Celebrations: Halloween - San Diego, 1950

Obviously I was all ready to go trick or treating...

[From my personal collection]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Happy Halloween!

Wow, this kindergarten photo was taken 10 years ago.

This is the first year my 15-year-old son is not going to dress up and go trick-or-treating.  Instead he'll be at home handing out the candy (and probably eating half of it).

I hope to get him to eventually blog for us, and the recent AncestryDNA test he just submitted might be the thing to spur his interest.  He has already mentioned that he was kinda sorta interested in helping me with the tree, but then he thought that I wouldn't "have anything left to do" if he helped.  Hahaha, so young and naive.

My husband and I have already done our DNA tests, so Marc will be a mix of these two tests:

Ancestry keeps making it harder and harder to print out or capture an image showing all the details.  He also has 4 percent Finland/Northwest Russia, 3 percent Ireland/Scotland/Wales, 3 percent Scandinavia, and less than 1 percent Nigeria.

I also have less than 1 percent of Europe East, Caucasus, and Ireland/Scotland/Wales

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Christine and Marc - 2007

This snapshot, taken at the San Diego Zoo in 2007, is my favorite picture of my daughter and her son Marc.

[From my personal collection]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: San Juan Capistrano, California - 2008

This time the rider is my grandson Marc (at Zoomars Petting Zoo).

It was part of a day-long field trip to San Juan Capistrano via Amtrak in February of 2008.

Marc's Halloween-appropriate t-shirt was a souvenir of my trip to Sapelo Island off the Georgia Coast the previous year.

Before we boarded the train for our trip home, there was ice cream.

[All photos from my personal collection]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Limited Time Free Webinar: "Midwestern & Plains States Level Census Records" presented by Paula Stuart-Warren

2 of my 3 Genetic Communities (as determined by AncestryDNA) are part of the Midwestern United States (as defined by the Census Bureau)!  I've looked at various state censuses over the years, but it is always nice to get a refresher on what they can offer for research.

I definitely have a lot of Deep South and New England ancestry, but the most recent one appears to be Midwest.  My direct ancestors lived in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota (barely), Missouri (barely), and Ohio, but I also have a million cousins and collaterals who have lived there as well as Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Paula Stewart-Warren presented "Midwestern and Plains States Level Census Records" on October 25, 2017 (free to non-subscribers of Legacy Family Tree Webinars through November 1, 2017):

Many Midwestern and Plains states have superb state census records. Learn about the indexes, the many personal details these censuses include, locating the censuses, and alternate sources. The lecture includes many specific examples from these enumerations, provides an overview of state censuses for Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, and indicates where they may be found. Does your state have a 1945 state census? The personal details vary but may include names of children, maiden names, military service, religious denomination, mother of how many children, occupation, value of real estate, and other helpful details.

1 hour 38 minutes

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

House Parts: Built-In-Fixture Company - Berkeley, California & J.S. Schirm Commercial Company - San Diego, California

My Moorish Revival bungalow court, consisting of a pair of two-story duplexes, was constructed in 1926 and by now a lot of the original features have been altered or replaced so that none of the units are "as-built." Since the property came into my hands, I've tried to maintain its 1920s charm where it still exists--a wrought iron light fixture here, a kitchen alcove for the stove there--but sometimes changes must happen.

Last week we began work on the downstairs one-bedroom unit (a mirror image of my home) which was last "updated" in the 1970s and sadly in need of refurbishment, especially the bathroom.*

Reluctantly I decided to remove what's left of the original medicine cabinet which had lost its mirrored door thereby reducing it to a 1' x 2'4" hole in the wall with shelves.** A sink cabinet with drawers was added last Spring and there's a linen closet in the room so plenty of storage remains. And the entire wall above the new wainscot will be mirrored above a narrow shelf for products (pictures will follow when completed).

I took photos of the cabinet which give its history and thought it would be interesting to see what I could discover about the two companies whose names are stenciled on the back.

[From my personal collection]

Here's the cover of a 1926 catalog of Peerless Built-In furniture made by the Built-In-Fixture Company of Berkeley, California,

[Peerless Built-in Furniture - Cover. 1926. Kenneth Franzheim II Rare Books Room, William R. Jenkins Architecture and Art Library, University of Houston Libraries. University of Houston Digital Library. Web. October 27, 2017. http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/aapamphlets/item/92/show/69.]

