Sharing Memories Week 19: My Mother the Adventurer!

Join us for Sharing Memories - A Genealogy Journey We focus on memories of our parents, grandparents and others. We write for our children and grandchildren, that the memories are not lost over time. I hope you are keeping a journal, whether it is private or public, and joining us as we write our memoirs.

My mother was a character. She wasn't a warm fuzzy mother but she was into living life to the fullest.  She was fiercely independent and proud and she taught me that you should not depend on others to take care of you. You must be self-sufficient in all ways, and make your own way in the world.

A tiny woman, only 5'2" tall, she made up for her lack of height with a feisty attitude. No one would force Mom to back down! When she was in her mid 50s she decided to retire, sell all her possessions, buy a Winnebago and travel. She convinced her mother (in her 70s) and older sister to go with her. 

Mother, Lily and Grandma Ruth traveling in their Winnebago

Mom took a mechanics course to learn how to fix the car they towed behind them.  They traveled all over N. America and Mexico for many years. Mom did all the driving, Lily (her sister) did the cooking and cleaning. They were even written about twice in Motor Home Magazines!

When mother was 80 she decided to hike through Australia with nothing but a pink Barbie backpack. She wanted a hot air balloon ride for her 80th birthday and was determined to do it in Australia. So off she went! On her own.

That was the start of 10 years of constant travel. Every year she took one major trip - to S. Africa, to Russia, to China, New Zealand, back to Australia, to Denmark, Sweden, Finland and many other places. In between her big trips she took what she called "little jaunts" - to England, New York, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Alaska... I can't remember everywhere she went, it seemed she was always off somewhere.

She usually went alone, sometimes she booked a tour, but S. Africa she did on her own which was very worrisome to me. Her last big trip was around age 90 when she and her younger sister went camping in the Australian outback for 2 weeks. Everyone in the group was in their 30s except Mom and her sister.

Godfrey, Mother & UltraLight

At age 60 she learned to fly an airplane and was within a few hours of getting her pilot's license when she stopped the lessons. I don't know why, Mom would never let on she couldn't do something, but she might have quit simply because she only took the lessons so she could fly the ultralight that she and her companion were building!

In her 70s she moved to British Columbia with her companion and they began going on little impulsive adventures. She phoned me once from a highway en route to Alaska. She and Godfrey (her companion) had decided on the spur of the moment to take a pup tent and go to Alaska so off they went.

Another time she phoned from somewhere on the West coast of America, saying she was on her way to the Rose Bowl Parade. She and Godfrey had gone to Tim Horton's for a coffee and over coffee decided to get in the truck and start driving until they reached California. They didn't even go home to pack a toothbrush or clothes, they left from the Coffee Shop.

When she would visit me at my home she'd bring a tent and pitch it in my backyard. I was horrified the first time that happened, and begged her to come inside and sleep in my guest room. She refused, saying she preferred to sleep under the stars. I was very upset and told her the neighbours would think I was a horrible daughter. She smiled, patted my hand and said "Dear, just let me do my own thing"

And that was my mother - doing her own thing until her death at age 93. A character who led an active, full and interesting life!

6 Generations of Mothers on Mother's Day

 

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers past and present. The collage above shows 6 unbroken generations of my female lineage - from one mother to the next.

Starting from the left we have Sarah Stead, my great-great grandmother. Next is Sarah's daughter Sarah Simpson, my great grandmother. Then we have Sarah Simpson's daughter Ruth Fuller, my grandmother. Then comes Ruth's daughter Joan, my mother. Then me and then my daughter Judy. Then our direct maternal line is done as my daughter had sons but no daughters.

These 6 mothers had a total of 24 children. Sarah Elvery Stead died at the age of 31 and of her 6 children, only 4 lived to be raised by step-mothers. Sarah Jane Stead Simpson lived to a good age of 89 and raised 6 children. My grandmother always spoke of her mother with love and affection. My grandmother Ruth Simpson Fuller had 3 children and lived to be 90 years old. Then my mother Joan had 4 children and lived to ripe old age of 93!

My mother was an interesting character with an adventurous spirit. I'm going to talk more about her today in my weekly  Sharing Memories blog post. If it were later in the day I'd raise a glass to all the mothers who went before me but because it's early morning I'll just take a few moments of silent thank you to all of them.

Soldier's Letter from WW2 found Sixty Years Later and Returned

Representation of WW2 letters

This is touching story about a woman who found a letter written by a soldier that was 60 years old. She tracked down descendants and sent the letter home.

