Sunday Drive: Plank Road to Yuma, 1951

The title says it all. On our way to visit Grandpa Grenfell in South Dakota, this would have been taken on the first day.

[From my personal collection]

You can read more about the plank road here and here. And of course, there's a YouTube.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Cleaning Up My Locations in Legacy Means I Can Do This....

I am cleaning up my locations database in Legacy 9.0 because I want to see who lived where.  This is one of the main reasons I bought the software in the first place.

My locations were so messed up that it is taking way longer than I originally thought.  However, once I've standardized all the locations on both the Legacy end and on my Ancestry tree I will be cooking with gas, baby!




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: Feriby/Pheraby Sowell - Bertie County, North Carolina, 1814

Feriby survived her husband Thomas Ward by 17 years.* Although Thomas left his "beloved wife" several bequests outright thereby empowering her "to dispose of as she shall or may think proper" it doesn't appear that she made her own will because the following administration bond for "five hundred Pounds"** executed on February 14, 1814, named her son James Ward the administrator of her estate.

As administrator James was charged with the task of making an inventory of his mother's estate which he had apparently done the previous month, although no values were assigned to the items on the list.

An inventory of the personal proper

ty of Pheraby Ward decd. January 10, 1814

1 Negro woman Sophia,          20 Gals Honey -----

1 Feather bed & furniture,       3 Hives of bees

1 Chest of Cloathes, ----         A quantity of bees wax

6 Shotes, 2 Sows & pigs,

2 Cows and yearlings,            A quantity of Cloth & Thread

3 Heifers, 1 Ewe & lamb,        1 Pair of fire dogs

1 Lot crocre ware,                  1 Bofait [Buffet?] 2 old chests

1 Ax, 2 Tables                       1 Pot and scillet

1/2 dozen chairs ----              Stove [?] ---------    

Cash $7 --------

                                         Jas Ward

This comprehensive list of the items of Feriby's possessions sold on March 4th gives us a better idea of what she owned. (Note that the prices are still given in British currency.)

An Account of the Sale of the Estate of Feriby Ward Decd

Sold March the 4th 1814                                                             

                                                                                £       S      D

5 chears_________________To | James Ward_____|  " |  12 |    6

1 Pewter dish with Bacon___"  |   do       do______|  "   |  15 |   ~

7 Earthen plates___________"  |   do       do_____|      |  12 |   3 

3 Bowl__________________"  |   do       do_____|      |  11 |   ~

1 Pitcher_________________"  |   do       do_____|      |   4 |   6

1 Tureen & Dish___________ | Benjamin Hardy_____|     |    6 |   ~ ***

1 Sugar Dish______________  |   do       do_____|     |   2 |   6

13 Yds Striped Cloth @ 6/3___ | James Ward______|   3 |    1 |  3

4¾ lbs @ 12/lb_____________ |    do     do_____|  2   | 10 |  4½

1 book____________________ |    do     do_____|      |   10|  0

1 bed & furniture___________ | Benjamin Hardy____| 21  |   ~ |   ~

1 glass tumbler____________  | James Ward_____|     |   2 |  0

2 Stocks bees______________ |    do     do_____|     |  15 |  6

3   do     do________________ |    do     do_____|  1 |   12 |  6

5 Gall. Honey _____________ |    do     do_____|  2  |   10 |  0

5 gall. do _________________ |    do     do_____|  2  |   10 |  

5  do  do _________________ |    do     do_____|  2  |  10 |  

5  do balance______________ |    do     do_____|  2  |  10 | 

1 Black cow & yearling______ |   do     do_____|  5  |   15 | 

1 Heifer___________________ |  do      do_____|  5  |   0 |  0

1 do_______________________ |  do      do_____|  4   |   0 |  0

1 cow & calf________________ |  do      do_____|  4   | 12 |  6

1 Bull_____________________ |  do      do_____ |  1  |  10 |  0

1 Ewe & Lamb______________ |  do      do_____|  1  |  10 |  0

2 Sows & 8 pigs_____________ |  do      do_____|  5  |   0 |  0

6 Hogs_____________________ |  do      do_____| 3  |   0 |  0

18 lb Beeswax_______________ | William Jones_____|  1  |  10 |  0

1 Pr. fire Irons_______________ | James Ward_____|  1  |  5 |  0

1 Chest_____________________ | James Ward_____|  "   |    1 |  3

1  do_______________________ |    do     do_____|    |   10 |  0

1 table______________________ |   do     do_____| ~   |  ~ |  6

1½ bushel Wheat_____________ |   do     do_____|     |  15 |  

1 pine Beaufat_______________ |   do     do_____| 2  |   0 |  6

1 Linnen Wheel______________ |   do     do_____|     |  7 |  0

1 Woolen  do________________ |   do     do_____|     |    |  6

1 pot Trammel & hook________ |    do     do_____|     |    |  6

1 Stove_____________________ |  do     do_____|     |     |  6

1 Chest with clothes__________ | Benj. Hardy_____|  1  |  0 |  0

1 Iron pot__________________ | James Ward_____|    |   7 |  6

3 pewter & 1 Silver tea spoons__ |   do      do_____| ~ |  5 |  1

You may recall from last week's post about Thomas Ward's will that his bequest to his wife included an enslaved woman named Sophia. The next page refers to her and since it states that James Ward is paying £4 to "the lowest undertaker" for her maintenance until January 1, 1815, it's clear that Sophia not considered able to be hired out as a worker.