And I learned from a 1929 newspaper ad in the Oakland Tribune that Peerless was a prominent member of the Home Modernizing Bureau in the Bay Area.

[Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, United States of America. Sunday, January 13, 1929. 

Newspapers made available courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection. Newspapers.com]

J.S. Schirm Commercial Company was a distributor of Peerless as shown in this 1926 ad in the San Diego Evening Tribune:

[Date: Tuesday, August 17, 1926   Paper: Evening Tribune (San Diego, California)   Page: 21  

This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.Source: GenealogyBank.com]

So the medicine cabinet was a California product, shipped to San Diego from Berkeley and installed in a modern apartment.




*Also the kitchen with its burnt orange laminate countertop, but that's another post.
**A intact cabinet remains in my bathroom and an almost complete version is stored in the shed.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

San Diego i4gg Conference Coming Up--Don't Forget to Register!

43 days until the Institute for Genetic Genealogy (i4gg) at the Sheraton Hotel in Mission Valley on December 9 and December 10!

I'll be there both days.

Speakers will include CeCe Moore and Blaine Bettinger (huge names in this field) and more to be announced soon, and if last year is any indication then there will be some amazing workshops demonstrating the latest genetic genealogy methodologies.  You can purchase last years video workshops, and see the lineup of speakers last year here.

Another big name is Kitty Cooper--she is also excited about the upcoming event.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Log Trucks near Eugene, Oregon - 1948

Dad loved watching big, powerful machines in action as is evidenced by this sequence of photos taken in the late 1940s in Oregon. I'm guessing it was taken near Springfield, Oregon, because that's the name on the side of the red truck visible behind the log truck in the second picture.

[The yellow signs reads: Watch Out for Log Trucks]

[Log Truck - Springfield, Oregon]

[Dumping the logs]

[Holding dam for logs]

[Logs in river]

At first I thought that the color of the water was due to the old slides having faded but on further inspection I believe that the river looks brown because of the mud stirred up by the logs falling into the water.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: "Finally! A Gedmatch Admixture Guide!" by Genealogical Musings blog

My Eurogenes K13 piechart result.  Surprise, I'm of European ancestry! lol

For whatever reason, one of my top posts is "New Admixture Test on GEDmatch: PuntDNAL K15" from back in 2015.  DNA tests are getting more popular all the time, particularly for finding out one's ethnicity estimates, but how can you go further in your interpretation of them?

Thanks to a mention on the GEDmatch forum, I found a great guide (in two parts) at Genealogical Musings (not to be confused with Genea-Musings) called "Finally!  A Gedmatch Admixture Guide!" for anyone willing to dive in and use GEDmatch

Parts 1 and 2:

For those unaware, Gedmatch.com is a website where you can upload your raw DNA data for further analysis and matching with people from other companies who have also upload their data.

A Gedmatch Admixture Guide: Parts 3 and 4

Continuing on from Parts 1 and 2 where I covered the different projects and calculators available for Admixture Proportions and what Oracle is and how to read it, I've had some requests to cover the other viewing options available like Admixture Proportions by Chromosome and Chromosome Painting.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Book Shelf: Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650 - 1750

The title of this book attracted me because I'm alway trying to understand what the lives of my many-times grandmothers were like. I'm not sure if any of my direct ancestors lived in the precise area covered here but I don't imagine that the experiences of women south of Boston were markedly different, indeed the author acknowledges that in her preface.

[Published by Random House, available through Amazon.com]

[Map of Northern New England as described by the aurhot]

Here's quote from the author's preface:

Good Wives was originally published in 1980. I bought it for my Kindle.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: On the South Fork of the Platte River - 1953

If you look closely, on the far side of the river you'll be able to see the mounted farmer on whose land our trailer was parked coming to look us over.

Tired after a drive that included braving the streets of Denver, Dad asked permission to stay in a wooded pasture overnight but the farmer had an earlier bad experience with squatters and I'm sure he wanted to reassure himself that we weren't going to cause any trouble. Apparently our rig with its shiny new trailer allayed his fears--and I got a ride!

