Surname Saturday MILLSAP Family of Ireland

It's Surname Saturday, and I am counting down  my Ancestral Name List each week.

 I am working on my third generation this is my great grandmother #9  Rachel Milsap 

1. Grace Zion

2. Dad Zion

4. Perry Zion my grandfather

#8 John Zion 1861- 1886 -
#9. Rachel Milsap my great grandmother
born 19 April in Mount Ayr, Ringold Co Iowa  died 13 th of May 1945 Spanaway, Pierce County, Washington

Jonathan and Rachel had 5 children
Perry Zion ( my grandfather paternal side )
Norton Zion
Mary E Zion
Anna Gertrude Zion
Bessie P Zion


#18. Flavious Armenus Millsap 1832 -1910
#19 Anne Woodmansee 1841- 1857

#72 Robert Millsap 1773 - after 1860
#73 Marcia Massy Lacy  1764 - 1842

# 144. Robert Millsap bet 1735 /1740
#145 Ellen ( Ellender) King 1753 - 1793

 #288. Thomas Milsap abt 1679 - 1760
#289 Mary Poplin/Poplar 1706 - 1760

#576. William Millsap 1653 -?

I have a lot to learn about this line of my family in the future.

SURNAME SATURDAY ZION FAMILY

For Surname Saturday I am preparing the chart for my Zion family. This is my father's name. and I'm going in Ahnentafel order for my ancestral surnames. The line goes from me to my ancestor Zion of North Fork, Washington County, Virginia.

I am working on my 3rd generation
This is my great grandfather Jonathan Adam Zion #8


1. Grace Zion

2. Arthur Zion b April 30 1920 d Sept 15 2008
     married Oct 30 1943
3. Muriel Day b Feb 23 1922 d Feb 28 1998

4. Perry Zion b Dec 12 1886 Kendal Kansas d Dec 21 1958
     married 11th of June 1913
5. Alta L Hall b June 26 1892 Evansville Wisconsin d Feb 21 1944

8. Jonathan Adam Zion b Sept 29 1861 Decatur Iowa d April 07 1927 Craig Colorado
      married 1886
9. Rachel Millsap b April 19 1862 Mountain ayr Iowa d May 13 1945

Jonathan and Rachel had 5 children
Perry Zion ( my grandfather paternal side )
Norton Zion
Mary E Zion
Anna Gertrude Zion
Bessie P Zion
     
16. John Henderson Zion b Nov 28 1831 d April 22 1920
        married 8 Sept 1853
17. Mary Cassell b Oct 19 1834 d Nov 20 1919

32. McCormick Zion b Jan 22 1795 North Fork Virginia d Dec 26 Decatur Iowa
         married 27 Aug 1818
33. Mary Goble b April 14 1796 Holston River Virginia d Nov 20 1835 Rush Indiana

64.John W Zion Sr. b 1765 North Fork Virginia d 1854 Cane Creek Virginia
       married 3 Nov 1789
65.Lucy McCormick b 1772 Bedford Virginia d 1854 Cane Creek Virginia

So many Ancestors So Little Time To Research Tonight The Coleman Family

I find my days filled with every day chores, appointments and time with family and friends.

But on mind during the day at least time is a deceased ancestor and wanting to learn

more about them and their time on earth.

Tonight I decided  to pull out my Coleman family note book to see what I have and what is missing.

So much is missing is information on the siblings of my family line.

Tonight I searched ancestry for hints on Elic Chalker Jr Coleman 1843 -1924 my 3rd great uncle.

I checked and approved the hints, then printed out Life Story summary and fact sheet.

On my to do list is to go to office store and buy more ink and dividers for my notebooks.

One thing I knew but was reminded of tonight is that my Elic Jr was in the Civil War.

Many of my ancestors fought in all wars including that war.

On my to do list is to note each of my ancestors who fought in the Civil War and

 what division they were in.

I will probably find that some fought on both sides of the war.

So many questions so little time.

Searching the Lives of my ancestors from birth to death Grace M Hall Brunsell 1893 - 1983 1st Cousin 2 times Removed

Tonight my quest was to find out information for one of my ancestors through the line of my great grandfather Arthur R Hall

Tonight's choice was his niece Grace, all I had when I started was her parents names and that she was born about 1894.  She is the daughter of grandpa Arthur's brother Mark Hall and Mary Cassady Hall.

So off the ancestry I went. There was a leaf that told he I had a hint.

What I found was the record of her birth and christening which gave me her birth date of  05 Nov 1893.

This is the record found


Hall
 in the Wisconsin, Births and Christenings Index, 1801-1928
Saved to
Hall, Grace M in tree "Zion / Day Family Tree" Remove
Record Image No Image
Text-only collection
Add alternate information
Report issue
Name: Hall
Gender: Female
Race: White
Birth Date: 5 Nov 1893
Birth Place: Union, Rock, Wisconsin
Father: Mark A Hall
Mother: Mary Cassaday
FHL Film Number: 1305582
SAVE
Source Information
Ancestry.com. Wisconsin, Births and Christenings Index, 1801-1928 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Original data:
"Wisconsin Births and Christenings." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2009, 2010. Index entries derived from digital copies of original and compiled records.
Description
This database is an index extracted from more than 1.4 million birth and christening records from Wisconsin. Learn

Next leaf was to find a distant relative 's tree that gave me her married name of Brunsell.

Grace married Carl Oscar Brunsell the 24th of  February 1916 Stoughton Dane Wisconsin

They had 5 children during their marriage.

