Woman of Courage Hannah Blanden

Because February is Women's History Month I wanted to share with my readers the story of strong and courageous women in my life. You will be able to follow along as you wish by choosing the label "Women of Courage" in the right side bar. I encourage my readers to join me in honoring women of courage in your own families.

Bastardy Examination 1791

When my 4th great-grandmother Hannah Blanden was 8 years old, her parents were ordered out of their home in from Bury, St. Edmunds  Suffolk and sent to Wenhaston Suffolk.  The year was 1778 and a Removal Order had been served on Thomas Blandon, Drummer in the Western Battalion Militia and his wife Mary and their children Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah, Thomas and Susannah. The youngest child was only one year old.

Removal orders meant that a family had become a financial burden on the parish they lived in, and could, by law, be ordered back to the parish the head of house had been born in. This was an incredible hardship on an already impoverished family, because often the birth parish was one the individual had never lived in for any length of time.

At the age of 20 Hannah had an illegitimate child and underwent a Bastardy Examination held by her parish in 1791.

Because parishes did not want to be responsible for the care of an illegitimate child, a pregnant woman or one who had just given birth, would be questioned by a midwife or other authority and the name of the child's father recorded. The father would then be ordered to provide financial support, either as a lump sum payment to the parish for the child until he/she reached the age of majority, or as a monthly sum (also payable to the parish for the child's welfare). In many cases the mother too would be ordered to make payments. This ensured that the child did not become a burden on the parish.

Bastardy Examination of Hannah Blandon 6 July 1791. Under Oath Hannah states that on Thursday 14 October 1790 she gave birth to female bastard child at Ephraim Lockwood’s house in Holton Parish, Blything Hundred, Suffolk Co. James King was the father.

Bastardy Order James King & Hannah Blandon 6 July 1791. Justices of Peace Eloazar Davy and Charles Purvis in Parish of Holton, Hundred of Blything, County of Sufoolk hear the case brought by Robert Smith, Guardian of the Poor in Blything. James to pay 1 shilling per week to John Robinson of Southwald or to Treasurer of the Poor, for maintenance of child as long as living in the parish. Hannah to pay 6 pence weekly. 

At some point after the birth of their daughter James and Hannah may have married because they had at least two sons - Lewis in 1793 and Thomas in 1796. I have not found a marriage record for them so it is possible they never formalized their union. 

Alberta, Canada, Homestead Records, 1870-1930

A new collection launched on Ancestry will be of interest to those with ancestors in Alberta Canada.  

Alberta, Canada, Homestead Records, 1870-1930  is a valuable land record collection that includes the names of approximately 200,000 people who applied for homesteads in Alberta under the Dominion Lands Act - an 1872 law aimed to encourage the settlement of the Canadian Prairies. 

Compiled during a time where the population was expanding to Western Canada, this collection is a valuable resource for those hoping to learn more about their ancestors who settled in The Princess Province.

Here’s a bit more insight on the collection:

 

Background:
·         In order to encourage migration to the west, settlers were offered the chance to apply for a 160-acre homestead in areas of their choice in Alberta.
·         After paying a $10 filing fee and agreeing to build up their homestead to include items such as a house and barn, fencing, breaking and cropping a portion of the land, the homesteader could apply for the title to the land.  

The Collection:
·         The collection contains 1,622,218 images and 206,457 records showing basic biographical information such applicants’ name, age, place of birth, former place of residence, date of entry on the land and marital status. 

Image: Alberta, Canada, Homestead Records, 1870-1930 for Amy Ellen Brown (Smith)

Woman of Courage Martha Finch

Because February is Women's History Month I wanted to share with my readers the story of strong and courageous women in my life. You will be able to follow along as you wish by choosing the label "Women of Courage" in the right side bar. I encourage my readers to join me in honoring women of courage in your own families.


My husband's 3rd great grandmother Martha Finch had one heck of a life. By the age of 20 she was in the Race Hill Workhouse in Sussex England. The Workhouse was where debtors were sent if they could not pay their bills. Soon Martha found herself pregnant and her daughter Esther was born. Little Esther was lucky. Her maternal grandparents took her in rather than see her live in the Workhouse. But Martha stayed and within four years she had another child born in the Workhouse - a son John. Little John also went to live with Martha's parents. 

