Win a $20,000 Journey to Your Homeland!

Enter for a chance to win a $20,000 journey to your family's homeland from Ancestry.com.

I hope you've marked your calendars for Feb. 4, 2011! Season 2 of Who Do You Think You Are is about to start. You could win an amazing journey of your own by entering the $20,000 journey on Ancestry.com.

One week from today you can watch Episode 1: Vanessa Williams learns about the extraordinary lives of her trailblazing ancestors. February 4th, 8/7c

Episode 2: Tim McGraw discovers his family's surprising role in settling
the early American frontier. February 11th, 8/7c

Tune in throughout the rest of the season to watch Kim Cattrall, Rosie O'Donnell, Lionel Richie, Steve Buscemi, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd reveal their family stories.

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 28

Wednesday January 28, 1914

Evening J. took me too Spa Concert. Charles Tree & Frederic Dawson. A fine time. Reserved seats & [?] [?]

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 27

Tuesday January 27, 1914

Sch. Evening Club. Jimmie met Win afterwards. They are making it up

Finding an Ancestor in Belgium (Part 4): The French Republican Calendar

In my previous post on Belgium Research I told of finding a record for Emmanuel Blomme which began with a date. This date read

"on the 18th of Frimaire in the 8th year of the French Republic"

I did not know I'd wandered into the confusing world of the French Republican Calendar which was used in territories ruled by France from October 1793 to December 1805. Luckily we were researching in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and I was able to find a good guide to this calendar.

You will need a guide if you find yourself reading records based on this calendar.

MONTHS: The 12 months of the French Republican calendar do not correspond to our standard months January through to December. The months are based on natural events of the season. So there are 3 autumn months, 3 winter months, 3 spring months and 3 summer months. In French the months are

Autumn: Vendemiaire; Brumaire; Frimaire
Winter: Nivose; Pluviose; Ventose
Spring: Germinal; Floreal; Prairial
Summer: Messidor; Thermidor/Fervidor; Fructidor

Depending what country you are searching in, these months will be recorded in the language of that country (German, Dutch, Italian, Latin or French)

YEARS: Years are counted from the start of the French Republic (which learned was 22 September 1792) So I calculated that meant Wyant Emmanuel's record "....in the 8th year of the French Republic" should equate to 1792+8 or 1800.

But in the French Republic Calendar every year has 12 months and each month has 30 days exactly. Every 4 years (starting with the 3rd year of the Republic) an extra day was added. These extra days have their own special names.

There are only two leap years - 1796 and 1804. I found it very confusing!

Luckily the Family History Library Research Guide has a wonderful calculator. You must first find the day of the French month in one column then look across the page to the French month. There you find the standard month and day.

Then you return to the top of the calendar calculator and convert the French Republican year given in the record to a Calendar Number.

Then you turn to the correct Calendar (there are four in the guide) and convert the French Republican year to an actual date. It takes time but you can do it.

I was trying to convert "the 18th of Frimaire in the 8th year of the French Republic"

Using the Guide instructions, I looked up the  French Republican Year 8 in Calendar Three. The conversion was 1799.

Next I found FRIM. (abbreviation for Frimaire) and looking down the column under FRIM I stopped at 18. Remember I needed 18th of Frimaire. That converted to 9 December in our calendar.


Thus I could convert the record for Wyant Emmanuel from

"the 18th of Frimaire in the 8th year of the French Republic" to 9 December, 1799


In Part 5 of my series on Belgium Research we will delve into Church records recorded in Latin.

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 26

Jan. 26, 1914

Monday. School Evening Sch. of Art. J. waited for me. Brought me home. Mrs Wellburn to supper

Who's Your Daddy?!!

A few days ago I found out that I might have followed the wrong ancestral line on my Mother's English ancestry. I was contacted by another researcher who has different parents for my 3rd great-grandmother Betsey Norman born circa 1822 in Devon England. Does that mean she's right and I'm wrong? Not necessarily but....

