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December 29, 2004

Family Bible Records Online

Family Bible Records posted today by Brian of AncestorsAtRest.comon http://familybibles.blogspot.com/

WILDER Bible 1840s, probably New England
SHAW Bible 1831-1951
SMITH Bible 1874
HALLADAY Bible 1840s
1850 Bible McClure Brady Duncan Families
CHAPIN SCOTT Bible 1825
1848 Bible Pennsylvania MAUGER BAKER Families
1848 Bible Hyndman & Walker Families
Vermont BIBLE with Hyde family genealogy 1812

Shipwrecks & Passengers/Crew 1830-1873 online

Olive Tree Genealogy has just finished putting online a set of records for all to enjoy.

It is a list of vessels sailing out of Gloucester Massachusetts, and their crews who were lost at sea between the years 1830 to October 1, 1873.

There are 1437 names of those lost, plus the names of 296 Vessels in this set of records. Sometimes passengers were on board, as well as crew members

Olive Tree Volunteers have finished up to 1860 and these online. The rest will follow as completed.

Start at the intro then click through by year for lists of those lost.
http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/gloucester.shtml

Some of the places mentioned where the ships went down are given as Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Boston, Maine,and more

There are interesting tidbits with the lists, both of those who died and those who survived. For example the tale of this young man on board the Sevo in 1857, would be great to have if he is your ancestor!

"Winthrop Sargent, a lad of twelve years crawled out to the end of the bowsprit, and as the vessal was going down, grasped a splitting table which floated by, and by his
cries attracted the attention of those on board the steamer, who rescued him with much difficulty"

The story goes on to add "On the return trip of the steamer, young Sargent was brought home,and at two o'clock in the morning,was landed at Eastern point, and lad though he was, commenced his lonely journey of walking to town. He reached his father's house at about four o'clock, and knowing that he slept in a bed-room on the lower floor, tapped on the window. His father immediately awoke and exclaimed, "Who
is there?", "It's your boy Winthrop, " was the reply. Mr. Sargent at first thought it must be the ghost of the lad, as he had given him up as drowned, but young Winthrop had no idea of being taken for a ghost, and soon gave evidence that he was alive and well, which caused great rejoicing in the family. "

Here's an example of what you can find written about those who perished:

"Schooner JOHN FRANKLIN was lost while coming from Prince Edward Island, in the winter of 1858-59. Had several passengers on board, and it is supposed fourteen
persons went down in this vessel. Her Crew list was as follows: John McDonald, Master; Dennis Murphy, Mate, John Cogle, Neil McNeil, Angus Chisholm, Edward Malady. The family of Cogle were among the Passengers"

December 18, 2004

Finding Immigration Records in St. Alban's Border Crossings (USA-Canada)

Many immigrants came to US via Canada as fares were generally much cheaper that way.

In 1895 Canada and USA established a joint inspection system. Passengers arriving in Canada who intended to go on to United States were inspected by US Officials at the
Canadian Port of Arrival, then enumerated on US immigration lists. Immigrants were also given inspection cards which they turned in to US Officials once they were on board trains going to United States. Two sets of records were created - passenger lists and compiled inspection cards.

These CANADIAN BORDER CROSSING records were microfilmed by INS. They cover 1895-1954 and are indexed. They do NOT include Canadians before 1906. After September 30, 1906
both Canadians and non-Canadians are included on these lists.

For more information on the St Albans (Canadian Border Crossing) Lists (including film numbers), see
http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/stalbanslist.shtml

December 14, 2004

Census, census, census! Using Clues to Find Ancestors

Lorine, of the Olive Tree Genealogy website, answers a question posed on Roots-L mailing list. A case study of how a few clues can lead you in the right direction once you think about what you really know, and where you need to look next.

Q: My Grandparents were: Guy Lucian Martin and Geraldine (possibly spelled Geraldeen) Lyle. My grandfather was supposedly born January, 1899 in Purdy Co. Oklahoma. My Grandmother was (supposedly) born in Tennessee circa 1905. With so, so many sites with conflicting records, one could go crazy!

Lorine's A: Start with the U.S. census - it will help you sort
out family groups. It will also give you birth locations and approximate years, plus parents places of birth and much more (depending on the census year)

First, I'd go to http://allcensusrecords.com/ and see what questions are asked on each census. Then I'd start looking for your family, going backwards one census year at a time.