The letter was found in a pile of paperbacks that Sandi Blood purchased and was dated November 1951 and sent from a G. LeBlanc. U.S. Army Pvt. Gilles LeBlanc wrote the three-page letter to his girlfriend, Carole Petch in Toronto, Ontario Canada. 

With the help of social media, Blood was able to find the now 83 year old soldier living in Detroit Michigan

Read the complete story at "Woman finds love letter 6 decades old and tracks down soldier who wrote it" on the Washington Post.

Mother's Day Special on DNA Kits

Don't miss out on this opportunity to buy Ancestry.com DNA kits at a reduced price! 

You can purchase these DNA kits at this low price  until May 12 11pm PST

Read about Olive Tree Genealogy's DNA journey to find out what DNA can tell you about your ancestral origins. Connecting with new cousins is just one of the many benefits. 

The Childen's Home Website Now Online

The first phase of The Children's Home website by Peter Higginson is now live. According to Peter who also created The Workhouse website:

The Children's Homes website aims to provide information on all of the many and varied institutions that — for whatever reason — became home for thousands of children and young people in Britain. They include a wide variety of establishments ranging from orphanages, homes for those in poverty, and children with special needs, through to reformatories, industrial and approved schools, training ships, and hostels.

Peter did an amazing job with his Workhouse website and I have no doubt that his Children's Home site will be as detailed. 

If you have British ancestors from the United Kingdom you won't want to miss this. For those looking for ancestors in N. American Orphanages please see Orphan & Orphanage Records for links to online databases

Credit: Photo of orphan children courtesy of Family Tree Connection.

Author of First Book I Owned at Age 10 is Dead. RIP Farley Mowat

Farley Mowat, well-known Canadian author is dead at age 92. The first book I ever owned  was Farley's The Dog Who Wouldn't Be. I was so excited to own an actual book. I was 10 years old and reading was very much encouraged in our family. 

I read everything I could get my hands on - my mother's Reader's Digests, True Detective Magazine, mother's collection of Frank Yerby books. I know, not the usual fare for a young child but my mother did not believe in censorship. Her theory was that if I read something not meant for a child I probably wouldn't understand it anyway!

But The Dog Who Wouldn't Be was the first book that was mine. I could write my name in it. And I did. I loved the story and read that book so many times it almost fell apart. The next book I was given was "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott and I loved it too. But then came "Never Cry Wolf" by Mowat and I was hooked. I was a confirmed Farley Mowat fan. 

I've found that the majority of genealogists love to read. They love libraries and archives and reading pretty much anything they can find, not just for research purposes. So fellow genealogists, if Farley Mowat's novels are new to you, please do yourself a favour and check out one of his books. They are well worth your time.

RIP Farley.

52 Ancestors: William Solomon and His Ojibwa Wife

Voyageurs: Lewis Solomon on left

I'm writing about my daughter-in-law's 6th great grandfather William Solomon as part of Amy Crow's Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks .

William Solomon was the fourth child of Ezekiel Solomon, a German Jewish merchant who had come to New France from Berlin during the Seven Years' War and acted as a supplier to the British army. Following the conquest, Ezekiel Solomon, one of the first non-French fur traders to penetrate as far as the upper Great Lakes, spent part of each year in the interior and the remainder at Montreal, where William apparently received some education. 

By the mid 1790's William was working in the interior as an employee of the North West Company, and he evidently lived for some time with his parents on Mackinac Island (Michigan). There he and an Ojibwa woman, Agibicocoua, had an illegitimate daughter, who was baptized on July 28, 1796. In 1797, 1799, and 1800 he fathered three other illegitimate children. Shortly thereafter he appears to have married Marguerite Johnston, who had been born on Mackinac Isand. The were to have ten children.

William is the 7th great grandfather of four of my grandchildren and his life story is fascinating. His son Lewis Solomon wrote the following narrative:

My name is Lewis Solomon-spelled L-e-w-i-s-though they call me Louie. I was born on Drummond Island in 1821, moved to St. Joseph Island in 1825, back to Drummond Island again, and then to Penetanguishene in 1829. 

My father's name was William Solomon, Government interpreter. His father, Ezekiel Solomon, was born in the city of Berlin, Germany, came to Montreal and went up to the "Sault." [Sault Ste Marie] My father was appointed Indian interpreter by the British Government and was at Mackinaw during the War of 1812, then moved to Drummond Island with the British forces, and afterwards to Penetanguishene. 

My mother's maiden name was Johnston, born in Mackinaw, where she and my father were married. She died in Penetanguishene. My father received his discharge under Sir John Colborne, retiring on a pension of seventy-five cents a day after a continued service of fifty-six years with the Government, and he died at Penetanguishene also.