My new-found contact has well-documented sources for Betsey and her family (spouse and children). So do I. We agree on our findings in Devon England census records from 1851 on. But I've never found Betsey in 1841. New-found contact has found a Betsey Norman in 1841 who could be my Betsey. Problem is that 1841 Betsey is with a different father than I have for her. And my new-found contact doesn't have any other proof of parents. So who is correct?

One other tiny piece of circumstantial evidence weighing in on the side of my new-found contact is that Betsey did name a son Nicholas which is the name of the father in that 1841 census record. Her other son was named after William's father so that's something to consider.

I opened my FTM program to look at what I have for Betsey and her parents. I haven't looked at this line in over 15 years so had to refresh my memory. Where did I obtain her parents' names? Ah, I see. About 20 years ago I searched through the Brixham Parish Records (Brixham being the place of birth Betsey gave in all the census records I found for her) In those records I found a Betsey born at the right time and assumed this was my Betsey. Perhaps it was but I never did try to find other proof!

Hmm. How did I make that very basic error of assuming without having more proof that the church Betsey was MY Betsey? Well - in my defense it was over 20 years ago. I wasn't as careful back then to not leap to conclusions without more proof, and I wasn't as experienced a researcher as I am now. It also was not very easy to obtain those English records as I can't easily order into a Family History Library. Okay enough excuses! I may have goofed.

Then I spotted something else of interest in my Family Tree Maker genealogy program. Betsey married her husband William Henry Williams around 1847. But I don't have their marriage record! Wow, I actually forgot that I didn't have it. Twenty years ago, obtaining a birth, death or marriage from England was difficult. You had to get the filmed indexes (remember I don't have a nearby FHL to order film), then find your ancestor's name and then find someone living in England to obtain the full record for you.

The FHL in Salt Lake City had a retrieval system for a few years where you could pay for one of their volunteers to obtain the actual record after you found what you needed in the microfilmed indexes. Unfortunately I didn't find out about that until a few years before that service ended.  I am guessing that I simply forgot I didn't have Betsey and William's marriage record.

Now we are fortunate to have FreeBMD to search the transcribed indexes and the ability to order the actual certificates online from GRO (General Register Office)  for England & Wales. What a boon! Even though it is a bit expensive to order a certificate now (GRO recently raised their prices from 7 L to 9.50L which converts to about $15.00 Canadian) it is well worth it if you are searching your UK ancestry.

And of course that 1847 marriage will seal it once and for all as to who Betsey's father is. Was I right to assume the birth in the Brixham church records was my Betsey? I'll let you know once the certificate arrives! I ordered it on Monday.

You'd think I'd be upset that the research I did on the parents I had for my Betsey might prove to be wrong. But I'm not. I'm actually kind of excited thinking that maybe I've got brand new lines to research! What fun! And I've reminded myself of an important lesson or two:

1. Don't assume, find more proof to substantiate what you find in one source.

2. Review your research a few times a year! I'd completely forgotten that I didn't have that 1847 marriage and could have obtained it a few years ago had I remembered.

Lesson learned and now to wait anxiously for that marriage record.

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 25

Jan 25, 1914

Sunday. Noon walk with Pa. Aft and eve. stayed in

Guess Who's Coming to Who Do You Think You Are

It's back. The much anticipated second season of "Who Do You Think You Are?" premiers February 4th on NBC.  Be sure to mark it on your calendars!

Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Rosie O’Donnell, Steve Buscemi, Kim Cattrall, Lionel Richie, Vanessa Williams and Ashley Judd will be featured in NBC’s second season of “Who Do You Think You Are?”

The series is sponsored by Ancestry.com. If Season One was anything to go by, Season Two should be a huge hit. I know I'm excited to watch and will be posting my reviews of each week's celebrity story. I love a good genealogy show!

Expert Connect - Going Going Gone

If you have often considered using Ancestry's Expert Connect, you can forget about it.  An email was sent out today from Ancestry declaring that Expert Connect is being closed down. Here's the email that was received by many bloggers including me.

Over a year ago Ancestry.com created Expert Connect as a way to expand its service offerings and provide additional assistance for members through an elite group of professional genealogists and researchers. Through this service, customers were given the opportunity to hire genealogists to retrieve records, perform research or simply acquire expert advice.