This information gave me the census reports and find a grave site

I ended the night at Maple Hill Cemetery with the only picture showing is the cemetery entrance post.
No pictures of the head stones have been taken as of yet.

Grace died 24 of February 1838 and Carl passed away 19th of July 1930

I wish that the picture of the grave was posted.
Buried in this same cemetery is Grace's father Mark Alonzo
I will be spending some time searching more information on Grace and her husband.  Plus finding out who else is buried in this cemetery.

Grace is my first cousin 2 times removed

Thanks for stopping by..Happy hunting for your roots.

Those Places Thursday Where Did We Come From To My Great Great Grandparents

Where did we come from ... from me to my great great grandparents..

I born in Texas

Dad born Colorado
Mom born Minnesota 

Grandparents 
Grandpa Zion Kansas
Grandma Hall Wisconsin 

Grandparents 
Grandpa Day Minnesota
Grandma Esler Minnesota

Great Grandparents
Jonathan Zion Iowa
Rachel Millsap Iowa

Arthur Hall Wisconsin
Mabel Coleman Nebraska

William Albert New York
Carrie Lockwood  Minnesota

Andrew Daly unknown
Catherine Gallaher Wisconsin 

Great Great Grandparents
John Henry Coleman Indiana
Mary Cassell Illinois 

Flavious Millsap Indiana 
Anna Woodmansee Indiana

George Hall Vermont
Louisa Reynolds New York

John Henry Ohio
Alta Cheuvront Ohio

Dwight Henry Day New York
Betsy Anderson New York

John Lockwood New York 
Betsy Eddington New York

unknown gg grandparents
unknown gg grandparents

Patrick Gallaher Ireland
Johanna Riordan Ireland


31 birthplaces

Texas 1
Colorado 1
Vermont 1
Kansas 1
Illinois 1
Nebraska 1
Iowa 2
Indiana 3
Ireland 2
Ohio 2
Unknown 3
Wisconsin 3
Minnesota 4
New York 6

What is more enjoyable Researching and Printing Information OR Filing the Information

Each of my basic 4 family lines is in different colored notebooks. Red for mother's father , white for mother's mothers family  blue for father's father and green for my father's mothers line.
How are you doing on your researching and filing of found information?  Hopefully you keep up better than I have in the past.
Grace

Four Rules To Help You Do Your Family History Research

Oops I just got my hand spanked.  I had read a great article on rules to help you with your family tree research.  I guess I thought by giving full credit to the writer and linking to her I was praising her work and sending people to her writing and blog. I was wrong. I broke a copyright rule and got spanked by her. So I have rewritten my posting and taking her out all together.  So watch out guys even though I wanted to show how this helped me do my research I broke the copyright laws.

I love and hate Internet Research sites. So much of the information is just copied from tree to tree with wrong material being added and then it just multiples.
I love ancestry and have belonged for over a year. I love being able to find the census forms, possible family pictures and hooking up to possible relatives. But when I see my family trees in others trees and family members are just jumbled up with no thought I want to scream.

My last example was
1. My great grandma Katherine Gallagher Esler who is married to Appleton Esler. They married and had two children together Merle and Wayne.
2. Appleton was married at least once before and had two children these children are now Katherine's step children. This is Tillie and Russell
3. Katherine had my grandma Grace before she married Appleton.  Time period was early 1890's she did not marry the father whose name is Andrew.  My grandma is the half sister to Appleton and Katherine's children and step sister to Appleton's first two children. 
I will find trees that combine all children under Appleton and Katherine and that is bad enough, but what really got to me is to see the woman named Sarah who married the father ( Andrew ) of my grandma Grace now married to Appleton.
Appleton and Sarah never married and I am sure they never met. How some one happens to connect these two different families is amazing. All you have to do is click on Sarah's name and up comes Andrew.
I contacted this person to tell them of their error but who knows if they will ever even read my message and correct this stupid error that will be passed on and on.

Here are five rules to help with my family researching

Rule 1: Do Not Assume  Example is while working on one of my family lines recently, my research has the parents born in New York but as I am looking at different census one year had the mother born in Conn all other census reports say New York.  Either the census reporter wrote down the wrong name or who gave the information gave the wrong place of birth. Just because it is written does not make it true.  

Rule 2: Do Your Own Research  Go beyond the internet or just one census report or the death certificate or even the tombstone pictured on the internet. Use these as clues but look further find city directories these are a great source.  Search for family members who may have that missing information.
I am searching for the above Andrew in the first part of my blog story.  He never married Katherine after or before Grace was born.  All I have is a picture of Andrew.  I think I have found the right Andrew in the census but I am NOT posting this picture there on Ancestry.  What if it is the wrong one.
What I have found is a picture of Mary the sister of Andrew.  I have printed it and compared side by side. I see a resemblance but is it wishful thinking.  I have emailed the ancestor member who put up the picture of Mary to see if she might have a picture of Andrew. A picture of Andrew that matches my picture. Oh how I wish she would get back to me, but she  has not been there for over 6 months so I am not holding out much faith there.  But I can wait and wait and maybe some day I will hear back with an answer of Yes or No I have a picture.  In the mean time I will find others who have Mary and Andrew or their other siblings in the tree.  I will share these two pictures in a posting real soon and see what you think.  Is the nose similar, how about the lips. Are they related or not?

