Would you like to see your Great Grandfather's handwriting?

I never knew my Grandfathers.  They died before I was born.  I do have a couple of pictures.  a picture is wonderful because you can look into your Grandfather's eyes and see his destiny - the reflection of all his hard work, sacrifice and love, is you.

What I wanted was to connect in a more personal way.  I wanted to see how he wrote.  A lot can be surmised by your ancestor's handwriting.  As my grandmother Dora got older, her handwriting got bigger and bigger and shakier until she just started typing letters by memory how to type.  Macular Degeneration runs thick and deep in my ancestors, so I can look forward to the same.  Seeing Gran's writing calms me and tells me that I will be able to be ok even when old and blind.

Seeing my Grandfather's handwriting on his World War I application, I see courage and strength.  He could not know that his life would be cut tragically short because of faulty gas masks in the Army.  The mustard gas disintegrated his intestines and they just sewed him up and waited for sepsis to take him.  He knew he was dying and invited my mother up to lay on his chest.  At 4 years old, she knew too. 

Signed Walter Riley Collins on the left.

Finding this document cleared up the correct spelling of his middle name. The family spelled it Walter Raleigh Collins for years and this helped the lineage progress back nicely to ancestral Cherokee tribes in Arkansas.

I hope you look for World War I and II registration cards and see what you learn.  

My great grandmother and grandfather's marriage license in 1898.  This is the oldest evidence so far of my German heritage.  Before researching my family I didn't know about any German heritage.  I am searching for more, but grateful to have this documentation.

So any document that requires a signature is considered correct corroborative evidence of ancestry.  There are other very correct evidences, but these are my favorites because they are so personal.

Write back and tell me what your feelings are as you find more things.  If you are having troubles, submit a question and I'll help you find it.

Everyone should know what their story is....

Looking for Death Records or Places of Death or Burial

Looking for Death Records or Places of Death

When searching for a Death Record, accept and use information in this order according to accuracy and chances for success.

Ancestry's documentation of these databases is exceptional.

1. Social Security Death Index
2. Death Certificates
3. findagrave.com
4. personal family knowledge

Karen, "Why do you put personal family knowledge last?"

For years this genealogy went on the dates provided by the grandmother.  She said that the person in question died on Thanksgiving Day in a certain year.   She just picked the 4th Thursday in a month a random "22" and put that date down with the "correct" year - 

The lineage all but stopped going back due to incorrect data

To verify the data, I entered this in google - 

Thanksgiving Day in 1919

It returned "November 27, 1919"

After inputting that data correction, suddenly the hints started flying and within 4 hours, I had corroborated, true data leading to the Mayflower in 1620.

Death Certificates

For Arizona - go to genealogy.az.gov

This is a fantastic site where you can get accurate data and you don't have to pay for the death certificate.

In a death certificate you have a myriad of golden information.

Actual name 

(not one where someone guessed at their middle name,) 

real date of birth, 

birth place, 

real date of death, 

cause of death, 

the hospital 

where he was taken, 

the mortuary where the body was interred, 

The address of the decedent so you can google where he lived and see what it looks like now.

  His occupation, 

His wife's name, 

So with all this new information, I was able to get more accurate information, and the lineage continued.  

Findagrave.com

What in the world is findagrave.com

This is a company who has a free service that you can actually donate your services to.  You go out to a cemetery and take pictures of headstones, then you put the data on the website for the families to claim and write a family history to honor them.

I think this tool is probably one of the finest additions to a Genealogist's portfolio for trouble shooting and achieving a more accurate result.

There are actually amazing stories from using this tool.  I got an email once from a gentleman, Nevada Bob, who was riding his ATV out in the desert was taking pictures of headstones in the abandoned desert cemetery.  He kept having the feeling he should stop at a certain place and every time he would go by he would get that same feeling.  When he stopped, he didn't see a headstone but he got off his ATV and moved a tumbleweed and there was the headstone for my Uncle Marvin.  Here's the (cue twilight zone music) interesting thing.....It was July 31 in 2013, I think,  now look at the data in the link below.

He didn't want to be forgotten.  I think he was urging the man on the ATV to find him.

