Originals vs. Abstracts

If you are attending the NGS conference in Las Vegas this week, you will no doubt hear in at least one session, how you should always seek out the original record rather than rely on transcriptions or abstracts of the record. The reasoning being that people make mistakes when transcribing. I agree. If possible always get a look at the original. As they say, "To err is human."

However, I would like to suggest another reason for seeking out the original records. If you are lucky personalities show through, and you get a wonderful glimpse into a long dead ancestor's character. I've been doing some research in Lincoln County, Tennessee. I found a book on abstracts of the county wills. The information seemed fairly good based on what I already knew about the people I was researching. My next step was to search out the originals.

The first will I pulled was for Nancy Jobe. It is 1 1/2 pages long. The abstract is 4 1/2 lines. Quite a difference. While the abstract captured the essential facts well, what it didn't reflect was the emotion. Nancy had a son that was "simple." Her concern for his welfare after she departed this Earth was prevalent throughout the will. She set up several fail safes within the will should one scenario or another not work out. Nancy made sure her son would always have a place to live, land to call his own, people to care for him, and he would not go hungry or destitute. As a mother myself, I was deeply touched by this. I can only imagine the anxiety she must have felt, especially in a time when the care was deplorable or nonexistent for a person who was not neurotypical.

The next will I pulled was for Samuel Gleghorn who was Nancy's father. The abstract was about 6 lines and the will was 3 pages, which the abstract did make note of in parentheses. As it turns out Samuel had a big interest in his grandchildren's education. He stated a few different terms of monetary distribution in regards to education and what would happen to this money should said children decide to pursue education or not. Given how the will is worded and that Samuel signed the document rather than leave his mark, indicates that he was an educated man. Also, this wasn't just a clerk writing up a document, clearly Samuel had some knowledge of the law and how it worked.

Based on Samuel's will, I reflected a little more on Nancy's will. This was a woman with property that she inherited from her father, that was hers outright. Nancy wrote her own will and signed it with her signature. She was educated and also aware of how the legal system worked. Clearly Samuel encouraged, maybe even demanded, his own children to be educated.

These are insights and conclusions that I could never have gotten from abstracts. After studying these wills, I realized something else. I liked this family group. They cared about each other and had genuine concern for each other's welfare. If I had just relied on the abstracts, I would not have had the same connection.

So search out the originals. You might just walk away surprised at what you find out.

Tennessee State DAR Conference 2013

Today I attended my first DAR State Conference. I admit I was fascinated by this subculture taking place around me today, and did my best to figure it out. It was a big learning curve. I'm still not sure I understand it. I really could have used a DAR 101 handbook....if it exists.

My first puzzlement happened with registration and the first session. Both began at 8:00 a.m. I thought surely this must be a typo, alas it was not. I quickly got through the registration process, and then found a seat in the Lineage Research Workshop. The speaker was Robert S. Davis, who is the director of the Family and Regional History Program at Wallace State College. Wallace State College is located in Hanceville, Alabama, just north of Samford University in Birmingham. I've looked at their collection catalog online in the past, and it is impressive. I was going to make a stop there last summer, but ended up spending time in hot/humid cemeteries tracking down my ancestors. Aahh...such is the life of a genealogist!

Anyway, Mr. Davis discussed land records as they pertain to Revolutionary War soldiers. I've mentioned before how I enjoy land records, so I was thrilled with the topic. I was particularly interested to learn about following the paper trail of letters that ancestors may have written to the various government departments, i.e, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, the War Department, or Freedman's Bureau. The letters were assigned a code, abstracted and recorded in the endorsement book by the clerk, and then possibly sent on to another department or person. What happened to the original letter can remain a mystery, but the endorsement books still exist. So while the original letter may be lost, the essence of it remains in the endorsement books. These books can be found at NARA. There is conveniently an index to these letters on microfilm at NARA, M495 Index to the Letters Received by the Secretary of War.

I also learned that many records can be found at a state level for your Revolutionary War patriots. Did you notice I didn't say soldiers in that last sentence? Turns out that if your ancestor gave the soldiers chickens or any other type of aide, then they are considered a patriot. The aide could have been recorded on a voucher, that your ancestor then turned in to the state for reimbursement. This means you could be eligible for DAR membership even if you do not have any Revolutionary War soldiers. You just have to find the record stating the aide to prove it.

Next, it was time for "Coffee with the Candidates." The title is pretty much self explanatory. There was coffee, pastry, and the candidates for the incoming NSDAR term. I'm a little fuzzy on the fine print of it all, but my impression is that these candidates are already a done deal, and the vote this weekend is a formality. At any rate, each candidate got up and spoke briefly to the room about the upcoming term. Some told funny anecdotes, explained their responsibilities, or expressed varying degrees of anxiety infused excitement.