Rule 3: Treat Brothers and Sisters as Equals  Some times you can find some fun and interesting relatives.  Here is one Meet My Great Aunt 3x Removed the Postmistress of Greenwood Nebraska .  This was in the 1920's I find that exciting that she was busy and making her name in Greenwood Nebraska.  She never married and lived with her parents.

Rule #4: One Source Doesn't Equal Proof  Just because it is in the census does not make it correct. Even if it is on the death certificate that does not make it a fact.  Search, search and compare.

I love google to search for information. May never find anything but I am looking.  I really use swagbucks for my search because I get points every once in awhile. After I while I will turn these points into cash at pay pal or for a gift card some where. Have you tried out swag bucks for your search

Lets all follow these 5 rules of finding our family and  if we find a mistake that we know is a mistake lets take the time to pass on the error.  It may not get changed, but at least we have attempted to correct the error.

Thanks for stopping by lets all attempt to use these rules and use everything else as a clue only. Grace

SO MANY FAMILY MEMBERS SO LITTLE TIME TO FIND THEM

Some times I just feel so over whelmed with thinking about my ancestors. There are so many of them that have gone before me, and I want to learn as much as I can about them. There are grandparents  about which  I have a good amount of data including pictures. Then there are others that are just names in my files.

Those are the ones I feel sad about. They meant much to those around them during their life time and now they are just a name in my notebooks. A name and a birth date and maybe a date of death. I may know who they married and if they had children, but what was life like for them? Were they religious? What were their thoughts on what was going on around them? What were their political views?

So much to learn and so little time to do it. Some times my daily life gets in the way of my desire to learn about my family. How can I juggle all the things I have to do or should do with want I love to do.

Right now as I write I am at McDonalds. It is noisy which is difficult, but also comforting as I search for dead folks. I look out the window and I can see Lake Superior, what a view. The weather may be cold half of the year, but it is now Spring and people are taking off their big heavy coats and even starting to wear shorts.  Now that is silly to this 62 year old lady, but if they want to freeze their legs so be it.

Now back to family after that little weather break. Just think about all those that have gone before us. Our parents, grand parents and then our four great grandparents, just keep multipling those family members and by the time to go back four to eight generations their are a lot of family members. I can go back eight generations on a few family lines but no way will I probably know all five hundred and twelve great x 8 grandparents . No wonder I can feel over whelmed at times

So Just For Today I will try to find out something about one of my 512 great x 8 grandparents or maybe something about their siblings.

Have a fun researching day hope that you are not feeling over whelmed now. ..Grace

Creating A Family Itinerary # 1

In today's emails I received a FREE offer to sign up at New England Historical Genealogical Society. I am only getting a limited search area but a great start to see what I can find on my family lines. And best of all it does not appear to be on a time limit.


I was wandering around there for just a few minutes but I know I could spend hours just reading articles there.


Check out for yourself if you like . My dream is to spend some time this next year traveling and searching for family along with seeing sites of interest and meeting people along the way.


The article that interested me this morning was "Coming Home to New England: Creating a Family History Itinerary" by Maureen A. Taylor

Back in march of this year I wrote on this same topic with the hope of traveling when we got to Minnesota in August. Sadly this never happened for a couple of reasons.

Here is that article..

Be sure to pack the following tips when you visit your ancestor’s home so you can hit the ground running when you arrive.
Before You Leave:
Jot down addresses. Use city directories and street addresses from census records (you’ll find these in the left-hand margin in 1880 and beyond) at Ancestry.com.
Copy photos.
Look through the Ancestry.com postcard, newspaper, and yearbook collections to add to the collection of photos of the neighborhood you already have.
Get oriented.
Pull up a map online or select the town name from your ancestor’s profile in your Ancestry.com family tree. Use street views, when available, so you can see what the street looks like now – and when you get there. Keep in mind that street names and numbering may have changed over the years.
Local libraries, historical societies, and municipalities may have this information. For example, the Chicago Historical Society has posted street address conversion guides from 1909 and 1911 here. City directories can also contain this information.
In Person:
Find an expert. Visit the local library, visitors’ bureau, or historical society to ask questions about the neighborhood. See if historic tours are available. Learn what’s available.If finding in-person records are your goal, ask about what’s available at the library and the historical society. Visit the county courthouse to search for land and probate records.

Take in everything. Use your camera to recreate scenes from the old family photos you brought along.
Follow the paths your ancestor would have taken to school, to church, to work.
Get the real story. Stop by the local diner, sit at the counter, and start asking questions about what life used to be like there. Name drop – someone might have known your family.

Make notes. Pack a diary or start a blog (where you can also upload photos) and write about your experience. Note who you met, what you saw, and where you went.
You’ll want to revisit everything when you return home.Pinpoint answers.Snap photos at the cemetery of your ancestors’ tombstones and other ones you might find interesting (maybe you’ll discover you’re related one day your family is connected to them, too).
Have a GPS phone, camera, or other device? Jot down GPS coordinates of the places you’d like to visit again.

The New England Genealogical Article goes into more detail and worth the read if you are interested in doing travel research. I really love the part on going on historical tours where family lived but first things first.

The first goal is to start with making a list of all the places your ancestors lived and when.
We can find those place names probably in the genealogical documents we have accumulated—court records, census documents, and more.
Next they should be organize by surname (for a family specific trip) or by place name for a more general family history tour.
These records will depend on where and when our family lived.

This will be my first step: to go through the information I already have and list where my ancestors lived by state then area including which family lived there and when.

