I was using Find A Grave for a family member. How many of you click on the find all ---- in (cemetery) on the left side of the website after getting information for a person? I do it quite often and I'm guessing you do too.
Many times I am surprised at the number of people with the same surname in a cemetery. Today was no exception and what was even better, I recognized several names.
Because of the recognition I decided to 'take a break' from my regular researching tasks and update my records for this family name from this cemetery.
I was able to connect to everyone in the list except for two. I figured they had to be related somehow, but, I couldn't find them.
Their stones were similar and the dates of birth were such that it could be a mother and her son.
I was just about to give up when I realized that the one died in 1991. Had I paid more attention I would have realized they both died in 1991. On the same day.
Lucky for me they live in a part of Pennsylvania where the local newspaper has archives online dating back to 1984.
Google, my friend, was able to find some articles.
OMG.
They are mother and son. They were both in the backyard when they were murdered. By a neighbor. With a rifle. Mom shot once, then the son. Then each shot again. Witnessed by a grandson/nephew. Over a parking spot.
What a tragedy.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
More Pin Ball Action
I am continuing to work on a family in Pennsylvania. I always take the parents of a spouse back as far as I can to determine if there is a connection to the family. PING! Another connection. I had to go four generations. The spouse is the great-granddaughter of my 1st cousin 6x removed. That means, yes, you guessed it, the spouses are distant cousins. I have to wonder how well they all knew each other from generation to generation.
It's no wonder it takes days/weeks to get one tiny little branch updated and researched.
Back to the pinball machine!
It's no wonder it takes days/weeks to get one tiny little branch updated and researched.
Back to the pinball machine!
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Pin Ball Action
Researching my family in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania is like playing a pinball machine. I start off with one family and quickly I'm pinging all over the place from family to family. Sometimes I get so far away from who I am working on I have to stop and write the name down so I know who to go back to when I'm finished with the side family(ies).
On my father's side, I descend directly from two out of three brothers who ended up in Northampton/Lehigh County area many, many years ago. I am always finding cousins (distant) who married cousins (distant) and finding connections to my husband's family who has a family line in the same area.
My mother is in the action, too. She has two lines in the area. One was there for an extremely short time and I haven't found any connections with the other lines. The other line, well, I've found connections there, too.
I have neglected my father's side in this area for far too long. Today I plan to ping, ping and ping! I hope I get my highest score yet! Wish me luck!
PING! - 5th cousin 1x removed married a 5th cousin 2x removed. The bride is related to me through two branches. I believe they are distant cousins to each other.
PING! - A different 5th cousin 1x removed married a 4th cousin 1x removed. I think they are distant cousins to each other, too.
On my father's side, I descend directly from two out of three brothers who ended up in Northampton/Lehigh County area many, many years ago. I am always finding cousins (distant) who married cousins (distant) and finding connections to my husband's family who has a family line in the same area.
My mother is in the action, too. She has two lines in the area. One was there for an extremely short time and I haven't found any connections with the other lines. The other line, well, I've found connections there, too.
I have neglected my father's side in this area for far too long. Today I plan to ping, ping and ping! I hope I get my highest score yet! Wish me luck!
PING! - 5th cousin 1x removed married a 5th cousin 2x removed. The bride is related to me through two branches. I believe they are distant cousins to each other.
PING! - A different 5th cousin 1x removed married a 4th cousin 1x removed. I think they are distant cousins to each other, too.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Another Mystery
James B. Cook married Ida M. Howard in 1880 in Iowa.
They had two known children. Floy, married to John Nickel and then Frank Yocum, and Merle. Merle was married four times. Nellie Morey was his first wife, Ella Neiman, was his second wife, number three was Mathilda Brunnier and finally Beatrice, last name unknown. If he had any children, I am unaware of them.
While researching today I found another child, Greg Cook who was born in 1887 and apparently died before 1900 as he is not on the 1900 census. His mother (Ida) is listed as the mother of three children, two alive.
Also while researching today, I found a Marvel D. Cook, daughter of James and Ida married to Hubert W. Trent in 1920 in Iowa. What is strange about her (my mystery) is that according to her marriage record she was born in Seattle. She was born about 1901 and is not listed on the 1910 census with her parents. Is she the daughter of my James Cook and Ida Howard? Is there another James Cook married to an Ida Howard? I find no record of the family ever in Seattle other than her marriage record. Is the marriage record wrong? I'm really starting to think she doesn't belong in our family as the 1910 census lists her mother as having three children, two alive. Could she be an adopted daughter? Adopted sometime between 1910 and 1920?
Anyone out there know anything about this? I would be grateful for any additional information on James and Ida (and family) along with any information about Marvel.
They had two known children. Floy, married to John Nickel and then Frank Yocum, and Merle. Merle was married four times. Nellie Morey was his first wife, Ella Neiman, was his second wife, number three was Mathilda Brunnier and finally Beatrice, last name unknown. If he had any children, I am unaware of them.
While researching today I found another child, Greg Cook who was born in 1887 and apparently died before 1900 as he is not on the 1900 census. His mother (Ida) is listed as the mother of three children, two alive.
Also while researching today, I found a Marvel D. Cook, daughter of James and Ida married to Hubert W. Trent in 1920 in Iowa. What is strange about her (my mystery) is that according to her marriage record she was born in Seattle. She was born about 1901 and is not listed on the 1910 census with her parents. Is she the daughter of my James Cook and Ida Howard? Is there another James Cook married to an Ida Howard? I find no record of the family ever in Seattle other than her marriage record. Is the marriage record wrong? I'm really starting to think she doesn't belong in our family as the 1910 census lists her mother as having three children, two alive. Could she be an adopted daughter? Adopted sometime between 1910 and 1920?
