Advent Calendar – Ornaments

The ornaments that were on the tree when I was growing up were mostly typical Christmas balls and other shaped glass ornaments.  But each year, we would go to a kiosk at the mall that offered dozens of flat, gold ornaments in various shapes.  My brother and I would each get to choose one that we liked and then the girl behind the counter would engrave whatever we wanted on the ornaments.  The tool that she would use to engrave looked a little like a wood burning tool, but the tip would vibrate so that wherever the tool touched, it would leave tiny engravings in her handwriting.  Some years, the handwriting was very nice, but other years, the handwriting looked quite sloppy.  You never knew what you were going to get until it was finished.  We would usually have our name and year engraved on the shapes.

When I was in high school, I bought 2 kits to make cotton stuffed ornaments from felt and sequins.  I made a Mr. and Mrs. Claus and a Mr. and Mrs. Snowman.  I still have the Claus family, but I think the stitches came out of the snowman family.  Every year, when I put them on my tree, I remember how proud I was of those ornaments.

I never considered that tree decorations would have a theme OTHER than Christmas or winter, but the first year I visited my future husband’s family at Christmas time, I found out I was wrong.  Each year, they bought a real tree that was so tall, we had to stand on a ladder to decorate the top.  And many of the ornaments were souvenirs of places they had visited on vacations.  Amongst the stars and manger figures were miniature lobster traps, palm trees and golf bags.  I found this very interesting and while I can’t say we’ve adopted this tradition, I do like the idea of  reliving those memories each year.

Advent Calendar – Holiday Foods

According to Mom, Christmas dinner when she was growing up including turkey “with all the regular trimmings”. 

Each year, as Mom and I discuss what to have for our holiday meal, she remembers that Grandma used to make sweet potatoes by slicing them and then frying them in a big, black iron skillet.  She added brown sugar and other secret ingredients to make her special holiday dish and of course, tiny marshmallows were sprinkled on the top and then browned in the oven.  No matter how often she tries, Mom can’t seem to duplicate that dish.  Could it be that the special childhood memories add an extra dose of sweetness to the dish from long ago?

Mom also talks about the delicious pies that Grandma used to make:  pumpkin and occasionally – mincemeat pie.  The Pumpkin Pie recipe has been passed from Grandma to Mom and I’ve never know anyone who didn’t say it was the best Pumpkin Pie they’ve ever had.  (I can’t testify to this since I don’t care for pumpkin…)  My own kids love the pie so much, every year they beg her to make a pie for each of them to eat during their Christmas break.  A couple of years ago, Mom outdid herself and made TEN pies for my 4 children and my husband!

I think the only dish that I serve at Christmas that my Mother’s family didn’t have is a recipe that comes from my mother-in-law.  It’s a strawberry “salad”.  It’s made of strawberries mixed with jello and topped with a sweetened cream cheese layer.  It has a crust on the bottom made of crushed pretzels mixed with melted butter and sugar.  For years, I had this with my husband’s family and I thought the crust was made with pecans!  I never would have guessed it was made of pretzels!

I don’t think it’s any secret that with every family, no matter how many generations ago, the real ingredient that makes our holiday meals special is the warm memories created by being together with those we love.

Advent Calendar – Oh Christmas Tree!

Because finances were tight, Christmas time was rough for Mom’s family while she was growing up.  But the kids never knew what they were missing because they’d never known anything else – and they were happy with that!

2 weeks before Christmas, Grandma would begin the search for the perfect tree.  Tree vendors may have been frustrated with the quiet woman asking them to hold up tree after tree as she looked at each one from every different angle.  As soon as it was in the house, they would cut a couple of inches off of the trunk at the bottom to help it stay fresh. It was Uncle Jack’s job to crawl under the tree to add water to the tree stand.

Strings of multi-colored lights would go on first.  The bulbs were large and if one bulb burned out, the entire string went out.  Each bulb would have to be tested to find the “dud” before the lights would shine again.

There were a few store-bought decorations, but most were made by hand.  Mom was the youngest of five children and she remembers taking the thin metal caps from the milk bottles and cutting a slit to the center of the cap.  She would thread a string through the center and then bend the cap into a bell shape. 

The family would work together to make a festive string of pop-corn to add to the tree and thin, silver icicles would be added – one at a time – to add sparkle to the tree.  Each strand needed to nice and straight to have the perfect effect.  The finishing touch was a star on the top.

After the holidays, each piece of silver icicle would be meticulously wrapped around a piece of cardboard so it could be used again the next year.  The string of pop-corn would go outside to feed the birds.  And another year of memories would be packed away to be reflected on years later by this blogger and her mother!