When the military forces removed from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, the Government authorities chartered the brig Wellington to carry the soldiers, military and naval supplies, and government stores; but the vessel was too small, and they were obliged to charter another vessel, and my father was instructed by the Government to charter the schooner Hackett (Alice) commanded by the owner, Capt. Hackett.

My father came to Penetanguishene in another vessel with the officers and soldiers. The rest of the family left Drummond Island the next spring (1829). We started on the 25th of June and arrived at Penetanguishene on the 13th of July, coming in a bateau around by the north shore, and camping every night on the way.

My mother, brother Henry and his wife and eight children, myself, Joseph Gurneau and his wife, and two men hired to assist (Francis Gerair, a French-Canadian, and Gow-bow, an Indian), all came in one bateau. We camped one night at the Hudson's Bay Company's fort at Killarney. We landed at the Barrack's Point, near the site of the garrison, and where the officers' quarters were erected, now occupied as a residence by Mr. Band, the Bursar of the Reformatory. We camped there in huts made of poles covered with cedar bark. 

There were only three houses there: a block-house, the quarters of Capt. Woodin, the post-commander; a log-house covered with cedar bark for the sailors near the shore; and a log-house on the hill, called the "Masonic Arms," a place of entertamment kept by Mrs. Johnson.

William brought the Drummond Island settlers to Penetanguishene. They left Michilmackinac on November 16, 1828. A severe snowstorm slowed their progress and the Brig Wellington with its 91 passengers arrived in Penetanguishene November 28, 1828. He died at Penetanguishene on Jan. 26, 1867 and is buried at the old St. Anne's cemetery beside his wife Marguerite.

There is quite a bit of biographical information on William Solomon, such as the following: 

Solomon supported his growing family by working at Michilmackinac, on Mackinac Island, as a clerk for the merchant Joseph Guy and occasionally by doing some interpreting, since he had learned several Indian languages. In 1809 his father died, leaving him land on Mackinac Island and on the mainland at Saint Ignace (Michigan). Though Mackinac had been turned over by the British to the United States in 1796, in accordance with Jay's Treaty, Solomon felt no strong loyalty to the Stars and Stripes. After war broke out between the United States and Great Britain in 1812, a force assembled by Captain Charles Roberts swiftly descended upon Mackinac Island and captured the fort and town for the British on July 17, the first military action of the war and a source of some satisfaction to Solomon. By February 1814 he had secured a position with the Indian Department as an interpreter at 4s 6d per day.

Since the number of British soldiers at Mackinac Island was small, their Indian allies were vital for their survival. When the Americans attempted to recapture the island in 1814, it was the Indians who swung the battle in favour of the British. The Americans never took Mackinac, but under the Treaty of Ghent it was returned to the United States. In July 1815 the British under Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall, withdrew their forces. The following month they settled on nearby Drummond Island and Solomon and his family accompanied them. Solomon was provided with a government lot on which he built a home for his family and established a small farm. His duties were to make out requisitions for provisions and to order the repair of the Indians's guns.

Along with Jean-Baptiste Assiginack and a few others, Solomon was one of the interpreters kept on at Drummond Island as part of the peace-time garrison, which included the Indian Department establishment under the superintendence of William McKay. Though characterized somewhat harshly by John Askin, of official of the department in 1816 as a "sober man" who could not interpret at Indian councils but who "may answer about a post to see an equal distribution of Provisions," Solomon did in fact interpret at various councils. As well, when the Indians of the Upper Lakes flocked to Drummond Island to receive the presents which the British doled out to ensure their loyalty, Solomon probably participated in distributing the goods. In 1816, when the Indian Department was reduced, he lost his job. He was reinstated, however, on May 29, 1821.

The British were not to remain long on Drummond Island, for when the border between Upper Canada and the Unites States was surveyed, it was found to be American territory. Once again the garrison, including Solomon, David Mitchell, and other Indian Department officials, was forced to move, this time to Penetanguishene on Georgian Bay, where a British naval establishment had already been located. In late 1828 a brig was chartered to move the forces, but when it proved too small Solomon was instructed to charter a schooner as well. He did not accompany it, however, since he had been ordered to spend the winter at St. Joseph Island, where he had lived briefly in 1825, in order to inform the Indians about the British move. In all, the families of between 75 and 100 soldiers, voyageurs, and small traders came from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, which Lewis Solomon, a son described as "then mostly a cedar swamp, with a few Indian wigwams and fishing shanties."

