Wedding Wednesday - McHatton & Nichols

 On  February 29, 1876, James Zack McHatton married Phebe Nichols in Lafayette County, Missouri. I have a few McHatton families connected to various branches of my dad's family - this one is connected through the Graves family.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Census Revisited

Um, yes. That census project I thought was finished? Well, thanks to finding the Carter family I've been chasing, I've added 30 or 40 more to the queue. When I get to the final few, I go back and like a badger, go after the ones I've missed. Or couldn't find. Lately, that has been paying off. So I am almost done with it. Again.

I really would love to move on to other things.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

No Rest for the Weary

Remember the close to 649 census records I added to my database over the last 6 weeks? Well, the number is getting closer to 700 with the breakthrough I had recently on my Carter line. This family was a real challenge. Someone was always misspelled. You would think that Carter would be relatively straightforward. Well the name was INDEXED variously as Carter, Couter and Coster. Edwin H Carter was often written as Edward and variously as E. H. It wasn't bad enough that he was named Edwin Harvey Carter, but he had sons named Harvey and Edwin. His daughter Marion is nowhere to be found on the 1900 census and she should be there as Marion Alexander.

Then there is Virginia Carter. Born in 1836, she was two years younger than my great-great grandmother Elizabeth C. Carter Webb. She married William H or William B. Huntsberry (and shame to all the people who copied the wrong information from an Ancestry Family Tree. After her first husband died, she married secondly, George W. Chinn. More on that in a future blog post.

Columbia Carter married John Vaughn. Or Vanph or Vaughan. You can see it is enough to make you pull your hair out.

Some of the problems I encountered are the result of the census taker. The rest are the results of poor indexing or the inability to read the last name correctly. The pressure to get all this done before April 2nd when the 1940 is released is unbelievable. Who is pressuring me? Me, of course. And Family Search, because they need help indexing the 1940 and keeping it free for everyone.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Sympathy Saturday - Pink Rice

No, it's not a food dish, Pink Rice is a person! Really! Born January 16, 1856 in Boone County, Kentucky, Lott P. Rice to Morgan Rice and Harriet Riddell.  Pink married Dora Belle Percival, daughter of Ira Percival and Susan Elvira Jones Percival, December 24, 1891 in Covington, Kenton, Kentucky.

Pink died on February 25, 1922 in Petersburg, Boone, Kentucky and was buried in Bellview Cemetery.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Richard Chinn's Occupation

Every so often, something on the census will tickle me. In this case, it is the 1880 census. There are a lot of things about this census that make me wonder, such as marital status of someone who is listed as widowed, but I know his wife is still alive and living in the District of Columbia. But that isn't what tickles me. It's his occupation: Capitalist!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Too-Too Thursday - George Y. Banks

I found George Y. Banks on the 1930 census, living in Columbus, Muscogee county, Georgia. What's unusual about that you say? Well, there are a couple things. First, George Y. Banks died in 1910. And yes, this is the right person because the children match up. Second, George Y. Banks is listed as a 54 year old Female born in Kentucky.

Yes, this should have been entered more correctly as Katherine Banks. She was born Katherine Reed Bowman, daughter of Henry Clay Bowman and Elizabeth Reed. He/She isn't even entered as Mrs. George Y. Banks. No wonder I had so much trouble finding her!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Wedding Wednesday - Percival & Stansifer

On this day in 1882, Orrin Percival, Jr. married Sarah F. "Sallie" Stansifer in Boone county, Kentucky. He was the son of Orrin Percival & Eliza Ross; she was the daughter of Woodford Stansifer and Hortense Youell.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Are You My Grandpa?

A recent post about my great-great-grandmother's death sent me looking once more for her father, Edwin Carter. I found a couple little teasers about him. According to Elizabeth Carter Webb's obituary, her father was Edwin H. Carter, and he did live in Lafayette county. In 1850, there is an Edwin H. Carter who was enumerated in District 46, Lafayette county, Missouri with a young woman by the name of Ann Carter, aged 32 (the index says 22, but it's a 3.)  Edwin's age is given as 42 - birth would be about 1808 and his birthplace is given as Virginia, as is Ann's.

