Category Archives: Blogging Prompts

Colonial Christmas, How To Tips and more Straight Talk – Follow Friday

Some of my favorite blog posts over the last few weeks:

Weaving in the Current Events of the Time into Your Ancestor’s Story: Tuesday’s Tip

We look at census records and changes in families as their story. But they lived in a time and place.  Their lives weave through history.   As I work on my Kinship Determination Project for my CG and the family  I’m trying to learn more about the county they lived in, Smyth County, Virginia to understand their lives in the 1800’s.

Yesterday I delved into History of Smyth County, Virginia, Volume Two, 1832-1870: Ante-bellum Years through The Civil War by Joan Tracy Armstrong.  As you can see Smyth County was in the southwest corner of the state and transportation was the biggest issue when it came to developing the county.  The politics of convincing a state legislature to fund the cost of building roads and railroads in remote areas of the state took quite some time.  But it did happen.

Marion, Va Train Station

Marion, Va Train Station by SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent), on Flickr

“By the end of 1855, tracks for the railroad were within two miles of Marion.  Four months later the train was making runs to Marion and track was being laid toward Abingdon.” 1

So the 10 years from 1850 to 1860, did not just show a change in the personal life of my ancestor Adam Boyd Snavely.  He was married,2 became a father,3 and a widower4 over those ten years. There was also a change in the ways in which the people of the county, and Marion, where he lived, conducted their lives.5

And I think that is the challenge of telling the story.  Our lives are against the backdrop of the world around us.  What happens in my city, my county, my state, my country has an effect on my life as I interact with the people in my communities, and the events of the world.

To be really good at what we do, telling the story, we need to bring in those details, not just the personal details we find in historical records.

Footnotes

1. Joan Tracy Armstrong, History of Smyth County, Virginia, Volume Two 1832-1870: Ante-bellum Years through The Civil War
(Marion, Virginia: Smyth County Historical and Museum Society, Inc., 1986), 56.
2. Smyth County, Virginia, “Marriage Registers,” registrations ordered chronologically by date, p. 158 (stamped), line 2, entry for Adam B Snavely and Mary J Aker; citing Marriage Records 1852-1935 [microform], Reel 47, Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
3.Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 2 Sep 2012), memorial page for Emma Snavely Find A Grave Memorial no. 47227744, citing Bear Cemetery, Atkins, Smyth County, Virginia.
4. Virginia, Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1917, database online, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Sep 2012), entry for Mary J Snavely, death date 17 May 1859; citing Virginia Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1912, index, FamilySearch.
5. 1860 U.S. census, Smyth County, Virginia, population schedule, p. 145 (penned), dwelling 948, family 951, Nicholas Snavely household; database and digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Jun 2010); digital images, citing NARA microfilm publication, M653, roll 1377.

Sorting Saturday — Fun with Names using Wolfram

I was named for my two grandmothers, Ann Irene Feazell and Jennie Elizabeth Payne.  The name Ann seems to have no family connection that I can find, so I’m also curious as to why she was named Ann.  I found an app on my iPad that added some possible illumination: Wolfram styles itself as a Genealogy & History Research Assistant.

I choose Names History, and then First Name and enter my first name Anne

And then I “Compute”

My first name was chosen for my paternal grandmother, Ann Irene (no idea why mine is spelled with an ‘e’).  She was born in 1917. You’ll notice the name Anne had a surge in popularity at that time.  Is that why my great grandparents chose that name that was handed down to me? There is no known person that my grandmother was named for, so this is a likely possibility.

You can also find variations on names, which as we all know is incredibly useful to those  of us who are searching for those elusive ancestors.

Name Variatons

It doesn’t do all known name variations, but it gives you some good possibilities.

Fun little app.  Give it a try.  Inspiration comes from all sorts of places.

Follow Friday: Biplanes, Brickwalls, and Blogs

Haven’t done one of these in awhile, but lots of good blog posts out there.  Here are a few you don’t want to miss:

From the Legal Genealogist

From Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog

Tuesday’s Tip: Public Profiler Worldnames

OK, I don’t know if this is going to break down any of your brick walls, but if you are like me, it was fun to play with.

