Tracing the wrong branch

I've been researching my family tree for (and I almost hate to admit how long) 20 years and I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. Genealogists like to pride themselves on research and pinning down facts in order to prove (or disprove) whether or not a name, date or place in their family tree is accurate. That way when others look at the work they've done they don't have to question it but can look up the record for themselves. Unfortunately, when you get on a track and go with your instincts as far as tracing a branch, you do always have that small chance that you can be completely wrong and therefore end up chasing the wrong branch and in some cases the wrong tree entirely.

Well that is what has happened to me. As much as any genealogist hates to admit they are wrong, it turns out I was when it came to a branch of my tree. Granted its not a direct line that now has to be altered but a side branch that shows 'half' brothers, sisters and the like. A paternal great-grandfather was married twice and the branch I got 'wrong' has to do with his first wife's family, specifically her father's side. But I have to admit, her father's name is what threw a wrench into the research.

The worst part I suppose is that I trace the name back a great deal and I'm actually glad that it isn't a direct line because that would set my research back a number of years. But even though its not a direct line I now have a bunch of information that I now have to remove from my tree unless I can connect the correct branch to the one I previously thought was the right one.

The lesson learned here, it isn't a big deal to trace the wrong branch of your tree, but provided it isn't a direct line, it NEVER hurts to double and even triple check information and facts before putting it in your tree. However, if you put the names, dates and places in and come to find out later that branch is the wrong one, don't panic, because you might still find a link and instead of removing all that hard work (and time that got wasted) you can just shift a few names around and save yourself from having to re-enter the information later when (and if) you do find a connection. After all, whether you've been researching for two years or twenty, everyday can be a learning experience.

A poet and geologist

Well, it took a little digging and some help from other researchers but I actually found a bit of information on two siblings of my great-great-great grandmother who was born in England. A sister, Harriet Annie Wilkins, was a teacher of music and wrote poetry to supplement her income when she had to care for her ill mother and younger siblings after her father's death. A brother David Francis Henry Wilkins, graduated from McGill University with I guess you could say a degree in Applied Science and focused on Geology. He published several articles on that subject and Harriet published four books three of which can be found on Google Books. 

Upon just googling Harriet's name her poems and also a brief biography can be found. The bio confirms some of what I found in my research and lets me know that I at least found the right line as far as her grandparents. Her father was a minister. The bio also explains why the youngest child, David was born in Ohio when the others were born in England before they immigrated. Apparently they emigrated to the US and then after a couple of years went north into Ontario Canada where they lived the remainder of their lives. I would've never thought of just googling her name even though I've done that with other names in my tree just to see what (if anything) might come up.

I haven't read any of Harriet's poetry but I'm proud that someone was able to get published like that and wish I had a real copy of one of her books.

A genealogical pet peeve for 2012: Poor penmanship in any language is still poor penmanship

Genealogists have lots of pet peeves especially when they are trying to research a line that has caused lots of late nights (and some sleepless ones). But one pet peeve that I have and know I'm not alone in having is the poor penmanship of those that record the records that we search for.

I have seen some BAD penmanship in US records, especially census records where even if the name is spelled differently from the way you know it to be, that's irrelevant because whoever wrote it down hacked it so much that its unrecognizable. But to find any of my Scandinavian ancestors in Norway, Denmark or Sweden, takes learning hieroglyphics in order to decipher them. Going page by page literally does no good because not only are there a lot of similar names, especially in Norwegian records, but you'd have to be very lucky to actually find a set of records that you can READ.

I have thought in the past when going through US census records, that the census takers must've been related to doctors simply because of the poor penmanship. Now you would think because census records have become SO important in a genealogist's research that they could've at least given some thought to how they were recording information. And I know, the census takers certainly had NO idea that the records were going to be used by future generations to find their grandparents and great-grandparents, but even so.

Just today I had to ask for someone on a Norwegian facebook page to find an ancestor in the Norwegian parish records because even if I found the right page in the right parish and the correct date I wouldn't be able to read anything on that page. It turns out that I was right about the first request I had as well as the second, because it took more than one person just to decipher a 'maiden' name (I say maiden even though the female of the pair keeps her father's name her entire life and never changes it unless its changed in another record). Even with the ability to zoom in as close as possible the records are extremely difficult to read or interpret.

But that isn't the only thing that's difficult to interpret. When you think you have a location for a birth, especially in Scandinavian records, a baptism for example, finding the right set of records can be a bit confusing. If that entire line lived in one 'county' it doesn't mean that all the records will be in a specific location, like the parish church. They could be in a church that is close enough to SEVERAL places within that county until, like with my own ancestors, a church is built within that parish. For example, a 5th great-grandmother of mine Kari Andersdatter was baptized in Viker kirke parish in Nes, Adal, Buskerud, Norway. However the records for her baptism are kept in Norderhov and were until 1857. In 1860 a church was built there and after 1857 the records can be found in Adal or Adal/Viker.

