time. We crave materials we can confidently trust.” 

So simple, so beautiful, so true! So take note, family and friends, I will be holed up for a while devouring the author's thoughts, words and most of all, guidance so that my database will finally be exactly what it was meant to be. 

Until Next Time — Happy Ancestral Digging! Note: If you would like to learn more about “Evidence Explained,” Miriam Midkiff of “AnceStories” did a nice review at http://ancestories1.blogspot.com/2007/12/evidence-explained-book-review.html. 

Note this post first published online, January 17 , 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 17 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

My Grandmother, Anna

58 — That's the number of facets found on a round, full diamond. The glittering sparkle that you associate with diamonds comes from these flat polished surfaces. No matter which way you look at the diamond, no matter what the distance, or the angle, you cannot see all the facets from one single view. Some of the facets always remain hidden from your sight.

People then, are a lot like diamonds. No one person can ever view all the facets of another.

Grandma was a petite, feisty woman. I cannot imagine that there was ever a day, or even a moment when there was the least bit of ambiguity in my grandmother's life. She was always so certain of the correct thing to do in any circumstance, that it is hard for me to imagine her in any other way.

Grandma didn't hold conversations as much as she held inquisitions and intense conversions to Grandma's way of thinking. I remember once, when my children talked me into letting them adopt a homeless cat, that my daughter named Super, I was a little apprehensive of Grandma's reaction.

Grandma's opinion, “you should name the cat Fluffy.” And with that, the subject was closed, and for the rest of her life she referred to the cat as Fluffy, never mind what the cat's name actually was.

Grandma was a marvel in the kitchen. She canned all her own fruits and vegetables. Her mustard pickles, a concoction of pickles, lima beans, tomatoes, cauliflower, small onions and carrots swimming in a tangy mustard sauce, can still make my mouth water at the mere thought. And she made bread and butter pickles that no factory made rendition can come close to approximating.

But where Grandma really shined was in her baking. And here is where you will find a divergence in opinion about exactly what Grandma baked the best. My dad would say cherry pie or chocolate cake. My children's favorite would be any cookie Grandma brought to our door. My own vote goes to her chocolate marshmallow cookies. Say, amen, and pass the plate.

Even when Grandma was diagnosed with diabetes, she continued baking her famous goodies, giving all to family and friends — I never heard her complain even once about the unfairness of it all. Grandma realized controlling her diet was a given, and for Grandma knowing a thing and doing a thing were synonymous. Had it been me, I would have hung up my baking apron for good, and told everybody to learn to bake their own, slamming the door hard in their faces.

Grandma had a mischievous sense of humor. She was always trying to trick my father into eating things she knew he wouldn't like. Dad's favorite kind of cake was chocolate, and on more then one occasion, she would show up bearing one of these fine cakes. The twinkle in her eyes, gave her away. Dad wouldn't know what little bonus was added to these fine offerings, but he knew when his mother was up to no good.

One time she added tomato soup, another mayonnaise, zucchini was also an added ingredient — my dad didn't take one bite. Me, I'm not nearly as picky and I would try each one — the zucchini and mayonnaise renditions earned thumbs up — the tomato soup one, not so good. But the most memorable of all was her sauerkraut cake.

It was a beautiful cake, gorgeous to behold, until you took the first few bites and ended up with stringy sauerkraut in your mouth. That one was definitely not a keeper. And dad smiled knowingly and refused her obvious ruse. It was OK with Grandma, there was always another time, another cake, another oddball ingredient waiting to fool my father.

As a child, Grandma had grown up in a German-speaking household, and hadn't learned English until she went to school. Born in 1911, she would have been starting school during World War I. I once asked her to speak German, and she told me she didn't remember. I asked if her parents ever talked about Germany. No, was her quick, end-of-conversation answer. Well, what did she think of Germany, I pressed on. And all she would say, shaking her head, “Oh that Kaiser.” And that was all I ever got out of Grandma on that subject.

My memories of my grandmother are many. She taught my children to play dominoes, proclaimed the color of a brilliant sunset, sky blue pink, and worried about her eldest granddaughter trying to raise three children on her own. Sometimes she exasperated, sometimes she invigorated, and always she stood firm on her views of the world. I miss that twinkle in her eye, her steady hand and even her disgusted shake of the head when she talked about the President, “that old Ree-gan,” as she called him.

Today, January 16 would have been her 97th birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandma. Your eldest granddaughter misses you.

Until Next Time ...

Note this post first published online, January 16, 2008, at Desktop Genealogist Blog at The News-Messenger Online http://www.thenews-messenger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS02

© 16 January 2008, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa  L. Snyder