In 1829 William Solomon and his family finally moved to Penetanguishene, although his livestock and implements were lost in a shipwreck on July 12 of that year. He built a home nearby, on lot 105, and continued to work as an interpreter. In 1837 he attended, along with Thomas Gummersall Anderson, Samuel Peters, JARVIS, Jean-Baptiste Assiginack and others, a major Indian conference on Manitoulin Island, which was graphically described by Anna Brownell Jameson ( MURPHY) in her account of travels in Upper Canada. On a longer trip, made in the early 1840's for the distribution of presents, he served as interpreter for a party that included Lord Morpeth, Lord Lennox Jarvis, and 56 voyageurs from Penetanguishene; they visited Manitoulin, Sault Ste. Marie, and Detroit.

Solomon received his discharge on June 30, 1845 and retired on a pension of 75 cents a day, according to his son Lewis. William afterwards moved into town, where he died and was buried in the cemetery of Ste. Anne's Church. Surviving him were a large family and his second wife Josephine Legris, whom he had married late in life.

[Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume viii page 830-31 c. University of Toronto Press]

Irish Census Records 1821-1911 online

1821 Census
Colebrooke (Aghalurcher, Fermanagh)

Irish Census Records from 1821 to 1911 (with gaps 1861 to 1901) are now available online. 

The earlier records are scattered and many have not survived but The National Archives of Ireland has a searchable database of the available counties and years.

You can also browse by years in the available counties:

1821 Antrim Carlow Cavan Dublin Fermanagh Galway Kilkenny King's Limerick Mayo Meath 1831 Antrim Londonderry 1841 Antrim Carlow Cavan Cork Dublin Fermanagh Limerick Longford Mayo Monaghan Queen's Tyrone Westmeath Wicklow 1851 Antrim Armagh Cavan Clare Donegal Down Dublin Fermanagh Kerry Kildare Leitrim Limerick Londonderry Longford Mayo Meath Monaghan Queen's Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Tyrone Waterford Wexford Wicklow

1901 Antrim Armagh Carlow Cavan Clare Cork Donegal Down Dublin Fermanagh Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny King's Co. Leitrim Limerick Londonderry Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Queen's Co. Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Tyrone Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow  1911 Antrim Armagh Carlow Cavan Clare Cork Donegal Down Dublin Fermanagh Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny King's Co. Leitrim Limerick Londonderry Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Queen's Co. Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Tyrone Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow

Sharing Memories Week 18: Your Favourite TV Shows

Sharing Memories is a series of weekly prompts to help all genealogists (including me!) with writing up memories of our ancestors and our childhood. 

We all love to find a diary or letters written by great grandma or grandpa where they talk about their lives and share their memories. Think how excited one of your descendants will be to read about your memories and your stories! These stories will be lost after a few generations unless we preserve them. And what better way than in a weekly themed post. 

This week's prompt is "Favourite TV Shows" What were yours? What did your parents watch? How old were you when your family got a television set? 

I was about nine years old before we had a TV. It was a little black and white in a cabinet. I didn't get to watch much though. That was my dad's "empire" and when he got home from work he switched it to whatever he wanted to watch even if you were in the middle of a great cowboy show!

I do remember watching Rawhide and a couple of other westerns but I don't know how old I was. There was no such thing as Saturday morning cartoons in our house -  that TV stayed off until after supper. Then my dad put on what he wanted. 

He loved watching Red Skeleton and Lawrence Welk, especially if the Lennon Sisters were on. But I wasn't allowed to stay up even on the weekends to watch, so I didn't grow up watching television very much. 

So for me television isn't my first choice of leisure activities. I was always more of a reader and would escape into a good book whenever possible. Up to about 5 years ago when I developed some eye conditions which made reading difficult, I still rarely watched TV. Now it's my escape after supper as I can't read or work on my computer much after mid-afternoon rolls around. 

What was your favourite TV show? How old were you when your parents got a television or did they always have one?

Prosapia Genetics - Worth the Money?

Yesterday I decided to check out a website that has the genealogy community buzzing. The Examiner called it a "Groundbreaking GPS tool [that] finds your ancestors, genealogy, family tree and history" 

Basically it is being touted as a Geographic Population Structure (GPS) tool, created by Dr Eran Elhaik from the University of Sheffield's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences and Dr Tatiana Tatarinova from the University of Southern California, which can locate your actual ancestor's home from 1,000 years ago.

According to the creators "What we have discovered here at the University of Sheffield is a way to find not where you were born – as you have that information on your passport – but where your DNA was formed up to 1,000 years ago by modeling these admixture processes."