First stop is my own state, Minnesota and next will be Wisconsin since they will be the easiest to visit. Now to find my map and grab another cup of coffee.

Hope that you will join me on my plans to travel in search of my family roots. Grace

Breaking Down The Brick Walls In Our Family Research

We all have our brick walls in our family research. You go so far and hit the brick wall. Over and over that brick wall is does not move. Then by chance some how you crack that brick wall and hit pay dirt.

I have cracked a few brick walls just by blogging about a certain ancestor right here. Next thing I know I get an email from a distant relative and I get documented information to the Mayflower on my Lockwood family. From John Lockwood who fought in the Civil War to the Mayflower because of this blog. How great is that.

Other brick walls are unmovable. But with hints from others and continual research I may get another brick wall to come down. Andrew Daly I will not give up on you.

Tonight I visited Randy Seaver to read his post about breaking down brick walls at Genea-Musings Target the FAN Club to tackle "Elusive Ancestors" problems

Briefly from the posting we are to see our family research as the bull's eye and our ancestor as the target. As we search for information on our ancestor we may find information by moving out one ring of the target. Search for family members. Next search for those who lived in the area. Search for others with the same surname. By spreading out our research we may hit our target.

After reading Randy's post I was in search for other articles on brick walls.

All I had to do was go to http://www.google/ and post the question " brick wall in genealogy research " to come up with articles, books to buy and free charts to print.

Want to read more articles just go to http://www.cyndislist.com/hitbrick.htm There is more than enough to read for many nights.

I also found from my google search a new blog for me and this is just part of her article. She keeps it simple, brief and clear, which I like.

She writes
7 Keys to Getting Over Your Genealogy Brick Wall
By Corinne Bridgewater
Here are her 7 Key steps

Post questions on forums
If you know the area where the person lived try the white pages
Check into and then subscribe to Google alerts
Join RSS feeds from good strong genealogical sites
Put an ad in a newspaper, even overseas if need be
Put up a website about your search
Put up a hubpage or Squidoo lens about your search

She also writes...
If you need to break down the genealogy brick walls try these 6 steps
Write down everything that you know
Do not assume that you wrote it all down before. Go through your notes
Know exactly what it is you are looking for. If it is maiden names, birth, death, surnames, ports of entries then go and Google it. You may get ideas from what comes up.
Try different ways of spelling their names
Come at it from a different angle. Find a small bit of information that you are missing and follow the clue.
What about the property they owned? Follow land deeds
Read the whole article at http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Keys-to-Getting-Over-Your-Genealogy-Brick-Wall&id=2413086

And for forms to help us do our research just go to http://www.cyndislist.com/supplies.htm for a start. Or you can go to family tree for more forms .. http://www.familytreemagazine.com/info/researchforms

I have always had my research on the computer and no master list on each relative to what I have and do not have. I have time lines on some and not on others. That is one of my goals to work on. Getting time lines on my relatives to see what I have and do not have on each of them.

For tonight and for a few more nights this is plenty for me to read. Hope that you enjoy some of the articles and forms. Please look around at some of my other postings before leaving and I hope you visit again. Grace

Was Great Great Great Grandpa Coleman Counted Twice In The 1860 Census?

Just this week I was on http://www.ancestry.com/ and searching for information on my Coleman line. My great great great grandfather Alexander ( Elic ) Coleman was born 10 January 1805 in Connecticut, traveled west and ended up in Nebraska where he passed away on 01 September 1873

I found him in the 1860 Iowa census on 21st of July listed as Alexander. Living with him is his wife Kate and 9 children.

I was on the hunt for Alexander in the 1870 census and could not find him. At this time I decided to add his nick name of "Elic' at http://www.ancestry.com/ and a leaf came up with a hint.

I though Yea it is the 1870 census, but no it was another 1860 census for Elic Coleman. First thought was no way but went and looked at it. It was from the area in Nebraska where he had lived but I did not recognize any names of the people in the house he was living There was another Coleman listed in the home . I left that census and keep searching for him in 1870 with still no luck.

I then decided to go back to the 1860 Nebraska census and look again to the name of a Coleman man living in this house with Elic and it was William which was one of Elic's son's name.

I looked at the others living in the area and they are all names that I recognized.

This census was taken 17th August 1860. It seems that Alexander / Elic was in Iowa when that census was taken then left and traveled to Nebraska with his son William to visit family and friends and get land to settle with his family.

So while being counted twice in the 1860 census can be confusing, I did find when he went to Nebraska to settle, bringing the rest of his family at a later time.

The Nebraska state census taken in 1877 I have found Alexander's son John Henry and his family.

Checking the 1880 census I found Catherine as head of house and living with her is daughter Jane and a Hester Paul. Hester was unknown to me but by looking at the relationship I found that she was the younger sister of the head of house and that she was widowed. I now have a sibling of Catherine that I did not know of. A new relative to search in the future.

The census's are great tools. They can tell us where our family lived and who were their neighbors.

The hunt continues another day..

Thanks for stopping by.. Grace

The Foods My Puritan Ancestors Ate ... We Enjoy Today

I am working on my Day line in a family history book to pass on to family members. Besides the names and dates I am looking to add some history plus what life was like for them.

