Monday Is for Mothers: Alta Mae Slater (1917 - 1986)

We have so many Slater family photos of my birth mother that I forgot about this one, which was posted to Ancestry.com by someone who appears to be related to her husband "Pete" Norville.

[Saved to the Nelson Family Tree in 2015 by tulejean]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Trailer Camping, Indio - 1949

We've seen the Curreys' rig in this location before but here's a broader view of the scene. We were on our way to South Dakota.

[From my personal collection]

The other red truck is parked next to an interesting trailer but unfortunately I can't see enough of it to guess what it is.





© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Limited Time Free Webinar: Janet Hovorka presents "Family History Adhesive: The Science of Why History Binds Families and the Simple Tech of How to Do It"

Janet Hovorka presented the webinar "Family History Adhesive: The Science of Why History Binds Families and the Simple Tech of How to Do It" on July 26, 2017.  This is a great reminder of the benefits of what we do as genealogists:

Studies have shown that greater knowledge about family history strengthens your relationships and creates a core identity that empowers your current family. In this session you will learn to use the technology your family members already access every day to create a strong family narrative together. Family history has proven to be the key to strong family relationships now and the emotional health of future generations. The transmission of family history is a personal way to pass on family values, learn from the consequences of decisions and figure out how to overcome the challenges of life. We’ll survey the psychology community’s studies of inter-generational transmission. They have found that the shared family narrative is a source of strength and resilience that binds family members together with a common story. The best way to create a strong family narrative together is to use the communication tools we already access every day in a family history oriented way. Once you've learned how important it is, we'll give you ways to assess where your family congregates online [how often they use it], and then give you strategies for binding your family to their history using those tools. E -mail newsletters, facebook groups, google hangouts, twitter hashtags, and family Instagram accounts are great places to start a family storytelling challenge, award prizes for who knows the most about Grandma and post pictures for a caption contest. You'll leave with a plan for making your family history fun and strengthening your current family relationships.

Free for non-subscribers through August 2, 2017.  Runs 1 hour 28 minutes.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Field Trip - Caverne du Pont D'Arc

Today we visited the site of the cave containing the oldest paintings yet discovered and because it has been a very long day here you can consider this a place holder until I write more about our experience.

[Photo: http://www.cavernedupontdarc.fr/]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Quarterly Compilation of Periodical Literature Reflecting the Use of Records in the National Archives and Records Administration

The citation to Hatton's article, plus the record group number (RG029) indicating the type of NARA record used in the article.  Record Group 29 is Bureau of the Census which is in the Genealogical cluster (the one genealogists are most familiar with).  A complete rundown of the names and number of these groups can be found here. 

I just found out about the "Quarterly Compilation of Periodical Literature Reflecting the Use of Records in the National Archives and Records Administration." Yes, it is quite a mouthful.

I've been wondering for a while if there was this kind of resource readily available--one that mentions historical and genealogical periodical literature that has used NARA materials as a source.  I stumbled on it when looking for online references to Stephen B. Hatton's great article "Which way did the census taker walk or ride his horse?" in the July/September (Vol 41, No. 3) NGS Magazine.

NARA has its own publication, Prologue Magazine, which showcases what kinds of records are available at NARA and how to use them:

Prologue magazine brings readers stories based on the rich holdings and programs of the National Archives across the nation—from Washington, DC, to the regional archives and the Presidential libraries. Access our articles online, in print, or download high-quality issues for your e-reader or smart phone at Zinio .
Prologue has been published quarterly by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for nearly 50 years.

I like that they are keeping track of other publications using NARA materials with the quarterly compilation of other sources beside Prologue, and it's good to know where to find it.  I have only begun wading into their holdings, census records being the ones I've used the most, so this should be helpful to have an idea of what is possible to research going forward.





© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Opal May Slater (1890 - 1973) Part 3

In previous posts we've had a view of my great aunt's teaching career which culminated in her becoming one of the first women to receive an advanced degree from Harvard.*

The next record we have for Opal is in the 1922 Denver City Directory where she was living with her mother Rufina on Marine Street. Opal is described as "with L&S D G Co" but I haven't been able to discover what company that was.