Walter Marvin Collins Findagrave.com 

How does a Search Engine work in Genealogy?

HOW DOES A SEARCH ENGINE WORK IN GENEALOGY?

 A search engine gives you fields within data that you can search for. It will ask you the:

 Name,
Last name,
Date of Birth,
Place of Birth,
Date of Death,
Place of Death

 So if you give it the last name of Smith, YOB 1953, Arizona, it will return results of all people with the last name of Smith, born in 1953 in Arizona. more to come!

1. Look at your Pedigree Sheet.  You can right click on this and print it out.
2. Add every fact that you know for a fact - do it in pencil - 
3. When you corroborate data, you find out that your family did not always have the facts.
4. When you are searching always try using the "sounds like" or "soundex" option in case someone documenting their existence did not ask the correct spelling and just spelled phonetically.
5. Now lets go to the first blank field.
6. Enter what you know.
7. Let's say you know your parents were married in Califorrnia.
8. California has listed all the marriages for the entire state in Ancestry.com up to the 80s at this time.
9. See if they are listed in the Marriage, Birth, Death section.
10. Create a family tree with your Ancestry Account
11. then one by one, when you see a leaf, review the information and see if it makes sense.
12. Sometimes you need to double check the oldest child's birthdate to see if the marriage could have taken place prior to that child being born.

"But I think my parents eloped"

Ok - check neighboring states like Nevada and in particular Las Vegas and Reno

WAITING PERIOD TO GET MARRIED IN LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

There is no waiting period or blood testing required. Your marriage license is valid for one year. In other words, once you get your license you must have a wedding ceremony in Las Vegas within one year. Toget married in Vegas you must be at least 18 years old.

WAITING PERIOD TO GET MARRIED IN RENO, NEVADA

APPLICATION:

A male and female person, at least 18 years of age, not nearer of kin than second cousin or cousins of the half blood, and not having a husband or wife living, may be joined in marriage. Proof of age is required. Both parties must appear in person at the Marriage License Bureau, Washoe County Administrative Complex, 1001 E. Ninth St, Building A, Reno, NV 89512.

BLOOD TESTS / WAITING PERIODS:

Blood tests are not required, and there is no waiting period.

HOURS AND FEES:

Monday through Sunday 8:00 AM to 12:00 Midnight.   Fee: $60.00 (cash, credit cards, money orders or travelers checks)

1. 
2. In generations past, you had to wait 3 days between the marriage license ascertainment, and the marriage.  This allowed for the couple to get the proper blood tests.  It made the obvious search for the record in either of three places for California  if it was not found in CA - You would have probably found it in Nevada or Mexico.

In the generations of 1990 births trying to get married in CA NOW.....the rules have changed to allow anyone to get married immediately after getting their marriage license and there are no more blood tests required - This means that now in later generations you will have less places to look for your license because the restrictions have been lifted and CA is the obvious place going forward to look for Marriage Certificates.

Here is a website that gives the current waiting period status and qualifications for several states:

http://usmarriagelaws.com/search/united_states/waiting_period_marriage_license/index.shtml

What is coming out from Ancestry.com in 2016?

With 2015 being so profitable for Ancestry.com - what else is going to happen in the field of Genealogy?  Findmypast.com is releasing over 100 million Irish Records in 2016. 

GenealogyInTime Magazine maintains the most complete list available on the internet of the newest genealogy record sets from around the world. We tell you what you need to know.

We also maintain lists of new records by country. Please note many of the free records discussed below can also be conveniently searched using the Genealogy Search Engine.

February 2016

US – FamilySearch.org in concert with the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture have announced the project to transcribe the Freedmen’s Bureau records has reached the important milestone of one million transcribed records. Nearly 16,000 volunteers have contributed to this effort. The target is to get the entire collection online by the middle of June 2016.

This is a major announcement for anyone with African American ancestors. It will allow people to extend their family histories to dates before the 1870 national census.
We have talked extensively about Freedman’s Bureau records before. For those who are not familiar with this incredibly important genealogical resource, please see the video below. [Discover Freedmen] [Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society]

US – FamilySearch.org has created new collections of Idaho birth indexes (1861 to 1911) and death indexes (1938 to 1961). In total, there are some 60,000 new birth indexes and some 118,000 death indexes. These records come from the Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics. A typical birth index lists the name of the person, date and place of birth, father’s name, father’s birthplace, father’s age, mother’s name, mother’s birthplace and mother’s age.