Robert and Mary Day emigrated from Ipswich, England to Boston in April 1634 aboard the ship Elizabeth. Sadly Mary died shortly after arriving. Shortly after Robert left Boston and went to Hartford Conn. It is believed that the reason Robert DAY moved to Hartford was that he was following a pastor Thomas HOOKER (1586-1647), who had recently emigrated from England in 1633. From 1626 to 1629. HOOKER , an English Puritan pastor and preacher aroused church officials at this church of St. Mary at Chelmsford, Essex, England, with his popular sermons of Puritan ideas.
Robert married Editha STEBBINS. Robert and Editha are one of my 8th great grandparents and had four children. I am a descendant of their second son John .

So today's question was "what was the food like in Colonial Times?"
The plain Puritan people with a plain Puritan ethic brought with them a plain Puritan aesthetic to the shores of New England. English cooking was the model -- boiled meats, casseroles, and puddings -- heavy, filling foods that combat the cold and did not offend God by being too fussy and decadent. The Native Americans also had an influence on colonial cuisine, both in the ingredients they introduced, such as corn, beans, and maple sugars, and the methods they used.
Their frequent use of maple syrup to flavor foods, nearly as often as we now use salt, may be why American food so tends towards the sweet: yams, honey-roasted ham, sweet relishes with roasted meats. Despite its meager, rocky soil, New England proffered a bounty of raw ingredients, fish of all kinds -- especially cod, which was salted for the winter -- and shellfish. One colonial diarist moans that he is forced to eat lobster for every meal: lobster lobster lobster! ( Today if we want lobster it is a pricy treat). Game, too, filled the air and the fields: venison, goose, turkey, and pheasant. All sorts of berries (cranberries, blueberries, strawberries) and nuts covered the hills. Pigs thrive in most every condition, and the harsh New England winters made no exception. Salt pork seems the one ingredient that no recipe lacks. For many years, New England was the launching site for migrations into uncharted country, and her tastes traveled as far as the Pacific Northwest, where you can still get a blueberry cobbler made from an old Maine recipe. Famous still are one-pot stews that can be made year-round. Succotash combines Lima beans, hominy (called "samp" when made from white corn and "hulled corn" when made from yellow corn) and a goodly amount of salt pork. Stewed in a hundred and one variations, Succotash became a beloved staple of the diet. Baked beans, too, combine beans and salt pork, and there are great debates over the proportions between the two. The mix of beans and pork is traditionally put into a cast iron pot, and buried, Native American-style, in a deep, coal-filled fire pit. Or, the beans are cooked in a brick oven.

Boiled puddings combined English dessert with Native American ingredients; corn flour and molasses were staple favorites, and the Indian puddings and steamed brown bread still survive, ever popular. In these foods, you can taste the British and colonial fondness for Indian spices: mace, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.
This information was found at http://www.cuisinenet.com/glossary/newengl.html.
I will be in search for more data on Puritan life to add ... to be continued.. Grace

Finding Genealogy Clues in Historical Books

This is a recent article I received in my emails and found so true and useful. I have been working on putting together one line of our family as a gift to family and wanting to put history with it so there is more than names and dates. Our family lived what we call history. Wars, the Great Depression, epidemics etc.

My great great grandparents Dwight and Betsy Anderson lost three children in one year while living in Minnesota. This was the time of the Scarlet fever epidemic and that is probably the cause of their death.

My ancestors fought in the Revolutionary war, the Civil war. They lived in America during the puritan times and the Salem witch hunt trials. One source has that my Robert Lockwood's wife Susannah and daughter testified at the witch trials. I will need to do some reading to see if I find her name.

They crossed America looking for a new place and life. So much history to add to our family research.
Here is the email I received the other morning....
Finding Genealogy Clues in Historical Books Posted by Diane
Why are historical books important to your research? Because your family didn’t live in a vacuum, says Family Tree Magazine contributing editor Nancy Hendrickson.
I got a sneak peek today at her Historical Books on the Web webinar (taking place tomorrow, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. Eastern time). She says that clues you’ll find in books about the history of the places your ancestors lived include the big events that impacted their lives, what their everyday lives were like and, when you lose their trail, why or where they might've moved. Some examples of local events you might learn about in historical books:
1848 to 1849 cholera epidemic, which killed 4,000 in New York City
1888 Children’s Blizzard in the Great Plains (so-called because many children were caught unaware in schoolhouses on what had been a relatively warm day)
1869 Indian Raids in Kansas
Order No. 11 (a Union Army decree that forced the evacuation of rural areas in four western Missouri counties in 1863)
Great Fire of 1846 in Nantucket
You can get started looking for historical books about your ancestral locales by Googling history of [insert the town name], visiting county pages at USGenWeb, searching library catalogs (WorldCat is a good site for doing this) and searching for period books at sites such as Internet Archive and Making of America.
Nancy will get into detail about what you can find in historical books, and where and how to find them, in tomorrow’s webinar, Historical Books on the Web: Millions of Tomes at Your Fingertips. You can register to attend at ShopFamilyTree.com (you'll receive our new Discover Your Roots guide with your registration)—and use the code HISTORY10 for 15 percent off with our Family History Month storewide sale. ShopFamilyTree.com Sales Social History Webinars
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 3:47:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Sorry I missed this email on when I first received it. There is still some great links for us anyway.

Time to sit down with some history books as I work on my genealogy. Putting some depth to my family information will make it all the more interesting.