[Title : Denver, Colorado, City Directory, 1922. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: 

Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.]

Opal's name appears again the same year in a Denver Rocky Mountain News calendar of events and a Denver Post article about the local Y.M.C.A.'s "Annual Budget Week."

[Date: Friday, February 10, 1922   Paper: Denver Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado)   Page: 13  

© This entire service and/or content portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or its content providers.

Source: GenealogyBank.com]

[Date: Sunday, January 29, 1922   Paper: Denver Post (Denver, Colorado)   Page: 20  

This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.

Source: GenealogyBank.com]

It's not clear to me when Opal returned to Massachusetts but in the Hartford Courant she was described as a graduate Yale Law School** Class of 1927 and had just been elected to the Order of the Coif.

[Hartford Courant Hartford, Connecticut. Tuesday, June 21, 1927

Source: Newspapers.com]

This 1928 Boston Herald piece includes her name among the 28 women who passed the state bar examination.

[Date: Wednesday, February 29, 1928   Paper: Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts)   Page: 6  

This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.

Source: GenealogyBank.com]

And here's her listing in the 1929 Boston City Directory.

[Title : Boston, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1929.

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:

Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.]

She was the only one of Lewis Logan Slater's children to follow him into the legal profession.


*Links here and here
**Yes, THAT Yale.
***You can read about its history here.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Webinar Free One More Day: Peggy Clemens Lauritzen presents"The Firelands, The Connecticut Western Reserve, and the Ohio Territory"

I have some vague memory of learning about the American westward expansion after the Revolution, but at that point I didn't realize that I had any connection to it, being from San Diego (I guess I'm California-centric).  That was before I got into genealogy.

Although I don't appear to have any direct ancestors who went from Connecticut to the areas claimed by Connecticut, I do have many collateral relatives who did (mostly branches of upstate New Yorkers originally from Connecticut), and I also have New Englanders (Tibbetts folks in Maine) who came to the southern Ohio area (Dearborn County, Indiana in Indiana's Gore) after the traumatizing 1816 cold snap (the year known as "1800 and froze to death").***

I have found learning anything about early Ohio is key to understanding much of later American westward expansion, and why my ancestors and relatives were where they were when.

Peggy Clemens Lauritzen covers the history of the northern development in Ohio previously claimed by Connecticut, in "The Firelands, The Connecticut Western Reserve, and the Ohio Territory":

The northeastern lands of Ohio are aptly named “The Firelands”, and “The Western Reserve”. How did they come to be called that? And, what connection do they have to the northeastern states? “Ohio fever” brought a lot of settlers to the state following the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. A section of Ohio named “The Western Reserve” will be of particular interest to those having ties to Connecticut.

Runs 1 hour 17 minutes.

Free to non-subscribers through July 26, 2017.


***The Tibbetts lived in (then) Hancock County, Maine, in an area actually called "Ohio" (renamed Corinth in 1811).


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Anna Delilah Webb (1891 - 1973)

We know from her obituaries that my maternal grandmother was a charter member of the Niwot Garden Club which was founded in 1938.

[Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

This photograph seems to date from 1946 when the club decided to create a community garden across from the train depot. (Note that Anna is the shortest woman in this group.)

[Page 83, Around Niwot by Anne Quinby Dyni, Arcadia Publishing, 2015.]

From the Slater family collection we have this 1963 group photo of Garden Club members out in a chrysanthemum field. (Anna appears to have some competition for the shortest person here.)

[Courtesy of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Hudson Commodore Super 6 Sedan

I'm always on the lookout for a good Sunday Drive topic--and there it was, sitting in the IKEA parking lot in Carpentras last week.

It's rare to see any American car here and Bonnie couldn't recall ever seeing one of this vintage. Of course we had to take a look. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of the front of the car which would have made it easier to tell exactly what year it was made but it's probably from the early 1950s.

