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

Sewage Pipe Destroys Graves in Huronia Cemetery

The group Remember Every Name claims to have found evidence that sewage pipes have disturbed 150 graves in a cemetery attached to Orillia’s Huronia Regional Centre.

The centre was originally named the Orillia Asylum for Idiots and housed developmentally delayed individuals from 1876-2009.
 

From 1876 to 1971 over 4,000 individuals housed in the Asylum were buried with only numbers marking their graves. The Archives of Ontario has a list of people who died in the notorious Huronia Regional Centre, but won't release it without a freedom of information (FOI) request. This is the story of one of the children buried anonymously in the cemetery under Grave Marker 1751

NEW: Ontario Canada Marriage Records 1936

It was fun to search the new Ontario Marriage Records brought online by Ancestry.com this week. My mom and dad married in Guelph in 1936 in a double wedding with mom's sister! It was interesting to see my mother and father's marriage.

It was new to me that my dad was a hat-maker! I knew he worked for Biltmore Hats but didn't know exactly what he did there.I thought perhaps a low-level job on an assembly line.

According to the website:

This database is a collection of approximately 3.3 million marriages recorded in Ontario, Canada between 1826 and 1928, and 1933 and 1936. The indexes contained in this collection were created by two different organizations – Ancestry and the Genealogical Research Library in Brampton, Ontario. The following list is a breakdown of the records included in this database and who created the index to them.

Indexed by Ancestry (includes images of the records):

    Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928, 1933-1935 (MS 932, Archives of Ontario)
    Division Registrar Vital Statistics Records, 1858-1918 (MS 940, Archives of Ontario) [However, there are very few marriages in this record set.]
    Marriage License Books, 1907-1910 (MS 945, Archives of Ontario)
    Delayed Registrations of Marriages, 1892-1919 (MS 948, Archives of Ontario)
    District Marriage Registers, 1801-1858 (MS 248, Archives of Ontario)
    Roman Catholic Marriage Registers, 1828-1870 (MS 248, Archives of Ontario)

Indexed by Genealogical Research Library (no images available):

    Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1919 (MS 932, Archives of Ontario)
    County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869 (microfilm, Family History Library) (the FHL microfilm is of Archives of Ontario microfilm series MS 248, reels 5-18)

Surnames A-Z: X,Y, Z

There's a new meme going around Facebook right now. Genealogists are listing their mother's maiden name, father's surname, maternal and paternal grandparents' surnames and a few more generations back.

It's a cute idea but I don't think it's wise to be providing such detail, especially your mother's maiden name, as it is often the secret question asked on sites where you require a password to log in.

So I'm revising the meme to suit me and I hope others will follow suit, either here as a comment on Olive Tree Genealogy blog, or on their own blog.

Over the coming weeks I'll be listing my surnames starting with "A" and going through the alphabet until I reach "Z".

I'll preface this with a caveat - most surnames are more common than you might think, so sharing a surname doesn't mean we're related. To be completely useful any surname list should have a geographic location and a time period. But this is just a fun little exercise and if you spot a name of interest, just let me know and we'll compare dates and locations.

X, Y, Z SURNAMES: Zwahlen

Join me - maybe we connect! Find previous surnames on Surnames A-Z

Richter Family in Virginia Ephemera from San Juan

Annette P. has generously donated several ephemera items from the Richter Family in Virginia to Olive Tree Genealogy for publication.This postcard is to "Mom" - Leora Richter in Virginia from Toby and Libbet in San Juan

Kind Words From Interment.Net

Back in August 2016, Steve Johnson of Interment.net was kind enough to publish a brief blurb about my genealogy mystery book "Death Finds a Way"

I'm late (very late!) in talking about his column but please take a look at New Genealogy Mystery Novel Debuts: "Death Finds a Way"

Names of Those Convicted of High Treason During War of 1812

During the War of 1812,  most of the inhabitants of Upper Canada (present day Ontario) fought on the British side in defence of the colony. Some did their best to stay neutral but some preferred the American side and openly joined the invaders in the fighting.

Civil Secretary's Correspondence, Upper Canada Sundries
May-August 1815, No. 5, A1, Vol. 23

In November and December of 1813 the Canadian militia surprised a group of invaders near Chatham, Ontario. Among the prisoners were 15 residents of Upper Canada. They were sent to York to be tried in the court. Court proceedings began in Ancaster on 23 May 1814. Nineteen men were officially charged with High Treason. In June, the following men were found guity of treason:

Jacob Overholtzer, Aaron Stevens, Garrett Neill, John Johnston, Samuel and Stephen Hartwell, Dayton Lindsey, George Peacock Jr., Isaiah Brink, Benjamin Simmons, Adam Crysler, Isaac Petit, Cornelius Howey, John Dunham, and Noah Payne Hopkinsy. Dayton Lindsey.

