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Cool, so it's a valid source. My wife's family repeatedly changed their surname spelling and added de's and 'ills at various intervals, which made it difficult to follow. That PRDH project just saved me a whole lot of time and energy. Canadians and Mormons. Making genealogy easier since the 1800's.
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Jun 26, 2019 23:50
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Krispy Wafer posted:Cool, so it's a valid source. Yeah it’s about as good as you’re going to get. I like to joke the Canadians and the Catholic Church made it so comprehensive as an apology for the spaghetti of a family tree you have to navigate if you’re cursed with French-Canadian ancestry.
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Jun 27, 2019 05:53
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skipdogg posted:There's a lot of crappy genealogist. There's one lady who keeps screwing with my 3rd great grandfather on familysearch and removing factually correct information regarding his wife. I go back and fix it. So much BS out there from folks it makes it hard to trust other sources. Any serious research you do has to be kept private unfortunately, most public family trees etc. on most sites are inaccurate. It's usually a case of adding bad information rather than removing good though. I guess it's to do with sourcing? Familysearch doesn't feel like the most robust in terms of compiling info like that.
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Jun 27, 2019 08:38
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I can't get enough of are Dan
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I've tried to put some stuff on familysearch via combining various source entries from search results, but it seems kinda janky. The resulting profiles seem to miss some of the stuff I wanted there. Possibly this other person is clicking things badly and loving like I do, idk. Also I've submitted my manuscript to other Danish genealogists for their perusal and comments. There are still some TODOs and various typographical issues, but the main text is done 
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Jun 27, 2019 08:43
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The problem with familysearch is that anyone can edit anything you put up, duplicate it, 'correct' it etc. I do not put my stuff up on familysearch nor do I make my tree public, though I do have a note in my profile on all sites that says to just ask and I'll happily share. But I've seen too many people wholesale copy trees and then make their own 'corrections' (which then show up as 'hints' in my tree and others that people blindly attach which just spreads the misinformation) to allow that poo poo to happen to my hard work. There's still a dude out there that has my great-aunt listed as married to some dude in his tree I've never heard of even though his couple lived in a different city in the state and have different birthdays/years, just the same name. I knew the woman personally, goddamit she was not married to your Herbert or whatever in a town 100 miles away nor did she die in the 80s. I mean even the record he's attached lists her correct parents and husband how hard is it to take 30 seconds to READ THE SOURCE BEFORE ADDING IT gah.
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Jun 27, 2019 15:29
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HJB posted:Any serious research you do has to be kept private unfortunately, most public family trees etc. on most sites are inaccurate. It's usually a case of adding bad information rather than removing good though. I guess it's to do with sourcing? Familysearch doesn't feel like the most robust in terms of compiling info like that. It's not the best place.. but I do watch the first 4 generations of direct ancestors on the site just to keep an eye on them. Wikitree is probably the best place for publicly keeping info online.
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Jun 27, 2019 17:02
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Oracle posted:The problem with familysearch is that anyone can edit anything you put up, duplicate it, 'correct' it etc. I do not put my stuff up on familysearch nor do I make my tree public, though I do have a note in my profile on all sites that says to just ask and I'll happily share. But I've seen too many people wholesale copy trees and then make their own 'corrections' (which then show up as 'hints' in my tree and others that people blindly attach which just spreads the misinformation) to allow that poo poo to happen to my hard work. Huh...I always wondered why some people keep their trees private. I should probably try that. I keep the GEDCOM files available for download, but I'll probably need to privatize my public trees. I have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War and died in an Union POW camp. There's no record of his parents and multiple genealogists have been hunting years for a parental link. Someone found a guy three states over with the same last name and now that's popping up as the father. Even a cursory glance would confirm there's no way they're connected, but that's creating chaff over any effort to find the real parents. It's like a virus. Everything I look it up a few more family trees have added that in. It's unlikely we'd ever get a real answer anyway, but there's no way we're going to if everyone's taking this other lineage as canon.