[All documents are from Wills and Estate Papers (Bertie County), 1663-1978; Author: North Carolina. Division of Archives and History (Raleigh, North Carolina); Probate Place: Bertie, North Carolina. Ancestry.com]

Next week I'll take a look at the final accounting James Ward filed with the probate court.

*And her father John Sowell by 58 years.
**The amount of the bond usually was matched to the estimated value of the deceased estate.
***Benjamin Hardy (who is a 5th great uncle of mine) was the husband of Eleanor (Elendar) Ward, the Feriby's youngest child. By the terms of Thomas Ward's will, Eleanor was to eventually inherit the house he had "loaned" to her mother during her widowhood.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Throwback Thursday: Karen Clifford's 2011 Webinar "Organizing for Success"

Karen Clifford, CEO of Genealogy Research Associates, shares her tips on setting up an efficient organization system using Legacy in the webinar "Organizing for Success."  You can also see much of this information at her site FileYourPapers.com:

Have you ever found a relative sharing erroneous data on your favorite research line? You're willing to take the time to politely point out those errors (to prevent others from being misled), but the complexity of how to explain your years of research settles upon your brain like a fog. You rally to the attempt, only to be thwarted by an inability to quickly locate the key supporting documents. After hours of effort, a numbing paralysis sets in at the realization that in order to adequately explain your conclusions, you will need to reconstruct your research process. The result thousands of individual family relationships that could be explained just STOP, or end up in heaps of unsubstantiated opinion files on the Internet. People have asked me over the years, how I can research hundreds of families in the same week, return to a specific spot where I left off fifteen years ago on a client's line, and in a short review period take off again. The best way to prevent a wasteful repetition of work is by consistently using an organizational system that weaves together paper files, research notes, to do lists, evidence located, and conclusions reached. This incredibly simple, yet very successful organizational system has been successfully used by thousands of genealogists. With this system, the essential evidence and its supportive explanations are located in a safe retrievable place, available for constant re-examination. This frees the mind to focus on a new hypothesis, to creatively compile a life-time of work, or to calmly summarize your work for others. In fact, this organizational system makes the entire research process more efficient.

Originally recorded August 3, 2011.  Runs 1 hour 58 minutes.  If you are a Family Tree Webinars subscriber you can skip to the lecture, otherwise you will have to sit through information about 2011 genealogy events.




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Gone for Soldiers: Lyman Worden (1790 - 1883) Soldier

Several months ago I posted about Lyman Worden's 1880 interview by a local newspaperman and promised to look into what this maternal 4X great grandfather did during his three-month service during the War of 1812. Today's the day I fulfill that commitment.

In 1813 Lyman and his young family were living in Cayuga County when he was called into service with the New York militia.

[The Oswego daily palladium., April 21, 1880, Page 2.

Source: NYS Historic Newspapers, Image provided by: SUNY Oswego]

Here's a contemporary view of Fort Niagara from the British side of the river where Lyman's company camped for a week.

[Fort Niagara taken from the British side of the river at Newark.  William Strickland, 1787-1854, engraver. Published - Philadelphia, 1814 Oct. 

Source: Library of Congress]

And here's Fort George (from the American side) where his company spent an undisclosed amount of time but it couldn't have been very long as his whole time in the militia lasted no more than three months.

[View of British Fort George from U.S. Fort Niagara, c.1811 (LAC)]

And here's a portrait of the American General George McClure mentioned in Lyman's interview.

[Gen. Geo. McClure findagrave]

You can find more information about Fort George here and here; read about the events of the War of 1812 on the Niagara River here; and learn about the Native American involvement during the war here




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

GeneabloggersTribe Initiative Is Now Live

I just discovered that Thomas MacEntee, founder of GeneaBloggers, is moving on to the next phase of his career, and his GenealogyBloggers resource site for those who blog about genealogy is now moved to GeneaBloggersTribe.

A big Thank You to Thomas MacEntee and the genealogy bloggers who have stepped up to continue his legacy!



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Elisabeth (About 1781 - Before 1750)

Although several tests have indicated that my maternal haplogroup is J1c2 you don't have to go very far up my family tree to find a brick wall in this 4X great grandmother whose surname isn't known and her given name may not even been Elisabeth.

[Ancestry.com]

Her birth year is based on the presumption that she's the 40-49 year-old free white woman residing in Emanuel Bixler's household in the 1830 U.S. Census lists and close to her husband Emanuel's age but she could be as much as 9 years younger. Even her place of birth is debatable--her son Jacob thought she was from Maryland and her daughter Leah told enumerators her mother was born in Pennsylvania.

[Ancestry.com]

It's also unknown where and when Elisabeth died--was it in Pennsylvania where her family was living in 1830 or in Ohio where the 1850 U.S. Census lists Emanuel as residing in Jacob's household, apparently a widower?

One thing that's almost certain is that she and her husband spoke German because son Jacob's 1887 obituary includes this sentence.

[The Anamosa Eureka Anamosa, Iowa. Thursday , January 27th, 1887 Page : 3

Source: Jones County Genealogical Society.]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.