The death certificate indexes however just list basic information since the full death certificates are not yet available. FamilySearch does however have a separate collection of full death certificate records for Idaho for the earlier period from 1911 to 1937, as shown in the image below. Access is free. [Idaho Birth Index] [Idaho Death Index 1938 to 1961] [Idaho Death Records 1911 to 1937]

Early Idaho death certificates contain a fair amount of information. This death certificate from 1911 lists the full name of the deceased, date of death, place of death, sex, race, marital status, date of birth (if known), age, occupation, cause of death, place of birth, father’s name, birthplace of father, mother’s maiden name, birthplace of mother, place of burial, undertaker and even the length of residence in hospitals & institutions before the person died. Image Source: FamilySearch.org

US – Newspapers.com (an Ancestry company) has digitized and put online historic newspapers from Poughkeepsie, New York. Included in this collection are the Poughkeepsie Journal (1785 to 2016) and the Poughkeepsie Eagle-News (1861 to 1974). These two journals combined provide some 1.3 million pages of information on the Hudson Valley. Access is by subscription. [Historic Poughkeepsie Newspapers]

US – FamilySearch.org has indexed an additional 3.7 million Cook County, Illinois death records. These records date from 1878 to 1994 (although the records are missing for the years 1910 to 1915). Please note this collection excludes the city of Chicago records. This collection can be searched by first name, last name, gender and race. Access is free. [Cook County Illinois Death Records]

US – FamilySearch.org has indexed an additional 312,000 marriage records from various counties in Kansas. These county marriage records span the years from 1855 to 1911 and can be searched by first name and last name. Access is free. [Kansas County Marriage Records]

As well, FamilySearch.org has created a new index of Kansas City marriage records. It contains some 185,000 names and spans the years from 1811 to 1911. Please note this is an index only. The index can be searched by first name and last name. Access is free. [Kansas City Marriage Index]

UK – FamilySearch.org has released an additional 2.5 million records from the 1861 England and Wales census. The data was provided by FindMyPast as part of the data exchange agreement between the two entities. It is not clear what percentage of the records from this census has gone online at FamilySearch.

This census covers England, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. It was taken on 7 April 1861. Please note that records from this census are missing from the following regions: North Aylesford, Kent; Northfleet, Kent; and from Shoreditch, Middlesex.

Only people who were home on the night of this census are listed in the forms. So if you had a relative that was in the navy, merchant marine, army or had any job that required them to travel or work in the evening then they may not be listed in this census. These records can be searched by first name, last name, gender, place and relationship to the head of the household. Access is free. [1861 England Census]

England – FindMyPast has enhanced their 1939 Register, which was just released with much fanfare last October (see the October 2015 commentary below). Now the collection can be browsed by county, borough/district, piece number and ED letter code. This provides a complement to performing name searches for those who may have trouble finding their ancestors but know roughly where they lived. Access is by subscription. Just a reminder that the 1939 Register is now included with the 12-month subscription package at FindMyPast. [Browse 1939 Register]

England – FindMyPast has released a collection they call Devon, Plymouth and West Devon Parish Chest Records. Apparently, this is an eclectic mix of documents from parish chests of Plymouth and West Devon. This includes such things as the levying of taxes, the selection of juries and even pew rentals within a given church. Just to be clear, these are not baptism, marriage or burial records.

At one time, Anglican churches in England performed many duties that today would be associated with the government (such as collecting taxes for the crown, maintaining local roads, etc.). The records were usually kept in a locked chest at the local parish church, thus the name parish chest records.

