Gene Notes: September 2022

Thursday, September 29, 2022

More Confusing Names - Maybe

One thing I think I've determined on working on these Hungarian records, is that this family probably lived elsewhere before their children were born in the 1870s and 1880s. Or the records just aren't available.

Today I found a death record for a baby who appears to have been an uncle of hubby's. The father's name is right, but the spelling on the mother's name is a little off. Betti instead of Berta. I am pretty sure it's the right family because two of his aunts were born in the same town in Hungary.

Are we having fun?

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Happy Anniversary!

I can't believe we made another year! I am sure there are a few people who can't believe it either! But here we are 43 years later, which just amazes me.

I am so lucky to have this guy in my life! Happy Anniversary!

Monday, September 26, 2022

Confusing Names

I understand German naming patterns. They can be crazy, naming their sons and daughters with similar names. Makes me nuts. But there is a pattern or a reason.

But this one takes the cake. Two brothers in this family, hubby's side, one named David and one named Dezso, both born in Hungary. David was born in 1875 and Dezso in 1886. David emigrated to US in 1903 aboard the SS Kronland, and Dezso in 1905 aboard the Kroonland. By 1910 when he is married, Dezso is now known as Dave. And he uses Dave till death except for his original declaration of intent. Why? Why not choose some other name?

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Getting Sidetracked 101

I am easily sidetracked. Seriously, it doesn't take much to sidetrack me. The arrival of the portraits I blogged about sent me down a rabbit hole hunting for more information on this family of distant relatives.

My Zimmeth relatives left Roeschwoog, Alsace, France for America, ultimately settling in Lancaster, Erie county, New York. My great-grandfather was the only one of his siblings born in the United States, way back in 1839. He had two older brothers, one, Joseph moved to Minnesota, but owned property in Michigan. The other, Michael, stayed in Erie county, New York and went by the name of Michael Simmet. His son Francis Joseph Simmet migrated to central Michigan. Francis' uncle, August Zimmeth (my great grandfather) migrated to the western shore of Lake Huron, in Iosco county, where he married and raised his family.

While I had some information on the descendants of Francis Joseph Simmet, it was pretty sparse on the Dent side. Francis Simmet's son Frank married Margaret Dent, and the portraits were those of her parents.

The rabbit hole eventually spewed forth birth records, death records, marriage records and obituaries for John and Catherine McNaughton Dent and some of their children. Yesterday I packed up all the information I found along with the portraits and got everything ready for shipping to a descendant of that family. And I got back to work on the project I was working. That is another line I don't really know much about but am happy to investigate.

Thursday, September 15, 2022

I'm a Repository?

A few days ago, I was contacted on Ancestry to see if I wanted portraits of Simmet (one of my Zimmeth lines) relatives. Well sure. They are John Dent and his wife Catherine McNaughton. I received them today and the first thing I did was photograph them and link them in RootsMagic 8. Now, I'm looking for more information on the couple as I only had them as the parents of Margaret Dent who married Frank W. Simmet. It sure beats having images of their headstones as their primary photo!

Why do I think I am a repository? Well, in my collection of goodies, I have these two photos, many photos and papers sent by cousins, 4 family crests that a first cousin once removed did and 2 bibles sent from Scotland!

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

The Project - Pile of Folders

I always have a pile of paper on my desk. Sometimes, it's things I want to do, things to file, things to shred. The paper got so out of hand, I had to relegate it to file folders. I spent a couple of hours one evening sorting the paper into folders and then labeling the folders.

Right now I am somewhere between illustration one and illustration two. I am workin on Folder 3 which is a mix of hubby's genealogy. Interesting stuff. But everything I've pulled out has generated two or three more records. For instance, I had a death certificate for a first cousin 3 times removed. I wasn't even sure this person was related, until I went into the Polish archives and found his baptismal record and proved his father was hubby's maternal grandmother's first cousin once removed. Yay. On the other side of his family, I had a death notice for a relative, which led to her marriage announcement, marriage record, social security info, and her husband's name along with that of her two children and three grandchildren. Found her husband's obituary, and her daughter's marriage announcement. This folder has at least twenty five more pages to it, not to mention the stuff I've already done or am currently working on. And it's one of the lighter folders.

