Sunday, February 11, 2018

Sunday Drive: What Ship Is This?

Someone thought enough of this photograph of a cargo ship to have it enlarged and then got out the gold paint and embellished the surrounding mat.* There aren't any clues about the ship (although from the background I think it was docked in San Diego) or the photographer on the object itself and I've always wanted to know more...

[From my personal collection]


Here's a closer view of the stern where you can see part of the ship's name.

[Detail of the above photo]




*And I like it (and the gold paint) so much that I've had it set in a frame and it hangs by my bed where I can see it every day.



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

FamilySearch Offers a Fan Chart in the Mary Hill Color Coding Option

My fan chart at FamilySearch.  My father's people are blue and green, Mom's people are red and yellow, just like in Mary Hill's color coding system.
I'm probably the last person to notice this, but FamilySearch also follows the Mary Hill color coding that I mentioned a few posts back.


Good to know I've adopted a system that is well recognized.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Friday, February 9, 2018

From the Probate Files: Ann Baker Sill - Chester County, Pennsylvania - 1779

Last month I posted about this maternal seventh great grandmotherJoseph Baker Jr.'s daughter and the wife of James Sill, who survived her husband and wrote her own will in 1777 which was probated two years later. Ann made small bequests including several silver objects, some pewter dishes, glassware, her clothes and tea ware to each of her children and two of her granddaughters. From looking at the list of her possessions, I now have a mental picture of Ann pouring her tea from her pewter teapot and perhaps adding cream from her glass jug before taking a sip of tea from one of her cups.


Ann Sills Will} The Second day of September in the year of our Lord one Thous=
=and Seven Hundred & Seventy Seven I Ann Sills of Edgment in the the Count=
=ty of Chester in the Province of Pennsylvania being ^very^ Sick and weak in Body but
of Perfect mind and memory thanks be giving to God therefore Calling unto mind
and the mortality of my Body and Knowing that it is appointed for all man
Kind once to die to Make & ordain this my last will and Testament that is to Say
principally & first of all I give and Recommend my Soul into the hands of God that 
Gave it and for my Body I Recommend it to the Earth to be to be Buryed in a Christian
Like and decent manner at the Discretion of my Executors herein after named and as 
Touching Such worldly Estate wherewith it hath Pleased God to bless me in this life
I Give Device & Dispose of the Same in the following manner & form Item I give
and Bequeath unto my Daughter Ann Cannady the sum of Ten Pounds and my
Cloak & puter Dish Item I give and Bequeath unto my Son George Sill a pair of 
Silver Buckeles & Sleve Buttons Item I give and Bequeath unto my Son Richard
Sill my Tea Cittle Item I give and Bequeath unto my Daughter mary moris 
a puter plate and Porrenger & Cream Jug Item I give and Bequeath unto my 


["Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L99B-L52M?cc=1999196&wc=9PMD-W36%3A268496301%2C280802301 : 3 July 2014), Chester > Wills 1774-1783 vol 6-7, F-G > image 255 + 256 of 441; county courthouses, Pennsylvania.]


Daughter Martha Houlston a arm Cheer & puter Tea pot Item I give and Bequeath unto 
my grand Daughter Ledy Sill my Saddle and my Wareing apearl to -- Equilly Deve=
ded Between my three Daughters & the above mentioned Grand Daughter, Lydia
Sill. Item I give and bequeath to my Grand Daughter Sarah Cannaday three 
Chessy[?] Cups & Sacers & Glass Cream Jug the Remainder of the tea ware to be Devided
Between my three Daughter as they can agree & my will is that all the Remain=
der of my Effects to be appraised and Sold by Publick vandue[?] & all my Just Debts
& funerall Charges to be paid and Discharged with the Same and if there
Shall be any more the same^ to be Equally Devided Between all my Children & I
Do hereby Constitute make and ordain my Brother Nehemiah Baker & my
Son James Sill to be my only and Sole Executors of this my last will and Testa=
=ment and I Do hereby Utterly Disalow Revoke and Disanull all and eve=
=ry other former Testaments with legacies and Executors by me in any ways
before this time Named willed Bequeathed, Ratifying and Confirming this
and no other to be my Last will and Testament In whiness whereof I have here
unto Set my hand and Seal the day and year above "Writing Sign"
Seald Published pronounced and Decleared By the Said Ann Sill as her
Last will and Testament in the presents of us the Subscribers Viz all
the Legacies to be paid by my Brother Nehemiah Baker and my son
James Sill in Lawfull money of Pennsylvania to be paid within Six months
after the Sale of Such goods or Effects Ann her/mark Sill {Seal} Lydia Baker
Joseph Robins


If you look at the downloaded probate transcript of Ann's will you will notice that someone noted all the misspellings in the original will.