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Jun 27, 2019 17:12
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Krispy Wafer posted:I have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War and died in an Union POW camp. There's no record of his parents and multiple genealogists have been hunting years for a parental link. Someone found a guy three states over with the same last name and now that's popping up as the father. Even a cursory glance would confirm there's no way they're connected, but that's creating chaff over any effort to find the real parents. It's like a virus. Everything I look it up a few more family trees have added that in.
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Jun 27, 2019 17:46
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Oracle posted:If anyone applied for pension as a war widow/orphan try and pull that file from the National Archives, those files can be hundreds of pages long and include a ridiculous amount of detail down to people he served with, where he grew up, and presumably parents names and where they were from originally. It'll cost you (they charge something ridiculous per page that it might be worth it to just go if you're anywhere on the East Coast and have them pull it for you and make your own copies) but the information can prove invaluable. Even for Confederates? I've got plenty of info on his spouse, so I'll have to look into that. I even found some CSA paperwork on him, but parents were not among that documentation. Still any direction is a good one. EDIT: looks like rebels are a little trickier. I have to go through the individual states (states rights LOL). I'll have to see if Sherman missed a spot and any paperwork missed being burned. Krispy Wafer fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Jun 27, 2019 |
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Jun 27, 2019 18:17
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Krispy Wafer posted:Even for Confederates? Do the records you found not list his hometown? Was he not around for the 1860 census?
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Jun 28, 2019 00:40
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Oracle posted:Do the records you found not list his hometown? Was he not around for the 1860 census? No hometown, just South Carolina as a birthplace. I only see him in the 1850 census when he was already married and living in Georgia with a couple of kids. Actually, I think I found his folks. My guy was born in South Carolina. In the 1830 census there is exactly one family in the whole of SC with their last name. The census is one of those where they just list the head of household and then categorize everyone else by age. So 2 free White males under 2, 2 free White males between the ages of 5 and 9, and so forth. My ancestor would have been 1 years old so that fits. Normally I'd assume the census records were incomplete and missing some families except... Go back to that 1850 census, the guy I'm researching has a son who is 2 years old and...wait for it, has the same first name as the father from the 1830 census. If you're going to name a kid after your father, it's probably going to be your first one. It's not the best link, but it's the best I got.
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Jun 28, 2019 13:30
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That sounds like a pretty good working hypothesis! Some ideas: What's the probate situation like? Do you have his marriage, does it list sponsors? Try tracing the other siblings, if possible. Do they end up in Georgia too?
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Jun 28, 2019 13:53
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Krankenstyle posted:That sounds like a pretty good working hypothesis! Some ideas: I have a document from the CSA regarding his death and whatever benefits his widow was entitled to. Milly, his wife, put a X for her name. There are some documents referencing his regiment. That's the extent of it. I do have an unsourced note that saying his son Thomas inherited a slave. He's also listed in a 1864 militia document even though he was only 16 years old. I wasn't that great at documenting my sources so I'm in the process of going back and redoing the family trees. As for his siblings, no idea. The census doesn't list anyone by name except for the father Thomas. I don't see any records earlier than 1830. Now that I have a home town though, I can look at the 1860 and 1880 censuses and try to reverse engineer anyone with that surname. With luck I'll find someone that links back to the original Thomas. I'm pretty stoked. My GGrandmother was a world class genealogist so all I've done is digitize her work and add a few details here and there. It's not often I can add another branch to the tree. Thanks, Oracle for making me look at those census records again.
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Jun 28, 2019 14:31
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Krispy Wafer posted:I have a document from the CSA regarding his death and whatever benefits his widow was entitled to. Milly, his wife, put a X for her name. There are some documents referencing his regiment. That's the extent of it. No problem! I've found a lot of stuff going back and looking at records that I'd either missed the first time around or otherwise forgotten about. Oh! Check the back of the 1840 census page you found the family on. It might take you back even further. quote:But, there is a secret hiding in the 1840 U.S. census. On the back of this census, the enumerators recorded those who were receiving Revolutionary War and other service pensions by name and age. The list also named the head-of-household in which the individual was residing.
