Getting Started (Re-Started) with Cluster / FAN Research

One of my genealogical challenges is identifying the parents and siblings of my ancestor, James Crawford. James marries Sally Duggins in Garrard County, Kentucky in 1799. By 1810, the couple is living in Preble County Ohio.

I've already done some cluster research to try and make headway on this line. In the process, I've identified quite a few potential members of a cluster.

In trying to figure out how to track my research, I created a spreadsheet to show where these people were at various times.

The above spreadsheet provides a visual of what I currently know. Now the struggle is to create a research plan and figure out how best to track this research.

Cluster Surnames

Crawford, Duggins, Smith, Knight, Neal, Finley

Time Period

1770 to 1850

 

Locations

Preble County Ohio

pre-1800 Kentucky

 

Excel Census Worksheet

Michele Simmons Lewis' post, My Latest Excel Spreadsheet, explained what should be a fairly easy spreadsheet to visualize which census data is needed for individuals in the tree.

In order to quickly create this spreadsheet, I had to review some skills I've yet to master in RootsMagic, one of those being the creation of a named group.

Once I had a named group created for my ancestors, I was able to create a custom report to pull the following fields: Surname, Given Name, Birth Date, Death Date. By saving the report as a text file, I could then open it in Excel.

In the comments section of Michele's blog post, JJT (John J Tierney)stated that he had created a similar spreadsheet that would automatically calculate the age of the person for each census year. His post, Simple Census Age Table, discusses this spreadsheet, which he freely shares.

So, I downloaded the spreadsheet. (Thanks JJT!) After manipulating my data to pull the year out of the birth and death dates, I copied/pasted my data into the census age table. I'm probably going to shade my table to indicate whether I have found the census data.

Thank you Michele and JJT for sharing your expertise and providing the incentive to analyze my data in this way!

Cousin Bait Circle

I first became aware of the term 'Cousin Bait' by viewing the 'Mondays with Myrt' hangouts. Even though I've been sharing my genealogy for years, I had not heard the term before. The purpose of 'cousin bait' is to locate 'cousins' so you can share research.

I've had the good fortune to work with several 'cousins' who were truly willing to critique my research and provide hints and even share documentation. In one case, a cousin in Washington (state) and I were working on her CURREY line and trying to document a death place. She had an obituary indicating that her ancestor, James Barnes Currey (Curry) died in Oregon. Neither one of us could find the family in Oregon and were about to decide the obituary was wrong when we realized that he did die in Oregon -- Oregon, Holt County Missouri.

Unfortunately, I often find my research incorporated into someone else's tree without ever contacting me. Many would question how I know it is my research. My reply is because I included the file number in my citation and they are including that citation. While doing a search on one of my New England families on Ancestry, I found a link to a 'Public Member Story' that included my citation:

I can go to my filing cabinet and locate the document numbered WELLS.MI.023. I sincerely doubt that the person who posted this has any clue what WELLS.MI.023 refers to.

Ironically, I don't have much documentation on this New England family and am willing to try and find the records that will prove the dates and relationships. 

Technically, what I found posted on Ancestry is plagiarism. Since I would love to collaborate with this cousin, I'm not going to push the plagiarism button. As I've included my name and email on my site, I would appreciate if cousins would scroll to the bottom to find the email and contact me.

Lesson Learned (Again)

I'm in the process of filling in holes in my research by looking up census records. One of those holes was the 1940 census for my great-grandfather, Hiram Currey. It didn't really surprise me that I didn't have that record since he moved had moved quite a bit. However, I was surprised when I found the index record for him in the census on Ancestry.

Not only was he listed, but he is identified as 'father-in-law'. How did I miss that? Was he living with Aunt Myrtle? Since I already had my grandparent's record for the 1940 census, he couldn't be living with them. Or, could he?

 When I checked the page, he was the top entry on the page and there was a note that it was continued from the previous page.

Guess who I found on the previous page? My grandparents and family.

I had previously found them in the 1940 census. I obviously did not click to check the next page!

Lesson learned -- CLICK TO SEE THE NEXT PAGE (and the previous one)

SUCCESS! Retrieving Old Files

As I devote more time to genealogy, I'm also wanting to rescue the work I did for the Nemaha County Genealogical Society and add it to the re-created web site.

A lot of that work was done with Microsoft Works in the database portion of the software. Even though I had a current version of MS Works installed on my computer, I was not able to load these old files.

Thus, I was on a search for a way to get them open and export the data so it could be opened with today's software, namely Excel. I tried Zamzar and other cloud file conversion options. None of those I tried would convert the *.wdb files.

Thankfully, we haven't done a good job of discarding software because I found a copy of MS Works 7. I had to uninstall my current software in order to install version 7. I cringed a little when it said it required Internet Explorer 6 but, fortunately, the software installed without also installing IE6.

Armed with MS Works 7, I am now able to open those old *.wdb files. I've been able to save them as *.csv files which I can then open in Excel.

 

The only downside is that the column headings are not present. That's a simple problem to resolve by simply re-opening the file in MS Works to identify the headings.

A new column can be added to the top of the *.csv file where the headings can be inserted.

 Ironically, the *.wps files created at the same time won't open with MS Works 7. These can be opened in MS Word -- but some 'junk' comes along.

However, the files are fairly easy to clean up by simply deleting the 'junk'.

Now for the next software issue *.epd files -- EXPRESS PUBLISHER! I have a feeling this one will be more of a challenge.

My First Proof Argument

One of this week's 'Finally Get Organized' tasks involved sources, information and evidence. Ever since making the transition from PAF to The Master Genealogist, I've been working with sources. Although many of my source citations pre-date Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills, I have tried to document each piece of information tied to the individuals in my database.

I may also have written a 'genealogical proof argument' during the early days of my research when I wrote the post, 'Untangling the James Crawfords'. Even though I believe what I wrote about the various James Crawford families is accurate, I doubt it would stand up to today's standards.

Thus, when challenged to look at sources, information and evidence this week, I took that as a challenge to improve my skills in hopes of bringing them up to the levels of today's genealogical standards.

With that in mind, I elected to investigate a place instead of a person. The place, Elwood Cemetery (Elwood, Kansas), is tied to one of my ancestors, Albert Hutchinson, in that Find a Grave has Albert Hutchinson buried in this cemetery.

In two separate blog posts, Elwood Cemetery: What is the Evidence and Elwood, Kansas and the Mighty Mo, I believe I've compiled sufficient evidence to support the conclusion that there wasn't a cemetery on the north edge of Elwood, Kansas in 1896.