Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Busy Wednesday

Last night I attended a Legacy Family Tree Webinar on Analyzing Documents Sparks Ideas for Further Research. It was awesome. It was given by Angela Packer McGhie, CG.

One of the documents she used was a war of 1812 pension application. I had a few of those, and for the heck of it, went on Fold3 and looked up one of my surnames, Chinn.

I saw my great-great-great grandfather's. I have that one. Then I saw Wm. B. Chinn. Well, I have a few of those, including the aforesaid great-great-great grandfather's own father. Well, that wasn't him. It was William B. Chinn son of Elijah Chinn. Elijah Chinn was my William Ball Chinn's older brother. Well, one of them.

The William B. Chinn or William Chinn as he is sometimes seen as in records married twice and this is where it gets tricky. His first wife was Lucy Corbin or Corban. His second wife was Lucy Kemper. The only date I had for William's death was 1872. Second wife, Lucy Kemper Chinn supplied that information on her application for widow's benefits.  She also states the first wife's name, and an approximation of the date of first wife's death.

My friend and fellow researcher Carol (Reflections from the Fence) has a saying about when you hit a brick wall: Review. Review. Review. I had not seen nor saved this pension application before. It's many pages long. And well worth reviewing.

Copyright 2010-2017, ACK for Gene Notes

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