Getting back in the swing!

For the past year, I’ve been working on a massive project for my job at school.  I’ve created over 150 Power Point programs that teach my math lessons using new technology in my classroom.  I’ve spent 3-4 hours each night working on these programs and I’m THRILLED to say that I’m finally finished!  Which is going to give me my evenings back to work on genealogy!

SOOOOO…..it’s time to get back to my blog!  I plan to participate in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories that is currently posted at Geneabloggers.com.  As I look at that list, I see a few post suggestions that I won’t be able to post about (for example, I’ve never had a fruitcake!), but I think it will be a good way to get my mind wrapped around my genealogy again – and I CAN’T WAIT!

Batch Researching

Recently, I was presented with a glorious gift!  A new friend is allowing me to borrow a whole box of various microfilms for Russell County!  I decided to begin with the Marriage Bonds Books.  I began by using FTM to make a list of all married individuals along with the marriage dates, if known.

I then transferred those names into an Excel file with columns for Males, Marriage Date, County and Females.  I wanted to be able to sort by chronological order of marriage date, or alphabetically by men or women.  Then, because I was missing some marriage dates, I added a column for birth dates so that I could make an estimate of marriage dates – guessing men were married around age 20.

I printed 3 versions of the list – Chronologically by marriage date, alphabetical men, and alphabetical women.  I took the lists to the library with the microfilm and began by looking for the men’s names in the indexes (which I discovered are pretty inaccurate).  I looked for permission slips, bonds and certificates for every couple on my list.  Some were easy to find.  Some were surprisingly different from the dates I had in my database.  And some were like finding Easter Eggs.  I discovered some middle names and maiden names that I didn’t have before.  I was able to find just about all of the ones I was looking for.  I also found potential records for names that I had approximate birth dates based on census records that “dropped out of site” once they moved away from home.  More clues to follow up on! The ones that I couldn’t find will be first on my list for surrounding counties. (After I look  just one more time….)

I’m now in the process of entering/correcting dates along with sources into my Family Tree Maker, Ancestry, Groups Sheets and Notes.  I don’t know what I’d do if I had trees in several internet sites to update!  As I am updating group sheets, I’m seeing additional names that didn’t show up in my original FTM report because I didn’t have a spouse listed, but I can add those names to look for potential matches.

I’m also happy that I have the beginnings of an Excel database with all of my Russell County names that I can add too.  I did end up adding a column for notes so that I could indicate if a record was a POSSIBLE match or if I came across a clue to follow up on.  I can add death dates and burial locations so that I can sort based on that information as well.  I like the idea of sorting males based on birth dates so that I’ll know when they turned 21 and should start appearing in tax lists.  When men or women are sorted alphabetically, it keeps family groups together as well so that I can look for other patterns.  When visiting cemeteries, I can sort so that all names from the same cemetery are together.

The only drawback that I can see to this “batch researching” is that I have a feeling that I’m missing clues by not taking the time to work on one specific family at a time.  I’ll have to be sure that as I put this information into each set of notes, that I’m thinking through what I’m reading and what the next step would be.  All questions or trains of thought should be writing into my Research Log as I go along.

Deed Work – Part 13

1855	Ballew, Harry	Flanagan, Mason	F
1853	Blankenship, John & c	Blankenship, James atty	F
1855	Bryan, George, conv.	Meadows, Andrew	F
1854	Bryan, George, conv.	McFarland, Dweitt	F
1855	Bernard, W.W.	Bernard, John F	F
1855	Bryan, George conv.	Webb, John	F
1855	Brown, Kenyon	Warriner, Lewis T.	F
1855	Bryna, Beorge conv.	Stephens, Joseph	F
1855	Barger, Janiah	Grider, Fredrick	F
1856	Blankenship, David & c	Ballenger John & c	F
1856	Bryan, George, conv.	Owsley, John E.	F
1856	Bryan, George conv.	Cravins, John	F
1855	Belk, Milton	Wooldridge, Jesse & c	F
1856	Bibey, Allen	Warriner, Lewis T.	F
1856	Brown, Benjamin T.	Vaughan, Benjamin T.	F
1856	Bernard, W.W.	Prather, Gideon H.	F
1854	Bryan, George conv.	Miller, John	F
1856	Brown, Kenyon	Warriner, L.T.	F
1856	Bryan, George conv.	Leach, Hubert & c	F
1856	Ballenger, Daniel	Ballenger, Berryman	F
1857	Bradshaw, Fields	Litrill, John	F
1856	Bradshaw, Albin & c	Ruse, James H.	F
1857	Beck, John & c	McFarland, Madison	F
1857	Bradshaw, Seth	Bradshaw, Timolin	F
1856	Blankenship, Jesse	Blankenship, Cornelius	F
1856	Barshim, Isham	Coffey, Jackson	G
1856	Bradshaw, Jonas & c	Bradshaw, Elijah	G
1854	Bryan, George conv.	Long, Samuel	G
1856	Bryan, George conv.	Long, Samuel & Edward	G
1857	Bryan, George conv.	Gabhardt, George	G
1857	Burchett, John	Jackman, Adam	G
1857	Bernard, John T. & c	George, Henry C.	G
1855	Brown, William J.	Ruyley, Bryant W.	G
1858	Briley, George W.	Simpson & Walkup	G
1857	Boyd, John & c	Boyd, James	G
1858	Bradshaw, Elijah & c	Gosser, William H.	G
1854	Barger, Daniel B.	Barger, Josiah	G
1858	Bradshaw, William A.	Wheat, John R.	G
1858	Buster, William L. & c	Boyd, James	G-103
1858	Boyd, James & c	Buster, Lucy	G-103