Monday, September 12, 2022

For Sale or Trade? Mary Bowman's House

For Sale or Exchange.

Having determined to sell my residence, on South street, I will do so at a very low price for cash, or exchange for a smaller house in the city. The house is two stories high, and has nine large rooms; the lot is large and is as desirable as any in the city. The place is well supplied with various kinds of fruit and shrubbery, and has all the necessary out-buildings. For particulars apply to G. M. Mountjoy, A. J. Hall or the undersigned. (mh22) Mary E. Bowman

What an interesting concept! By 1900, Mary E. Bowman nee Chinn was living with her son-in-law and daughter, George and Isabella (Bowman) Mountjoy. By 1880, all her sons had reached their majority and would inherit from their late father, Lt. Col. John Parker Bowman, who died on retreat from Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Mary Chinn Bowman passed in 1904.

Saturday, September 10, 2022

The More You Work a Family, The More Confusing They Get

One of my direct lines is the Bowman family. My paternal grandmother was a Bowman and my dad was named for her father, Frank Bowman.

Frank was one of six children in this family: Isabella, John, Joseph, Edwin, Frank and Clifton. Clifton has long given me the slip. This time the culprit is Joseph.

Joseph and his siblings named above were the children of John Parker Bowman and Mary Elizabeth Chinn. The eldest son, John C. Bowman died in 1858. John Parker Bowman died in 1862 on retreat from Elkhorn Tavern (Pea Ridge) in Arkansas. Mary Elizabeth was left to raise the rest of the children on her own.

Mary appears on the 1880 census with the following children: Joseph, Edwin, Frank and Clifton. Joseph is 30. There is a Susan Foster on the 1880 census in Lafayette county, Missouri who is the right age with a son Robert and a daughter, Daisy, ages 3 and 1. Those dates coincide perfectly with the known children. Susan Foster is listed as a widow.

Let's fast forward to 1900. Joseph is in Wyandotte county, Kansas with wife Susan and sons Robert and Leroy. The census says that they've been married 25 years. But wait, Joseph is with his mother and younger brothers in 1880. No marriage record to be found anywhere. And certainly not before 1880. The 1910 Census shows Joseph and Susan, married, one marriage for each of them and now they've been married 33 years. It's definitely not adding up.

When Susan dies in 1934, no mention of her late husband, but does mention her children. However, it references Miss Daisy Bowman. I have a marriage record where she marries Allen Root in 1897. In her father's obit, she is Mrs. Daisy Lucas.

Certainly I have more work to do on this family, if I can get them straight in my head.

Thursday, September 8, 2022

RootsMagic 8 for Mac

I have had the opportunity over the holiday weekend to test RootsMagic 8. Yes, it came out a year ago and I was part of the community testing. However, I had some persistent errors on my Mac when working in the program.

When RootsMagic reached out to me recently to test the program for the errors I was experiencing, I jumped at the chance. I am so glad I did.

First, let me say that I love RootsMagic 8. I've used this program since it's inception, owning every version of it including its progenitor Family Origins. About the same time I decided I was done with Windows and was going to migrate to a Mac, RootsMagic announced they were making the program usable on a Mac with the help of an emulator. I felt like I was coming home.

Then came the official news that RootsMagic was working on a totally new RootsMagic which would also have a native Mac version. I couldn't wait, became a community tester, but was disappointed with the errors I kept experiencing.

Now I was given a holiday weekend to work in the new program. First, I made a new database, adding people, facts, sources, images and tasks - the old to-do list from previous versions. I experimented with folders for the tasks, and worked for hours a day for the next four days without a single error message. And I worked in complete silence about what I was doing except for the daily diary I kept.

That was probably the hardest part for me, keeping silent! I made it through the entire weekend without the dreaded access violation error. I reported in on Tuesday, gave my results and later that day, RootsMagic version 8.2.5 was released.

This is really a great program and very reasonably priced at $39.95, which compared to the other Mac genealogy programs, is very reasonable. If you have a license to a previous version, you can save $10.