I wish the records were transcribed into English or at the very least transcribed in a way that Google Translate could be used on them instead of us researchers having to strain our eyes (as if we don't do that enough staring at computer screens) trying to decipher 200 year old records in another language. Then again, I suppose just finding the records is a plus because it enables us to move further back in time.

New Discoveries waiting in the New Year

Happy New Year!!  2011 ended at midnight and 2012 began and there are plenty of discoveries for us genealogists to find in the coming 12 months. Most importantly is the release of the 1940 US census which comes out April 1st, just 4 months away. Several websites are offering the indexes for FREE once it is released and I for one am looking forward to finding relatives and where they were living (or weren't) in 1940. It will be the first census that my mother was counted in as well as the first for my father.

But today I'm helping other researchers by breaking down the list of Ohio birth record images by county. The index at FamilySearch isn't helpful to genealogists at this point because no hits come up when you put a name in, however, you can go through the images page by page IF you know what county you are looking for. But in order to make this a little bit easier I and another researcher are literally clicking on each set of images to see what county they are for. Unfortunately I haven't found Stark, Columbiana or Carroll counties yet, but I hope to find them soon. I never like it when FamilySearch puts out new records and they say 'Search Images', because you have to do what my paternal grandfather did when he looked through census records in the 1970s, page by page till you find what you are looking for. But deciphering which numbers represent which counties and having the list of them say on a Facebook genealogy group page, should help those researchers who don't want to play hit and miss.

I did find two counties that I will go back to and take a look at just because though I doubt I'll find anything significant. The other breakthrough I had at the close of 2011 was that my cousin in Norway, Nils, emailed a cousin of his father's who solved a mystery for us in which he had information regarding the parents of my 5th great grandmother Kari (or Karen) Andersdatter. Nils then sent me what he had in his database and I'm going to be adding that information sometime today.

Everyone talks about making 'New Year's' resolutions to lose weight, exercise more, be nicer to people etc. And then most people don't hold up to them and are back to eating more, exercising less and being their normal selves within a couple weeks of January 1st. But the kind of resolutions I like to make are ones in the genealogical sense and they aren't really resolutions but goals I hope to accomplish. I hope that I can find the parents of John Daniel Fry and actually find that connection to Heinrich Frey and Catherine Levering so that I can extend the Fry line back a couple more generations. I also hope that the 1940 census unlocks some mysteries that have stayed hidden by the 1930 census. And one thing I would love to be able to do, find a connection to Clark Gable's stepmother, Jennie Dunlap Gable, since I have some Dunlaps on my father's side of the family. I think it would be neat to find even a collateral connection to Gram's 'boyfriend'.

Happy 2012, may the next 12 months bring plenty of surprises and new discoveries in your family tree.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Genealogy research comes with a lot of decisions to make. Some are simple, which line or branch of the tree do you pursue at the moment, which do you hold off on till more records become available online. Do you rely on a database you find online because some of the dates, places and names match what you already have or do you dig more to actually confirm that what the database contains is at least somewhat accurate.

Then there are the more difficult decisions regarding genealogy, even though they go along with those listed above they take more thought. Like when I found information that could POSSIBLY take some of my maternal lines back another generation or two but if I were to add the information to my tree and I come to find out later that the information is inaccurate or completely off as far as connecting to what I already have, removing it will be a chore that I definitely won't enjoy in the least.

And there begs the question (or more than one), is the information I found accurate enough that adding it to my tree would benefit not only my research but also others that may find a connection to the line? Do I add the information to my genealogy program or just to what I have in the binders in the hopes that I can find more evidence it fits? And in the case of one of my paternal lines, do I actually SKIP a generation and put 'unknown' as the names for BOTH parents and then add the grandparents because that information is known. Skipping an entire generation is something genealogists don't like to do because doing it can come back to bite you later on, especially if it turns out the 'grandparents' are wrong, which would then mean those 'unknown' parents are also wrong.

So if any of the above questions are ones you are dealing with right now good luck in making those decisions. I wish I could give you advice on what to do, but the decisions are going to be different for each researcher.

CSI had an episode on this week that involved the murder of a genealogist. It was one of the more interesting episodes I've seen in a long time, because another genealogist was helping one of the CSI's solve the case by literally doing research on the suspect's family. I recall her saying something that I've said on the blog more than once 'Use your gut, what's it say?' Genealogists have to go by what their instincts are telling them because in the end that might be all you have to work with.

