Saturday, September 19, 2015

Not Surprised, But Disappointed.....

I finally received approval to look at what was called out as Source # 49 in my test.   I have been swamped with other work, so it has taken me a couple of days to sit down and actually click the buttons to go into #49.   I wanted to set aside time to review the various sources that were called out in #49's tree and see if I could also reference those same source items.

I started to look and did not see a quick answer.   So, I had MyHeritage generate it's Family History Report for #49 starting with our furthest back common ancestor.   MyHeritage generate a very nice 38 page report, fully indexed.   It was missing one section: SOURCES!   There were no sources for any of the information on the site!  

I will have to put contacting my distant cousin on my To Do list.

Now on to asking for access to Lucky #13.

#genealogy #MyHeritage #Source #NoSource

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Actually Submitted an Article!

My Winter / Spring was spent in the search of my Great Grandfather, Ellis Shaul.   I could not accept the he just disappeared and was buried with some unknown death date in Iron, Michigan.   By a serendipitous search for another relative, I found the account of Ellis' untimely death in Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio.   All those shaky leaves are WRONG!

Read all about it in the Winter issue of the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Magazine.

#Shaul #Genealogy #DSGR

Waiting for Approval -- #49

I am still waiting for approval from Source #49 to see his tree and have access to the source information.   This could be a long wait.  

On the other side of the hill -- just got another Instant Discovery from which will add another 20 ancestors starting back 16 generations, in the mid 1400s.  I applied the update, but will hold off on printing another tome until I have a chance to finish off the exploration of this one.  

Hopefully, #49 will come across with access soon.



#genealogy #MyHeritage

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

MYHeritage - Starting to Review Sources on Other Trees

I decided to start with my Weaver connection at Source #49 and see what I could see.  I had access to the Tree that connected to my tree, but all I was able to see was the raw information that was held -- names and dates.   I took the next step and requested the owner to grant me access to their information for the expressed purpose of determining if MyHeritage passes along source information.

Stay tuned.


#MyHeritage #genealogy #Weaver

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

MyHeritage - Indirectly Related via Hannah Jenks or Jenckes [Bosworth]

Fourth and final section of the Indirect Related listings.   Hannah Bosworth is reported to be my seven time great-great-aunt by marriage.   Not sure if that really makes her my eight times great aunt. Anyway, the report shows that she will appear in the generation of my Seven Times Great Grandparents.   I find her on page 59, person number 301.  Hannah married my seven times great-great-uncle, Nathaniel Miller Jencks, Esq.    There are two sources referenced in this match up.  #7 - "Bonnett Web Site" and #31 - "Jenks Web Site".  Well, I was complaining that the others were all referencing a single site and coming from the same cousin.   So, now I have multiple sites from two separate "cousins" to investigate.

More to follow as this unravels.

#genealogy #MyHeritage #Jenks

Monday, September 7, 2015

MyHeritage - Indirectly Related via Chrisopher Everett Drake

Christopher Everett Drake appears under the heading of my second cousin's husband, once removed.  He appears in the generation of my parents.  Going back to my Direct Relations section, I find Christopher married to Sarah Catherine Weaver, daughter of James Henry and Mary E [Wood] Weaver.

Again the whole line is referencing source #49, another member's pages and are classified as "Highly Reliable".   The good news with these three days of review is that all three Indirect Releated groups are from the same source.   This means one in depth plunge to determine the connection and to come up with source citations more than a member page.

The next set of Indirectly Related pages promise to be from different member files.   More cousins are interested in genealogy!

#genealogy #MyHeritage  #Drake #Weaver

Sunday, September 6, 2015

MyHeritage - Indirect Related via Mary E Weaver [Wood]

Mary E Weaver, born Wood, appears under the heading of being in the Generation of my Great-Grandparents (Lemuel and Effie Clarissa [Lee] Weaver) and is designated as my cousin's wife, twice removed.   By use of the extensive Name Index, I was able to find that Mary was the wife of James Henry Weaver, son of William Powell and Catherine Elizabeth [Deaver] Weaver.  Again, all source footnotes point to the same web site, footnote #49.  This is already on my To Do list for a future review.   But, of what this gives a good indication is that I have a cousin in the Weber/Weaver family also doing genealogy with whom I can collaborate!!    

Move as this progresses.


#genealogy #MyHeritage #Weaver

Saturday, September 5, 2015

MyHeritage - Indirect Related via Catherine Elizabeth Weaver [Deaver]

For today's review of my Genealogy Report, I have decided to start with one of the Indirect Related sections.   This one is the section attributed to Catherine Elizabeth Weaver [born Deaver].  First of all, a genealogist nightmare -- maiden name Deaver, married name Weaver.   Did someone transcribe it wrong or is that really what it?   Well, it was actually Deaver.