That sounded fascinating but I was somewhat sceptical. How can a GPS tool (or any tool for that matter) take all your ancestral lines as shown by your DNA, and come up with ONE "ancestral village" of origin? As my good friend Jennifer Zinck mentioned, that's akin to taking the average of all your ancestors instead of the sum.

Prosapia Genetics Website

To help people find their roots, the researchers  developed a site called  Prosapia Genetics to make this DNA tracking available to the public. They claim that “Anyone who has had their DNA genotyped (an estimated one million people in the USA) can upload their results and use GPS to find their ancestral home."

The site indicates that it is as "easy as 1, 2, 3" Basically you either purchase their DNA kit or you pay for a GPS map and upload your raw data file from a DNA company where you have already tested. Then you view a GPS map showing your ancestral home.

I had to try it. It looked like fun and I was curious as to whether or not my skepticism was well-founded or I was being too critical.  I decided to go with my brother's DNA instead of mine. Once you decided to upload your DNA you pay for the GPS map. There are 3 choices ranging from $29.99 (U.S.) to $42.99. I decided to go with the Super Test at $42.99 because it used the most reference populations. According to the online FAQ, the more reference populations used, the more accurate the result (which is only common sense).

The Map of My Ancestral Home?

After uploading my DNA data it only took about an hour before I got an email from Prosapia Genetics stating his map was ready. To my surprise all it showed was one red marker in a wooded area in Yorkshire England near Driffield. This was supposedly his "ancestral home". 

My mother's lineage is solidly British from Kent England until the 1600s except for one family - the Stead family, who left Yorkshire in the mid 1700s for Kent. Okay at least we do have a known Yorkshire connection. But it's only ONE family out of hundreds of other ancestors.

My father's lineage is Ireland, Holland, Germany, Native American, a bit of French, a smattering of England from Cheshire and Suffolk. I have researched these lines back to the 1600s and there is not a trace of any ancestor from Yorkshire.

There may indeed be other Yorkshire ancestors in our lineage. But Prosapia's result is NOT indicative of my "ancestral home"! That is because there is not just one ancestral home but many when we look at all our ancestors. To my mind the map should have shown me several markers in different countries - in Ireland, in Holland, in Germany, in France, and so on.  I hoped it would show me some specific locations in countries that showed on my Ethnicity results from the different DNA companies I had tested with.

I wish the creators had been more precise and accurate in their wording. The Prosapia Genetics website states "Our first tool, GPS, will tell you where your DNA was forged" but that is inacurate and misleading. It would be more accurate if it said "Our first tool, GPS, will tell you where ONE PORTION OF your DNA was forged" 

Caveat

Please don't misunderstand me. I am not saying this is a scam. I'm not trashing the company. I am saying that I think it's incorrect and even misleading to claim that their technology can find an individual's "ancestral home".  I am saying I paid a lot of money for very little. I'm saying I was extremely disappointed in the resulting map.

I would love to hear from any of my readers who obtained a GPS map using Prosapia Genetics. What was your opinion?

Farewell to a Fellow Genealogist

J. Brian Gilchrist passed away in Ontario on May 1 2014. He was a good man and a very learned genealogist. In fact he was scheduled to speak at the OGS seminar this weekend. I met Brian virtually several years ago when I was trying to find the exact location of my father's grave.

I knew what Cemetery my father was in (St. James Crematorium in Toronto) and at the age of 19 I tried to find him so I could visit. Cemetery office staff  told me that he was in an unmarked grave in what is known as Potter's Field and they did not know the exact location.  Many years later I mentioned on a mailing list that I desperately wanted to find his grave and visit. Lo and behold, Brian stepped in and offered to help.

Within 2 days I had the exact location of my father's grave and a name of the person I should contact about having a memorial marker placed or my father's ashes moved. Within a month my father's ashes were sent to my home and I arranged for re-interment in a Cemetery in Guelph where his mother, father and brothers are all buried.

And so 49 years after my father died suddenly at the age of 47, we held a Memorial Service for him in Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph Ontario.

I cannot explain how much finding my father's ashes meant to me. I am  deeply indebted and grateful to Brian for his generous spirit and for helping a complete stranger find peace.

Farewell Brian and may you Rest in Peace. 

Brian's funeral will be held at The Cathedral Church of St. James
Diocese of Toronto - Anglican Church of Canada at 11 am, May 5th, 2014
65 Church Street, 
Toronto, ON 
M5S 2E9
and will be conducted by Sub-Dean & Vicar The Reverent Canon David Brinton OGS

Victorian Reform School & Prison Records Online - A Contest!