[Photos from my personal collection]

Later that evening we visited he and his wife, taking along some of the Navajo jewelry bought at the Trading Post for her to choose something as a token of our gratitude.

And the next morning we were on our way to the Grenfell place in South Dakota.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

2017 Genealogy Day at the San Diego History Center

Each audience member was given a packet with their name and schedule for the day (you choose your sessions in advance).

Mom and I attended the 2017 Genealogy Day at the San Diego History Center (SDHC) in Balboa Park today, an event presented by both the SDHC and the San Diego Genealogical Society***.

The keynote speaker was “Breathe Life into Your Ancestors: Turn Your Pedigree Chart into Fascinating Family Stories” by writer Dawn Parrett Thurston (I now own two of her books, The Parrett Migration and Breathe Into Your Life Story, thank you Mom!).  I was really inspired by her particular use of charts to show what was happening where during a particular ancestor's lifetime, similar to the technique historians use in historical atlases I've seen, including location, geography/geology, weather, technology innovation, and larger historical events.  Unfortunately she didn't have the example in a handout for me to show (although maybe I just neglected to find the handout when I was there?).

Next we went downstairs to the Research Library, where family historian and past President of the San Diego Genealogical Society Peter Steelquist gave a lecture on "Researching Local Libraries: Your Guide to Success.  This was a fantastic overview of how to where and how to access local and research research material for genealogy.  I will use the handout from the lecture to update my San Diego Genealogy Sources tab on my blog.

Last we attended Del Ritchart's review of the GenSmarts, a program that interacts with your main genealogy software and helps fill in holes in your research by recommending sources.  I had not even heard of GenSmarts before, but I might consider purchasing it if I find the research suggestions Legacy 9 has already as insufficient--GenSmarts is specifically designed to help generate ready-to-go source lists, complete with call numbers, and you can query the program to recommend research directions, like the descendants or ancestors of a particular person on your tree, which I am not sure Legacy can do in such a brief amount of steps.

We saw Genea-Musings blogger Randy Seaver again and met some new people, including J. Paul Hawthorne (GeneaSpy).  Overall a great way to spend a morning!


***I'm sorry to submit this post so late, being brain-dead-tired and distracted by "So You Think You Can Dance" makes for a slow-going post write-up.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Family Friday: Katheryn Madeline Matthews Dutton and her Family, About 1930

Growing up with adoptive parents I was certain that I would never (knowingly) meet any of my biological kin, but I'm happy to have been proven wrong. My mother's family, the Slaters, have been particularly welcoming and the stories and photos they've shared with me have been a great help in tracing my ancestry.

It's still exciting for me to find a family resemblance in someone's family photo like this one posted by another Matthews descendant on his public Ancestry.com tree. Katheryn, my second cousin, twice removed, and I share as our most recent common ancestors Eli Matthews (1804-1864) and his wife Susan Hanon (1805-1884).

[Courtesy of jimwhite1184, who is undoubtedly some kind of cousin even if the

relationship doesn't appear on Ancestry.com ]

I definitely see a likeness between myself and her oldest daughter Mary Catherine (1923-2007).

[From my personal collection]

And there are times when I see a similar likeness in my grandson Marc. I guess we're just being Matthews.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Limited Free Time Webinar: David Ouimette presents "Databases, Search Engines, and the Genealogical Proof Standard"

The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) videos at Legacy Family Tree Webinars continues to grow (35 available for subscribers as of today).  You can see one their latest ones, "Databases, Search Engines, and the Genealogical Proof Standard" presented by David Ouimette, for free for a limited time (through October 24, 2017):

With billions of indexed records available online, what methodologies should the researcher employ to best leverage these resources in keeping with genealogical standards?

Runs 1 hour 17 minutes.  
Originally aired October 24, 2017


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Michael Hening/Hanon (About 1760? - 1817), Immigrant & Settler

First of all, Michael was a very uncommon name in North America in the 18th and early 19th centuries. One of my maternal 4X great grandfathers, Michael Hening/Hanon is the only one of my forebears to carry that name.