Thanks for stopping by.. Grace

Who Are My Great Grandparents

Recently I was talking with a woman in Texas about my age ( early 60's). For some reason I asked her what her grandmother's maiden name was. She surprised me by not knowing what it was. I do not think she was even interested in knowing the information.
I sometimes forget there are two different people. Us who live family history, always thirsting for more information and those who have no interest at all.
How many of your great grandparents can you name?
Here are mine
1. Jonathan Adam Zion b 29 Sept 1861 Decatur County Iowa d 07 April 1927 Craig Colorado
2. Rachel Ann Millsap b 19 April 1862 Mount Ayr Colorado d 13 May 1945
3. Arthur Reynolds Hall b 19 Sept 1863 d 08 July 1919 Colorado
4. Mabel Jane Coleman b 01 July 1872 Greenwood Nebraska d 14 March 1947 Arkansas while visiting family.
5.William Albert Day b 15 Oct 1867Rome New York d Feb 1920 Sacred Heart Minnesota
6. Carrie B Lockwood b 07 October 1870 d April 1946 Minnesota
7. Andrew Daly information unknown at this time b abt 1870's death unknown would think he was born in the LaCrosse Wisconsin area and probably lived and died that. I have hints of who he may have been as a teen but need to work on this in the future
8. Katherine Ellen Gallaher/ Gallagher 10 May 1874 LaCrosse Wisconsin d 19 March 1940 Mora Minnesota

Recently I was reading a post by Randy Seaver and he listed the occupation of his male ancestors back six generations. That would be interesting. I am sure most of mine were farmers. Will have to work on that information in the future.

Thanks for stopping by... grace

The Life And Times Of Mabel Jane Coleman Hall

The life and times of Mabel Jane Coleman Hall

Mabel was born 01 July 1872 to John Henry Coleman and Alta Angeline Cheuvront Coleman at Greenwood, Nebraska. Mabel was their second child, their first daughter, and one of my great grandmother on my father's side . Her brother Elic was in 13 October 1868 in Salt Creek Cass county, Nebraska. Within a few years she has a brother Elmer born 09 April 1874, sister Alta Myrtle is born 27 February 1876 and sister Mary Crystal is born 17 March 1880.
What was life like at this time frame of the early 1870's to the 1880 period. The Coleman family lived in Greenwood, Cass County Nebraska.
The following is from the Cass County historical society.
The old depot and a modern elevator tower mark the location of Greenwood, said to be named for its first resident, an Indian trapper. Greenwood is located at the west most end of Cass County, just four miles south of the Saunders County line and one mile from the Lancaster line. The first resident of this area was Silas Greenwood, an Indian trapper and hunter who lived with his white wife and family in a dugout along Salt Creek in the early 1860's. The village was named for him.
In 1869, when the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad built its line from Plattsmouth to Lincoln, a station was needed in this area. Farmers residing nearby purchased land from Smith C Bethel and donated it to the B&MR with the promise that $10,000 worth of improvement would be invested. " The land was subsequently transferred to the South Platte Land Company who ( in 1882) still held it and have not sold to individual residents. "
Bethel built a store near the rock grade and was named postmaster of " Greenwood" in 1870. With the tracks completed, the depot opened for business in July of that year. By 1880 the population had reached 200. The town was incorporated in 1883 and by 1885 the population had reached 840.
The Congregational Church organized and a church built in 1873, followed by the Christian Church in 1874.
The first school was a mile or south of town. In 1878 a school with a " seating capacity of 100" was built. The first class to graduate was in 1890, and a new schoolhouse was built in 1907.
In 1880 Greenwood had three elevators.
Mabel lost her paternal grandfather Elic Chalker Coleman 01 September 1873 at the age of 1 and her paternal grandmother Catherine Beiler Coleman 01 December 1884 in Greenwood Nebraska when she was 12 years old.
During her early years the president was Ulysses S Grant ( 1869 - 1877 ) Rutherford B Hayes who served 1877 - 1887 ).
Mabel continued to live in Nebraska with her family until she met and married Arthur R Hall in Denver Colorado 28 August 1891. Soon after the happily married couple left Nebraska to live in Chicago for four years. This was during the period of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and Arthur was a carpenter and probably worked on the building of the fair. Mabel and Arthur then returned to Nebraska settling on a farm in Geneva. Arthur and Mabel had three daughters Alta Louise born 26 June 1892 in Evansville Wisconsin , May Belle 25 July 1895 in Chicago, Illinois and Pearl 11 April 1901 in Geneva, Nebraska. The family continue to make Nebraska their home until Arthur passed away 19 September 1919. Mabel remained in Nebraska for awhile. The 1920 census has her living with her parents in Taylor Loop Nebraska. Mabel's father John Henry passes away 20 September 1922. Sometime around 1930 Mabel moves to Custer South Dakota to be near two of her daughters. This is where she is found in the 1930 census. Mabel's mother Alta passes away 28 September 1937, sister Myrtle Alta on 11 December 1939 and her daughter Alta on 21 February 1944. Mabel lives to be 73 years old and dies 14 March 1946. There is a bit of confusion to where Mabel died. My aunt Alice the genealogist wrote that she died in Arkansas and Ancestry has a death certificate for Mabel J Hall dying in South Dakota the same date. Either Aunt Alice miss wrote the place of death or the death certificate was for a different Mabel. This is one mystery to further search. I know little about Mabel other than the details from census and other family notes with birth dates and death dates. I wish I had some letters or stories about her. Will continue to do my searches and hopefully will find something someday.
Other Coleman postings can be read at http://myfamilyrootsrundeep.blogspot.com/search/label/Coleman%20Family.

Finding Distant Cousins Because Of Blogging

How how I love my blog. I started it as away to work on my writing, to express my thoughts and share my treasures. I have several blogs and sometimes I am over whelmed and to not post enough on any of them. But then I get a comment on my family blog that thrills me to no end.