Noah Payne Hopkins, John Dunham, Aaron Stevens, Benjamin Simmons, George Peacock Jr., Isaiah Brink and Adam Crysler were executed by hanging on 20 July 1814 at Burlington Heights.

Letter 28 July 1815 Informing Officials of the Deaths

Garrett Neill, Isaac Pettit and Jacob Overholtzer were sent to Kingston Gaol where they remained under sentence of death or transportation for the crime of High Treason. 

Their deaths in prison were reported in 1815 as Garrett Neil on March 6, 1815, Jacob Overholtzer on March 14, 1815 and Isaac Pettit on April 16, 1815 

We learn more details of these men in Vol. XII - Ontario Historical Society, (1923) THE ANCASTER "BLOODY ASSIZE" OF 1814. BY THE HONOURABLE WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL, LL.D., F.R.S.C., ETC. Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario, 1923

Friday, June 17, Issac Petit (Pettit) was placed in the dock before the
Chief Justice. It was made to appear from the evidence that Petit had taken some part with the marauders, but he had refused to accompany them and had been branded as a coward; the case, however, was clear, and he was justly found guilty.

Petitions had already begun to pour in. Jacob Overholzer was described as "an unfortunate but honest old man" by many loyal inhabitants of the Township of Bertie as early as June 11. The Executive Council conferred with the Judges and the Attorney General, and after anxious consideration and careful weighing of all the facts, it was determined that seven might be saved from death; these seven, the Hartwells, Cornelius Howey, Issac Pitt[sic - Petit], Jacob Overholzer, Garret Neill and John Johnson were
respited till July 28, to enable proper enquiry to be made and proper terms fixed for commutation. 

The Chief Justice refusd to advise whom to execute but he recommeded that as the convicted men were all from the Niagara and London Districts, one at least from each District should be executed; at the same time he pointed out that the President had no power to pardon for Treason

In the latter part of the winter there broke out in Kingston Gaol, the dreaded Jail-fever which, under that name, or that of ship-fever, spotted-fever, etc., was the scourge of crowded gaols, ships and other confined places. It was a virulent type of typhus fever, then and for long  after believed to be "generated out of filth and overcrowding, bad diet and close, foul air", but now known to be due to the activity of the busy "cootie", as malaria to the mosquito, and the plague to the rat-flea.

Some of the unhappy prisoners were seized with the disease, and three died of it, Garrett Neill, March 6, Jacob Overholzer, March 14, and Isaac Petit, March 16, 1815.

Surnames A-Z: W

There's a new meme going around Facebook right now. Genealogists are listing their mother's maiden name, father's surname, maternal and paternal grandparents' surnames and a few more generations back.

It's a cute idea but I don't think it's wise to be providing such detail, especially your mother's maiden name, as it is often the secret question asked on sites where you require a password to log in.

So I'm revising the meme to suit me and I hope others will follow suit, either here as a comment on Olive Tree Genealogy blog, or on their own blog.

Over the coming weeks I'll be listing my surnames starting with "A" and going through the alphabet until I reach "Z".

I'll preface this with a caveat - most surnames are more common than you might think, so sharing a surname doesn't mean we're related. To be completely useful any surname list should have a geographic location and a time period. But this is just a fun little exercise and if you spot a name of interest, just let me know and we'll compare dates and locations.

W SURNAMES: Warner, Wash, Wastell, Watkins, Webb, Werner, Whibley, White, Whiting, Wildbore, Williams, Winne, Wood, Wust, Wyersdr., Wynter

Join me - maybe we connect! Find previous surnames on Surnames A-Z

Finding Records in Canadian Ships Passenger Lists

There are no comprehensive ships passenger lists of immigrants arriving in Canada prior to 1865. Until that year, shipping companies were not required by the government to keep their passenger manifests.  However there are individual Immigration projects and databases online that may be of help in your search for ancestors

The National Archives of Canada (NAC) aka Library & Archives Canada (LAC) holds immigration records from 1865 to 1935. These are searchable online but from 1865-1922 are not searchable by passenger name. From 1922-1935 the images are searchable by passenger name.