John Wormald age 11
Reform School 1892

Ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.ca and Ancestry.com have recently published some fascinating reformatory school and prison records from West Yorkshire. The West Yorkshire Collection 1779-1914 details the crimes of thousands of boys admitted to Calder Farm Reformatory, East Moor Community Home School and The Shadwell Children’s Centre.
 
The records are available using these links:  

• West Yorkshire England Reformatory School Records 1856-1914
• West Yorkshire, England, Prison Records, 1801-1914
• West Yorkshire, England, Police Records, 1833-1914
• West Yorkshire, England, Militia, 1779-1826

I spent a very enjoyable afternoon searching these records for my son's Yorkshire ancestors on his father's side.  They are full of details! For example I found the Reform School Record for the 11 year brother of his great-grandmother Kate Wormald. Little John Wormald was sent to Calder Farm Reform School in 1892 after a series of thefts. His records included his photo and details of his misdeeds and the punishment meted out by his parents (6 lashes of a birch rod each time he stole something). Young John was noted as having red hair, blue eyes and freckles.

The records indicate that John was hanging with a bad crowd and so in desperation his parents sent him to live with an uncle. John then stole a substantial sum of money from his uncle's coat pocket and ran off with one of his friends. It was then he was arrested and sent to Reform School for 5 years.

What I also found fascinating was that the Reform School records also had followups of the children after they were discharged. I noted that several of the boys went into the Army after discharge and appeared to have changed their lives. Young John Wormald went into the Army and there are notes for several years about his life after discharge. It seems that England was at that time trending towards actual reform and not punishment of young offenders.

If you would like to participate in a contest being offered by Olive Tree Genealogy, I am able to offer a 3 month subscription to Ancestry.com as the prize. 

Entry Details

1. Search through either the West Yorkshire England Reformatory School Records 1856-1914 or the
West Yorkshire, England, Prison Records, 1801-1914 and choose an interesting case.

2. Post a brief summary of the case you found interesting as a comment on this blog post. Be sure to include the name of the individual and the date of his or her committment and whether the person was in the Reform School Records or the Prison Records. Also include your full name.

3. Share the URL for this blog post. You may share it using Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ etc, or on your own blog or newsletter.

Contest Rules:
1. No purchase necessary.
2. The  most interesting entry wins. One winner will be chosen from entries received. See details above for entry requirements
3. The contest ends at midnight EDT Monday May 5, 2014
4. You are responsible for anything in regards to the legality of entering a contest in the area in which you live.
5. The winner's name will be posted here on Olive Tree Genealogy blog on Wednesday May 7, 2014. Winner must then contact me at otg.giveaway@gmail.com to claim their prize.
Please note that if you do not already have a subscription to Ancestry.com you will be required to create a free account in order to view the records.

Press Release: Quaker Records on Ancestry

New Quaker Records on Ancestry.com Tell the Stories of Our Nation's "Friends" -- The Unsung Leaders of Equality and Peace

Documents Spanning Over 300 Years Give Insight to the Presence and Influence of Quakers in American History

PROVO, UT--(Marketwired - Apr 28, 2014) -  Ancestry.com today released 11.5 million new records documenting one of the most prominent groups in American history, the "Religious Society of Friends," more commonly known as Quakers. Spanning over 300 years (late 1600s - late 1900s), the collection includes birth, marriage, death, disownment, and memorial records, sourced from the Quaker's monthly meeting minutes. 

Quakers have played a key role in American history and society since the country's earliest days. There are currently more than 85,000 Quakers living in the United States and 350,000 worldwide, but it is estimated that in the 1700s, 50 percent of all people living in the Mid-Atlantic States were Quaker. 

Ancestry.com has collaborated with a variety of institutions to compile a robust online documentation of the Quakers' history. With the help of American Quaker colleges Earlham, Haverford, Swarthmore and Guilford, and The National Archives in England, Ancestry.com estimates that it now has more than 75 percent of all the American Quaker records in existence. 

"I was raised in the Quaker religion, attended Quaker schools, and was married in a Quaker wedding ceremony. I feel a deep commitment to spreading awareness of their culture, beliefs and powerful influence in history," said Lisa Parry Arnold, a professional genealogist, author and lecturer at Ancestry.com. "These new collections will help people who are researching their family history discover or learn more about their own Quaker heritage." 

According to Arnold, Quakers tracked the activities of their members through their monthly business meetings. Detailed meeting minutes are part of the collection now available on Ancestry.com, and can provide important information for those researching their family history, including names, dates, and relationships to fellow "Friends." Monthly meetings also kept track of where members came from and their destinations when they chose to move to another colony, state or province -- a real boon for those tracing their ancestors' footsteps.

