Setting Goals

It's the new year and time for resolutions. Right? Or, if you are like me, you've given up on resolutions. I gave up on 'New Years Resolutions' quite a while ago. Like many people, one of the reasons I quit making resolutions was because I didn't keep them. However, looking back, I think another reason is that we perceive a 'New Year's Resolution' as a declaration to change something about our lives.

Instead of making resolutions to 'change,' I want to set goals for things I want to accomplish - particularly with my genealogy research. Before writing goals for 2020, I thought I'd look back at my previous goals to see how well I've done. 

And guess what - I would receive a failing grade for goal setting in 2019 because I can't find any goals for 2019. However, I did find that I wrote goals for 2018. 

• Get my tree indexed on Ancestry!
• Reduce number of shaky leaves on Ancestry
• Use RootsMagic's link to FamilySearch to add sources for my direct line ancestors
• Connect with cousins on Facebook by sharing family photos
• Blog about my ancestors 
• SCAN -- I still have some photo albums to scan
• Clean up files (sadly I have duplicates of some photos and others that need re-scanned)
• DNA -- update my spreadsheet of matches
• Finish doing visual phasing with my brother's DNA results and then hopefully add a cousin or two 
• Attend a genealogy conference 
• Participate in genealogy study groups and round-tables

With two years to accomplish these goals, one would hope that I could report progress. Even though I can report progress on some goals, I don't have any data to support progress on others and I've abandoned other goals.

In terms of progress, I can claim success for the following goals:

• My Heartland Genealogy tree on Ancestry is indexed and TreeShare with RootsMagic is working great.
• I have attended the Topeka Genealogical Society's conference
• Weather and schedule permitting, I have participated in the DNA Study Group and Brick Wall Study group sponsored by the Topeka Genealogy Society.
• Until recently taking a detour to work with Ancestry hints, I have been frequently blogging about my findings

Even though I think I've been successful with some of the other goals, I have no data to support my feeling of success. For example, I have no idea how many shaky leaves I had at the beginning of 2018, or the number of hints worked. 

In terms of adding sources to FamilySearch, I know I have added some sources. Even though I'm not responsible for adding all of the sources to the individuals in my tree, my tree is gradually turning 'orange' to reflect 10 or more sources for each ancestor.

Honoring the Veterans in My Family

Anyone who has lived in Emporia, Kansas realizes that Veteran's Day is a MAJOR holiday. Today, we take time to honor those who have served and who are serving. Thus, I would like to take a walk thru my family tree to honor my veteran ancestors.

World War II

Eugene Crawford

Between 15 Feb 1945 and 1 Aug 1946, Eugene served at the Naval Training Center in Gulfport, Mississippi and at the Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois. He shipped out on the USS Oneida (APA-221) towards the end of the War in the Pacific as seaman 1st class in the U.S. Naval Reserves. He received the Victory Medal and the American Campaign Medal.

DNA Painter Tree

Did you see all of the prettily colored trees on various Genealogy Facebook groups this last week? Jonny Perl created a new tool on DNA Painter: Trees. 

With the new trees feature, one can create ancestral charts in pedigree, fan and text view. What makes this tool unique is the ability to mark common DNA ancestors and then see a visual representation of those matches on the chart.

I tried doing something similar with my DNA Circles. I printed out a fan chart and then used a highlighter to mark the various circles I had.

With DNA Painter, I get a similar chart showing my genetic genealogy.

This chart was very easy to create.

Research Notes

Do you keep a research log? I have to admit that I would likely get a 'failing grade' for this part of the genealogy standard. I've tried using a paper log and a spreadsheet log, but don't seem to be able to keep it up. Thus, I don't have a 'master index' to locate my research notes.

In May, Pat Richley-Erickson, posted a question to the Facebook group, The Organized Genealogist, asking group members how they organize their research notes. This was followed up by a Wacky Wednesday presentation, Organizing Active Research Notes.

Organization

Have you been following all of the Facebook posts about organizing and tracking your genealogy research? If you haven't then you might want to check out some of these posts:

• The Genealogy Squad - search for 'organizing' posts 
• The Organized Genealogists - check out the files submitted to this group

If you haven't joined these or other genealogy groups on Facebook, then you are missing out on a lot of help!