The records in this collection list the individual’s name, the type of event and the date of the event. The records span the years from 1556 to 1950. There are about 434,000 records in this collection. Each record includes a transcript and an image of the original parish record. Access is by subscription. [Plymouth and West Devon Parish Chest Records]

Wales – FindMyPast has added 6.4 million new articles to their historic British newspaper collection. The latest addition includes 26 brand new titles, of which 19 are from Wales. If you are looking for a particular newspaper, use the By Newspaper filter to bring up all the titles. Alternatively, you can search by place and county. Access is by subscription. [Historic Welsh Newspapers]

Liberia – FamilySearch.org has created a new browsable image collection of Liberian marriage records. In total, there are some 25,000 images in this collection, which spans the years from 1941 to 1974. These records come from the National Archives in Monrovia, Liberia and consist of marriage applications, marriage licenses, marriage returns and various other types of documents that certify marriage. Below is a sample two-page marriage application, which contains lots of useful information for genealogists. Access is free. [Liberian Marriage Records]

This is page 1 of a Liberian marriage application (page 2 is below). The marriage application contains more information of interest to genealogists than the actual marriage certificate itself. One interesting thing that we noted about this particular sample is that judging by the handwriting; it appears one person wrote and signed for everyone. Image courtesy of FamilySearch.org

Ireland – This is an advance notice. Both FindMyPast and Ancestry are planning to release some 10 million Catholic parish records in March. The records will span the years from roughly the mid 1700s to 1900 and cover over 1,000 parishes. It appears that these will be primarily baptism and marriage records (with a small number of burial records) that have been transcribed from the collection held by the National Library of Ireland. The records cover both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

At the moment, FindMyPast has about 80 million Irish records and Ancestry has about 45 million Irish records so these new records in March will be a substantial addition for both firms.

The video below from FindMyPast provides an excellent overview of Irish records in general and highlights why land records and court records are very important to anyone with Irish ancestors

- See more at: http://www.genealogyintime.com/records/newest-genealogy-records.html#sthash.6vLyQYQ0.dpuf

Ancestry.com LLC Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2015 Financial Results

— 2015 Revenues $683.1 million, Up 10.3% Year-Over-Year —

— 2015 Adjusted EBITDA $263.0 million, Up 16.7% Year-Over-Year⁽¹⁾ —

— Subscriber base grows by approximately 150,000 in 2015 —

— AncestryDNA sells approximately one million DNA kits in 2015;
DNA kit sales more than double in Q4 year-over-year—

• Subscribers — Subscribers of Ancestry websites totaled approximately 2,264,000 as of December 31, 2015, compared to 2,115,000 as of December 31, 2014.
  
• Content - The Company added over 1.7 billion new records during 2015. New collections added in the fourth quarter included:
  
  
  • Mexico Civil Registration records - over 200 million records
    
  • US, School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 - over 63 million records
    
  • US, City Directories, 1822-1989 - updated with over 40 million new records
    
  • 4 million new international records from the U.K., Germany and Romania
    
• AncestryDNA - AncestryDNA sold approximately one million kits in 2015 and now has a database with DNA samples from 1.5 million people.
  
• New Offerings - Ancestry Academy, New Ancestor Discoveries and a beta launch of Ancestry Health were introduced in 2015.

Hit a brick Wall in your Genealogy?

What about that Native Ancestry DNA proof????

I KNOW....
You have seen on your CSI television shows that they have been able to PROVE DNA.  If you see this in a family tree, PLEASE don't import those words.  You can't prove parentage or DNA unless you have the "LIVE" data and we have only been able to capture and hopefully keep live data since the 1980s (well....The first recombinant DNA molecule was created by Paul Berg in 1972 when he combined DNA from the monkey virus SV40 with that of the lambda virus).  http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/discovery-of-the-function-of-dna-resulted-6494318


I've actually seen an example of this in documentation and it makes me cringe: (not the real person)
Lady Jane Gray - DNA PROVEN
BORN 1900
DIED

Whatever....really?


Bringing it down to the simplest common denominator, even two chocolate chip cookies can be different - one might have 10 more chips than the other - - We as laymen can look at DNA testing a little like that.

Have you seen the Ancestry.com commercial about the guy who always thought he was German - even to the point of learning folk dances dressed in Leidahosen?  Then....he finds out that he is mostly Scottish.  Who knew?

That is the tricky part of your Ancestry DNA testing.  We are not all cut out of the same mold so to speak.  Our pedigree looks like a cookie cutter with our brother, but you might have one DNA marker more or less turned on than your brother or sister.  That might throw you a little closer to one nationality than the next.  