I can't find him in 1860 -- anywhere. However, there is an Edwin H. Carter in Jackson county, Missouri, same age and born in Virginia. And there is a find-a-grave record for Edwin H. Carter, born in July 8, 1807. Is this my great-great-great grandfather?

The teaser is Mr. Leonard Cowley. No idea who he is. But I do note that it was published in Richmond, Virginia.

So, I start looking. Now, family lore has my great-great grandmother as Elizabeth Custis Carter Webb.  Well, that's what we read. That Custis could just as easily be Curtis.

I took another look at the 1850 census, and just for the fun of it, turned the page. Holy-Shmoly - there is my great-great grandmother Elizabeth C. Carter, age 16 (born 1834.) But wait, there are a lot of other children. In 1850 I have this family:

Edward  Carter, aged 42 born in Virginia
Ann M. Carter, aged 32 born in Virginia (at this point Mr. Enumerator has skipped two lines and the children are listed on the next page. The indexer also lists her as age 22.)
Elizabeth C. Carter, aged 16, born in Virginia (The 1850 says all the children are born in Virginia.)
Virginia Carter, aged 14
Harvey Carter, aged 10
Marion Carter, aged 9
Columbia Carter, aged 7
Edwin Carter, aged 6 (that's what his daddy's name should say.)
William C, aged 5
John Carter, aged 1

So I look for the 1860 census and this is where it gets really sticky. You see, Ann has probably died, and Edwin has remarried - Sallie Smith Burbridge. Yes, a second marriage for her too! His marriage record to Ann can be found in Henrico County, Virginia Marriage bonds - they were married in 1831. Second marriage was in 1860 to Sallie in Dover, Lafayette, Missouri.

E. H. Carter, aged 53 born VA
Sallie Carter, aged 33 born KY
Marion Carter, aged 20 born VA
Columbia Carter, aged 18 born VA
Edwin Carter, aged 17, born VA
William Carter, aged 16 born MO
John Carter, aged 11 born MO. I don't know for certain where they were born, either is plausible.
Sallie Smith Burbridge's children from previous marriage.

Sallie Smith Burbridge Carter dies in 1866. In 1867, Edwin H. Carter marries yet again, this time to Sarah Ann "Sally" Scruggs Royster, widow of Thomas Royster.

So on the 1870 Census we have:

Edwin H. Carter, aged 63, born in VA
Sarah A. Carter, aged 38, born in KY
Rhoda Carter, aged 22, born in Missouri
John L. Carter, aged 22, born in Missouri
Mary D. Carter, aged 8, born in Missouri - child with Sallie Smith Burbridge
Annie Carter, aged 5, born in Missouri - child with Sallie Smith Burbridge
Sarah Scruggs Royster's children from her previous marriage.

There we have Edwin H. Carter. Further research leads me to a Genealogy of the Carter Family in "The Descendants of  Capt. Thomas Carter of "Barford," Lancaster county, Virginia." Edwin Harvey Carter, son of Curtis Carter and Elizabeth Baker, was born July 8, 1807. Research on Find-A-Grave finds a partial headstone for Edwin H. Carter in Woodlawn Cemetery, Independence, Jackson, Missouri, born July 8, 1807 near Richmond, Va. Even though he was the eldest son, it looks like he packed and up moved to Missouri with his family. His father sired 15 children by 3 of his 4 wives, maybe Edwin didn't want to share.

His eldest daughter, Elizabeth C. Carter, my great-great-grandmother married John Garland Webb in 1853. Harvey Carter, the oldest son married in February of 1868 to Rhoda Sage. Harvey died in 1869. I think Mary D. Carter, age 8 and Annie Carter, age 5, on the 1870 census are Edwin's children from his second wife Sally Smith Burbridge. Edwin's daughter, Marion married Judge Jesse P. Alexander. A later census shows John L. Carter, one of Edwin's sons from Ann Paul, married to a woman named Rhoda. Hmmmm.