Because of the recent discussions around organizing one's genealogy, I thought I'd share what I've found useful. Since my genealogy adventure began prior to the Internet, I started with a lot of paper. Thus, I had to have a way to organize it so I could go back and find my notes. As Drew Smith has suggested, I used the SURNAME as my first level of organization. Because I had too much information to fit in one folder for the SURNAME, I subdivided my notes. Below is an example of how those folders were named for one of my surnames:

• Crawford
• Crawford - Letters
• Crawford - Census
• Crawford - Kansas
• Crawford - Indiana
• Crawford - Ohio
• Crawford - Kentucky
• Crawford - Virginia

Occupations

For this week's mission (should you decide to accept it), answer the question:

1)  What were the occupations of your ancestors?

2)  Please go back several generations (say parents or grandparents or great-grandparents) and list the occupations that they had in the records you've found for them.  You could do this, say, by ancestor table number.

1. Me

• Teacher
• Librarian
• Technology Coordinator

2. my dad

• Teacher

3. my mother

• Medical Secretary

4. Leon Russel Crawford

• worked for Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in Dodge City, Kansas

5. Winnie Letha Currey Crawford

• Clerk for Eckle's Department Store in Dodge City, Kansas

12 Generations

Last week's '52 Ancestors' prompt was '12' Based on that prompt, I decided to try and figure out what 12th generation ancestors I had identified. I have 7 generations identified on all lines. However, do I have any 12 generation ancestors.

Honored

The Topeka Genealogical Society Annual Conference is coming. Have you registered yet?

Michael J. Hall, a Kansas native, will be the featured speaker on Saturday. Mr. Hall has an extensive background in genealogy, including his current position as Deputy Chief Genealogical Officer at FamilySearch.

Mr. Hall will present four sessions on Saturday.

• Over the Flint Hills and Over the Plains: The Value of Military Records and Newspapers
• Inspring Family Stories: Finding the Grain of Truth
• Ad Astra Per Aspera (To the Stars Through Difficulty): Kansas Land Records
• A Little of This and a Little of That: Effectively Using FamilySearch.org

On Friday afternoon, there will be breakout sessions

Breakout Session 1: 12:30 - 1:20 PM

• Doughboys of World War I - Dr Richard Faulkner
• Observer - Brick Wall Consultation - Michael J. Hall

Breakout Session 2: 1:30 - 2:20 pm

• Fraternal Organizations for Research - Danni Altman-Newell
• Observer - Brick Wall Consultation - Michael J. Hall

Breakout Session 3: 2:30 - 3:20 pm

•  Researching the Shady Side of the Family Tree - Barb LaClair
• Observer - Brick Wall Consultation - Michael J. Hall
• *Tour of the State Historical Archives - KHS Staff Member

Breakout Session 4: 3:30 - 4:20 pm

• Do You Have Mayflower Ancestors? - Della Regenold
• Observer - Brick Wall Consultation - Michael J. Hall

During the 'Observer - Brick Wall Consultation' sessions, Mr. Hall will deduct 'deep dive'  sessions with selected individuals to discuss one of their genealogical brick walls.

I am HONORED to have been selected as one of the four brick wall consultations! For my application, I submitted my fourth great-grandfather, James Crawford (1772-1854). Below is my research question:

Who is the father of James Crawford?

NOTE: Same Name issue with researching this James Crawford

•  Next door neighbor in Preble County, Ohio was James Crawford (1770-1833) who married Martha Knight in 1793 in Lincoln County, KY. This James Crawford migrated to Warren County, IN where he died. Also migrating to Warren County, IN at about the same time was Nelson G. Crawford, the son of James and Sally (Smith Duggins) Crawford.
• There is a third James Crawford (1758-1836) living in Madison and Garrard counties in Kentucky prior to 1800. This James Crawford was married to Rebecca Anderson and migrated to Jennings County, IN and then to Jefferson County, IN.
• Garrard County KY histories refer to a Rev. James Crawford. There was a Rev. James Crawford (1752/3 – 1803) at Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church in Fayette County, KY. Rev. James Crawford was married to Rebecca McPheeters.
• DAR applications by descendants of James Crawford and Rebecca Anderson appear to have records mixed up with a James Crawford (1757-1836) who resided in Fleming County, KY. This James Crawford was married to Sarah Vansant.