My Lockwood line has been at a brick wall. My fault really since I do not work on it enough. Then comes this comment from a Lockwood family member that we are related.
It happens his descendant George is my John's brother and he is willing to share his information with me.
Here is his email to me with his permission of course.

Grace
A short answer is that John and my great grandfather George Frederick were brothers. George Frederick is buried in Mound Cemetery in Ortonville, Minnesota, about 12 miles south of Clinton where John is buried(we drove up to Clinton and found John's stone). My dad, now deceased, spent 3 years documenting the genealogy of the Lockwood's in America starting with Robert in 1630(Puritans). He and brother, Edmund, came from Suffolk county in England. Another ancestor, John Howland, was a pilgrim on the Mayflower in 1620. A descendant of Howland's, Mary(Polly) Sturges married John Lockwood III(6th generation in America) and Hiram(7th generation) was one of their children. My Dad applied for membership in the "Mayflower Society" and was accepted.

Hiram and Emma are buried in Maple Cemetery in Otrey township. The cemetery was never maintained, a mess of weeds and volunteer trees. Recently, a farmer who owns land next to the cemetery, decided to clean it up as he had good equipment. Hiram's stone is tall and visible, but Emma's stone is probably buried( a lot of dirt blew around in the 30's). I have the deed for Emma's plot( my Dad had in his papers). It appears from information available at the Big stone county museum that very few of the 95 plots(probably 8 to 10) were ever used. With this new interest in Hiram and Emma, my wife put "Hiram Lockwood" in google and found your wonderful blogs. So here we are. I have a lot of documentation that my Dad compiled and would be happy to share it with you.
Fred

So you can imagine how excited I am. I will get more information on the Lockwood's. I know that Hiram has a gravestone I can visit some day. My ancestors came from off the Mayflower.. How cool is that. I have a distant cousin to meet and hug some day.
I am so excited I can hardly stand it.
His great grandfather George and my great great grandfather John were brothers.
So keep blogging away Gracie more good thinks are to come


thanks for visiting my family blog, and Hey to Fred and his wife Nola. Thanks for finding me. Grace

Who Do You Think You Are Going For A 2nd Season

I have been enjoying " Who Do You Think You Are " more than I thought I would. First thought was these are just famous stars, but to watch their excitement as they learn about their ancestors has been fun.
Not alot of depth research wise to the show, but still entertaining.
Have you been watching the show?
If not here is a link to see the eposides. I have seen all except missed Lisa Kudrow's. It is on my to do list to see her link's to Nazi Germany.
http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/

News is that they will not be getting a second season. http://blog.familytreemagazine.com/insider/2010/04/06/WhoDoYouThinkYouAreGetsSecondSeason.aspx

Tracing My Coleman Family Line From England part 1

I can trace my Coleman line back to Thomas Coleman who was born in Svesham, Worcester, England in 1598. Thomas is my 9th great grandfather. Parents unknown at this time.
At http://www.ancestry.com/ I find that he married Katherine Higginson, Frances Albright, and Francis Belcher. I believe that Katherine Higginson is my ancestor John's mother. John was born in 1635 Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut.
Thomas married the two Frances after John's birth date.
There are three marriages for Thomas. First is to Katherine, April 22, 1619 with no source noted. Second one in 1646 to Francis Albright

and Francis Belcher in 1650.
These are sourced on marriage records at http://www.ancestry.com/
Also I found Passenger and Immigration list index telling that Thomas came in 1635 the same year that John was born. Name of ship unknown at this time. Katherine either got pregnant during the trip to the United States or after arriving in America. The trip from England to America would of taken about two months.
At Ancesry I found a biography on Thomas Coleman, this will give me further sources to read when I can get to a genealogy center that carry these sources. The biography itself is very small with not much more to learn than what I have.
It mentions his son John saying he was a freeman and that he probably removed to Hatfield, Massachusetts in 1659. That his first wife was killed in 1677 , along with daughter Bethia. This could of happen during the Indian wars . http://www.hampshirecountyhistory.com/hatfield/barber/index.html
http://www.hampshirecountyhistory.com/

Each of us has a family story to tell. My family stories mainly begin with the beginning of settling of America. History full of excitement, adventure, births, deaths and hardship.

Hope that you will join me again as I continue to tell my family story.

Tombstone Tuesday Remembering My Great Great Great Grandmother Carpenter Chrisman Anderson Cocagne

In Minnesota several of my ancestors are buried. Life is done for them, they have loved and lived their lives caring for those around them. Their stories are hard to find and I am in constant search to find out about them. Today for Tombstone Tuesday I am featuring my Great Great Great Grandma Harriet Carpenter Chrisman Anderson Cocagne.

Harriet was born December 13 1814 in Rome New York to Harmon and Phoebe Christman Carpenter and died December 5th 1908 in Wabasha Minnesota. She was married a total of three times.

First husband David Chrisman ( may of been a first cousin) married when Harriet was 19 years old. Harriet had two children by him, David Chauncey and Monica. David Chrisman dies in 1836.

In 1837 Harriet marries Levi Anderson, they have 6 children together. The first being Betsey my great great grandmother. Other children are Abram, Phoebe, William , George and then Fairfax. In 1858 Levi supposidly dies, we have not found his obit or grave. There was a Levi Anderson who died 1860 found frozen to death, alcohol being the cause. We do not know if this is the same Levi Anderson of New York.