Though this service has been a positive experience, Ancestry.com has decided to focus on other business priorities, so as of March 18, 2011, Expert Connect will no longer be a service that Ancestry.com will offer to its members.

Both experts and members currently involved in Expert Connect have been notified of this update. We encourage members to finish out existing projects with experts they have located through the Expert Connect service and if needed, continue relationships for future projects they may have.

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 24

Jan. 24, 1914

Saturday. Got up at 1 o'clock. Went shopping. Wrote a bill out for Pa

Finding an Ancestor in Belgium (Part 3): The French Records

In Part 1 of my series on Belgium Research, I talked about finding my husband's great-grandfather Archie De Meulenaere's birth registration in 1884 in Tielt. It was written in Flemish but it wasn't too difficult to pick out and translate the key points. Having found Archie's parents' names, approximate years of birth and places of birth, we moved on to Step 2 - finding their marriage record and birth records.

Many of the records we found up to this point were in Flemish. Luckily it is seemed similar to Dutch. Since I can read standard Dutch phrases found in Church Records we could figure out the main points of each record.

We were ready to move on to Step 3 - continuing to look for birth and marriage (or death) records of the new ancestors we were finding.

This is when we began to encounter church records written in French. I began to feel quite confident, after all reading basic French is pretty easy for me, so no worries.... It turns out I was a little too optimistic and overly confident but more on that later.

Each record we had found so far had given us much new detail - places of births, exact birth dates and so on. So continuing backwards was quite easy. The challenge was in the various languages used in different records!

A search in the Civil Records of Ooghem found the marriage registration of two of the new names we found in searching birth records - Jan Baptiste Veroughstraete and Victoire van den Bulcke. The text was in French but it was very lengthy and very faded. My translation skills were far too limited to understand (or even see!) more than the basic details.

27 August 1820. Jean Baptiste Veroughstraete & Victoire Van den Bulcke, [...] age 26 years, born in Ooghem 27 November 1794.

Other names in the document were Anne Marie Grinonprier (it was difficult to make out) and Collette van Brabant who I had learned was Jan Baptiste's first wife. Here is what the French document looked like.
















Another document we found written in French was a birth registration in the Civil Records of Kanegem for 1812.

Key facts from document:

* 4 March 1812
* Child Amelie Grootaert born at 4 o'clock in the afternoon
* Parents Colette Blomme, 28 years old, spouse of Joseph Grootaert, 31 years old. Joseph's occupation was given as journalier
*Witnesses Augustin Blomme, 22 years old and Ignace [...] 64 years old.

This 1812 document was very clear and legible, such a treat to be able to read it without resorting to magnifiers, pastel paper and other methods to enlarge or make the image more legible.
We found and translated a few more French documents, growing more confident with each one. Then came a puzzler. I found a record for another ancestor - Wyland Emmanuel Blomme.

It was in French and it started with the date, which I read and translated as

      "18th of Frimaire in the 8th year of the French Republic"

I sat back at the microfilm reader and I'm sure my mouth dropped open. I had no idea what "Frimaire" meant and no clue what was meant for the "8th year of the French Republic!" I had just entered the rather confusing realm of the French Republican Calendar, something i had never heard of before.

More on the French Republican Calendar and how it affects your research in Belgium records in my next post.

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 23

Jan. 23, 1914

Friday. Dance Prac. J. had me first. News - I am to teach at Thornton Dale. Cycled to Scally. Last waltz - Ms. Vollum cycled back with us. Ms. Tickles? so kind.

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 22

Jan. 22, 1914

Thursday. Evening stayed in and worked. Got ready for Folly night's dance

Shoemaker's Ledger, Lunenburg Nova Scotia

Entries Jan. 16-22, 1897-1919

Several years ago I purchased an account book kept by a local shoemaker living in or near the communities of CrossCreek and Ritsey's Cove, Lunenburg Nova Scotia. There are no identifying notations to tell me who the shoemaker was, so I researched the names of his customers found in the book. I found them all living in CrossCreek and Ritsey's Cove so I assume the shoemaker lived nearby.