In addition to Edwin's direct line of descendants, he also had nephews and nieces living in the county. While Joseph Lyon in "The Descendants of  Capt. Thomas Carter of "Barford," Lancaster county, Virginia" states that Elizabeth Winn Carter was living in Dover Delaware in 1910, she was married in Missouri. I've not found a record of her anywhere in 1910.

Edwin died August 29, 1875 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Independence, Missouri. There is a memorial stone there for his son, Harvey.

So, the answer to the question is yes. I still have a long way to go with this family, collecting documents, but it looks like I added another limb to the family tree!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Double Checking

Ever come across something that just makes you STOP and look again.

I am working on some cemetery records I printed from Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky. The particular person was buried May 18, 1987.  She died March 8, 1987. And yes, that is correct, I verified it. Just had to double check it.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Sympathy Saturday - Richard Atkinson

From the New York Times, February 19, 1890:

RICHARD ATKINSON

Richard Atkinson, at one time a widely known cotton merchant of this city, died yesterday morning in St. Catharines, Ontario. He had been suffering acutely from gout for about a month. The funeral services will be held in St. Catharines tomorrow and the body will be taken to Louisville, Ky., for burial.

Mr. Atkinson was born in Louisville, Ky., sixty-five years ago, his grandfather having been one of the pioneer settlers and his father a planter, whose property was near the city. The lad received a good education, and then entered commercial life, his attention being devoted principally to cotton. In 1861 he came to this city, and entered the firm of Hewitt & Co., cotton brokers at 41 Broad street. He joined the New York Cotton Exchange, and served on various committees, the firm changing from time to time to Hewitt & Atkinson, and then R. Atkinson & Co. He was at the head of the house, which was then of much importance on the Exchange, until 1872, when disaster came upon it and it suspended. Nothing daunted, however, Mr. Atkinson started in business again as an individual broker and buyer, and continued with fair success until 1875, when he retired from active business and went to Canada to live. Mr. Atkinson leaves a widow, three sons and two daughters. He was twice married.

[Note: Richard Atkinson married Mary Ellen Craig, daughter of Parker Craig and Susan Moffett. Mary Ellen was the great granddaughter of  John Parker & Isabella Todd, my great-great-great-great grandparents.]
 
Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Celebrating!

Someone is having a birthday! It's a big round number too!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Too-Too Thursday - Ancestry Nonsense.

Ever go on Ancestry and get results way outside your search parameters? It happens to me all the time. I don't care how specific you are, apparently the databases at Ancestry know better than you what you are looking for.

You will have to click on the image to fully appreciate the results I got. Sigh.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Wedding Wednesday - Buford & Chinn

One of the multiple crossovers between the Buford family and the Chinn family, is this wedding between LeGrand Griffin Buford and Orra Ella Chinn. Orra was the daughter of  Joseph Garland Chinn and Nannie Shelby. Ella was my first cousin 3 times removed. Her father and my great-great grandmother were brother and sister. "Griffin" Buford was the son of LeGrand Griffin Buford and Eusebia Mallory.

Griffin and Orra were married February 14, 1871. Sadly, Orra died December 18, 1875, probably as a result of childbirth, as her only daughter Florence was born in December of 1875.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Something Other Than Census

Woo hoo! It just feels so good to be working on stuff OTHER than the United States Census. What have I been working on? Marriage records, birth records, death records, obituaries, cemetery records and a zillion other things I found while ...

wait for it ...

working on the census!

Now, one of the things I found was for a man named Robert H.  I won't give his full name, but I will say that in his obituary, his second wife's name is given incorrectly as White. This woman is still alive to the best of my knowledge, hence the sketchy information I am giving. She was given to me as a probable source of information by someone more closely related to her. I was never able to verify until now her relationship to me. It was tough given her maiden name was wrong in the obituary. It's been 5-1/2 years since her name was given to me, and I just came across the note written to me by the other family member. I think I'll drop her a line! 


Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Do You Back Up?