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Jun 28, 2019 15:05
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This is the extent of the census data: The columns are: <5 5 - 9 40 - 50 So the oldest one is Thomas and his wife is between 20 and 30.
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Jun 28, 2019 15:50
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How about Thomas Senior's death/probate? If you're lucky he died late enough in time for it to say something like "son in Georgia"
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Jun 28, 2019 17:18
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I actually did find his probate documents. That may be a 1 step forward, 2 steps back kind of thing though. Everything is hand written and barely legible, but in my first go through I didn't see the son's name. This was in 1857, so my guy would have probably been several hundred miles away. Still, you'd think his name would show up. There was a significant accounting of estate assets and who got what so I just need to go back over it and try to discern what this chicken scratch is. I recognize 'widow' but that's about it.
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Jun 28, 2019 18:53
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I'll be happy to help decipher 
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Jun 28, 2019 19:24
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Krankenstyle posted:I'll be happy to help decipher Thanks. I'm going to first try and copy the image scans to my iPad so I can zoom in more. The ancestor in question was James Jason or Jason James so I need to figure out how the lawyer wrote his J's and just look for those.
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Jun 28, 2019 22:27
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Yeah I can help with this too. As An Old(tm) I read cursive easily and also have a bigass honkin' monitor to try and save my eyes when I decipher all the chicken scratch.
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Jun 28, 2019 23:13
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So I have more questions than answers from the estate probate. The guy I’m researching is Jason James Botts. His probable father is Thomas. He would have been the first born and living 500 miles away when Thomas died and he’s not in the will. There is a James J, but he’s 16 years old. There’s also a John whose 12. Maybe Thomas really liked J names. He should still be in the will, but maybe he had a falling out with his family. I went back on a few other children listed in the probate, but census records go cold after 1850 when my guy would have married and left. There are literally no other Botts listed in South Carolina, so I still have some confidence this is the correct path. Now I need to try and find some kind of record for Jason James that links him back to his hometown of Abbeville. Abbeville for all you trivia lovers is the birthplace and deathplace of the Confederacy. It was the first county in South Carolina to vote for secession and it was where Jefferson Davis hid out after escaping Richmond. He officially dissolved the Confederate government while there.
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Jun 29, 2019 12:58
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Ok, first thing I’d do is check for alternate spellings of the name or mistranscriptions. Batts, Bell/Belle/Bells, Bolts, Ball you get the idea. Some people are more helpful than competent or paid to do transcription and don’t care so get sloppy. A lot of times you can look at a record and the name is clear as freaking day and you wonder what they were thinking when they wrote it down wrong. I’d also try and find the wife’s family. Chances are they lived nearby and may have even been related. Once you have them see if you can find them further back and then look around the census pages to see if your family is in close proximity. Do her siblings aunts uncles etc. Sometimes one branch of the family is a lot more into genealogy than others and has done the work for you (or at least can give you alternate ideas to try/places to look). If he died young keep following the wife and her new husband and the kids (who may or may not be listed under husbands last name). Trace the new husband back a ways and see if he might not also have been related somewhere along the line. Check wife’s probate as well to see if she left anything for nieces or nephews or inherited something after someone else died. Land especially would be passed along through the family up down and sideways and parceled out and cut up. I’d also check the DAR records for your Botts surname. You have to provide pretty extensive documentation to join and again someone may have done the work for you or at least give you other avenues to explore (again never take anyone’s work as gospel and check their sources). Access to the database is here.
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Jun 29, 2019 14:13
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Soz can't help until Monday after next, ive left for roskilde festival. I'll be going over your posts after with corrections in mind tho 
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Jun 29, 2019 14:39
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Wife was from North Carolina. I will check out North Carolina for any Botts/Batts/Butts. Maybe he’s actually from there and some record keeper doesn’t know their cardinal directions.
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Jun 29, 2019 16:27
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Krispy Wafer posted:Wife was from North Carolina. I will check out North Carolina for any Botts/Batts/Butts. Maybe he’s actually from there and some record keeper doesn’t know their cardinal directions. North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia had a lot of crossover families. Don't forget to check for Bott/Batt/Butt etc. the s may have come later. Spelling was very... fluid back in the day.
