Don't Let Family Lore Confuse You!

Shannah wrote to ask Olive Tree Genealogy about her Great grandfather William James Twiss

I have been trying to find out where my Grfa., TWISS, William James, had "landed" for over ten years, to no avail, from Cty. Cork, Ireland to New York, USA..  He was a mere 17 year old, at the time.  

The story I was told was that it was my Grfa. who had left Cork, Ireland, from Sept. to December of 1887 (I believe these are the months) on the Barque Julia, from Edinburough to Cork and to New York.  This particular Barque was a ship of supplies and the Captain was a friend of my Gr-Grpars., TWISS, Francis Edward Day, Sr..  It was my Grfa. who had suggested that he, himself, come out to Canada, first and they allowed it but he must go with someone they knew.  It was only a few days' trip and have researched into several ports along the eastern coast to no avail.  When he had landed, he had stayed with friends of his pars., (never knew who they were) Francis Edward Day and Ellen THOMPSON, in New York for a while then travelled up into BINBROOK, Wentworth Cty., Ontario, Canada to stay with our cousins/family there while his own pars. arrived through Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the following springtime.

 Shannah - 

Here is what I found which does not seem to agree with your family lore. That is not unusual as family lore can be family myth and is often incorrect or confused. Don't let it lead you down the wrong path when researching!

Source: Ancestry.com

Ed Twiss, age 40, farmer, his wife Ellen age 40 and three daughters Sarah
(20) Mildred (17) and Marcella (17) arrived 4 September 1888 at Halifax  on
board the steamer Peruvian. Their destination was noted as "Victoria BC"
Your ancestor is not with them on this journey.

The 1901 Census for British Columbia shows the family as Edward D. Twiss born 1839 Ontario, his wife Ellen born 1842 Ireland and two children - your ancestor William born 1872 Ireland and his sister Marcia born 1877 Ireland. Their year of immigration of Ellen and her children is given as 1889. 

We find Edward Day Twiss dying in July 1925 in British Columbia and his son William James dying in February 1953 in Vancouver British Columbia. His death registration found on FamilySearch indicates his date of birth as 11 November 1869, his father as Edward Day Twiss, his mother as Ellen Thomson and his wife as Sadie Jewell Brenton.

There are several death records on FamilySearch for your siblings of your William James Twiss: Mildred Jemima Twiss born 22 Sep 1868; Sarah Helena Nash Keen born 1866 in Kerry Ireland; Marcella Ellen Moodie born 22 Mar 1875 in Co. Kerry. Also William James Twiss marriage record 05 Jul 1906 shows he was born in Kerry, Ireland too. All these records come with images - how lucky is that!

I did find a few other items that might interest you - namely the marriage of William's father Edward to Ellen Thompson in Killarney Ireland. Her father is recorded as James Thompson. This might give you clues for more research in Killarney for the family.

 I found the birth of another son named Edward born 05 Sept 1872 in Ireland to Edward D. Twiss and his wife Ellen Thompson. Sarah Helena Twiss' birth was also found in the Irish birth records and her place of birth is recorded as Castle Island, Kerry Ireland. 

I am beginning to envy you all the records for your ancestors! And best of all here is your ancestor William James Twiss. A second birth record for William shows his place of birth as Annascall, Kerry Ireland. Now you have an exact date of birth and a location. Armed with this new information you have a lot of clues to help you in your search.

Summary of my findings:
Edward Day Twiss married Ellen Thomson/Thompson daughter of James in 1865 in Killarney, Kerry Ireland.  They immigrated to Canada 1888

Children:
* Sarah Helena Twiss  born 1866 in Castle Island, Kerry Ireland md 1 Nash m2 1893 B.C. John Keen, immigrated to Canada 1888
* Mildred Jemima Twiss born 1868 Castle Island, Kerry Ireland immigrated to Canada 1888
* William James Twiss born 1869 Annascall, Kerry Ireland md. 1906 B.C. Sadie Bointon
* Edward Twiss born 1872 Ireland
* Marcella Ellen Twiss  born 22 Mar 1875 in Kerry Ireland md. Walter Moodie
immigrated to Canada 1888

Are You Stuck Trying to Find an Ancestor's Birth Record?

Most genealogists search the obvious birth records such as Church records and Vital Stats (Birth Registrations or Certificates). These records are fairly well known but before Civil Registration began in whatever country your ancestor was from, you will have to look for other records for a birth date.

If we don't find our ancestor in one of those common birth records, we're stuck! Where to search next? The Ancestor Birth Finder can help direct you to alternate sources for birth records. All we need to do is think outside the box.

What happens when a child is born? When a woman becomes pregnant? What events take place around the birth of a child? What kind of birth record paper trail is created on the birth of an individual? The answers to these questions will lead you to other sources of birth records and hopefully end that brick-wall.

When an ancestor is born, many records leading up to and surrounding that birth might be created. Let's talk about records kept before an ancestor is born, and those created after a birth up to the individual’s death.

Ancestor Birth Record Finder: Tips on Finding a Birth Record When You've Hit a Brick Wall is available on Amazon and Amazon.ca as an ebook or paperback

Announcement re 100 Million Dutch Records on Ancestry

The following announcement was sent to Olive Tree Genealogy yesterday:

More than 100 million birth, marriage and death records from the Netherlands are available online for the first time thanks to an agreement between Ancestry.com, the leader in family history and consumer genomics and CBG, the Netherlands Centre for Family History.

The collection is made up of indexes of civil registration records, population registers, church registers and family announcements from a comprehensive network of archive organisations within the Netherlands. Most of the records cover events from the 19th and 20th Century.