The entries I read date from 1897 to 1919. There may be some earlier or later - they are not in date order. Whoever kept the account book decided to keep track of money owed and paid by family. Each family has its own page (or pages) and shoe repairs and purchases are noted throughout the years the family used the service.
The shoemaker's ledger book is 17x7 inches and there are 212 pages covering 22 years. Continuing on with Jan. 16-22 entries, all years:

Jan-16 1897 Daniel Zink of Lewis pair shoes repaired - Charlie 50 c


Jan-18 1897 Daniel Zink of Lewis pair shoes soled healed - Mrs. 40 c

Jan-16 1898 James Oxner pair boots soled healed - Berdy 65 c

Jan-16 1898 Zenas Conrad 1 boot patched - girl. 10 c

Jan-18 1898 Henry Knock pair boots repaired - boy 50 c

Jan-22 1898 Daniel Zink of Lewis pair boots soled - Flossie 30 c

Jan-22 1898 John Himmelman pair boots soled healed 70c

Jan-18 1899 James Risser pair boots repaired 25c

Jan-18 1899 Reuben Smith pair boots - Nepean [?] $2.50

Jan-18 1899 Reuben Smith pair boots - John $2.25

Jan-21 1899 Daniel Zink of John pair boots soled healed 60 c

Jan-21 1899 Daniel Zink of John pair boots soled healed 65c

Jan-16 1900 John Knock 1 boot patched 10c

Jan-18 1900 Daniel Zink of Lewis sowing [sic] yoak [sic] straps 10 c

Jan-20 1900 Daniel Zink of John pair boots repaired 75c

Jan-22 1900 John Knock pair boots repaired - girl 60c

Jan-18 1901 Samuel Himmelman pair boots - Albert $3.50

Jan-18 1901 Samuel Himmelman Pair boots - Liddie $1.85

Jan-16 1910 Aseph Conrad Pair shoes soled healed - Doricy 40c

Jan-16 1910 Thomas Ritcey pair shoes soled healed 75c

Jan-17 1910 Naman Wentzel pair shoes repaired - Mother 20c

Jan-19 1910 Arthur Now repairing harness 15c

Jan-20 1910 Freeman Himmelman pair shoes repaired - Perl 20c

Jan-17 1911 Samuel Ritcey pair shoes soled healed 35c

Jan-17 1911 Samuel Ritcey 1 shoe patched - Russel 10c

Jan-18 1911 Hector Mosman pair boots soled 40c

Jan-20 1911 Freeman Himmelman pair shoes soled healed patched 75c

Jan-21 1911 Wilbert Wentzel pair of shoes repaired $.30

Jan-22 1911 Solomon Creeser pair shoes reapired - Clara 20c

Jan-17 1912 John Smith 1 boot patched - Murry 15c

Jan-19 1912 Freeman Himmelman 1 shoe patched - Robbert 10c

Jan-19 1912 Naman Wentzel pair shoes repaired - Mother 15c

Jan-19 1912 Sidnam Smith harness job 10c

Jan-20 1912 Daniel Zinck of John shoes & rubbers repaired 40c

Jan-20 1912 Freeman Himmelman pair boots soled healed 75c

Jan-16 1913 George Creaser pair shoes healed - Maze 15c

Jan-19 1913 Benjiman Wentzel pair shoes soled healed - Vinnie 45c

Jan-20 1913 Edward Creaser Est pair of shoes soled healed for Luetta 40c

Jan-20 1913 Seamore Ritcey pair shoes healed - Mrs. 15c

Jan-20 1913 Thomas Ritcey pair shoes repaired - Dora 30c

Jan-17 1914 Benjamin Wentzel pair shose heeled - Eley 15c

Jan-17 1914 Edward Creaser Est pair shoes soled heeled - Ethel 50c

Jan-17 1914 Solomon Creaser pair shoes repaired - Clara 20c

Jan-17 1914 Thomas Ritcey one shoe patched $.10

Jan-19 1914 Daniel Lohnes pair shoes heeled - Dauglas 25c

Jan-20 1914 Eli Mosher pair half soles 40c

Jan-20 1914 Enas Smith pair shoes repaired - Charl 40c

Jan-21 1914 Thomas Ritcey pair shoes soled heeled $.85

Jan-22 1914 Alex Smith pair shoes repaired - Edwin 30c

Jan-22 1914 Aseph Conrad repair work - 25c

Jan-22 1914 Eli Mosher pair shoes soled - Albert 60c

Jan-22 1914 Eli Mosher pair shoes repaired - Elva 25c

Jan-16 1915 Benjamin Wentzel pair shoes heeled - Vinnie 15c

Jan-18 1915 Ritchard S. Lohnes pair boots patched - Foster 30c