For the ancestors you named above, you have some great clues to get you started -- look for Guy in the 1910 census, see if you can find his parents. He'd be about 11
years old. Same for Geraldine. She would be a 5 year old (or 4 or 6, don't be too concerned if the ages are out by a year or so)

Q: My Grandmother's parents were: Sidney Lyle and Georgia Lovell. Where they were born is a mystery as well, I would presume late 1800s?

Lorine's A: Okay so you have Geraldine's parents names - find them in 1910, then 1900 then 1880 census....get an approximate year of birth and a location of birth for both of them.

Q: My father as well was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma September 2, 1926. His name was James Kenneth Rothner. Him, of course, I know about, however HIS Mother and father are, to say the least are a mystery!

Lorine's A: You have so many more clues than you realize. You can find your dad and his parents in the 1930 census! He will be about 4 years old. Finding them will give you great clues and you can then work backwards on this family - to 1920, 1910 etc.

Q: His mother's name was Joy Rothner, nee: Davis. She was supposedly born in Tennessee. My grandfather was Frank Rothner, where, when, he was born I cannot find.

Lorine's A: Census, census census... I can't stress this enough. Get those census records from 1930 back, and get your family groups in order. Write down everything you find! Keep careful track of dates of birth, locations of birth,
parents birth locations, etc.

Be sure to keep track of all children, don't just focus on your direct ancestor. You never know when you will need to find out something that will require the name of a sibling or research on a sibling will lead you to the parents....

http://allcensusrecords.com/ will get you started, and give you an idea of where to look for the census you need. Once you get back to 1880 it's online for free at http://familysearch.org/

There are some tips and suggestions for using search engines effectively at
http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/ If you are new to searching, you might not get good results if you don't know
how to widen your searches to allow for spelling errors and mistakes in indexing.

Here's an example of what census research can tell you. I had a quick look in the
1930 census for your Frank and Joy and James Kenneth... It took a bit of time but I found them. Frank's real name is Theodore. That's a good example of family lore being not quite correct. James Kenneth is listed as Kenneth J. The surname is indexed as rothMer, but on the census page itself it is rothNer. (although the surname is a bit smudged and could easily be misread as rothMer)

So it's kind of hard to find them in an index unless you are willing to search under the last name (using wildcards!) and location and check every possibility

Here's where they are: Oklahoma > Tulsa > Tulsa > District 116

Brief extract:

  • Rothner, Theodore, head age 27, b Missouri, md at age 18, father and mother born "United States"
  • Rothner, Joy J? or G?, wife, age 28, b Arkansas, father b Illinois, mother b Texas
  • Rothner,Frank S son 5 b OK
  • Rothner,Kenneth J son 3 b OK
  • Rothner,Teddy son 1 b OK
  • Davis, Mary E., mother in law 61, widow, md at age 31, b Texas, father b Mississippi mother b Tennesee
  • Berry, Sadie, aunt (more details in the census)
  • Davis, Winnie B, brother in law (more details in the census)

I didn't write out all the details, but you can see what a fantastic amount of new facts you have now added to your family tree with one census record!

You now know that your grandfather went by the name Theodore -- and you have some new questions to answer - did he also use the name Frank, or was that a mis-remembered piece of family lore?

You have approximate years and places of birth for your grandparents Theodore Rothner and his wife Joy Davis.

You have Joy's mother's name, approx. year of birth and place of birth.

You have Joy's mother's approximate year of marriage - and can look for a marriage certificate

You have Joy's father's place of birth and you know he died before 1930.

You have a brother for your Joy. You have an aunt Sadie -- it's up to you to find out how she fits into the family. Since the relationship of each person is given re the head of the house, we might expect that Sadie is Theodore's aunt. However you need to take a good look at the census details and keep an open mind. This may be very helpful as you continue backwards on the Rothner & Davis families.

You have an approximate year of marriage for Theodore and Joy, given his age of 18 at marriage, so now you can look for a marriage certificate - the fun just goes on and on! I only looked in one census for one of your family lines - and you have several more to go.

I'm itching to search this family myself, what fun you are going to have!