[All from my personal collection]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: GeneaWebinars

A screenshot of the Calendar tab at GeneaWebinars

GeneaWebinars--It's probably not new to you, but it is new to me!  What a great source!:

This site provides information about genealogy-related online meetings, classes, hangouts, seminars and webinars, where there is a visual slide share, website or software demo.
There are currently over 35 hosts and speakers with posting access to this calendar and blog, and over 200 hours of scheduled instruction for genealogists wishing to hone their research skills during the coming year. If you'd like to join the calendar to post your organization's events, contact Myrt@DearMYRTLE.com

You can just add all the events if you want to your Google Calendar (which I've now done).

Couldn't be easier, and now I have a calendar to let me know what is happening online.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: Hugh Kennedy - Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 1814

I was originally drawn to this fifth great grandfather's*will because of the relatively legible handwriting of the Allegheny County clerk who copied the original into the official records.**

[History of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania : including its early settlement and progress to the present time ; a description of its historic and interesting localities ; its cities, towns and villages; religious, educational, social and military history ; mining, manufacturing and commercial interests, improvements, resources, statistics, etc. ; also, biographies of many of its representative citizens

by Cushing, Thomas, b. 1821, Publication date 1889, Publisher Chicago : A. Warner & Co. Source: Archive.org]

All Hugh's children are named but only two of his son received more than one dollar.

In the name of God Amen. I Hugh Kennedy of the County of
allegheny and the Township of Mifflin being weak in body but of sound &
perfect mind and memory Blessed be Almighty God for the same do make
and publish this my last will and Testament in manner and form foll-
owing that (is to say) first I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Eli-
zabeth Kennedy a good deacent mentenence together with all the bedd-
ing and household furniture enduring her life or widowhood. I do also

give and bequeath unto my Eldest Son William one dollar. Also I give and 
bequeath unto my Daughter Rebecca one dollar. I also give and bequeath un-
to my Daughter Mary one dollar. I also give and bequeath unto my son Martin
one Dollar. I also give and bequeath unto my daughter Jennet one dollar.
I also give and bequeath unto my son Henry one dollar. I also give and
bequeath unto my daughter Catherine one dollar. I also give and bequeath
unto my son James one Dollar. I also give and bequeath unto my daughter
Isabella one Dollar. I also give and bequeath unto my two sons Hugh & D-
avid their heirs and assigns all that my messuage or Tenements situated
lying and being in the Township and County aforesaid. Together with all my
other free hold Estate whatsoever to hold to them the said Hugh and David
their heirs and assigns forever. And lastly I give and bequeath unto my
beloved wife all the rest and residue and remainder of my personal prop-
erty estate goods and chattels of what kind and nature soever enduring
her widowhood, and at her death to be divided betwixt my two sons Hugh
& David each the one half together with each paying the half of my lawfull
debts. And I do hereby appoint my sons David and my trusty friend William
Canel my whole sole Executors of this my last will and Testament hereby re-
voking all former wills by me made. In Witness whereof I have heretofo-
re set my hand and seal this second day February in the year of our Lo-
rd one thousand eight hundred and fourteen. Signed Sealed published a-
nd declared by the above named Hugh Kennedy to be his last will and
Testament in the presence of us who have hereunto subscribed our names.
Geo. M Millen   Adam Boyd   Jeremiah Feree                his
                                                                               Hugh  X  Kennedy {Seal}
                                                                                        mark

[Will Books, 1789-1917; Author: Allegheny County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

Source: Ancestry.com]

Allegheny County fs. On the 9.th day of March A D. 1814 Personally came Ge-
orge M Millen, Adam Boyd and Jeremiah Feree the Subscribing witnesses
to the within will before Saml. Jones Register for the probate of wills aforesaid
County, and being duly Sworn they did depose and say that they were pres-
ent and did see Hugh Kennedy make his mark to this instrument of wri-
ting and published pronounced & declared the same to be his last will an-
d Testament, and that he was of sound mind and memory at the ti-
me of so doing to the best of their Knowledge. Given under my hand, etc.
day & year aforesaid.
                        Recorded 9th March 1814.              Saml. Jones Register


Ancestry's databases also include the original will itself although some words on the left margin haven't been scanned. Comparing the two versions, as far as I can tell the main difference between them is the spelling of some of the words. (In his determination to fit everything within the lines, the clerk was certainly willing to break words in eccentric ways.)