Baby Edith, my husband's 2nd great grandmother, was born in the Workhouse in 1870. Martha gave no father's name on little Edith's birth registration. Sadly Edith, not as lucky as her two older sibllngs. She grew up in the Workhouse and was still there 20 years later.

Martha was finally able to leave the Workhouse by 1901 when she managed to obtain a job working as the cook in a private household. She was a woman of courage who suffered due to circumstances of her surroundings and the time period in which she grew up. 

Who do you have as a Woman of Courage?

Major News! FamilyTreeMaker is back!

This just in from Ancestry.com! 

New Family Tree Maker Options

By: Kendall Hulet

Since our Family Tree Maker announcement last December, we have continued to actively explore ways to develop and support Family Tree Maker and ensure you have choices to preserve your work in ways that matter to you.

Today, I am pleased to announce two options for desktop software that will work with Ancestry.

Software MacKiev

Software MacKiev, with whom we have a long-standing relationship, is acquiring the Family Tree Maker software line as publisher for both Mac and Windows versions. Software MacKiev has been the developer of Family Tree Maker for Mac for more than six years and is thrilled at the opportunity to publish future versions of Family Tree Maker for Mac and Windows.

This new agreement means you will receive software updates and new versions from Software MacKiev, and have the ability to purchase new versions of Family Tree Maker from Software MacKiev as they are released.   You will have continued access to Ancestry Hints, Ancestry searches, and be able to save your tree on Ancestry with Family Tree Maker moving forward.

RootsMagic

We have made an agreement with RootsMagic, a leading genealogy desktop software program publisher, to connect Ancestry with the RootsMagic software by the end of 2016. With this new relationship, RootsMagic can serve as your desktop family tree software, while having access to Ancestry hints, Ancestry searches, and the ability to save your tree on Ancestry.

We have heard your concerns and are working to provide the solutions you requested. These new agreements will make it possible to preserve your work on Ancestry and Family Tree Maker and enable future features and benefits to help you discover your family history. 

Be assured that Ancestry, in cooperation with Software MacKiev and RootsMagic, will continue to support you as you discover your family history.

We ask for your patience as we work diligently through all the details to make these solutions available. Be sure to check back on our blog as we share more information about Family Tree Maker in the next few months.

For more information on Software MacKiev and RootsMagic, click below:

●      Software MacKiev:   http://www.mackiev.com/

●      RootsMagic:   http://www.rootsmagic.com/

Five Days of Family Photo Stories: Ribbons and Bows

Recently Gail Dever wrote about a very cool idea on her blog. Her post is called Writing about your life — and your ancestors’ lives — in five photos

She inspired me to follow suit in a blog meme called Five Days of Family Photo Stories.

Just choose 5 photos that you love from your collection of shoeboxes and albums. Feature one each day on your blog or in your personal journal. Tell the story of the photo - where was it taken, who is in it, who took it, what year was it taken, what emotion does it invoke when you look at it, etc. 

This photo was taken in a studio in Guelph Ontario in 1923. Just look at the bows in my mother and aunt's hair! How on earth did my Grandmother find the time to make them look so sweet? And the ringlets are amazing. I wonder if they had electric curling irons back then or did Grandma have to heat the irons on the stovetop?

I wonder if Grandpa Fuller helped out or did he make himself scarce while Grandma was getting her three daughters ready for this photo? Grandma could get pretty stressed out so I suspect she was a tad irritable during the process. No doubt my mother had strenuous objections to being all dolled up and having her hair put in curls! Mother is the middle daughter sitting down and she's 7 years old in this picture.

Although photographers often had standing subjects pose with their hands on the person seated in front, I'm thinking that older sister Lily's hands on my mom's shoulders were to make sure my mother stayed in her seat!  

Do you think Grandpa took them all out for ice cream afterwards? I hope so but knowing Grandma I doubt it. No doubt she would not want their dresses to get messy. Maybe they got to go home and change. I imagine Grandma had a headache and would want to lie down so it's very possible Grandpa took Lily and my mom out for a treat. I never knew him but according to his daughters he was pretty laid back and easy-going. 

Do your ancestors have a story to tell? Maybe it's time to give them a voice through a photo.

WooHoo! Olive Tree Genealogy is 20 Years Old!!!

Twenty years ago my life changed. I started Olive Tree Genealogy website at a time when the internet was just in its baby stages. There were no webpage editors, no blogs, and no one I could ask for help. 