To obtain a copy of your own landing record, you must submit an Application for a Certified True Copy, Correction, or Replacement of an Immigration Document to Citizenship and Immigration Canada Alternatively, you can apply for a Permanent Resident Card

BOOK: Willem Van Slyke aka Neef in New Netherland

One of my early immigrant ancestors is Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke. I am also descended from Cornelis' nephew Willem Pietersen Van Slyke. 

Willem Pietersen Van Slyke's arrival in the New World is generally considered to be in 1660 on board De Trouw.  Willem, who was also known as Willem Neef (Neef being the Dutch word for nephew) was the nephew of Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke, who arrived earlier in the Colony of Rensselaerswcyk in May 1634 on board de Eendracht.

The first record found for Willem is on 22 February 1661, probably not long after his arrival in the colony. In the Deacon’s Account books of Beverwyck and Albany, Willem is noted as having been given 160 guilders.  Here we find the first reference to Willem as the nephew of Cornelis Van Slyke.

Willem probably met, and married his wife, Baertie, in the Albany or Kinderhook area shortly after arrival in the colony. Her last name remains uknown, but together she and Willem had at least six children, probably between 1660 and 1674. Church records for the Albany area have not survived before  1684, but we can determine their children by other means. 

To honour Willem and his story, I wrote a book about the family called "New Netherland Settlers: Willem Pieterse Van Slyke aka Neef - A genealogy to five generations of the descendants of Willem Pieterse Van Slyke" by Lorine McGinnis Schulze

You may purchase this book on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

Review of New Netherland Settlers: Willem Pieterse Van Slyke aka Neef in July 2005 New York Genealogical & Biographical Record volume 136, Number 3, page 223

"Willem Pieterse Van Slyke of Albany and Rensselaerwyck was known as Neef or nephew, as his uncle Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke was also a settler in the area. Lorine Schulze, who published the genealogy of Cornelis' family in 1996, has now produced an extensive account of Willem's descendants.

Initial narrative chapters cover historical background on New Netherland and the Dutch; new research on the family in the Netherlands which shows how uncle and nephew were related; and the lives of Willem Pieterse and his children, including the identities of their spouses, with resolution of several genealogical questions carefully explained.

The remainder of the book contains a traditional genealogy of Willem and his descendants, documented with 753 endnotes mostly referencing primary sources. Ms. Schulze plans more volumes in the series, including a supplement to the Cornelis Atonissen book with more detail on the Netherlands ancestry."

Credits: 
Image of ship inside compass copyright Brian L. Massey

Surnames A-Z: V

There's a new meme going around Facebook right now. Genealogists are listing their mother's maiden name, father's surname, maternal and paternal grandparents' surnames and a few more generations back.

It's a cute idea but I don't think it's wise to be providing such detail, especially your mother's maiden name, as it is often the secret question asked on sites where you require a password to log in.

So I'm revising the meme to suit me and I hope others will follow suit, either here as a comment on Olive Tree Genealogy blog, or on their own blog.

Over the coming weeks I'll be listing my surnames starting with "A" and going through the alphabet until I reach "Z".

I'll preface this with a caveat - most surnames are more common than you might think, so sharing a surname doesn't mean we're related. To be completely useful any surname list should have a geographic location and a time period. But this is just a fun little exercise and if you spot a name of interest, just let me know and we'll compare dates and locations.

V SURNAMES: Van Alstyne, van der Morsch, Van der Straaten, Van Horn, Van Huyse, Van Reumsthofstede, Van Rottmer, van Rynsburch,Van Schaik, Van Slyke, Van Valkenburg, Van Woert, Vanderburgh, Vollick, Vonck, Vrooman

Join me - maybe we connect! Find previous surnames on Surnames A-Z

Richter Family Ephemera 2 from Jersey Shore

Annette P. has generously donated several ephemera items from the Richter Family in Virginia to Olive Tree Genealogy for publication. This item is a postcard from the Jersey Shore sent to Mrs. C. V. Richter in Virginia

Nursing Sister Philips WW1 Photo Album 6-L

This Photo Archive consists of a small autograph album (6.5" by 5.25") kept by Constance (Connie) Philips as a memento of her time serving as a nurse during World War One.

The majority of the photos and items are from 1915, when she served as a nurse in France and Britain.

The album and all photographs, postcards, and other ephemera contained in the album belong to Karin Armstrong and may not be copied or republished without her written permission. The images will be published on Olive Tree Genealogy with permission.