[Will Packets Or Files, 1789-1917; Author: Allegheny County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

Source: Ancestry.com]

*Here's my descent from Hugh Kennedy:

[Ancestry.com]

**I have the 1680 inventory of another maternal ancestor, tenth great grandfather Peter Worden, waiting for me to tackle its crabbed script.




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Limited Time Free Webinar: "Analyzing Documents Sparks Ideas for Further Research" Presented by Angela Packer McGhie, CG

You are missing out if you don't have a subscription to Legacy Family Tree Webinars.  They have amazing presentations on all aspects of genealogy released on a continual basis, and most of it is NOT available to non-subscribers.

A subset of their offerings are hosted and sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), a highly respected organization that professional genealogists often use as part of their education.  If you are like me and can't physically attend the various institutes and seminars provided throughout the country, this is a great way to further your skills from your computer.

Today's webinar is in the BCG category and is presented by Angela Packer McGhie, "Analyzing Documents Sparks Ideas for Further Research":

Taking the time to analyze documents for reliability, context and information can provided useful clues. Using these clues to map out a research plan can advance your research.

1 hour 25 minutes.  Originally recorded July 18, 2017, and is free for non-subscribers through July 25, 2017.




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Opal May Slater (1890 - 1973) Part 2

Looking through newspapers I was able to find out more about Opal's teaching career before she left for Harvard than was apparent using city directories and census lists.

In 1913 she was granted a Teacher's Certificate for second grade in Kansas according to The Eureka Herald and Greenwood County Republican. 

[Source: Newspapers.com]

Later that year the same newspaper's social pages identified Opal as a teacher at Hamilton Schools while reporting on her visit to her uncle James Slater.

[Source: Newspapers.com]

The next time I found Opal's name was in a May of 1916 list of people receiving first grade Teachers' Certificates in  The Santa Fe New Mexican.

[Source: Newspapers.com]

From this clipping from The Clayton Citizen we learn Opal's job in New Mexico was Principal of the local high school.

[Source: Newspapers.com]

[Detail of Union County, New Mexico, including Clayton from Clason's Guide Map Of New Mexico. Published By The Clason Map Co. Denver, Colorado. Copyrighted 1915 by The Clason Map Co. Denver, Colo. 1916 Edition. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

Here's another story from the same source mentioned Opal as the assistant director of the school play.*

[Source: Newspapers.com]

*This isn't the first time I found Opal connected with the stage as you can see in this 1912 clipping from The Denver Rocky Mountain News. (And that's not counting her interest in Aesthetic Dance.)

[Source: GenealogyBank.com]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Book Shelf: "Danzig Chronik eines Jahrtausends" [Danzig Chronicle of a Millennium] by Hans Georg Siegler

I think that the George Hartley who applied for this 1794 Seamen's Protection Certificate in Philadelphia is likely a brother of Solomon Hartley.  If George was born in Dantzig, Poland, and was the "son of George Hartley labourer of Dantzig" then I think it is likely that labourer George is also possibly Solomon's father.  Solomon's three sons all considered Solomon Hartley to be foreign-born, either from Poland or Germany.  Solomon had "Pitsborough" [Pittsburgh] as his birthplace in his Seamen's Protection Certificate, I know not why at this point.  George Hartley Mariner, 3 July 1794, Proofs of Citizenship Used to Apply for Seamen's Certificates for the Port of Philadelphia, 1792-1861, NARA M1880, Roll 1; digital image, search for "George Hartley" on Ancestry (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1928 : accessed 18 Jul 2017).

Since it is possible that my earliest known Hartley ancestor Solomon Hartley (1775-1815) was born in Gdansk/Danzig/Dantzik, Poland, based on what I've been able to gather so far, I think I need to concentrate my research efforts in that area, around that time (I also need to research in Amsterdam around 1794, which is where the above George Hartley came from on his journey to Philadelphia).

"Dantzik" closeup from "Carte de la Mer Baltique" (1773) by Jacques Nicolas Bellin, from the David Rumsey Map Collection.

Finding information on that particular time period (about 1775) on Gdansk online, however, has proven to be more difficult than I originally expected.  I will need to consult books, and apparently most not in English, if I am to get a better understanding.