I learned to code my webpages manually, using trial and error. Most websites were battleship gray with no bells and whistles. I was pretty excited and proud of myself when I figured out how to make mine pink-peach! 

The winter of 1995 was actually the debut of the Olive Tree Genealogy website but it was only a few pages. 

It's was located at http://www.bconnex.net/~lschulze/

The nice graphics I created don't display and I don't have them anymore but you get the idea. 

February 1996 saw Olive Tree Genealogy move to Rootsweb.com as the full-fledged OTE site. Here's what Olive Tree Genealogy website looked like in 1997
 
In 1998, considering itself all grown up, Olive Tree Genealogy took its own domain name and moved to its current home. 

My website was among the first to bring primary sources to the Internet with its passenger lists of ships from the Netherlands to New York in the 17th Century. 

What started as a project to take my mind off my accident and losing my husband to cancer, became a career! 

Olive Tree Genealogy grew from a dozen pages to over 2500 pages, and over the years have created in total 10 websites and 10 blogs. If interested you can read the full Biography of Lorine, the creator of Olive Tree Genealogy

See the list of my 10 websites and 9 blogs
  
BLOGS

• Olive Tree Genealogy
• Ask Olive Tree
• Ancestors At Rest
• Past Voices: Letters Home
• The Paper Trail
• Antique Hunter
• Ollie's Yummy in Your Tummy
• Family Bibles
• Tea For Two
  

WEBSITES

• Olive Tree Genealogy
• Naturalization Records
• Ancestors At Rest
• All Census Records
• The Genealogy Spot
• Olive Tree Extras
• Past Voices
• All English Records
• The Great War
• Canadian Military Heritage Project 

Honouring WW1 Nursing Sister Edith Mary Harston

Edith Mary Harston was born in Warwickshire England June 5, 1886. On her CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) Attestation Paper she provides her mother's name as Mrs. Emily E. Harston of Stafford England.

Edith enlisted on March 9, 1915 in London England at the age of 29. She was a tall woman, 5'10" with blue eyes and brown hair. It is obvious how much taller she was than the other Nursing Sisters in this photo at left. Edith is in the middle.

There is no PDF file available yet for Edith but Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is digitizing and publishing these so eventually her file will be available to view. Below is the front of her 2-page Attestation Paper.

 

xxx

 

Hampstead Hall

Bafford House

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/William_Bagnall

Solving a Genealogy Puzzle Part 4: Finding Rachel

Please read Solving a Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel Parts 1, 2 and 3 before continuing with this last article on my quest to find Rachel.

I hope I've put together a compelling case for the parents of Rachel Ann Van Slyke being James H. Van Slyke of Pennsylvania and Sarah Ann McCready.  As well I suggest that James Franklin Van Slyke and William M. Van Slyke were Rachel's brothers.

What evidence have I found to support my theory?

BIRTH PLACE OF PARENTS OF WILLIAM, RACHEL & JAMES

Year	William	Rachel	James
1880 Father	blank	blank	PA
1880 Mother	blank	blank	PA
1900 Father	PA	unknown	PA
1900 Mother	OH	MO	MO
1910 Father	no census	unknown	PA
1910 Mother	no census	unknown	blank
1920 Father	no census	USA	PA
1920 Mother	no census	OH	MO
1930 Father	no census	PA	PA
1930 Mother	no census	MO	USA

Realizing that we do not know who provided information to the census taker, we can still see that these individuals fairly consistently show their father's birth place as Pennsylvania. The mother's varies from Missouri to Ohio.

NAMING PATTERNS OF CHILDREN

William M. Van Slyke	Rachel Ann Bridges	James Franklin Van Slyke
* Mary Ann (his mother's middle name was Ann) * Rachel E. (his sister's name) * Lola A. * James (his father's and brother's name) * David	* Richard * James (her father's and brother's name) * Timothy * Almond Robert * Harley Clyde * Willie D. (her brother's name) * Wesley?	* Sarah M. (his mother's name) * Maud * Bessie * James (his father's name) * John D. * William E. (his brother's name) * Anna * Ruth May * Thomas * Ruby

Realizing that there may be other children born to these individuals, we can still see that the name James is consistently used, possibly in honour of their father, and the names Sarah or Ann used, possibly after their mother. As well, James death certificate provides his mother's name as Ann McCready.


GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS OF WILLIAM, RACHEL & JAMES

Year	William	Rachel	James
1850	possibly Bates Co	unknown, possibly not born yet	not born
1860	Prairie, Chariton	Jackson, Jasper	not found
1870	possibly Benton Co	Grand River, Henry	Grand River,Henry
1880	Windsor, Henry	Windsor, Henry	Tebo, Henry
1900	Oklahoma but in 1890 was in Bates Co MO	Windsor, Henry	Jefferson, Johnson
1910	dead	Windsor, Henry	Green Ridge, Pettis
1920	dead	Windsor, Henry	Windsor, Henry
1930	dead	Windsor, Henry	El Dorado, Cedar but 1937 died in Bates Co

FAMILY LEGENDS

 I  found the following family story about James Frank Van Slyke born Missouri:

This story comes from my dad, Louis Van Slyke.  He said his grandfather, James Frank Van Slyke, was about 8 years old one winter during the War of Northern Aggression.  He lived with his mother, his father had run off.  Some union soldiers were camped near their farm, it was cold.  James' mother was a Union sympathizer and baked biscuits for the union officers.  She sent Frank to the Union camp with the biscuits.  James didn't have an overcoat, so he was in his shirtsleeves in the cold.  One of the officers asked him, "Where's your coat, boy?"  James said he didn't have a coat.  The union officer took off his greatcoat and gave it to the boy.  James thought it was the best coat in the world.  He could walk through the snow-covered woods and didn't feel the cold at all.  He kept that coat until it just wore out. Later, James lived with anyone that would let him go to school.  He would do chores as required and go to school.

Are You Missing Out on Olive Tree Genealogy's Blog Posts?

An update on Google Friend Connect from Google: 

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs. 

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

HOW TO FOLLOW OLIVE TREE GENEALOGY BLOG
 
Here's the important part - if you use a non-Google Account to follow Olive Tree Genealogy blog, you will need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow my blog. With a Google Account, you’ll get blogs added to your Reading List, making it easier for you to see the latest posts and activity of all the blogs you follow.

RootsTech Streaming Schedule

For those of us who can't make it to Salt Lake City Utah for RootsTech this year, great news! Several sessions will be live streamed! Here is the announcement from RootsTech.

Streaming Schedule

Not able to attend in person? Several sessions at RootsTech, including the general keynote sessions on Thursday and Saturday, will be streamed live on the home page of RootsTech.org. After the conference, recordings of these sessions will be posted on the website for a limited time.

Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel Part 3

For anyone just joining me, you will want to read  Solving a Challenging Genealogy Puzzle: Finding Rachel Part 1 and Part 2 before you read Part 3.

Here is what I have accomplished so far in my search for Rachel.

I put together a decent timeline of Rachel Van Slyke during her lifetime. I discovered a couple I believe to be her parents. Just to remind everyone, my theory is that James H. Van Slyke, possibly born Pennsylvania and Sarah Ann McCready, probably born Missouri were Rachel's parents.

Here is a summary of what I found on James and Sarah Ann:

* April 1841 James Van Slyke of Van Buren Co. Missouri marries Sarah Ann McCready in Henry Co. Missouri
* April/May 1843 James H. Van Slyke of Van Buren Co. receives land in Bates Co. Missouri
* March 1856 James Van Slyke receives land in Jasper Co. Missouri
* July 1859 Sarah Ann Van Slyke marries James Wilkerson in Jasper Co.
* 1860 Rachel Vansback [sic], 9 years old is living with James Wilkerson's mother in Jasper Co.

Since James Van Slyke and Sarah Ann McCready were married in 1841 and Rachel was not born until 1850, I suggest there may have been other children born to this couple between 1841 and Sarah Ann's second marriage in 1859.