Jan-21 1915 Benjamin Wentzel pair shoes patched - Vinnie 15c

Jan-17 1916 Solomon Creaser pair shoes repaired - Carl 15c

Jan-18 1916 Harry Godley pair shoes soled 70c

Jan-18 1916 Harry Godley pair shoes soled - Kenneth 60c

Jan-21 1916 Alvin Creaser pair shoes soled heeled - Violet 50c

Jan-17 1917 Ritchard Lohnes Capt pair shoes repaired - Rhonald 80c

Jan-17 1917 Ritchard S. Lochnes 1 shoe repaired - Libbie 15c

Jan-18 1917 Solomon Creaser pair shoes soled heeled - Clara 70c

Jan-20 1917 Alvin Creaser pair shoes repaired - Donald 90c

Jan-20 1917 Edward Creaser Est pair shoes soled heeled - Ethel 65c

Jan-22 1917 Charles Ritcey pair boots soled - Harry 60c

Jan-16 1918 Freeman Creaser pair shoes soled heeled - girl 75c

Jan-16 1918 Harry Godley one shoe soled heeled - boy 35c

Jan-17 1918 Reuben Ritcey pair shoes patched 25c

Jan-20 1919 Lenore Oxner pair half soles and nails 45c

Jan-21 1919 Daniel Ritcey pair shoes soled heeled - Mrs. $1.00

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 21

Jan. 21, 1914

Wednesday. Evening Sch. of Art. Rage around at school. A fine time. Nice P.C. from Miss Vollum

Ships Passenger Lists to New Netherland (New York) - What Exists?

If you have early 17th century ancestors in New Netherland (present day New York) you may be among the majority who are confused by the available ships passenger lists for that time period.

Researchers need to understand that all "passenger lists" for travel from the Netherlands to New Netherland between 1654 and 1664 came from information on the debit side of the West India Company Account Book. This book showed who owed money when they arrived.

Information from the credit side (those passengers who paid prior to their passage) has not been published.

The list of those who owed money on arrival in New Netherland has been published but this brings us to a caveat. Researchers must be very cautious about which version they are using. Many of the early versions are incorrect or missing names.

Briefly, the first attempt at making a list of passengers from this account book was done by O'Callaghan in 1850 in his Documentary History of New Netherland. This published version only covered the years 1657 to 1664. It was reprinted in 1896 by The Holland Society. In 1902 the Holland Society published another version by A. J. F. van Laer, correcting errors in the earlier O'Callaghan version and adding a few more ships between 1654 and 1657.

The problem for researchers is that not only does this early 1850 version exist in early publications,it has been reprinted in various articles and journals in later years.

The corrected Holland Society 1902 version has also been reprinted. In 1963 Rosalie Fellows Bailey published an article which added more details to the 1902 version. It can be very confusing to genealogists as they hunt for an ancestor.

Complete details of which of the many published versions are accurate can be found in the explanation Which Published Versions of Ships Passenger Lists to New Netherland Are Accurate?

There are also many online versions of these early ships passenger lists but genealogists must be careful to check which version the site used for its source.

With that in mind, Olive Tree Genealogy has been reconstructing more information regarding these ships' passenger lists. Using new and reliable sources such as Abstracts from Notarial Documents in the Amsterdam Archives Olive Tree Genealogy has reconstructed names of those on board ships that have never been published before.