The first thing I did the morning following my census completion project was start backing up all my important files: the file where I keep my genealogy images I have linked; the files where the images are downloaded but not linked; backing up the genealogy database and some other non genealogy related files. I do back up on a regular basis, but when I complete a project like the census project, I like to make sure all my genealogy stuff is is backed up just in case disaster hits.

Are you backing up on a regular basis? Just saying!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Sympathy Saturday - Elizabeth Custis Carter Webb

In Memoriam - Died - at her home in Higginsville, Mo., Tuesday, February 11, 1908 at 9:50 o'clock P.M., after a short illness, Mrs. Elizabeth C. Webb, aged 73 years, 11 months and 14 days.

The death of this gentle, loving woman came as a thunder clap from a clear, cloudless sky. She had been ill with grippe ten days or more, but at no time was there the least apprehension of a fatal termination. Tuesday she was greatly improved, and the sons and daughters of this hospitable home were happy and buoyant. About nine o'clock that night she retired and for a time was talking with her daughter, Mrs. Frank Bowman, who had been with her during her illness.  About 10 o'clock the daughter heard the mother cough and called to her. Receiving no response, she went at once to her bedside, only to find that the silent messenger had entered and that the idolized mother, friend, neighbor had laid down life's cares to taste of heaven's joys.

Mrs. Webb was Virginian by birth, being the daughter of the late Edwin Carter, and had been a resident of this county since childhood, and in 1855 was united in marriage to Jno. G. Webb who passed to his reward some 13 years ago, a truer and nobler man than whom never lived, the fruits of this union being ten children, six of whom survive, now grown to be gentle loving daughters and manly, dutiful sons, and they rise up and pronounce the memory of their parents, father and mother, blessed.

They are Mrs. M. J. Chinn of Kansas City, Mrs. Frank Bowman of Lexington, Maurice O. Webb of Dallas county, Jock G. Webb, J. Ed. Webb and Dr. Wm. C. Webb, of Higginsville. Mrs. Webb made her home with her sons, Jock and Edward, mother being their first and constant thought, bestowing every love, care and attention without show or stint.  How these two especially, will miss her, words are lack to express.

She was a woman of refinement of great force of character, enjoying her life in a quiet unostentatious manner, her one thought being the comfort of daughters and sons, ever finding her greatest happiness in ministering to their wants and in making her home by her gentle presence a haven of rest, where all who entered felt better for her sweet influence.

Since the death of her loved companion in 1895 she has been only waiting, waiting, for the master's call to a happy, joyous reunion in the "Home Over There," and the summons, though sudden, came to her as a sweet relief, finding her ready and prepared, she having early in life confessed the Christ, ever living a consecrated Christian life.

Her death, though sad, was a beautiful one and in keeping with her life of gentleness, modesty and quietude, even the day she was laid to rest being in attune therewith - one of brightness and sunshine.

Thursday morning services were held at the family residence in Higginsville, Rev. N. H. McCain, assisted by Rev. J. N. Crutcher, officiating, the immense concourse gathered, both at the home and family cemetery testifying to the love in which she was held and to the sympathy for the living.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

The Census Update - The Final Countdown

As it stood Sunday night, I still had 114 census left to go in the great Census Review project. Every group of census that I print out, it seems there are two or three that are missing previous census records. I am working in the 1920 census, so sometimes that means I need to go back as far as 1900 or 1880 to pick up the ones I missed. I predict that I will add at least 3 to the queue with this batch. That seems to be the average. Hopefully I won't have another day like I did over the weekend where I added 2 for every record I already had.

My original goal was to be done by March 31, 2012, in anticipation of the 1940 census. Then I revised that to February 29th. Now I am hoping to be done by February 17th! That might be pushing it a bit, but I will be so glad to have this done. After all, it isn't like I don't have other projects begging for my attention. The interim update is that I stand now at 33 and counting. New target date is February 12th.

It is very handy to have OCFRD (Obsessive Compulsive Family Research Disease) though. Maybe I should have a subcategory of Obsessive Compulsive Census Collecting Disease!