So my next research decision was to search census records for any Van Slyke individuals born in Missouri 1841-1860. (I chose 1860 as the end year assuming Sarah might have been pregnant with a Van Slyke baby at the time of her marriage)

So as not to prolong the suspense, I found two Van Slyke males born at the right time in the right place to be siblings of Rachel. Here's the summary for William M. Van Slyke born February 1842 Bates Co. Missouri and James Franklin Van Slyke born January 1853 Missouri. My census research was done on Ancestry.com  Note that "nf" means "not found"

William M. Van Slyke aka Slack aka Vanslack 1842-1909	James Franklin Van Slyke aka Van Slack 1853-1937	Rachel Ann Van Slyke aka Bridges 1850-1931
1850 n.f.	1850 n.f.  - not born yet	1850 n.f.  - not born yet
1860 Census Prairie, Chariton,Missouri William Slack [sic] age 17	1860 n.f.	1860 Census Jackson, Jasper County Missouri. Rachel Vansback [sic], 9 living with Wilkerson family
18 May 1864. Warrensburg Larceny charges re stealing a horse from “Mrs. Pitts”. Residence given as Henry Co. Charges dismissed (as Van Slack)	1870 Grand River Township, Henry County Missouri. James Vanslike [sic] age 16 with Lewis family	1868 Benton County Missouri. Rachel Van Slyke of Benton Co. marries Alfred E. Bridges of Henry Co.
3 Sept 1864 Enlisted at Warrensburg MO 45th Inf. MO age 22 (as Wm M Van Slyke)	married 1870-1880	1870 Census Grand River, Henry Co. Missouri. Edmund Bridges a farmer age 27 born Ohio, wife Ann 20 born Missouri
5 July 1865 St Louis MO 1 Oct 1865 re-enlisted 50th Inf MO	1880  Tebo, Henry, Missouri. James Van Slack [sic] 26 with wife Elzina. parents b PA	1880 Census Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. Rachel 24 (recorded as Reichiel) born Missouri married to Edmon [sic] 37 born Ohio
1 Oct. 1865 marriage record for William Van Slyke marrying in Benton Co. to Louisa Teter. Bride and groom living in Pettis County	1890 n.f.	1900 Census Windsor, Henry County Missouri. Rachel A. Bridges, 50, born January 1850.Married to Alfred E. Bridges
1870 n.f.	1900 Census Jefferson, Johnson, Missouri. James F. Van Slyck 47, pa b. PA, ma MO	1910 Census Franklin Street, Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. R. A. Bridges, 60 years old. Married to A. E. Bridges age 67
1880 Windsor, Henry Co. Missouri	1910 Census Green Ridge, Pettis, Missouri. James. D [sic] Van Slyke 57. pa b. PA	1920 Census Franklin Street, Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. Rachel A. Bridges, 69 widow
1890 Special Census for  Surviving Soldiers, Widows of Civil War: Rich Hill, 2nd Ward, Bates Co. MO	1920 Felt St. Windsor, Henry, Missouri. James F. Van Slyke 67. pa b. PA. ma MO	1930 Census for Windsor, Henry County, Missouri. Rachel Bridges, 80 year old widow in Windsor, Henry County. Pa born in Pennsylvania, ma Missouri
1900 Keokuk, Lincoln Co. Oklahoma misindexed as Vandyke on Ancestry. Pa b PA, ma OH	1930 Census El Dorado Springs, Cedar, Missouri. James F. Van Slyke 77. pa b. PA	Feb 25 1931 Windsor, Henry Co, MO - bur: Feb 26 1931 Laurel Oak Cemetery
16 Aug. 1909 Widow Filed for Civil War Pension	Death 21 Dec. 1937. Registered Bates Co. MO, burial Windsor, Henry Co. MO.  shows dob Jan. 11, 1853. Mother Ann McCready	---

Naturally there are more clues and information to be found on each of the images for these records above.  We can see at a glance that the father is most often listed as born in Pennsylvania so that is certainly a clue I would follow further. 

The circumstantial evidence is strong (notice the geographic locations) and supports my theory that James H. Van Slyke and Sarah Ann McCready had at least three children: Willliam M. born February 1842, Rachel Ann born January 1850 and James Franklin born January 1853. 

It seems quite plausible that James the father died or deserted the family and that Sarah the mother remarried. I have found no trace of Sarah or her second husband James Wilkerson after their marriage in 1859. The fact that the children seem to have gone to live with other families makes me suspect they may have died soon after their marriage. 

In part 4 I will list all the circumstantial evidence that leads me to my conclusion that James H. Van Slyke and Sarah Ann McCready were the parents of Rachel Ann Van Slyke who married Alfred Edmund Bridges, and that Rachel had two siblings - William M. Van Slyke and James Franklin Van Slyke.