I started on Public Profiler Worldnames and entered my maiden name Gillespie.

This is the distribution of the name across the world.  Well at least in the countries they are tracking. Below the map, I discover there are more Gillespie’s per million in Ireland in any other country.


So I click on Ireland in the map and see that they are concentrated in North Ireland and Scotland. This fits with my belief that they are from the Ulster Scots or Scotch Irish.

Clicking again on the dark blue area, I see:

Now I don’t think this helps me in my genealogy research all that much. This tells me where the names are most likely to come from, not where my ancestors come from.  But I love maps.  So what the heck — it was fun! 🙂

Motiviaton Monday: At Forty Percent Off, What Are You Waiting For?

If you don’t have Professional Genealogy edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills in your library, today is the day to add it.  The publisher, Genealogical.com is offering at 40%. Even if you don’t plan on being a Professional Genealogist, you will find lots of good information in here.  Each chapter is edited by a different person or people and will give you good background on various topics such as writing, editing and education.

You can find the link at: http://www.genealogical.com/products/Professional%20Genealogy/3844.html

You’ll also find a variety of other books on the site. One of my favorites is Genealogy as a Pastime and Profession by Donald Lines Jacobus. It’s not 40% off, but it is a great book. It’s an easy and entertaining read. It is a how-to book written long before the internet and like me you may some inspiration in the pages.

Happy Reading!

Treasure Chest Thursday: Let’s Talk DNA

You get out of the habit, and it’s easy to stay out of the habit of not posting.  Let’s see if I can work on better habits. 🙂

I received my DNA results back from Ancestry.com (full disclosure, I am an employee).

I was expecting Scottish and German.  Here is what I have:

Every line I’ve been able to track, both paternal and maternal go back to the 1700’s and I’ve yet to find a document that gives me proof of jumping the Atlantic.  But given names and other genealogies I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure that there are a ton of Scottish or Ulster Scots in my tree.  So that 69% British Isle feels right.

And yes, I’ve got what many have referred to as the “Scandinavian Surprise.” But the Scandinavians many centuries ago spent a good deal of time wandering the British Isles and shall we say, left some of themselves behind.

I have a lot of of what I believe to be German names in my tree.  Feazell, Baxter, Snavely (which may be Swiss).  I suspect they are the Eastern European. I would have guessed more than 17%, but guessing and being are two different things.

Not a lot of “What the heck?” in there.

I’ve also been able to match through trees of mine and others possible connections to my Mary Gillespie branch. I believe that her father was Willis Gillespie but it is all indirect evidence and sort of weak at that.  If that connection is true, then I have Smith’s from Amherst in my line, and I found two trees where that is the only overlap.  Now I know that doesn’t prove anything.  But it is a clue.  And I’ll take a clue I didn’t have any day of the week.  It does make me want to hunt harder for that evidence or at least work harder to put it together.

But that is all in the background at the moment.  CG work calls.

Motivation Monday: Allen County Public Library

My current job at Ancestry.com is working on improving the product we put in Libraries and Institutions.  Today I’m off to the Allen County Public Library to see how the do things and use our product.

I’ll be shadowing librarians, doing two presentations, and with any luck I’ll be sneaking in some research time!

Should be a good we

Follow Friday: Georgia Archives Petition, Certification Posts, Legal Insights

What I’ve been reading this week:

A lot of good stuff from The Legal Genealogist:

Harold Henderson’s Posts on Certification from Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog:

Follow Friday — Nine Eleven Remembrance, Remember Our Ancestors, and Posts to Make You Think

9/11 Memorial 'Flag Reflection' (6-18)

National September 11 Memorial in NYC “honors those killed in the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 and 2/26/1993”. by LizBallerPhotos

This week we remembered 9/11 victims and relived our own experiences of the day and we remembered our family in other ways as well.

9/11 Thoughts and Remembrances

Remembering Our Ancestors

Genealogy Thoughts and Useful Knowledge