We know very little about Michael, including when and where he was born. It's possible he's the Michael Henning who arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1767/68*, in which case he  could have been as young as five or six and probably would have been an indentured servant from Ireland.* There were two other males on the same list, James Hening and Simon Cameron, both of whom seem to have been associated with Michael in later years.

[(1762) An exact prospect of Charlestown, the metropolis of the province of South Carolina. Charleston Charleston Harbor South Carolina, 1762. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012647508/.]

Michael's whereabouts and occupation are unknown over the next dozen year until his name appears as a private on payrolls for the Loyalist South Carolina Militia, along with a James Hening, but we haven't found any more information about his service and have no reason to think he was among those loyalists who left the new United States for Canada.

Instead we believe he's the Michael Hening who appears with his young family*** in the 1790 U.S. Census in Fairfield County, South Carolina. (Note that the following name on the census is that of a Simon Cameron.) His oldest four children, James, Hannah, Samuel and Jesse were born in South Carolina.

[Year: 1790; Census Place: Fairfield, South Carolina; Series: M637; Roll: 11; Page: 153; Image: 103; Family History Library Film: 0568151. Ancestry.com. 1790 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: First Census of the United States, 1790 (NARA microfilm publication M637, 12 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

By 1796 the Henings had moved west to near Nashville, Tennessee, where Michael and Sarah added two more children, Martin and Rhoda, but the family didn't remain there for long and by 1805**** had moved on to Butler County, Kentucky, where Susan and her youngest brother Elijah were born. (Note that there's a James Hening in the same district, although how close a neighbor he may have been in unknown because the list is alphabetical.)

[Year: 1810; Census Place: Butler, Kentucky; Roll: 5; Page: 362; Image: 00200; Family History Library Film: 0181350. Ancestry.com. 1810 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Original data: Third Census of the United States, 1810. (NARA microfilm publication M252, 71 rolls). Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

However the Henings/Hanons didn't stay in Kentucky either, moving on to Gallatin County, Illinois, in 1812 where Michael died in 1817.

[Ancestry.com. Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history. Jacksonville, Ill.,: Printed by Production Press, 1968.]

There are some probate records available online for Gallatin County and that's where I found this:

["Illinois Probate Records, 1819-1988," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939J-238Y-Y?cc=1834344&wc=SFK5-PTT%3A162587801%2C162598801 : 20 May 2014), Gallatin > Index to estates and guardians 1815-1900 vol 1 > image 18 of 74; county courthouses, Illinois.]

Given how uncommon the name Michael is, I wouldn't be surprised if this records refers to my ancestor. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to locate any other probate records regarding him. (Note: the #44 refers to the box in which the record was placed and is not in chronological order.)

By the way, here's how I'm related to him.

[Ancestry.com]

*On the other hand, his daughter Susan Hanon Matthews (my 3X great grandmother) told the enumerator for the 1880 federal census that her father was born in North Carolina.
**You can learn more about children as indentured servants in colonial times here (PDF).
***We don't know the surname of his wife Sarah.
****To date we haven't located them in the 1800 U.S. Census.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: Linda Stufflebean's "12 Tips: Preparing for the Family History Library and Rootstech 2018 - Part 1"

133 days and counting from now.  Image from RootsTech twitter feed.

Linda Stufflebean has just posted "12 Tips: Preparing for the Family History Library and Rootstech 2018 - Part 1" at her Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog.  She has some fantastic practical advice.

I was just thinking about how I would plan and prepare for such a trip to a big conference like RootsTech.  It might still be a few years until I get my kidney transplant (and have more energy) but I might as well start preparing for it now.  The only time I went to the Salt Lake City Family History Library I was woefully unprepared for serious research.

I look forward to her Part II.


As for RootsTech, watch past sessions here. Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has an enormous amount of the 2017 RootsTech-related blog posts here.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Fantastic Find: The Farber Gravestone Collection

Thanks to a Facebook post by Marian Pierre-Louis I've discovered the American Antiquarian Society's Farber Gravestone Collection. As she stated:

"The online Farber Collection should be a part of every New England Researchers toolkit."