I'm overwhelmed to have been chosen for this honor. I look forward to hearing what Mr. Hall has to say about my brick wall. I'm also looking forward to learning from the various sessions and from others attending the conference.

Please join me in Topeka on April 5th and 6th at the 

Topeka Genealogical Society Annual Conference

Register Today

DNA Thru Lines Potential Breakthroughs

Did you hear all about it yesterday? Both Ancestry and My Heritage announced new DNA tools. That combined with Diahan Southard's 'Connecting Your DNA Matches' presentation that was live streamed by RootsTech made for a BIG day in my DNA world.

In Diahan's session, she discussed using Blaine Bettinger's Shared Centimorgan Project to help verify relationships suggested by DNA. Even though I was aware of and had contributed to Blaine's project, I had never used the results to analyze my cousin matches. During her presentation, Diahan talked about using a spreadsheet to keep track of this data. 

Thus, I tried to create my own spreadsheet based on Diahan's presentation. So far, I haven't found any 'surprises' in the amount of shared DNA. However, I am finding an advantage to this type of spreadsheet for DNA matches. This type of spreadsheet will help me keep track of how I am related to my matches. Below is an image from my new spreadsheet. I have blacked out the identifying information for my matches.

Arrival in Ohio

Have you ever 'lost' an ancestor for a period of time? That's my situation with my ancestor, James Crawford.

James and Sally Duggins are married in Garrard County, Kentucky in 1799. In 1813, there is a land record where James Crawford has made full payment for the NW 1/4 of Section 14, Township 7, Range 2. Thus, I'm trying to figure out where James and Sally were living shortly after their marriage. The county history suggests that James was living in Preble county by 1810. Unfortunately, there are TWO James Crawfords living near each other. This makes it difficult to determine which James Crawford is being referenced.

Since Kentucky tax lists have been helping me figure out who was living where in Lincoln, Garrard and Madison counties. Unfortunately, the Preble County, Ohio tax lists do not begin until 1816.

However, these tax lists contain two clues that I overlooked the first time I used them.

• James Crawford owning the NORTHWEST quarter of Section 14, Township 7, Range 2 appeared on the tax lists at a later time than the James Crawford owning the SOUTHWEST quarter of the same section
• The James Crawford owning the NORTHWEST quarter was referred to as James Crawford Junior

Big Tree Same Name Issues

Do you have 'same name' issues in your genealogy research? I know I have them in mine:

• Hiram Currey
• Noah Briles
• James Crawford
• William Thompson

Thus, I'm a little sensitive when computer algorithms merge them together. 

I first encountered this with Ancestry's One World Tree when my James Crawford research was merged into one profile. 

Recently, Randy Seaver has been writing about Ancestry issues. His recent post, A Reader's Take on Ancestry Problems, Part IV: The Ancestry Big Tree discusses what he has learned about Ancestry's Big Tree. Randy also discussed the Ancestry Big Tree on today's session of Monday's with Myrt. 

I evidently browsed thru Randy's post since I didn't pick up on the Google search aspect. However, when Randy demonstrated a Google search on Monday's with Myrt, I started wondering how the Big Tree would handle my same name issues.

Thus, I started searching.

My first search was for my ancestor, James Crawford. James was born about 1772 in Virginia and died in 1854 in Preble County, Ohio. I was pleased when I found his profile - without any of the other James Crawfords mixed in.

Crawford Brick Wall Research

I've recently been going back thru my CRAWFORD research in Kentucky in hopes of finding a clue about the parents of James Crawford. This research involves at least four counties and several different families.

As I've been doing this research, I've been writing blog posts. Below is a chronological listing of those posts.

Where Is the Sellers' Land?

Have you ever tried to document a piece of information and get frustrated because everywhere you look turns up nothing?

Well, that's how I feel right now regarding land owned by various members of the SELLERS family in early Kentucky.

My clue that they owned land comes from various tax lists. The Sellers family appears on the Lincoln County, Kentucky tax list in 1792 on images 234 and 235.