-----

The above was written Monday morning February 6th. As it stands Thursday evening, February 9th, the project is complete.  My final count of census images that I added to my database was 639. I averaged almost 16 per day. Having said that, I did the last 43 on the 9th.

On to other projects.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Too-Too Thursday

Just when you think you've seen it all in the way of census indexing.

 




I don't know what the problem was with the indexer, but  the name was clearly Frank Basher and not Bash Bash...

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Wedding Wednesday - Chinn and Waddell

On February 7, 1850 in Lafayette County, Missouri, Miss Fanny Waddell to William H. Chinn. William was the son of Dr. Joseph Graves Chinn and Barbara Garland Graves. 

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

A Follow-up

I've been working industriously on the census. One of the families I worked on was Josephine Zimmeth/Zimmet and Frank Bescher/Basher. And yes, you will see that I blogged about them December of 2010 and 2011 for Wedding Wednesday. Glaring oversight which I caused because of the use of the variant spellings.

But in entering census information for them today, I was reminded of their December 1887 wedding. And yes, they were married in the Catholic Church on December 15, 1887. And they were first cousins.

That's not the whole story though. I say this because they are listed on the 1880 census as husband and wife. Yes, a full 7 years before their church wedding. Their first daughter, Cora, was born in 1880. Another daughter, Lauretta came along in 1883 and their third daughter Estella was born in 1892.

It makes me curious though. Usually a couple puts off their marriage in order to get their dispensation for marrying a cousin. I've not found a civil record for their "marriage" in or prior to 1880.

What a family!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Sometimes ...

Yes, I am still working on the census project. Friday night I was down to 165. That felt like a good number. Saturday morning, while having coffee, I started in on the 1920 census. Well, let me tell you, I did 6 census reports and took the number down to 163. It's not my math. Seriously.

This is how it goes. You open a census record for someone, let's say 1920 census for Arthur W. Petit of Charleston, South Carolina. He's married to Mattie Rumley and it is obvious that Arthur has been married before by the age of his children. But two of the children are pretty young so it is possible they are Mattie's children. You open Athur's record in your genealogy program - in my case RootsMagic 5 - and discover you do not have Arthur & Mattie's 1910 census. You open Ancestry. You find an Arthur W. Petit, born in 1888. Too young, but you open that census page and come across

Frank Petit born 1861 - SC
Mary Petit wife born 1878 - SC
2 children too old to be "Mary's" children, one of which is said Arthur W. Petit.
Harold Petit, age 7
Percival Petit, age 3
Jessie Rumley, sister-in-law.

So I start comparing the 1910 with the 1920. I notice that the 1920 does not include Jessie. Did I miss a page? Yep. Back to the 1920 - download the continuing page. There are 3 more children.

On 1920 they are listed as:
Arthur W. Petit, Sr. born 1861
Mattie Petit, born 1878
Arthur W Petit, Jr born 1888
Harold Petit
James P. Petit (This could be Percival)
Jessie Rumley, sister-in-law.

It was Jessie Rumley and Percival Petit which made me surmise that the transcriber of the original record screwed up the names.  Jessie and Mattie Rumley were the daughters of James G. Rumley & Sarah Louise Percival. Copious notes are made on the 1910 census and it is added to the record.

The next record up is B. Franklin McCarty, 1920 with his family. Sure enough, I go to his record in RootsMagic and there is no 1910 census. So back to Ancestry.com to locate it. I don't know why I missed it before. The 1910 census is important because it is the first census on which Ovid R. McCarty appears. Ovid married my mother's cousin Myrtle Whiteside. The McCartys also link up to my dad's Chinn line ...

 Next Record was one for Edd and Blanche Keene McWilliams. You guessed it, no 1910 census. He sometimes shows up as Edward or Edmund. I'm not totally sure which is correct, or whether the transcriber or indexer just couldn't read it. I do find Edward & Blanch McWilliams and so they are added to the queue.
Then I look and realize I don't have them in 1900 either. I am using every trick I know to find them and they are MIA!