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Jun 29, 2019 20:19
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I've been trying to shore up the evidence for my genealogy and I'm struggling with my paternal GG grandfather's generation. Based on records from the G grandfather's generation I know his name (not common), that he was born in AL and had my Ggrandfather in AR in the mid-1870's. I did a census search for those parameters and found a single match who would have been late 20's or early 30's when my G grandfather was born. He was born in AL and was living in the same township in AR in the 1860 census where my G grandfather was born 15 years later. That's it. He died not too much later and there are no censuses with both ancestors in the same household. There's only 7 years between my G grandfather's birth and my presumed GG grandfather's death. My G grandfather then doesn't appear in census records again until 1905 where he's already married with kids. If I make the assumption that the uncommon name, the birthplace and the residence are enough then it breaks open a few more generations of my family but this is definitely the most tenuous link right now. Any thoughts?
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Jul 2, 2019 13:46
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Your best shot IMO would be to go probate hunting. With any luck, your ancestor left a will that would name that son. Of course, your ancestor being that young when he died, it very likely went into administration instead and you may be out of luck. Another option given the mid-1870s to 1880 timeframe would be to try to find a newspaper obituary. 1875 to 1910 or so was the heyday of the rural newspaper and if they were notable enough you MIGHT get a listing of the kids’ names. It’s a little less of a sure thing though since your Arkansas locale may not have kept a newspaper archive or you might not luck out and only get a report that he died without even listing the number of kids he had. Finally there’s nominally still good old-fashioned church records, I suppose, but I haven’t had enough experience to know how reliable those are in Arkansas around that time. If those all fail I don’t have much else to suggest that I’d be comfortable relying on. A death certificate for the son may list his parents, but this is not a guarantee, and is obviously going to be unreliable, based on third party remembrances 50 to 80 years later. Depending on Arkansas laws, how long the son lived, and whether he needed one, there’s also a possibility the son might have had a delayed birth certificate issued while he was still alive, which might be marginally more reliable (but still based on second-hand knowledge 40 to 60 years on). The couple of delayed birth certificates I’ve found were issued in Illinois in the 1940s to people born in the late 1880s and 1890s, though, and not so much the mid 1870s so YMMV. ComradeCosmobot fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Jul 2, 2019 |
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Jul 2, 2019 14:30
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Oh hey Fold3 has free access for the Revolutionary War records until July 15. Enjoy searching out your traitorous ancestors.
Oracle fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Jul 2, 2019 |
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Jul 2, 2019 15:12
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Naffer posted:I've been trying to shore up the evidence for my genealogy and I'm struggling with my paternal GG grandfather's generation. Based on records from the G grandfather's generation I know his name (not common), that he was born in AL and had my Ggrandfather in AR in the mid-1870's. I did a census search for those parameters and found a single match who would have been late 20's or early 30's when my G grandfather was born. He was born in AL and was living in the same township in AR in the 1860 census where my G grandfather was born 15 years later. How far are you from Arkansas? Do you know of any historical societies or genealogical groups in the county you found the record in who might know something or be able to find something out? It might be time to beat feet and head on out and do some actual archive digging (or beg/borrow/pay someone else to look for you). I would also check for probate for your great-grandfather, it may mention siblings who might have a clearer connection to ggf or cousins who were chosen as executors of the will since they didn't have a direct financial stake. Also look for same last name families mentioned in the same census in the same general area also from AL; lots of families set up shop (or farm) right next to each other when they moved and sometimes you can use those families to get back further. Sometimes you gotta spread out and go down to go back up (another branch). DNA testing can also help with some of these, either confirming your suspicion that someone is a relative or disproving it. Oracle fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Jul 2, 2019 |
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Jul 2, 2019 15:17
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ComradeCosmobot posted:Your best shot IMO would be to go probate hunting. With any luck, your ancestor left a will that would name that son. Of course, your ancestor being that young when he died, it very likely went into administration instead and you may be out of luck. One thing, I miscounted and need to add an extra great to everyone. I have a marriage certificate for the son which is how I know his parent's names and birthplaces. I've been looking for archives of papers in AR lately without luck yet. I found a ton of info on the son in local papers. They seemed to report on everything! Oracle posted:How far are you from Arkansas? Do you know of any historical societies or genealogical groups in the county you found the record in who might know something or be able to find something out? It might be time to beat feet and head on out and do some actual archive digging (or beg/borrow/pay someone else to look for you). I'm actually not far. Maybe this is the best bet.