In total I used 9 different sources to reconstruct names of those not on previously published lists. Many new ships have been found, making a total of 81 ships passenger lists. These reconstructed ships passenger lists cover the years 1624 to 1664. The nine sources are fully cited online on my site and each additional reconstructed ship or individual name has a footnoted source attached. This means genealogists will know exactly where the information came from.

You can view these reconstructed and new passenger lists at
Ships Passenger Lists to New Netherland This is an Olive Tree Genealogy exclusive. If you find my reconstructed lists on any other websites I'd appreciate a note letting me know. Sadly, plagiarism and copyright violations are in full force on the internet.

I hope those who have New Netherland ancestors as I do, will benefit from this Reconstruction Project. I welcome submissions to the project but submissions of names must be accompanied with a full source notation. Submissions citing family lore such as "Grandma Alice always told me that our ancestor sailed to New Netherland on the ship Eendracht" will not be used.

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 20

Jan. 20, 1914

Tuesday. Sch. Evening. Gym class. Laugh. "If all the World"

Finding an Ancestor in Belgium Part 2: More Flemish Records

In Part 1 of my series on Belgium Research, I talked about finding my husband's great-grandfather Archie De Meulenaere's birth registration in 1884 in Tielt. It was written in Flemish but it wasn't too difficult to pick out and translate the key points. Having found Archie's parents' names, approximate years of birth and places of birth, we moved on to Step 2 - finding their marriage record and birth records.

Our first record to hunt for was the marriage of Henry and Rosalie. From that we assumed we might learn their parents' names which would help us verify that a birth record for each was the correct individual.

What a find the marriage record was! Exact dates of birth for bride and groom! Names and ages of parents! The record even noted Henry's mothers' name and the exact date she died. We were pretty excited.

Henri and Rosalie married in Tielt in 1882. Here is my translation:

Henry de Meulenaere, servant, 39 yrs old, living Schuyffers-Kapelle, born Canaghem 15 July 1842, father Felicianus de Meulenaere, labourer 71 yrs, living Tielt, mother Amelia Groothaert died in Tielt 12 Sept 1847 & Maria Blondeel, 31 yrs, living Tielt, b in Pittem 2 aug 1850, father Frans Blondeel, "kleermaker" (tailor), 62 yrs, mother Ida Veroughstraete, 60 yrs

We knew from Archie's birth registration that his father Henri or Henry was born circa 1843 in Kanagem. Now we had an exact date of birth and knew his parents' names so finding the correct birth record would not be difficult. A check in the FHL catalogue proved that records for this area existed for the time period we needed. We found the right microfilm and began looking. Once again the records were written in Flemish but I wasn't as worried about understanding them.

Henri's birth registration was found in the Civil Records of Kanegam.

It was fairly easy to spot his parents' names but I wanted to translate the entire document if possible.

There seemed to be so much writing that I figured there might be important details I would otherwise miss. It took me awhile but this is my translation to the best of my limited ability:

6 July 1842. Appeared before me Felicianus de Meulenaere, weaver, 32 years old, born in Thielt and living in the district, presenting a child from his marriage, born in the [....] and his wife Amelia Groottaert, spinster 32 years old, born and living in this district, a child by the name of Henry. Presented by Ferdinand de Bruyne [....can't read his occupation], 37 years old and Francis de Cloet, weaver about 57 years old, both living in this district

So far we had managed to go back two generations from Archie, and so far we only encounted Flemish records which to my eye were very similar to Dutch. So my little Dutch English dictionary plus my familiarty with early Dutch Church records of the 17th and 16th centuries was proving adequate for translation.

Anyone with Belgium ancestry should not be hestitant about diving in to the records. Yes we did run into much  more challenging time periods and records written in Latin and French, as well as the confusing (to me) French Republican Calendar, but all those obstacles were overcome with patience and perseverance. But more on that in the next blog post!

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan. 19

Jan. 19, 1914

Monday. School. J. has a fearful cold. Quarrel between J. and Win. He's gone with Dr. Royle. School of Art with Win.

Ada Harland's Diary England 1914: Jan 18

Jan. 18, 1914

Sunday Letter from J. Evening M. Yonster? came. age.? coach affaire. ch.