Each image has been designated an "R" for Recto or a "V" for Verso plus an album page number. Recto is the right-hand side page of a bound book while Verso is the left-hand side page.

I will be posting the entire album and my additional research on the individuals identified in Connie's album over the coming months so please check back frequently to view these historic photos. The easiest way to see what has been published is to click on the topic "Nursing Sister WW1 Photos"

Calling All Witches!

There is a call for witches to help with Chicago’s Newberry Library need to crowdsource translations for three 17th-century manuscripts of spells, charms and magic.

The three manuscripts, “The Book of Magical Charms,” “The Commonplace Book” and “Cases of Conscience Concerning Witchcraft” are currently available at “Transcribing Faith” portal.

In the 17th century manuscript, The Book of Magical Charms, you can transcribe, edit others' efforts, or translate Latin to English.

The Commonplace Book appears to have been started in the 15th century and contains many diverse topics from morality issues to odd events and religion.

 You can transcribe or edit others work in Cases of Conscience Concerning Witchcraft  which is part of the Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits by Increase Mather, an influential Puritan minister and president of Harvard who also administered the Salem Witch Trials.

Continue reading Library seeks witches to translate 17th-century spellbook

Organizing Your Genealogy Files

It's another year, another opportunity to create some kind of organization out of our genealogy files and notes. Yes, I said "our" because I'm pretty sure that most of you are in the same mess I'm in. I'm super organized in the kitchen. Spices are all in alphabetical order. Dishes and glassware are neatly placed by type and pattern. Cereal is in the cupboard in alphabetical order. You get the picture, right?

But my genealogy files? They're a mess, although I prefer to think of them as in a state of "organized chaos". I have had stacks of papers and documents so high they defied gravity. Oddly enough I'm very organized and methodical with the research I do on my New Netherland Settlers project and any genealogy that is not about my own ancestors!

One of the reasons I'm in a bit of a big mess with my personal genealogy is that every year I decide I don't like my current method of organizing my research and I start a new one. Since I've been researching my ancestors for over 30 years, obviously I run out of new methods and repeat former ones, with small modifications.

Over the years I've tried binders, filing cabinets, digital files instead of paper, storage tubs.... you name it, I've probably tried it. Of course within each method there is even more choice. For example when you use binders, you can file by surname, by family group, by location, by type of record, by individual.

I loved binders when I used them. I printed off family group sheets and filed all relevant documents and photos with the appropriate family. It was a great system for me until I had so many files filling dozens of binders and it became cumbersome. That's what happens the longer you look for, and find, ancestors.

Filing cabinets worked well for me until again, I found so many ancestors that my notes and documents filled so many cabinets they could not fit in my small office. Soon we had huge filing cabinets in my office, in the basement, and in our family room.


I'm even worse at organizing digital files. It's boring. It's tedious. I do use Evernote to help me with organizing those genealogy files but I still don't enjoy doing it.

I liked using storage tubs because I could just label each tub and toss the documents in without worrying about chronological order or sorting by location or whatever method might be best. Of course that didn't work well after awhile because I could never find what I wanted and I never got around to organizing the papers in each tub.

One of my family books

A few years ago I hit on the idea to publish books on my ancestors for my children. The books are between 20 and 30 pages and I carefully choose what documents and photos to use. I publish one book for each surname. I start with the furthest back ancestor I have with that surname and print his family group chart, then I include images of various documents of his life.

Each chapter contains documents (and a family group sheet) for the next generation down. I also add research I've done on siblings in each generation. The book ends wherever the surname daughters out for my direct line. This has been really fun and my children are enjoying them.

I'm ensuring that my research is not lost but the drawback is that I can't include every single fact and document. I didn't think it would solve my problem of organizing my papers but I was wrong! I've gone back to using filing cabinets for my research notes and papers, and when I create a book, I am forced to organize those documents before I begin writing.

My husband also came up with the idea of selling these family surname books. Much to my surprise other descendants have purchased them! So it's a win-win situation.  My genealogy gets organized, my children have individual books on our family surnames and ancestors, and other descendants can read about their ancestors.

How do you solve the problem of organizing your genealogy files? 