Anyone out there know anything about this? I would be grateful for any additional information on James and Ida (and family) along with any information about Marvel.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Legacy vs FTM
I finally broke down and bought Legacy. I was tired of the excessive pop-ups when accessing Ancestry through FTM. A new one started popping up and that was it. I still haven't figured out which browser it is using because it is not using my default browser. It is up-to-date.
So, Legacy. Well, I hate having to figure out how a new program works, but it is coming along. I still haven't figured out where to put extra descriptions for details. FTM has a field with the date and place which is handy. Where do I put the cemetery a person is buried in? I have more to learn.
I do like how easy it is to add sources, not that FTM was hard. I haven't figured out how to use the same source for more than one field so I'm having to retype some information until I get that figured out. It's probably something simple, but it hasn't been for me, at least not yet.
Reports and speed were more reasons why I wanted to switch. The Legacy program is much faster. Maybe it is because it is not searching while running. (However, I have turned the online portion of the FTM program off and it didn't make any difference.) FTM has messed and messed with their reports until I'm frustrated. So much for being able to create your own report. The parameters have been reduced and the report is worthless. I haven't found where I can create my own report in Legacy and I still can't get the report I want. I want a report I can run for a county in any state so that when I am planning a trip I can find out who I have in the area and their birthdates/death dates and where buried. I finagled FTM's to do list, but I am not sure how to finagle Legacy. So much to learn and so little time.
Update: Sept. 19 2015
The pop-ups on FTM stopped after purchasing Legacy. What's with that? Now I get one when I view a document in another window on my browser. Apparently it doesn't like my cookie settings. Every once in while I will get one of the old pop-ups on FTM, but nothing like what I used to get. So, I still use FTM to search Ancestry because I find it is easy. Maybe I am just too lazy to search with Legacy as I haven't attempted to use the search features with it.
I am still frustrated as I cannot get a cemetery report with either program. I like to know what cemeteries are where and who from the family is buried there.
So, Legacy. Well, I hate having to figure out how a new program works, but it is coming along. I still haven't figured out where to put extra descriptions for details. FTM has a field with the date and place which is handy. Where do I put the cemetery a person is buried in? I have more to learn.
I do like how easy it is to add sources, not that FTM was hard. I haven't figured out how to use the same source for more than one field so I'm having to retype some information until I get that figured out. It's probably something simple, but it hasn't been for me, at least not yet.
Reports and speed were more reasons why I wanted to switch. The Legacy program is much faster. Maybe it is because it is not searching while running. (However, I have turned the online portion of the FTM program off and it didn't make any difference.) FTM has messed and messed with their reports until I'm frustrated. So much for being able to create your own report. The parameters have been reduced and the report is worthless. I haven't found where I can create my own report in Legacy and I still can't get the report I want. I want a report I can run for a county in any state so that when I am planning a trip I can find out who I have in the area and their birthdates/death dates and where buried. I finagled FTM's to do list, but I am not sure how to finagle Legacy. So much to learn and so little time.
Update: Sept. 19 2015
The pop-ups on FTM stopped after purchasing Legacy. What's with that? Now I get one when I view a document in another window on my browser. Apparently it doesn't like my cookie settings. Every once in while I will get one of the old pop-ups on FTM, but nothing like what I used to get. So, I still use FTM to search Ancestry because I find it is easy. Maybe I am just too lazy to search with Legacy as I haven't attempted to use the search features with it.
I am still frustrated as I cannot get a cemetery report with either program. I like to know what cemeteries are where and who from the family is buried there.
Connections
Yesterday was a fun day researching as I found more connections between my branches and also connections between my husband's Pennsylvania family and mine. No, we are not cousins...yet.
I spent some time this summer connecting the dots on my Luxembourg family thanks to a distant cousin. He posted just enough information about my great-great grandmother for me to realize that she is his great-great grandfather's little sister. One branch of his family ended up in Kansas in the same county as my great-great-grandmother. I wondered if they knew they were all related after a generation or two. (This wondering stems from going to school with distant cousins and finding out after high school that we are related. In fact, three of us in one class are in three different generations of the same family.) I contacted the source of the family information. I think he was as excited to hear from me as I was him. As we asked questions and gained more information he realized he had heard my family name before. He has pictures of some of my family from generations past. That answers my questions about whether or not they knew they were related. As time passed after the family settled in the area, that knowledge was lost. It's been fun to bring the family back together.
I spent some time this summer connecting the dots on my Luxembourg family thanks to a distant cousin. He posted just enough information about my great-great grandmother for me to realize that she is his great-great grandfather's little sister. One branch of his family ended up in Kansas in the same county as my great-great-grandmother. I wondered if they knew they were all related after a generation or two. (This wondering stems from going to school with distant cousins and finding out after high school that we are related. In fact, three of us in one class are in three different generations of the same family.) I contacted the source of the family information. I think he was as excited to hear from me as I was him. As we asked questions and gained more information he realized he had heard my family name before. He has pictures of some of my family from generations past. That answers my questions about whether or not they knew they were related. As time passed after the family settled in the area, that knowledge was lost. It's been fun to bring the family back together.
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