After lunch I attended a workshop presented by Hamilton Jewelers, who are the official jewelers of the DAR. The presenter was not very experienced or knowledgable. In fact, the lady sitting next to me said, "Boy, she's not very good is she?" I think this was an opportunity for the presenter to get her feet wet. When she was done with her slide presentation (that she read directly from, without much embellishment), the more experienced company representative came up to the podium for the audience questions.

There is all sorts of bling, I mean pins, one can purchase. Some of these pins you have to earn, some you can buy outright, and some have prerequisites before you can buy them. Then there are rules about when you can wear some of them and their placement on the ribbon. I don't really understand the rules, but I'll cross that bridge when/if I ever get to it. The collection of pins some of these ladies have, that were in attendance, is pretty impressive. One woman must have had at least 10 or 12 ancestor pins (those represent DAR qualifying patriots/ancestors).

Overall it was an interesting experience. Although I have to say I think an opportunity was missed. The conference events seemed to be focused mostly towards State Officers and Pages (those are DAR members over 18 and under a certain age). What about the members in between Officers and Pages? This was a time that could have been used towards promoting involvement in the organization. Discussing all the different ways to volunteer. Maybe even pinpoint areas that needed volunteers. There could have been other lineage workshops that focused on another area of research. In our chapter there has been talk in the past of doing a cookbook. A how-to session on producing these types of projects could have been helpful. The possibilities of topics are endless.

Let's face it, if you are attending the DAR State Conference then you are an eager member ready to be encouraged, right? Most of us "in betweener's" only attended the sessions discussed above, didn't go back tonight, and will skip Saturday and Sunday altogether. In my humble opinion, for a conference to be successful, that encourages participation and attendance, you have to address the needs or potential of the majority not just select groups within the organization.

The Italians...Again

My husband's Italian ancestors continue to be a strange subject for me to deal with. Why? They can't seem to decide how they wanted to spell any of their surnames, and the direct descendants (my husband's grandmother for one) can't seem to get their facts straight. Hhhmmm...perhaps this is a family trait. At any rate, the story is that when the family immigrated to the United States they changed their name after they got here. Is it true? I have no idea...yet.

Several months ago I sent away to New York State for the death certificate of James DeCiutis/DeCuitus/DeCuitiis. Last week I finally received it and I was excited. My main objective was not necessarily to see how the surname was spelled, that was secondary, I was more interested in the names of the parents, his birthdate, and the informant. This information would prove to be exciting, at least for me. Strangely, my husband and mother-in-law were so focused on the surname spelling that they virtually ignored the other goodies on the document, at least until I pointed them out. Their reaction was a bit underwhelming, but I was determined to be excited.

Firstly, the informant was Lucy Rocci. Lucy was James' sister, and incidentally would later spell her surname Rocca. This was a good informant to have, since she would know of her brother's birth information, and their parent's names. His birthday is listed as 3 April 1895 and James was born in Italy. I already knew he was born in Italy but confirmation is always a good thing.

Then, Lucy gave the name of James' wife as Mary Selvestor. This was curious. My mother-in-law has been told, and therefore told her son and me, that Mary's last name was Silvestri. They sound similar. So the question is; Is this a mere spelling error? Is this Mary's actual maiden name? Or, upon immigration did Mary's family change their name from Selvestor to Silvestri? I need to investigate this more.

Next, I had a theory that James' father was named Francesco. In a Newburgh, Orange County, New York directory, James' mother Rose was listed as a widow and in parentheses was the name Francesco. On the death certificate the father is listed as Frank DeCiutis and the mother's maiden name (drum roll please) Rose Manelli. I have to admit this caused a little bit of giddy happy dancing on my part. After a couple of minutes I did wonder if this was a true spelling of Manelli, but no matter, I had a lead! And the name Frank would be an English version of Francesco. Yay!

Finally, is this document a reliable answer to all of the above questions? No, of course not. They are leads though. I have some ideas of other records to access, for additional evidence or proof. Right now my goal is to eventually find an immigration record. My hope is that the immigration record will bring me to a place of origin in Italy for this family. Fingers crossed.

The Education on Your Shelf

The conference and institute season for genealogy is fast approaching, or perhaps it has already started with RootsTech. At any rate, it is an exciting time filled with learning, networking, and brain storming. You may walk away feeling energized, perhaps a little exhausted (okay, a lot), and then you go home to apply your new knowledge. Once home, you attend to your life that has been put on hold for the past week, and then deal with the demands of the weeks to come. You think back to the conference or institute experience and wish you could attend more, and gain additional knowledge from the fabulous speakers/instructors. Well you can...without even leaving your home.