Here's how I descend from this tea-drinking ancestor:

[Ancestry.com]






© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Limited Time Free Webinar: "Digging for Historical Records on FamilySearch" by Sunny Morton


If you are new to genealogy you MUST learn about FamilySearch.  When I began my genealogy research online back around 2009 I focused on just the indexed records, which is barely the tip of the iceberg.  Let Sunny Morton's webinar "Digging for Historical Records on FamilySearch" guide you:
FamilySearch is arguably the world’s biggest free online portal to genealogical records. However, it’s easy to miss some of its valuable content, so join this insider’s tour of five places to find records on and off the site. This beginner-friendly lecture also helps experienced researchers to understand why the site is organized like it is—and to find records they may be missing (especially  since microfilm lending has ended).

Free to non-subscribers through February 14, 2018
NOTE: You might have to come back before the video is available.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

A Fantastic Find Who's Working on Wednesday: Tom Tryniski of Fultonhistory.com

And every other day of the week, as far as I can tell.

The title of Alexandria Neason's article about him in the Columbia Journalism Review says it all: How Tom Tryniski digitized nearly 50 million pages of newspapers in his living room.*

Seriously, if you have ancestors who lived in New York State** you should check out his website. I found a tiny obituary of Lyman Worden, my fourth great grandfather, at the bottom of one of his scans years ago.

[Fultonhistory.com home page]


As Ms. Neason points out, it takes patience to use his system but it worth the effort. Best of all, it's free and Mr. Tryniski intends to keep it that way.




*And if that doesn't make you feel like a slacker, I don't know what possibly could! I hope you will take the time to read about this man who has single handedly scanned an astounding number of pages.
**That's where the coverage is most complete but a quick check turned up papers in Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana among others.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Spring Cleaning: Weeding Out All the Unsourced and Unnecessary Profiles on My Tree

It was over 57,000 profiles in my tree last year.
I'm paying the price for putting all those unnecessary in-laws and step-brothers of stepbrothers on my tree without any reason besides just getting carried away (see my previous posts here and here).  In other words, not straightening up as I went.  While I know that distant relations, even non-relations, can be very important in studying someone, this was just ridiculous.  A lot of these people were on the tree because they were bright, shiny objects.

But today I finally got below 50,000!


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday, February 5, 2018

Monday Is for Mothers: Anna Segrist (1740 - About 1800)

Thanks to research done by Jeffery Bernstein* we have the baptism record for Anna in the archives of Zurich, Switzerland.

[Source: Staatsarchiv Zurich, added to an ancestry.com profile by Jeffrey Bernstein]


Ten-year-old Anna left for Pennsylvania together with her parents John Segrist (also Sechrist or Sigerist) and Anna Wildberger and her brothers and sisters on the ship "Brotherhood" which arrived in Philadelphia on November 3, 1750.

The Segrist family settled in York County where Anna married Franz Graaf (also known as Francis Grove) and they settled in Shrewsbury Township. I haven't found a marriage record for them but their first child was born in October of 1760 when Anna would have been twenty.

In the early Spring of 1765 Anna's father died without leaving a will and her mother filed a petition with the probate court regarding a division of his estate. She named all her children and Anna was listed as the wife of Francis Grof. In petition filed at the same court term, Anna's oldest brother Jacob sought the clarification of the status of 50 acres of land he considered to not be part of his mother's marriage settlement. He requested a division of the land among himself and his siblings.**

[Another document originally found by Jeffery Bernstein]


Anna and Franz had seven children, 6 boys and one girl, their youngest. My direct ancestor is their fourth son John, born in 1769.

Anna died sometime before June of 1801 when Franz married a widow Catharine Eberhard who survived his death in 1812.

We don't know where either Anna or Franz are buried.

Here's how I'm related to her:

[Ancestry.com]



*He's married to one of my distant cousins through my great great grandmother Mercy Darling's second marriage to Joshua Butler Walsh.
**I don't know the outcome of this petition.



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.