[Gravestone of Abigail Minor, Stonington Connecticut from the Farber Gravestone Collection of the American Antiquarian Society. Note: The "Big O Bulb/Square Skull Carver" is in all likelihood Philip Stevens, the second oldest son of John Stevens I.]

And the following quote is taken from the home page:

The Farber Gravestone Collection is an unusual resource documenting the sculpture on over 9,000 gravestones most of which were made prior to 1800. The late Daniel Farber of Worcester, Massachusetts, and his wife, Jessie Lie Farber, were responsible for the largest portion of the collection. Others whose work is incorporated into the collection include Harriette Merrifield Forbes, who worked in the 1920s mainly in Massachusetts, and Dr. Ernest Caulfield, who documented Connecticut grave markers. These early stones are both a significant form of artistic creation and precious records of biographical information, now subject to vandalism and to deterioration from the environment. The data accompanying the photographs include the name and death date of the deceased, the location of the stone, and information concerning the stone material, the iconography, the inscription, and (when known) the carver. Some carvers whose work is known but who have not been identified by name are entered by stylistic groupings, rather than by name. Carver attribution is a young and healthy area of research in a constant state of flux. The American Antiquarian Society would like to acknowledge the assistance of Daniel and Jessie Lie Farber, Henry Lie, Dr. Ernest Caulfield, Laurel Gabel, and David Rumsey, all of whom worked to make this project a reality.

I chose a gravestone from Stonington, Connecticut, because several of my direct ancestors, including Dr. Samuel Worden, died in that community. Unfortunately I didn't find any of their gravestones in the collection but there are other ancestors/places for me to search. Maybe I'll be lucky!


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Drive: Near Silverton, Oregon - 1948

This 1948 photo of me peeking out of the Currey's trailer gives us an opportunity to get a glimpse of its interior. I just wish we could see more of that trailer in the background.

[From my personal collection]

Silverton is in Marion County and I'm not sure what we were doing there. (Naturally since I was about 16 months old I have no recollection of this.)




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Ruth H. Paul Names All Her Living Siblings in Her Will

Due to the Cincinnati court house fire in 1884 the original record of this will was destroyed, although the actual will was apparently preserved. Hamilton County, Ohio, Probate Court, Will Record Vol 37, pp. 360-363, Ruth H. Paul, deceased, 18 Oct 1882; microfilm, LDS, Roll No. VDS 628 Ohio; digital image, Ancestry database Ohio, Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998 (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8801 : 14 October 2017).  

Ruth H. Paul (1798-1882) was my 3rd great grandmother Rebecca (Paul) Hartley's (1806-1901) oldest sister.  According to family history (May Jarvis and Richard Stanley Dunlop):

A family story has it that George Washington stopped, while passing through Germantown during the last year of his life, and happened to pick baby Ruth up and hold her for a time [CManczuk NOTE: I think this unlikely as he seemed to have been in Mt Vernon, Virginia the last few years of his life].  As a young woman, Ruth lived in Cincinnati, OH; Ruth was a diminutive person.  She seems to have lived with a McLaughlin family, wealthy from cabinet-making, and cared for their children.  Family records remember her especially for always remembering the birthdays and other important dates of relatives.  When Ruth became too old to work, the McLaughlins looked after her as they would have a member of their own family.  Ruth died at an advanced age in Cincinnati, OH; the McLaughlins divided her property among her own brothers and sisters."
Although born of Quaker parentage, she became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.  She carried a day book and learned a verse every day.  She was very good, always thinking good thoughts and grateful for good received.  On their birthday anniversaries, she remembered with some little gift all the children in the families of her various relatives.  When she became too infirm to get these gifts ready, she had Louisa McLaughlin do this for her.  All her keepsakes were divided among her sisters and sent by Louisa McLaughlin after Ruth's death.  She gave to Sylvia a cup made in 1776 with Martha Washington's picture on it.
She was small and slender, smaller even than her sister Mrs. Rebecca (Paul) Hartley -- as small as her great-niece Mary Hartley Read.
The McLaughlins were a wealthy family, were cabinet-makers in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Their children were, Miss Louisa McLaughlin, above-mentioned, and her brothers, James and George McLaughlin.

This wonderful woman named her siblings in her will (image and link above).  Note that I will call anyone "wonderful" who names their family members in any document like this!