The section starts with the generation of my Great-Great-Grandparents.   This would be the generation of Goodlif (Gottlieb) and Anne Weaver [Lane] (Weber).  Yes, double name change.   Gottlieb Weber was born in Germany, came to North America, settled in Pennsylvania, met and married Anne Lane.   Both of his names morphed into an English equivalent of Goodlif Weaver - Gottlieb in German is God Love.

Catherine is called out as my great-great-aunt.    So, this requires me to look back into the Direct Relations section of the report to determine exactly where Catherine fits into the family puzzle.  I am able to determine that Catherine was the wife of William Powell Weaver, the brother of my great grandfather, Lemuel Weaver.

In looking over the report, MyHeritage classifies the source of the information that appears as "Highly Reliable" and footnotes a source of the originating Family File.  So, this makes a To Do entry to verify the source information defined in footnote #49.   All of this must be done BEFORE I even think about adding this group to my local database.

More tomorrow.

#genealogy #myheritage

1880 Census Records Posted to Lost Cousins

Yesterday, I discovered the website, LostCousins.com.  I entered the 1880 US Census information for my ancestors into that application.   Each household was entered as a separate entity.   Each was entered as it was written on the Census form --- the application allowed for override to correct the Census Taker's spelling of the names or recording of the ages.   For each family member in the household, I recorded their relationship to me -- direct ancestor or blood relation.   For the direct ancestor, I needed to indicate their relationship via Ahnentafel code.   Luckily, they make a blank Ahnetafel chart available so that I could determine the code to use.   

Once entered, clicking the SEARCH button causes the application to do a quick edit.  It caught that my great grandfather was reported in two separate households in the 1880 census and that in his father's household there were two children with similar names of the same age.   Both were correct.  All I had to do was confirm these items as being correct.  

Now I wait to see if any of the descendants of my ancestors also post to this site.  The only US Census entries that are available are 1880 and 1940.   The other census options are for Canada and the UK,   Since my ancestors, even those that started out from England, were in North America long before 1880, I could not avail myself of these options.

The site boasts of (as of today, 7 September 2015:

  • 99, 502 members
  • 2,584,365 relatives entered
  • 116,482 relatives matched
So, #Jenks, #Koontz, #Shaul, #Weaver, #Tobias, #Gardner, #Dagan, #Lee, cousins get busy!!

#LostCousins  #Genealogy

Friday, September 4, 2015

MyHeritage - A New Venture for Me



On a lark, I decided to upload the GEDcom file I use for DNA matches to MyHeritage and just see where it lead me.  The file was an abbreviated version of my main database with just main line ancestors back about six generations.

This has been in place now for a few months.   Updates keep flying in from MyHeritage.   As of yesterday, I pulled down and printed off my Genealogy Report.   This installment is 215 pages in length.    The table of contents for the report is as follows:

  1. PATERNAL ANCESTRY
  2. MATERNAL ANCESTRY
  3. DESCENDANTS
  4. DIRECT RELATIONS
  5. INDIRECT RELATIONS via CATHERINE ELIZABETH WEAVER [DEAVER]
  6. INDIRECT RELATIONS via MARY E WEAVER [WOOD]
  7. INDIRECT RELATIONS via CHRISTOPHER EVERETT DRAKE
  8. INDIRECT RELATIONS via HANNAH JENKS OR JENCKS [BOSWORTH]
  9. FAMILY TREES
  10. NOTES
  11. SOURCES
  12. INDEX OF PLACES
  13. INDEX OF DATES
  14. INDEX OF INDIVIDUALS

All in all, a rather impressive presentation!   In the following entries, I want to take the time to explore the report and its elements.     As far as the mind boggle point of view, page 82, the last of the section on DIRECT RELATIONS, notes Generation of Twenty-one-Times-Great-Grandparents !!  Although the birth dates for none of the four reported grandparents appear, birth dates for their children (my 20 Times Great Grandparents) are reported:

  • John Baldwin - 1250
  • Ann Baldwin [L'Enfant] - 1260
  • Abigail Savage [Stanton] Shropshire - 1263
Back to the mid 1200s! 

Next stop --  looking to see from where is the lineage proof source derived.

Stay tuned.


(BTW -- received another update from MyHeritage this AM with more confirmations)

#MyHeritage #Shaul #Weber #Weaver #Genealogy