To date this collection has only been available in its entirety via the dedicated WieWasWie database, as operated by the Netherlands Centre for Family History. Now these records can be accessed and shared by Ancestry’s 2.5 million family history enthusiasts around the world.

Nikolai Donitzky, Ancestry’s Managing Director of Content for Europe, comments: “The Centre for Family History and regional archives have done a remarkable job in gathering and digitizing these records across the country. We are delighted to help share this extensive collection of Dutch records with a worldwide audience.” Leo Voogt (Executive Director of CBG) adds: We have worked with the archive community in the Netherlands to provide a unified window on all our joint genealogical records. Working with Ancestry.com will generate an enormous additional audience for these holdings and will drive new traffic to the sites of the participating institutions in the Netherlands.

The collection is available on Ancestry.com from 6th June, 2016.

Births of Children of slaves, 1804-1835 in New Jersey

An interesting database came online recently on the New Jersey State Archives website. It's called Births of Children of slaves, 1804-1835  in New Jersey

According to the website

The records in this series are the direct result of "An act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery" passed by the New Jersey Legislature on 15 February 1804 (P.L. 1804, chap. CIV, p. 251). This law pronounced every child born to a slave mother after 4 July 1804 "free" at birth, but bound as a servant to the owner of the mother until the age of twenty-five for males and twenty-one for females. Any person entitled by the law to such bound service was required to file with the county clerk, within nine months of the birth of the child, a written certificate containing the name of the slave owner and the name, age and sex of the child. The clerk in turn was directed to record the information in a special book for this purpose. The penalty for neglecting to deliver such a certificate was $5 plus an additional $1 for each month of delinquency. The law also allowed for the abandonment of such children by the owners of their mothers at the age of one year. In this case, the child would become a ward of the local overseers of the poor; the slave owner was required to file a notification of abandonment with the county clerk.

New Genealogy & History Records on Heritage Website

This is an announcement from Library and Archives Canada:

The following is a list of digitized microfilms that have been recently added to the Héritage website. Please note that although the titles have been translated, the records are still in the language of origin.

• Amherst Papers
• Canada. Department of the Interior: Letters patent
• Canadian Home Economics Association fonds
• Department of Canadian Heritage, Canadian Parks Service: Park/subject classification system
• Department of Indian Affairs, Edmonton Agency: General operational records
• Department of Indian Affairs, Manitoba Regional Office: Central registry files
• Dominion Lands Branch registry
• France, Archives Nationales. Contrôle général des finances. Sous-série G7 [French National Archives fonds, finances records, sub-series G7]
• Frank Wright fonds
• Henry Elvins Spencer fonds
• Henry Pringle fonds
• Immigration Program: Headquarters central registry files
• Indian and Inuit Affairs Program: Modified duplex numeric system
• Ministry of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada: Courts martial records, 1914-1919
• Parish registers: Manitoba
• Registrar of Shipping New Carlisle [Quebec], 1856-1902, and Quebec City [Québec], 1787-1965
• Radnik fonds
• Roderick K. Finlayson fonds
• Sir Henry James Warre fonds
• William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth fonds
• William Osgoode fonds

Credits: "Announcement Quote. Eps10" by 2nix on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Free Access to All Canadian birth, marriage and death records

Free access until January 27, 2014, 11:59p.m. (ET) to All Canadian birth, marriage and death records on Ancestry.ca 

To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.ca with your name and email address. Once you have registered you  will be sent a user name and password to access the records. 

If you haven’t already, you will be prompted to register once you start trying to search and view the records. After January 27, 2014, you will only be able to view these records using an Ancestry.ca paid membership.

So don't wait! If you have Canadian ancestors now is your chance to find their Vital Statistics records. 

Ancestor Birth Record Finder - Alternate Ways to Find Birth Information

Does this sound familiar? 

You've completed your family Pedigree Chart and Group Sheet. You've hunted for ancestor death and burial records.

You looked for marriage records and now are ready to hunt for births or baptisms of your ancestors.  

Birth Registrations or Church Baptismal Records often contain the following genealogical information:

• Names of parents of the child, including maiden name of mother
• Ages of parents
• Place and exact date of birth of child
• Occupation of father
• Information regarding legal status of marriage

Sadly you have not been able to find a record of your ancestor's birth and you aren't sure where to look next. Ancestor Birth Record Finder: Tips on Finding a Birth Record When You've Hit a Brick Wall is available on Amazon as  an E-Book for only $1.15

Also be sure you trace all siblings of your ancestor. This will help you later when you reach that brick wall and don't know where to turn next. Remember, one sibling's birth or baptism record might have full information on his parents. This is very helpful if your ancestor's was in the church that lost its records in a fire. 


Information: Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net. Article previously published on Olive Tree Genealogy in "New to Genealogy - Help for Beginners. Start Your Journey to Find Your Family Tree. Step 6: Find Birth or Baptism Records " at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/beginner/step6.shtml

Ancestor Birth Record Finder

Can't find your ancestor in Birth records?

Most genealogists search Birth records such as Church records and Vital Stats (Birth Registrations or Certificates). If we don't find our ancestor in one of those birth records, we're stuck! Where to search next? My ABF (Ancestor Birth Finder) can help. I am pleased to announce that the complete book Ancestor Birth Record Finder: Tips on Finding a Birth Record When You've Hit a Brick Wall is available on Amazon as  an E-Book for only $1.15

What happens when a child is born? When a woman becomes pregnant? What events take place around the birth of a child? What kind of birth record paper trail is created on the birth of an individual? The answers to these questions will lead you to other sources of birth records and hopefully end that brick-wall.

When an ancestor is born, many records leading up to and surrounding that birth might be created. Let's talk about records kept before an ancestor birth and those created after a birth.