Flu Epidemic

As a high school math teacher, I’m VERY aware of the current flu situation, especially as it relates to younger people.  In one grade level at our school 2/3 of the students were home ill yesterday and today. Each day, I spend time disinfecting desks, passing around the bottle of hand sanitizer and watching students for signs of fever.  

I’ve heard this flu epidemic compared to the flu epidemic of 1918 and it made me think about how my ancestors could have been affected.  It takes alot of extra time to work with students who have missed classes, so my library research time has been limited, but Ancestry is available 24/7!  Tonight, I decided to calculate the number of deaths attributed to flu during 1918 in Russell County. 

On Ancestry, for 1918 there were 128 death certificates for Russell County.  25 of those deaths were due to flu and all of those occurred between September and December.  In 1919, there were 11 deaths out of 117 recorded.  I thought the number would be higher, so I wonder if that means a lower population (hmmm, the math teacher in me wants to figure out the percentage) or if families were more spread out or if the flu in this part of the state wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.  During the same time, there were many still births and a few with unknown causes of death and I wonder if those were flu related.  I made a list of documented flu deaths for Russell County.  I am absolutely CERTAIN that some of these names are incorrect.  The handwriting on some of these certificates was very difficult to read!  I didn’t find anyone from my family in these certificates, but I thought they might be helpful to someone. The list format is image number – cause of death;  name – age – date of death. 

1918

65 – Spanish influenza;   Lanis Biba – age 10 – 9/14
66 – Spanish influenza;    Dortha Grant – age 1 – 9/18
67 – Pneumonia complicated by Spanish influenza;   Robert Grant –age 32 –;   9/16
70 – Haematimesis – caused possibly from influenza;   Avert Andrew Meece – age 6 mos – 10/24
72 – Pneumonia following influenza;   Voda Thomas – age 34 – 10/25
75 –  Influenza;   Lilian Johnson – age 2 – 10/25
76 – Influenza;   Cora Wilson – age 34 – 10/26
77 – Influenza;   Evona Wilson – age 2 – 10/27
78 – Asthma and influenza;   Lola McBeath – age 21 – 10/30
79 – Influenza;   Ollie McGormd – age 22 – 10/27
81 – Influenza;   Rosa Gosser – age 13 – 10/19
82 – Influenza;   Medron Weir – age 2 – 10/19
84 – Influenza;   Lucy Muses – age 21 – 10/17
87 – 5 months child caused from mother having influenza;   Sallie Grider – 10/16
89 – Influenza;   Bertha Downey – no age – 10/22
94 – Influenza;   Estal Popplewell – age 5 – 11/5
96 – Spanish Influenza;   Reltz Morgan – age 35 – 12/3
104 – Influenza;   Doretha Tarter – age 39 – 12/29
106 – Asthma and influenza;   Vinnie Wade – age 21 – 12/29
107 – Influenza;   Maggie McKinley Cook – age 17 – 12/17
110 – Influenza;   Verl G. Jasper – age 26 – 12/31
111 – Influenza;   Wealthy Perkins – age 38 – 11/11
114 – Influenza;   Pauline Ross – age 5 – 12/20
115 – Influenza;   Anibell Johnson – age 38 – 12/11
122 – Spanish Influenza;   Tina Morgan – age 41 – 12/5