Nex Record: 1920 Callie Stone Bowman.  Alright, I have them in 1900 and she is married to William Bowman, and at that time they have one child, Harry. William died in 1906. I am missing 1910. I find her, but she is indexed under Sallie and someone has kindly made the correction to Callie. Three more children appear with her on the census, the last born about 1906. On the 1910, Callie is listed as the mother of 7 children, but only 4 are living. Her husband died of typhoid, could they have lost other children in 1906? A quick check of Mercer county deaths on Ancestry don't really show anything. I'll probably never know.

It sure doesn't seem like I am moving forward on this project!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Sympathy Saturday - Daniel Bruce McCammon

Daniel Bruce McCammon, known as Bruce, was born February 12, 1889 in Corsicana, Texas. He married Joanna Maitland about 1922 and they had one son, Bruce McCammon. Bruce McCammon, Sr. died on February 3, 1934. No actual record of his death has been found, but he is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Corsicana, Texas. You can see his record on Find-A-Grave.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Too Much Fun!

What a day yesterday was! I started off behind, because I let myself get sucked into going to the Missouri Digital Heritage Death Certificates site and took a look at the 1961 death certificates. Bad move. Then I made an even worse move and opened up GenSmarts and told that program to tell me which death certificates I should look for in Missouri. OMG! As a result I only did 1 census for the whole day. Yep. I am behind.

Then DH and I did the lunch and grocery shopping thing. So that put me behind just a little more. And then in the afternoon I hit the storeroom craft room and work on a little project for a bit.

After dinner, I got a call from one of my Zimmeth-changed-their-name-to-Simmet relatives. That was fun. I found out he found me because of Find-A-Grave. Woo Hoo.

Census count: 182. Death certificates for Missouri: 13.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Too-Too Thursday - Nannie Bowman Moore

As I said as I am working on census, I occasionally find someone for whom I've entered census, but not saved the image, or someone for whom I haven't done the census work either. Nannie Bowman Moore is the former. I have the census for this family entered, but no images saved, so I thought I would go in and snag them quickly. Yeah. No.

I found the 1880 and 1900 census without any problem. 1920 wasn't a problem. Sure, I could have gone in and searched using the ED's, but how can you mess up Moore? Well, Moore wasn't the problem. I chose Nannie to search by, using Nan*, because that should be fairly easy, unless they used initials. They lived in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, so I added Kentucky and Mercer (county) to the mix. Found them in 1880 without a problem as I said. Nannie's husband Bacon Rochester Moore (or Baken) died in 1889. Nannie was easy to find in 1900. Not so much 1910. In 1910, the census taker listed her as Mrs. B. R. Moore. Hello? Her husband died in 1889. We're into the 20th century at this point. But I found her, eliminating Nan* and just searching for Moore in Mercer County, Kentucky again.

In 1920, she pops right up again. No problem. In 1930 searching Nan* Moore, Kentucky, Mercer did not find her. So again I remove the Nan* and just search for Moore, Kentucky, Mercer and there she is indexed under ... wait for it ... Wannie Moore. The indexer should get glasses because it is clearly written as Nannie.

Time wasted searching for Nannie Bowman Moore on 5 census? Fifteen minutes. Time spent blogging about it? Another ten minutes. Did I find anything else I didn't have before? No. Did I add anything to the census queue? Yes, 6 census - I also found one for her son, Bacon R. Moore, Jr. for which I had no image. And I got one blog post out of it. WIN!

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes

Wedding Wednesday - Mack & Heffernan

This marriage is from my late uncle Angus Mack's side of the family. After uncle "Mack's" death, my aunt Margie gave me the book someone on his side of the family had done that chronicled the Macks and O'Henleys. However, the name wasn't Mack, it was McEachin/McEachen/McEachern, depending on who wrote the record.  The McEachins made their way from Scotland to Canada to the thumb area of Michigan.

The McEachin/Mack we are concerned with today, however is Flora Mack, daughter of Angus McEachin and Catherine O'Henley. Flora was born in 1890 and on February 1, 1922 she married Joseph Heffernan in Detroit, Michigan.

Copyright 2010-2012, ACK for Gene Notes