What Are Your Top 5 Genealogy Websites?

What are the top 5 websites you use most often for genealogy? This was a question posed by a friend on Facebook  and I thought the responses were very interesting. They also gave me some leads on new avenues of research. So here is the question repeated and I hope my readers will comment with their top 5. The sites can be free or pay-to-view.




Here are my top 5:

Ancestry.com I use it daily for American, Canadian and British research and would be lost without it.
FamilySearch - for International databases
British Newspaper Archive for my British ancestry
Library and Archives Canada for Canadian databases
Trove (National Library of Australia) for Australian & British ancestors

It was difficult to narrow my top sites to 5 as I have about a dozen that I use frequently (meaning at least once a week).  They include GenealogyBank.com, FindMyPast.com, OliveTreeGenealogy.com (yep I snuck my own site in this list but I do use it frequently), OurOntario.ca, TheShipsList.com and others.

Credit: "Top Rated Stamp" by Stuart Miles on FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Long Lost Love Letters Found & Returned to Descendants

This is one of those feel-good stories we all love. And wouldn't we all love to find such a treasure? Joshua McKinney, of Casnovia, Michigan, was removing old insulation in his home's attic when he found a stack of old love letters from World War II.

The letters and certificates (birth and marriage) he found all concerned the Kissel family. It didn't take long for Joshua and his sister to track down descendants and soon the granddaughter of the man who wrote the love letters contacted Joshua and retrieved all the  letters and documents.

Continue reading at Stranger Discovers Long-Lost Love Letters in Attic, But Story Doesn't End There

Sharing Memories Week 17: One Ringy Dingy Two Ringy Dingy

Sharing Memories is a series of weekly prompts to help all genealogists (including me!) with writing up memories of our ancestors and our childhood. 

We all love to find a diary or letters written by great grandma or grandpa where they talk about their lives and share their memories. Think how excited one of your descendants will be to read about your memories and your stories! These stories will be lost after a few generations unless we preserve them. And what better way than in a weekly themed post. 

This week's prompt is Telephones! That's right. Telephones and their use have changed greatly over the years. What kind of phone did you have in your home as a child? Did you have one phone in every room? Did you have to dial through the operator or did you have a rotary dial phone? Remember party lines? Maybe your family had one of those. 

We had one rotary dial phone in our kitchen. We kids didn't use it to call friends and chat. If we wanted to get together with a friend, we walked to their house and knocked on their door. Phones were for serious things - emergencies for the most part. 

Every Christmas my Grandmother would come to our home and my mom and dad would have a pre-arranged phone call to England so she could talk to her sister. Yep - pre-arranged. You couldn't just pick up the phone and dial England! You had to get the operator to set it all up ahead of time then you waited. The operator would ring you when your call was ready. I remember the excitement and anticipation of waiting in the living room while Grandma waited anxiously in the kitchen for the phone to ring. We all thought it was quite amazing that someone in Canada could talk to someone in England.

It's so different now isnt' it? Click open Skype on your computer and have a video call with someone anywhere in the world. Text or Vox user Voxer PPT pretty much anywhere in the world on your cell phone. I love technology!

DNA Kit Special Ends Tomorrow

Great news! Ancestry is having a sale on their DNA kits. Right now you can get a kit for $79.00 (save $20.00) and have it shipped for free. Just use this link to the home page of Ancestry.com and use Code FREESHIPDNA

The special of $79.00 ends tomorrow April 27th so be sure to get this while it's available. Free Shipping is good until March 31, 2015 but the sale is over tomorrow. 

52 Ancestors: Found Details re Great-Grandpa Peer Attacked By Axe-Wielding Neighbour in 1895

Windsor Evening Record (Windsor, ON), 28 May 1895

Look what a very kind reader (Marsha W.) found for me! This is the story of what happened to my great-grandfather Stephen Peer the day he was attacked by an axe-wielding neighbour.

Marsha read my story Sometimes the Best Find Comes When You Least Expect it! which had a brief condensed published version of Stephen Peer and Walter Hyde, then she found this more detailed version in a different newspaper.

So now I have to wonder why on earth Great-Grandpa would not let Mr. Hyde pump water from the well. I'm guessing there was some kind of long-standing feud but it still seems extreme.

Now I want to find out how long Great-grandpa was hospitalized and whether or not Walter Hyde went to jail.

Contrary to the article title "Murder May Result From a Neighbour's Quarrel in Guelph" my great-grandfather lived another two years. But he must have been quite seriously injured in this attack for such a headline. 