Third husband Charles marries Harriet in 1872 and dies in 1900. Harriet dies in 1908 and is buried in the Pleasant Prairie Cemetery in Zumbro, Minnesota. Harriet lived to almost be 94 years old , she out lived 3 husbands and 5 children.

I am sure there is a lot to learn about Harriet and I have just started my search for her. I am pleased I was able to find her grave in 1999 and was able to leave her a flower at that time.

Harriet did not live to know that two of her grandsons would be murdered. In 1927 her first son David's son George is murdered in a neighbor dispute and in 1929 daughter Betsey's son George is murdered while doing his job as a guard at the docks in Duluth, Minnesota. This crime was never solved.

These pictures are Harriet and her third husbands tombstones. I was able to take these pictures in 1999.
The picture above is of Harriet, daughter Betsey Day ( my great great grandmother ) and Phoebe Harrison ( I believe that this Monica's daughter)

7 Steps to Study Ancestral Places

This morning I read this article on line and wanted to not only print for future use and reading, but wanted to share with you. These are great ideas to help us go further in our family research. Just this week I have furthered my research by using some of these ideas.

7 Steps to Study Ancestral Places
2/3/2010
By Rick Crume
Focusing not just on who your ancestors were, but also where they went, can give you a research advantage: You'll learn what records they might have generated and where those records are today.
In this article:
Using source guides
Consulting town and county networks
Searching the Web
Consulting maps
Identifying local histories
Locating local records
Networking with others
Sometimes genealogists give geography short shrift—we get so focused on finding names to add to our family trees, we forget ancestral places may hold clues, too. Focusing not just on who your ancestors were, but also where they went, can give you a research advantage: You'll learn what records they might have generated and where those records are today. You'll find Web sites with links to indexes, cemetery lists, maps and more. You might even get a look at the places your relatives lived and worked. So get ahead by using these seven steps to home in on your ancestors' hometowns.

Check place-based source guides.The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists (Family Tree Books) tells you when each US county began keeping various records and which offices have jurisdiction over them now. You also can turn to FamilySearch's Research Guidance for advice on researching in a particular place and time period. Pick a place (such as a state) and the type of record and time period you're researching. FamilySearch also has a series of excellent printable research outlines, which give you an overview of key records for each place.
Consult town and county networks.You can't beat the USGenWeb Project for information on county-level genealogy resources. Volunteers maintain county sites, so they vary in content but often include maps, details on the county's founding and formation, and contact information for courthouses, archives and libraries. The American History and Genealogy Project is similar to the USGenWeb Project, though newer and less comprehensive. Most counties have official Web sites with instructions for requesting copies of records. Find them by running a Web search for the county and state name, such as knox county illinois.
Scour the Web.Indexes, transcriptions and even digitized records from all over the United States and abroad are online. Start with the US index at Cyndi's List and Linkpendium. A search engine such as Google will turn up many more sites focusing on your ancestral hometowns. Try searching on a place and the word genealogy—for example,"blue earth county" minnesota genealogy—or on a place and a type of record, as in "ontario county" "new york" deeds. Use quotation marks to find exact phrases, and you don't have to capitalize proper names.
Pinpoint places on maps.It's important to know the county where your ancestors lived because many key genealogical sources, such as court, land and probate records, are usually kept there. You can use the RootsWeb County Finder [resources.rootsweb.com/USA] to identify the county a town or city is in. The US Board on Geographic Names has an even larger database, including places that no longer exist. County boundaries changed frequently as settlers moved in, so your ancestor's county might've changed even if he didn't move an inch. Records would be in whichever county had jurisdiction over his home at the time they were created. See US County Formation Maps 1643-Present and Historical County Lines.
Study area history.Town and county histories can tell you when the area was first settled and where the pioneers came from, which churches were close to your ancestor's home, and what your relatives' lives were like. You can simultaneously search the text of all 20,000 volumes in HeritageQuest Online, available through many subscribing libraries (ask if your library offers remote access).The BYU Family History Archive, another online collection of family and local histories, has more than 5,000 titles with more on the way, thanks to a partnership with the FHL and Indiana's Allen County Public Library. Look for actual paper-and-glue histories, too, at the local library and historical society, through Amazon.com and on eBay.
Check local records.Many of our ancestors owned property, left wills and got involved in court cases. Sometimes land, probate, court and other local records are the only evidence of our forebears' existence. Fortunately, more of those records are appearing online in the form of indexes, transcriptions and even digital images. But most local records aren't online yet, so turn to the Family History Library's worldwide microfilms, which you can through a branch Family History Center (FHC). To find records in the catalog, choose Place Search and enter the name of a town, county, state or country in the first box. Optionally, enter a larger geographic area in the second box; for instance, you might type chicago or cook in the first box and illinois in the second one. Then click on the correct place name in the list of matches. The next screen lists all the topics for the place you searched on—such as Biography, Cemeteries, Census, Church Records, Land and Property, and Vital Records.
Find other researchers.If you live far away from the places your ancestors called home, you might not know where cemeteries are located or whether gravestones have been transcribed. Perhaps you need help finding a place that's not on modern maps. Online mailing lists and message boards, such as Ancestry Community, GenForum and RootsWeb mailing lists, are ideal places to pose such questions. (Don't forget to search the archives to see if your question's been answered.) Genealogical and historical societies are also great sources for information on local family history resources. Many have message boards, newsletters with queries and regular meetings where you can get help in person.