Each conference and institute gives you a comprehensive syllabus. The instructors spend a lot of time compiling all of this material for your benefit. It is filled with sources that they feel will help you on the given topic presented. In short, it is a gold mine of information. The instructors are (hopefully) experts on their subject or field. They know what sources of information are out there, and which ones are good to go to for more in depth information. So instead of you trying to figure out what text is worth your time and/or money, they have done it for you. 

I am constantly going back to my syllabus materials for ideas. Sometimes it may be for a NGSQ article to read, or a book on a topic I need to learn more about. Remember, the instructors started out as newbies too and along the way they became experts. Don't you wonder what they read to become the experts they are? Well, check out that syllabus sitting on your shelf and you will find out.

It's Online, So It Must Be True! Right?

NO!!  I'm not much of a commercial watcher on tv, however there is one State Farm commercial that illustrates this point beautifully. In this commercial a girl is talking to her friend and waiting for her date to show up, a French model, that she met on the internet. While waiting she tells her friend that everything on the internet is true, and the girl knows this because she read it on the internet. Finally her date shows up, and he is clearly not a model nor French.

Just because somebody wrote that your ancestor is related to Joe Shmoe doesn't mean that it is true. How can you tell if it is true or might be true? Look for footnotes citing documents that support the statements or at least a discussion of documents leading to this conclusion. You will have to judge if the documentation is enough to support the theory. Even better would be to search out those documents yourself and make your own conclusions.

Several months ago I had a cousin of sorts contact me about a common Fry ancestor. I mentioned that I was aware of several ancestors through family lore before our common one, but that I hadn't made a paper/document connection between them yet. During our conversation this cousin told me about the Heinrich Frey Family Association. My cousin said the connections were all right there. I was very excited.

After getting off the phone I immediately Googled the association. I went to the page with the generations outlined, scrolled down, and there was our common ancestor, Jefferson Fry! This was great! I scrolled down further and discovered.....not a single citation to support any of these statements. Argh!! Even worse (better?) I found a mistake. There is a girl listed as Jefferson's daughter and it is not true. I can prove it. For a few years I've had a hypothesis about who she was, but had not been able to get my hands on anything to support my theory. This past summer at NARA I found a Homestead Land Record that gives a wonderfully detailed description of her relation to the family. I would give you more details, but I recently I had the sudden notion this could make a great case study write up. So I'm saving it for the time being.

Now, having said that there were no citations on this website, I do not mean to imply that all of these statements/connections are false by any means. By wandering through the site I was able to tell that some people have actually put in a lot of research time to prove connections. For whatever reason the website has just not included citations. I guess I'll have to contact them and find out why.

When researching family history a bit of skepticism is healthy. Personally, I think it makes you a better genealogist. It doesn't mean that you have to call people out on their research and make a fuss. However, it does make you think for yourself and construct your own conclusions.

Note: If you are related to Jefferson Fry and want to know about the girl in question, email me and I'll tell you what I found. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

I hope you all have a wonderful day full of sweet surprises! Happy Valentine's Day 2013!

The Slippery Slope of Time Management

I wish I could say I have the magic formula for time management, alas I do not. Back in October I realized I was having a time management problem. However, at that time, with the holiday season fast approaching it would have been frustrating to try and institute a new routine. So I thought on it, thought on it some more, and still haven't come up with a great solution.

As genealogists, much of our work is solitary and done at home. There is no boss to look over our shoulder and see how many times we are logging into Facebook, harvesting our farm, cruising Pintrest, or reading blogs and genealogy digest emails. It is up to you to monitor your time and how you use it. For me, this usually means that I have to turn off Facebook and only check my emails at break times during the day.

During ProGen one of our assignments was time management. We were given a link to Randy Pausch's time management video to watch if we were interested. He broke down tasks into a couple of categories. Things that needed to be done now, things that needed to be done now but could wait, things that could be done tomorrow or the next day, and things that needed to be done eventually (I'm paraphrasing here). I can say, as a mother of two young boys, this sort of organization comes naturally as I'm sure it does with most mothers. When we did this segment of ProGen, I felt like my time management was really good and I was able to accomplish a lot. So what changed?

What changed is that my youngest started kindergarten. Suddenly my days have opened up, and I started committing more of my time to school activities for both of my kids. I've since analyzed which activities are important to be involved with and those that aren't necessary. The other change has been my oldest child is having an extremely difficult year in school. This has taken some extra attention that wasn't needed before. There really isn't anything I can change about this. After all, my extra attention in this area is worth it and much needed.

I also decided to try not to pressure myself so much. My ancestors aren't going anywhere. Client work still gets priority over other tasks and gets done. If I don't blog as often, the world will keep going (wink). And if it takes a little extra time to get my portfolio work for BCG certification completed, well so be it. Sometimes life just happens, and you have to roll with it.