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Jul 2, 2019 15:22
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Ancestry just made some beta features live and permanent and there is some crazy poo poo goin' on. Nice explanation/tutorial can be found here if you're boggling at all the new tagging/color coding/cousin matches etc. You may also notice weird stuff happening with your tree like duplicates showing up, siblings as parents etc. Don't touch anything and wait a few days before you panic, it seems like this always happens after a major release and they usually figure it out.
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Jul 2, 2019 16:03
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Thru Lines helps solidify some iffy connections in my tree. I was like 90% certain, but the DNA match helps solidify it in my head anyway.
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Jul 2, 2019 20:55
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skipdogg posted:Thru Lines helps solidify some iffy connections in my tree. I was like 90% certain, but the DNA match helps solidify it in my head anyway. Yeah, though mostly it just tells me how many French-Canadian cousins I have from my 8th great-grandfather (51 on one line alone jesus endogamy is a bitch)
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Jul 2, 2019 22:29
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Krispy Wafer posted:Wife was from North Carolina. I will check out North Carolina for any Botts/Batts/Butts. Maybe he’s actually from there and some record keeper doesn’t know their cardinal directions. Found this in one of my many FB genealogy groups and thought of you.
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Jul 3, 2019 01:18
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Oracle posted:Found this in one of my many FB genealogy groups and thought of you. That sounds like me alright. Ends up there are there is only one instance of the Botts family name in North or South Carolina in the census so the only thing keeping me from being 100% sure is the lack of my descendant’s name on his father’s probate. So it’s going in, but I’ll add an asterisk.
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Jul 3, 2019 02:29
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Hey lookie here the annual Ancestry 4th of July sale is on (may not apply to you non-American commies) AncestryDNA is only $59 (US only) and memberships are 50% off for July 4th, now through 9:00pm PST on Thursday, July 4th (the link above benefits the Kits for Kindness program run through DNA Detectives, which helps adoptees and others who don't know their birth parents and can't afford to buy kits) If you already have a subscription, what works for me is to cancel it pick 'too expensive' as your reason, then look and see if they new rates are offered when you sign up (usually six months at a time). If not you can call ancestry's 1-800 number and have them apply it. Oracle fucked around with this message at 18:06 on Jul 3, 2019 |
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Jul 3, 2019 16:15
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Whoa wait, if I call the Ancestry number they’ll let me buy one of those cheap subscriptions even if I already have one? Also is there any benefit to doing the Ancestry DNA if I already did the Y-DNA test through another provider?
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Jul 3, 2019 16:54
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Krispy Wafer posted:Whoa wait, if I call the Ancestry number they’ll let me buy one of those cheap subscriptions even if I already have one? quote:Also is there any benefit to doing the Ancestry DNA if I already did the Y-DNA test through another provider? Oracle fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Jul 3, 2019 |
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Jul 3, 2019 17:31
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Ok. I’ll provide a trip report on how well canceling and reactivating works and I’ll use the savings to buy another DNA test. Edit: ends up my 6 month subscription was renewing today. So I cancelled it, called up, and renewed for 50% off. Thanks for the tip! Krispy Wafer fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jul 3, 2019 |
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Jul 3, 2019 17:44
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Krispy Wafer posted:Ok. I’ll provide a trip report on how well canceling and reactivating works and I’ll use the savings to buy another DNA test. No problem. Now don't forget to do the same thing on New Years, they offer another 50% off deal sometime in early Jan. and its good til (you guessed it) July!
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Jul 3, 2019 20:28
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