Bellevue Hospital Ambulance, New York 1895

Another thing that interested me was the mention of Stephen being taken to the Hospital in an ambulance. This was 1895 and I'm wondering what an ambulance consisted of - a horse drawn covered wagon like this one in New York City in 1895?

Now I'm curious about ambulances and what each community used in various decades. I think an email to the Guelph Civic Museum is in order. Perhaps they have some information or photos.

Sometimes the Best Find Comes When You Least Expect it!

About 25 years ago a woman I corresponded with about my PEER family in Guelph Ontario Canada told me an intriguing story. According to her she found a newspaper article about my great-grandfather Stephen Peer being attacked and killed by an axe-wielding neighbour. She didn't provide a date or any other details. No amount of pleading or coaxing on my part could get a source from her, not even the name of the newspaper. Stephen was not her ancestor and my Peer ancestry was of no interest to her so even my offers to share everything I had on the family held no interest.

So for 25 years I've tried to find this reference. Some time ago I found Stephen's death registration for 1897 but the cause of death was listed as Typhoid Fever not murder. Nonetheless I checked  Guelph newspapers for several months prior to his death just in case. But nothing turned up. These newspapers are not indexed so searching meant a long laborious read of every issue. Eventually I put this on the back burner as a curiousity, as a story that might have a little truth to it.

Searching Online Newspapers

A few days ago while searching through some online Ontario newspapers as I do periodically, I came across this extract of a larger story.

It was published in The Lethbridge News (Alberta) on June 5, 1895 and was noted as a condensed story. I was pretty excited to find this but of course now I want the full story. Why was this pump so important? Who was Walter Hyde and his father? And why would an Alberta newspaper publish this?

Looking for Walter and the Full Story

A search of Ancestry.com census records turned up some information on Walter Hyde. He was born ca 1874 to Alfred & Sarah (Farrow) Hyde. It struck me that Walter was quite a bit younger than my great-grandfather who was born ca 1853.  I don't know if Walter went to jail or any other details of this incident but am determined to find out.

Since getting to Guelph to hunt through the filmed newspapers is difficult for me I decided to hire the Guelph Public Library Research Services to look for any references to this event. Fingers crossed that I find out exactly what happened.  Of course if any of my readers live in Guelph Ontario and would be willing to have a look in the Guelph Mercury in first week of June 1895 for this story, please let me know!

The Moral of This Story

The moral of my story is NEVER GIVE UP! Okay I have two morals - never give up and never ever dismiss a "story" as untrue until you've found evidence to either prove or disprove it.

UPDATE: Full news article found! Read about what happened at 52 Ancestors: Found Details re Great-Grandpa Peer Attacked By Axe-Wielding Neighbour in 1895

Corrected List of Contents of H1150 Heir & Devisee Commission on Canadiana.org

From H 1144 V58
Burford Christian BRADT

Canadiana.Org has digitized 21 films of the Heir & Devisee Commission Papers (Heir & Devisee Commission papers 1797-1854, found in their Heritage Collection), and that's a good thing for genealogists. These records have valuable and informative genealogical documents.

But as mentioned in a previous blog post I wrote called Heir & Devisee Commission 1797-1854 on Canadiana.org - Listing Errors and a Workaround, the index and description of what is in each film, as provided on Canadiana.org,  is incorrect.
I have been slowly going through each film and noting the correct contents in detail.  My first set of detailed listings of the contents of film H1133 can be viewed at No Response from Canadiana.org so here are the Heir & Devisee Commission Film Details 

A complete and correct list of contents of film H1135 can be found on Olive Tree Genealogy website at Finding  Aid for Heir & Devisee Commission Online Films

Here is a corrected list of contents for film 1150.

Film H 1150 Does not contain what Canadiana.org has listed as V. 87-89. This film contains V. 90-92

• Vol.90 Image 17 Register of claims allowed arranged chronologically by district 1797-1804
• Eastern District: Images 56-84; 97-98; 123-136; 176-184
• Johnston District: Images 85-90; 99-101; 112-122; 187-198
• Midland District: Images 19-55; 144-159; 169-175
• Newcastle District: Images 137-138; 203-204
• Home District: Images 95; 110-111; 162-168; 199-200; 205
• Niagara District: Images 95; 106-109; 139-143; 160-161; 201-202
• Western District: Images 96; 102-105
• London District: Images 185-186
• Vol. 91 Image 211 Index to claimants in Registers A, B, C, Vol 80-82
• Vol. 92 Image 283 Index to claimants in Registers A-B Vol. 80, 81 

I have published the full set of corrections for the digitize records on Olive Tree Genealogy website at Heir & Devisee Commission This is a work in progress.