To that end, I ordered "Danzig Chronik eines Jahrausends" by Hans Georg Siegler as a start to building my knowledge.  It's written entirely in German, but I have Google Translate to help:

The whole book is an account, year by year, of happenings in Danzig/Gdansk, from roughly the 900s to 1990.  I need to check the FamilySearch catalog and WorldCat to find more works on the area in the 1700s.  I am assuming at this point that most of these works will not be English.

Ideally I would pay a specialist in Polish/German history to give me an overview of the situation in the 1770s, and some ideas on where to start for records (and then do that research for me), but that would cost more than I can afford at this point in time.

If there are any descendants of Solomon Hartley who would be willing to pay a professional for this search, that would be great! If anyone ever does that and finds some answers, please let me know if I am at least on the right track (and maybe who Solomon Hartley's mother was?).




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Marriage Record for Rufina Tomlinson & L. Logan Slater - 1885

[Ancestry.com. Kansas, County Marriages, 1811-1911 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Original data: Marriage Records. Kansas Marriages. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, UT.]

And I think this double portrait probably dates from around the same time.

[Courtesy Of Olive Slater-Kennedy]

I wasn't able to find out more about the minister who married them or the photographer in Neodesha, Kansas, who took their photo.


When I started this post I thought that I hadn't seen their marriage record but it turns out I included it in an earlier one.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Fête Foraine - Carpentras, 2017

After enjoying a delicious Moroccan dinner at La Palmeraie in Carpentras on Friday evening we strolled around the old city before venturing into the bright lights and crowds at the fun fair being held on the site of the weekly market. It was the night of the Fête nationale and since the fireworks had been cancelled because the wind was blowing strongly, everybody was looking to have some fun.

By contrast the city was quiet and peaceful.

[All photos from my personal collection]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Limited Time Free Webinar: "Google Books: the tool you should use every day!" by Lisa Louise Cooke

I've been waiting for this webinar!  I have found some great information on Google Books through the years, and I hope to learn some new things about this amazing tool.

"Google Books: the tool you should use every day!" was presented by Lisa Louise Cooke on July 12, 2017 (free to view for non-subscribers through July 19, 2017):

25 million digitized and searchable free books are at your fingertips. Learn how to make the most of this goldmine chock full of historical data! You’ll discover the best techniques for finding fully digitized book FAST, and search secrets for locating genealogical data. Learn to capitalize on and translate the foreign language volumes from your ancestor's homeland. Then we’ll go beyond the obvious and track down maps, images, photos and more.

Runs 1 hour 33 minutes



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Celebrations: La Fête Nationale

Every year on July 14th France celebrates its national holiday commemorating the fall of the Bastille in 1789. Fireworks are usually involved.

[Source: Monteux.fr]

Not far from here lies the large village of Monteux which is famous for its pyrotechnic displays. Yesterday evening found us picnicking on the grass at Lac du Monteux waiting for night to come and the fireworks to start. The weather was perfect.

Warned that the best views would be from the amphitheater farther around the lake, three of our party (Doris, Detlef and Kevin) decided to go there while Bonnie and I opted to remain in place. They saw details that we missed but we loved the sensation of the fireworks seeming to explode overhead and we all agreed that they were some of the best fireworks we've ever seen.

[From my personal collection]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Throwback Thursday: Newspapers and Publications Published in San Diego 1887-1888

This is taken from collection of digitized city directories for San Diego in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  "Maxwell's Directory of San Diego City and County for 1887-1888" (San Diego, CA: Geo. W. Maxwell, 1888), page 29; digital image, sandiegopubliclibrary at Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/stream/maxwellsdirect8700geow#page/n39/mode/2up : 13 Jul 2017).

One of the things I love about old city directories is that they can contain some great leads on where to look for additional contemporary research in an area.

Crop closeup of the newspapers and publications listed in the previous image.  GenealogyBank has quite a few.

GenealogyBank's San Diego holdings as of 13 July 2017.

Note: The California Digital Newspaper Collection also has some issues of the Coronado Mercury between 16 May 1887 - 25 July 1896 (630 issues).




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.