1919

4 – Influenza;   Stanley Brown – age 14 – 1/15
5 – Influenza;   James Cecil – age 8 mos – 1/17
6 – Influenza;   Annie Kearns – age 34 – 1/16
7 – Pneumonia following flu;   Rutha Eliza Morrow – age 63 – 1/3
8 – Influenza;   Bennie D Wilson – age 1 – 1/20
10 – Influenza;   Jackson Jasper – age 4 mos – 1/11
24 – Influenza;   ?? J. Gossage – age 26 – 2/23
31 – Flu;   Alta E Wilson – age 2 – 2/16
35 – Bronco Pneumonia resulting from influenza;   Alma Harris – age 23 – 4/3
48 – Epilepsy (contributory Influenza);   John Q Phelps – age 60 – 6/24
53 – Influenza;   Jonathon Blakey – age 82 – 6/11

After making this list, I decided to do a simple count for Adair County as well.   In 1918, there were 76 deaths out of 296 due to the flu.

How long will the current flu epidemic last?  I don’t know, but I hope it isn’t 2 years like the Spanish Flu epidemic was!

FTM Dreamin’

I’ve spent quite a bit of time with my new FTM 2010 software and as I work through my database, I’ve been thinking about things I love about the software and things I’d like to see improved.

I love that I can download my tree from Ancestry and all of the photos I’ve uploaded come along with it.
     I wish that the images of the census records were downloaded as well.  I don’t understand the reasoning behind allowing me to manually download them, but not do it automatically. 

I love that the source citations are automatically downloaded with the tree.
     I hate that I have to click every single census source to tell it not to include the citation text in the footnote.  Not only that, but there were no spaces put in the template when they created the citations, so I have to put those in manually.  (For example: Name:  Susan RumboBirth:  abt 1831KentuckyResidence:  1880White Oak, Adair, Kentucky, United States) For EVERY single census source!  I’m talking hundreds and hundreds of source citations!  I could probably tolerate the lack of spaces if only I could find the option that would allow me to unclick all of the “Include in Ref. Note” boxes at the same time, but if I’m going to be looking at every source to unclick the box, I might as well add the spaces so that when the tree moves into the next upgrade, they’ll be correct.

I love that the Sources screen shows me who the source is linked to.  I’ve found several sources that are linked to no one.  Makes me wonder how they got there in the first place, but they are easy to delete!

I wish there were an easy way to download any changes I’ve made on my Ancestry tree into my FTM software.  Unless I’m missing something, I’ll either have to manually enter the information (and I can’t seem to make my manually entered sources match the way the look coming directly from Ancestry) or I’d have to export a new GEDCOM and then merge it with my current FTM file.  Holding off on this because I’m sure there’s any easier way to do this!

I love the map feature with the Places menu!  In my ultimate dream, these maps would also have historic options so that I could see a map of current day places and then click a button to compare the same area at different time periods.  THAT would be heaven!  Even something simple like a combination of the current map with an overlay of the county boundary changes over time like the ones you can find on familyhistory101.com would be incredible.I’d also love to have a notes panel next to the map so that I could add historical information about the area and also the ability to add links to keep track of web sites about the area or other maps that I’ve found online.

I can’t imagine doing my genealogy research without Family Tree Maker and and I look forward to seeing what the future holds – I just hope that I can learn all of the new features with 2010 before another update comes out!

Searching for Stephens

I’ve been doing a more than average amount of research this week – and I’m loving it!  But I haven’t taken any time to write about it, so I thought I’d jot some quick thoughts.

I’ve been working my way “up” my family tree – double checking sources, updating notes and FTM, spending time in the library – all things that I don’t normally get to do as much as I’d like during the school year.  I reached my Stephens branch and realized that I had never put together any notes for this family, so I’ve been working on those and as I’ve been doing that, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at some sources that I’ve never checked before.  I’ve had Andrew J. Stephens, son of William Stephens in my Russell County line for a long time, but I’ve never taken the research outside of Kentucky.  Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been able to do that.

I knew that Andrew was born in Mississippi because of census records, but I didn’t know where.  I think I’m getting closer to figuring that out.  I was able to find a marriage record for Andrew Stephens and Lucy Stephens (aha!  That really WAS her maiden name!) in 1858 in Ripley County, Missouri.  I had never considered searching Missouri and I’m still not sure what the connection is to that state.  Because I have no family information for Lucy, I wonder if that’s where her line comes from, but so far, no luck in finding that.  I do not find a Lucy Stephens of the correct age in an 1850 Missouri census, so that train of thought is on hold for now. 