VIrginia USA Richter Family Ephemera

Annette P. has generously donated several ephemera items from the Richter Family in Virginia to Olive Tree Genealogy for publication. Here's the first one sent to Craig Richter in Virginia from Portugal in 1994

2018 Goals and a Recap of 2017

2017 GOALS RECAP

My goals for 2017 were easy to formulate. I planned to focus even more on my writing. I was 3/4 of the way through a first draft of Janie Riley's second adventure which I hoped to publish in 2017. "A Grave Secret"  follows Janie's journey to the most haunted village in England as she searches for her 4th great-grandparents.

Of course I planned to continue my genealogy research as well.

2017 GOALS - HOW DID I DO?

I did finish the first draft of "A Grave Secret" but sadly was not able to publish it in 2017. I was laid up with quite a bit of pain for 6 weeks last year and that impacted my writing greatly. As well my health issues and physical issues continue to challenge me. But 2018 is around the corner - a new year and as always, I will continue to forge ahead as best I can.

2018 GOALS
 

We bought a cottage on an island last fall so I could have a writing retreat and I can hardly wait for Spring so I can get back full time to my writing! Yes, that's my main goal for 2018 - write, write, and do more writing.

My New Netherland Series of books on 17th century settlers in what is now New York is also going well so I plan to publish several more in that series in 2018.

You can see the list of New Netherland books I have published so far, on my New Netherland section of my Olive Tree Genealogy website.

And now it's your turn! What are your goals for 2018?

Nursing Sister Philips WW1 Photo Album 18 V part 5

This Photo Archive consists of a small autograph album (6.5" by 5.25") kept by Constance (Connie) Philips as a memento of her time serving as a nurse during World War One.

The majority of the photos and items are from 1915, when she served as a nurse in France and Britain.

Poem in French, dated 21 August 1915. Part 5

The album and all photographs, postcards, and other ephemera contained in the album belong to Karin Armstrong and may not be copied or republished without her written permission. The images will be published on Olive Tree Genealogy with permission.

Each image has been designated an "R" for Recto or a "V" for Verso plus an album page number. Recto is the right-hand side page of a bound book while Verso is the left-hand side page.

I will be posting the entire album and my additional research on the individuals identified in Connie's album over the coming months so please check back frequently to view these historic photos. The easiest way to see what has been published is to click on the topic "Nursing Sister WW1 Photos"

Surnames A-Z: U

There's a new meme going around Facebook right now. Genealogists are listing their mother's maiden name, father's surname, maternal and paternal grandparents' surnames and a few more generations back.

It's a cute idea but I don't think it's wise to be providing such detail, especially your mother's maiden name, as it is often the secret question asked on sites where you require a password to log in.

So I'm revising the meme to suit me and I hope others will follow suit, either here as a comment on Olive Tree Genealogy blog, or on their own blog.

Over the coming weeks I'll be listing my surnames starting with "A" and going through the alphabet until I reach "Z".

I'll preface this with a caveat - most surnames are more common than you might think, so sharing a surname doesn't mean we're related. To be completely useful any surname list should have a geographic location and a time period. But this is just a fun little exercise and if you spot a name of interest, just let me know and we'll compare dates and locations.

U SURNAMES: Uziele

Join me - maybe we connect! Find previous surnames on Surnames A-Z

New Netherland Settlers: Albert Jansen & Elsjie Jans & Their Van Woggelum, Provoost & Van Loon Descendants

Another New Netherland Settlers book is available.

New Netherland Settlers: Albert Jansen & Elsjie Jans & Their Van Woggelum, Provoost & Van Loon Descendants by Lorine McGinnis Schulze

Available on Amazon.com Amazon.ca,

8.5" x 11" (21.59 x 27.94 cm)
54 pages

 Albert Jansen married Hilletie Willems in Amsterdam in 1638. Soon afterwards he left Holland and sailed to the wilderness of New Netherland (New York). When he arrived in 1642, he settled in New Amsterdam, which was little more than a fort with approximately 270 people. Its gabled homes, the Dutch language being spoken, and Dutch laws would have offered some familiarity to newly arrived Albert.

When Albert married Elsjie Jans in New Amsterdam in 1652, they were both widowers. Elsjie had been married to David Clement in Amsterdam in 1641. Albert and Elsjie’s had four daughters and a son, all named in the Orphanmaster’s records of New Amsterdam after Albert’s death.

Eljsie married for a third time to Otto Grimm but no children are known of that marriage. Three of the daughters of Albert and Elsjie married into the Van Woggelum, Provoost and Van Loon families. This book contains details on the lives and adventures of Albert and Elsjie and their children. Documents and sources are included.