Instincts are important for any detective but especially a genealogist doing research, so if you find information that could take one of your lines back one, two or even three generations but still aren't sure if you should add and/or include this information in your family tree, all I can say is go with your instincts.

RootsTech doesn't want book vendors or publishers

There's been a lot of talk during the past couple of days about a decision that RootsTech has made regarding book vendors at their upcoming conference in February. Even though I don't plan on attending I find it sad that the organizers jumped to the conclusion that no one that IS attending would not want to browse vendors selling books about genealogy. Now, I don't claim to be technically sound, far from it in fact. I know how to use a computer (as you can see) and can use Word and other applications but look to my older brother when I need an 'expert' in something technical.

The conference was held for the first time last year and was a blend of technology AND genealogy but from what I saw online (they had some lectures available for free online), it was mostly technical. Of course, at the actual venue where it took place there were vendors selling and plugging not only technical items you could use for genealogy but also books. If I'm wrong about that please forgive me, but if they hadn't been I think the current discussion would've been around a year ago.

But this year they seemed to think that book vendors wouldn't be necessary, not a 'ban' of sorts but just not useful to researchers. But isn't that how most of us 'old-timer' genealogists started out? With books? When I started my research WAY back in 1991, the Internet didn't even exist at least not like it does now. There's were any cell phones or iPads, iPhones and the like and Facebook was probably only a thought in the back of the founders mind (or not). My paternal grandfather started his research in the 1970s BEFORE the miniseries Roots aired on television. He could only work with books and microfilm readers and writing LETTERS (yes actual letters no electronic mail for him).

When I began I found two BOOKS that he had and started with those, Searching For Your Ancestors and a book about my surname FRY. That's how a 'learned' what genealogy and the research behind it was. I also didn't have a computer back then (and if I did there wasn't a genealogy program for it) so I used the old standby, paper and pencil. My grandfather drew his OWN pedigree chart and I followed his example until I found templates of Pedigree charts and Family Group Sheets to use. I may record information in a genealogy program now, but I still use binders and notebook paper and I take notes the old-fashioned way (better than I did in high school).

But here's something else to consider, with the economy the way its been the last couple of years some (if not most) people can't AFFORD fancy 'toys' like laptops, iPads, and iPhones just to do genealogy research on. Heck, some books are pricey too, but those at least can be found cheaper on ebay. I know I've found a number of books on the auction site and even though they are older or even 'outdated' by some standards, I still rely on them from time to time because everyone, especially genealogists need a refresher on the basics of research.

I think its a shame that the organizers not only informed book vendors and publishers that they wouldn't be 'needed' at the conference but the fact that they did this TWO MONTHS before the event when the vendors have probably already made plans to attend and put the money aside to register and reserve hotel space. What do they do now? The time was set aside for the conference and everything else was turned down.

As of this blog entry, the organizers have seen all the uproar and discussion revolving around the decision and are taking the comments into consideration. I hope they realize the mistake they made passing judgement on the book vendors and publishers and reverse the decision. The conference should focus on both genealogy AND technology but it shouldn't omit the one thing that even newcomers to genealogy might rely on, BOOKS.

A genealogy dislike

There aren't many things that I dislike about genealogy or doing genealogy research. Sure you have your 'brick walls' that you never think you'll be able to knock down but then after weeks (or months or even years) you finally do. And then there's the family history you find online or information you get from a cousin that you have to check for accuracy and find that very little of what they have or what you found actually IS accurate.

But there's one thing that I have never liked about genealogy or genealogy research. Its when you have to add information to a person because they have passed away. A cousin contacted me on Facebook to let me know that her mother (my aunt) had passed away last night. I hadn't seen my aunt, uncle or my cousins for that matter since they moved down state about 10 years ago. I hadn't talked to them either so I didn't know about the medical issues my aunt had over the last year or so. It surprised me when my cousin called and filled me in because the issues she relayed to me were ones I didn't expect.

Needless to say it felt strange adding the date of her death to my family tree and the binder where I keep my maternal line information. I looked at the date and then noticed that 10 years to the DAY my aunt's sister-in-law passed away, and a year prior her brother had passed away. My aunt and uncle (along with my two cousins) lived about two blocks from our house for nearly all of my life before they moved away. My cousin (the one that let me know about my aunt's passing) actually lived across the street from me for about 6 years before they moved.

I am going to miss my aunt she was a stubborn woman and strong willed. One memory I have of her came around the holidays. We had gone over to my aunt and uncle's house for either Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner and she made stuffing...well what she called 'stuffing' it was actually made from Stove Top and as much as I loved my aunt, it was the WORST tasting sawdust ever. Everytime I see a box of Stove Top I think of her and smile. I'll miss you Aunt Jeanne.