Andrew and Lucy didn’t stay in Missouri for long.  They had 1 daughter there (Nancy E.) and then all 3 of them show up in the 1860 census in Alabama living with Andrew’s family – William Stephens and Nancy Wiggleton/Wiggenton (still haven’t figured out this line either.)  By 1861, Andrew and Lucy show up in Metcalfe Co, Kentucky.  There, I can find the death record for Nancy and the birth of their first son, William Dudley.  I believe a 2nd daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was also born in Metcalfe Co, but so far, I have not found that record.  (Mary Elizabeth is the branch for my direct line, so I’d really like to find this!)

I cannot find Andrew and Lucy in the 1870 census, although William and Nancy appear in the Russell County census.  I suspect that Andrew and Lucy are nearby, but not indexed correctly, so the search continues!

As far as William and Nancy are concerned, I’ve found them in 1850 in Marion County, Alabama and then in 1860 in Franklin County, Alabama.  Franklin County is the county to the north of Marion County.  There are Land Grant records for Marion County for William Stephens from 1839 and 1858, but how can I tell if this is the same William that I am researching?  There is one other William Stephens family also in Marion County and so far, I can find no records to help me sort them out.  I know I could order the original files, but since my husband has been unemployed for a year now, my budget for genealogy is pretty slim!

Most of William’s children are listed in the census records as being born in Mississippi, so I thought that maybe I should search Mississippi counties that are near Marion and Franklin County.  There is a William Stephens in Tishomingo County, Mississippi (one county to the west of Franklin and Marion County).  I have found the 1840 federal census and 1845 state census for Tishomingo County.  Of course, these only list the head of household, but the ages of family members seem to match pretty well.  Somehow, I need to find some type of records to help me confirm or disprove this line – but what???

Any other Stephens researchers out there who’d like to work on this together?

Deed Work – Part 12

This is a continuation of my transcription of the Russell County Deed Index book.  Working on the B’s.  Some pages were microfilmed in such a way that the page numbers were unclear.  If that was the case, I noted the Book only.

1851	Belk, Logan S.	Helm, James	E-322
1851	Bernard, William W.	Robison, Mathew	E-381
1851	Bernard, william W.	Judd, Jesse S. atty	E-384
1850	Buster, Claudius C.	Heurns, Richard H. & c	E-391
1852	Blair, William	Stone, Witham	E-396
1852	Browder, William	Browder, James	E-415
1852	Belk, Milton	Wooldridge, Christian	E-418
1852	Bernard, william W.	Williams, Susan & c	E-433
1851	Blankenship, G.W.	Jackman, Thomas & c	E-440
1852	Bowlin, John C.	Richardson, Richard B.	E-446
1852	Beck, John & c	Cloghun, J.W. & c by atty	E-450
1842	Bowmer, James	Bowmer, John	E-461
1852	Ballew, Harry	Wooldridge, Alexander & c	E-465
1852	Bernard, John T.	Rexroat, Silas	E-467
1852	Beau, Robert	Miller, George W.D. Sheriff	E-469
1852	Brown, Joel	Bernard, Abner	E-487
1853	Bradshaw, John	Shepherd, Franklin	E-505
1852	Bernard, W.W.	Satterfield, S.H.	E-534
1852	Blankenship, Hudson	Helm, Jacob	E-555
1853	Bernard, W.W.	Bryan, George	E-556
1853	Blankenship, Joel	Green, Wm M.	F-2
1853	Bebu, Allen	Hays, David & c	F-45
1852	Bowlin, Isham	Coffey, Franklin	F-69
1853	Ballinger, Joseph	Wright, W.R.	F-75
1853	Belk, Logan S.	Wright, Hiram B.	F-76
1853	Brown, William J.	Higginbotham, John W.	F-84
1853	Blair, Burton	Perryman, George W.	F-88
1853	Bernard, Slanghter	Bernard, John	F-91
1852	Bryan, George	Caldwell, William	F-104
1853	Barger, Daniel B.	Bryan, George	F-107
1853	Bailey, James	Bernard, Allen	F-109
1854	Blankenship, Joel	Singleton, Moses	F-125
1854	Bryan, George atty	Weseley, G.W.	F-133
1854	Barger, Stephens	Worsley, George W.	F-140
1850	Bowlin, Ishham	Bolin, John C.	F-158
1854	Bernard, W.W.	Owens, Hestor	F-171
1854	Brown, George W.	Coffey, Anderson	F-191
1854	Barger, Janiah	Stephens, Jonah	F-201
1854	Bradshaw, William A.	George, Henry C.	F-206
1854	Barger, John H.	Barger, Verlinda	F-215