I love this article and hope you read it -

 http://dna-explained.com/2012/12/18/proving-native-american-ancestry-using-dna/

In this example the brother has 1/2 of his fathers traits and 1/2 of his mothers.  The sister has mostly mother's traits.


I'm a perfect example of this.  All my life, our family stories were - "We came from 100 % Galway, Ireland on Dad's side and Mom's side was 100% Cherokee."  So let's look at my pedigree JUST by the threads:


So I'm leaving out some info here - but when you drill back, the
By the information we found - I had no idea that I had German Ancestors, until I had done my Bavarian roots which extends to Scandanavia - on the Bower side....who knew!   Those were some stories that did NOT get passed down.   And what's this about my Grandparents on my Father's side living on the Choctaw reservation because of Grandpa Harris's ancestry???

What stories and data are missing on your side?

   Below is not an example of my ability to document my heredity - just a rough sketch of the big picture.  Here's a little video of how you can get in touch  with other relations after you have done your research and Ancestry DNA

http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2015/08/26/see-your-dna-matches-in-a-whole-new-way/

From what I was able to glean is that nothing really replaces good research and taking the Saliva Test DNA just corroborates the BIG picture - not tiny details.


                                                                       Grandpa C
                                             Grandpa C         Ireland>>>>>>>>>>>IRELAND
                Grandpa C            Ireland
                                           
                                           
                                              Grandma L           Grandpa L>>>>>>>IRELAND

Dad                                       England                    Ireland
Arizona
                 Grandma H          Grandpa H             Grandpa H - CHOCTAW?
                 Tennessee            Virginia
me
California                              Grandma E>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ENGLAND
                                              Tennessee


                       Grandpa C            GrandpaC>>>OK, CHEROKEE
                       Texas                    Texas  - Walked the trail of tears
Mom
Oklahoma

                       Grandma S           Grandpa S>>>>>>>>>>> ENGLAND
                       Texas                    Texas

                                                 Grandma B...........................  GERMANY
                                                  Alabama

So just to see if my research was on target, I took the Ancestry saliva test for 79.00 (special!) and It was a little different than I had long imagined!

 Upon first glance it showed mostly what I had discovered but not what I was told by family lore.

 The pie chart didn't even mention Native American.....until I looked at the TRACE amounts.

You guessed it - All my life I thought I was 50% but my research proved that I was only 2% by my saliva.  Now if my brother, who looks just like my Cherokee grandfather took the same test, he could have completely different results.  His, I'll bet, would show a much higher Cherokee element.

Geneticists sound note of caution over DNA ancestry testing

The American Society of Human Genetics has issued an official statement on the …

by Ted and Karen Meyer - Nov 13, 2008 11:15am MST

Here is an excerpt from an article about Geneticists Sound off on Ancestry DNA.....

Then there's the issue of what ancestors a given test is looking at. "Every person has hundreds of ancestors going back even a few centuries and thousands of ancestors in just a millennium," the statement notes. Although, on average, we can figure out what each ancestor may have contributed to someone, just like the DNA markers, these numbers are only probabilities; there's no way of knowing if, by chance, a given ancestor is over- or underrepresented in their modern descendent.

Between these three aspects: choice of test, its probability of finding a spurious link to a geographic origin, and the probability that a given DNA marker isn't representative, then only one thing is inevitable: if you do enough tests, you're going to get a wrong answer now and again, even if the average test is more or less correct.

That wouldn't be such a problem if it weren't for two things. The first is that many people assign an enormous psychological weight to their ancestry, as it's intertwined with their sense of identity. The second is that many people are aware that certain genetic diseases and predispositions are prevalent in some ethnic groups, and the tests may trigger unnecessary worries—especially unnecessary, in that some of the same tests may be precisely the ones used to assign these risks in a more fine-grained manner.

The statement ends with a series of recommendations, the first of which is that the scientific community do its best to make these issues clear to the public. The public, in turn, has a duty to pay attention to scientists if they're going to take ancestry testing seriously.

Hope you enjoyed this!  What have you found out about your history?  Write to me at genealogymama1@gmail.com - I love hearing your success stories!