Image 234

• Sellers James - 1 male > 21; 6 horses, 10 cattle
• Sellers Samuel - 1 male > 21; 1 horse
• Sellers William - 1 male 16-21

Image 235

• Sellers Nathaniel - 1 male > 21, 1 horse, 4 cattle 100 acres
• Sellers, John 1 male over 21, 5 horses, 24 cattle, 100 acres

Golden Legacy

Does your family throw a big parties? Have you had the good fortune to celebrate Golden Anniversaries in your family?

My first exposure to a Golden Anniversary celebration was for my grandparents: Leon and Winnie Crawford.

Proof Argument

Have you ever written a proof argument for your genealogical research?

I know the Genealogical Proof Standard incorporates writing a proof argument - a soundly based conclusion that others can follow.

I try to do exhaustive research, citing the sources behind the facts attached to individuals in my tree. However, I've never written a detailed proof argument.

I'm in the middle of a lot of 'same name' research in Kentucky around 1800. To help me think through the evaluation of the records, I've been writing blog posts about this research.

One of the goals of this research is to identify parents or siblings of my ancestor, James Crawford (1772-1854) who married Sally Duggins in Garrard County, Kentucky in 1799.

Garrard County Tax

Have you ever tried to figure out who is who in a community when there are multiple people of the same name?

Well, that's where I am with the Garrard County tax records from 1797-1806.

I have four Crawford families that potentially live in Garrard County during that time period.

• James Crawford husband of Rebecca Anderson who purchased land from Thomas Kennedy. James' sons were Isaac (?-?), William (1784-1864) and James (1790-1856)
• William Crawford who claimed to have purchased land from J Kennedy. His sons would not have been old enough to be listed on the tax lists while William Crawford was living in Garrard County. 
• James Crawford who married Martha Knight in 1793 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. James is thought to be the son of Rebecca Crawford. Rebecca purchased land from George Douglas.
• James Crawford who married Sally Duggins in 1799 in Garrard County, Kentucky. James is thought to be the son of Mary Crawford who married Alexander Moore.

Paying Forward

Do you have data sitting in your genealogy files that isn't of help to you but might help others tie siblings together?

That's what I've found by researching land transactions for John Crawford in Lincoln County, Kentucky. I've found three deeds naming a Power of Attorney for heirs of John Crawford.

Page 420 of Lincoln County Deed, KY,  DeedBook R identifies the following heirs in 1842

• Rebecca Ellis
• Esther Ellis
• Ruhama McCoy
• Frederick Sponseller
• Harriet Sponseller

John Crawford Heirs

In trying to figure out who John Crawford is, I turned to deeds for some help. The Lincoln County Kentucky deed index from 1780 to 1870 [Family Search film 192237] had four entries with John Crawford listed as a grantor.

Image 47:
1795: Crawford, John grantor James Feland grantee - 264 1/2 acres vol C page 13
1795: Crawford, John grantor James Logan - 42 acres Book C page 23
1798: Crawford John Grantor Wm Gooch 130 acres Hfork book D page 26

Image 52
1842: Crawford John Hrs grantor Bashford Jon C P of A S31+29 book R page 420

Creating Buddy Files

What's in your genealogy tool cabinet? Do you ever experiment with various software tools until you find one that fits your needs or thinking process?

Well, I have experimented with various tools. One of those tools I'm experimenting with right now is Tony Proctor's program to create what he calls a 'Buddy File'. This is being discussed in Dear Myrtle's Facebook group. My Buddy File post describes my learning process.

At least one of the comments discussed whether the time involved in creating the text file was worth it. I have to admit that was my initial thought as Tony made his presentation last week. 

Since I want to use the 'buddy file' for transcriptions, it dawned on me this morning that I likely already have the information to put in a buddy file. I just need to copy/paste into Notepad and save the file.

Lessons from Football

It's Super Bowl Weekend in America - the whole country (well, almost) will watch the game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon at 6:30 p.m. EST (3:30 PST).

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  What is your favorite National Football League team?  ...

In our house, Super Bowl Sunday isn't much different than many other Sunday. My husband and I will be watching the game, but each of us will likely be doing other stuff (like genealogy) while watching.

I started writing for this topic yesterday, saying that the Kansas City Chiefs were my favorite team. However, I realized that even though they are my favorite team, I don't have answers for most of these questions. So I decided to not write on this topic.

Then I went to church today and got inspiration: teamwork and legacy.