Ruth H. Paul Deceased.
It appearing to the Court that on the 18" day of October A. D. 1882, the last Will and Testament of Ruth H. Paul deceased was duly admitted to Probate and Recvd in the Probate Court of Hamilton County Ohio and that the original record of said Will and the Probate there-of upon the record and journal of said Court were de-stroyed in the burning of the Court House on March 29" A. D. 1884, but that the original Will and the testimony of the witnesses thereto were preserved.  It is now ordered by the Court on its own motion that the record of said Will and Probate thereof be and the same is hereby restored from said original Will and testimony as provided by statute in the words and figures following to wit.
"Pleas at the Court House in Cincinnati in the County of Hamilton State of Ohio of the Hamilton Probate Court at a session thereof held at the place aforesaid on the Eighteenth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty two before the Honorable Isaac B. Matson sole Judge of said Court.
26778.The State of Ohio Hamilton County S. S. Probate Court.Be it remembered that on the day and year aforesaid the last Will and Testament of Ruth H. Paul late of this county deceased was this day presented to the Court for Probate and Record clothed in the words and figures following to wit.
Will.I. Ruth H. Paul of the City of Cincinnati County of Hamilton State of Ohio do make and constitute this my last Will and Testament.  I hereby authorize and empower my Executor herein after named to sell and dispose of a lot of ground now owned by me situate in the town of Cumminsville (or Ludlow) in said County either at public or at private sale as he may deem advisable and make such conveyance to the purchaser or purchasers thereof as may be necessary to carry titles to the same and also to sell and dispose of three hundred dollars par value United States bonds now on deposit in the vault of the Safe Deposit Company of Cincinnati.  It is my Will and desire and my Executor is hereby ordered to use and dispose of the funds arising from the sale of the same as follows.  First. I direct that my funeral expenses and my indebtedness that may exist against me may be paid with as little delay as possible.  Second: That the remainder of my estate after the payment or satisfaction of the claims mentioned and specified above shall be equally divided share and share alike among the following named persons Mrs. Jane P. Reynolds now residing in the State of Iowa. Mrs. Rebecca Hartley now residing near Cedar Rapids in the State of Iowa, Mrs. Margaret P. Dull now residing in Iowa City State of Iowa. Mrs. Sarah P. Streeper now residing at Barren Hill Montgomery County Pennsylvania. Mrs. Anna W. P. Wily now residing at DeSoto Jefferson County Missouri. Mrs. Sarah P. Fisher now residing at Barren Hill Montgomery County Pennsylvania. Mrs. Rebecca Paul now residing near Chestnut hill Montgomery County Pennsylvania and George W. Hartley now residing in the State of Iowa -**- The first five of said parties named as above being sisters of the undersigned testatrix Mrs. Sarah P. Fisher being a daughter of Mercy Eddleman a sister of the undersigned testatrix deceased the said Rebecca Paul being relict of Samuel Paul a brother of the undersigned testatrix deceased and George W. Hartley being a son of Rebecca Hartley the second named of the eight decisees above described among whom it is my wish that my estate be divided.  Fourth: It is my wish and desire that in the event of the death of my sister Jane P. Reynolds or my sister Anna W. P. Wiley before myself or before my Executor shall have transmitted or paid over the distributive share or shares to which they or either of them would be entitled as aforesaid that such share or shares shall be given to and equally divided among the surviving decisees named.  Fifth: It is my wish and desire that in event of the death of either of the decisees not specially named and indicated in Section Number Four before myself or before my Executor shall have transmitted or paid over the share to which such decisee would be entitled as aforesaid that such distributive share shall be given to the surviving child or children of such decisee Sixth: I hereby constitute and appoint George McLaughlin of the City of Cincinnati Executor of this my last Will and Testament giving him power and discretion to sell and disposed of said property already described within twelve months after my death and it is my further wish and request that he shall not be required to give bond for the Execution of the obligations and requirements imposed herein.  In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal at Cincinnati this 19th" day of July Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and seventy nine, Ruth H. Paul {seal} Signed and sealed by the testatrix in our presence who have attached our names as witnesses hereto in the presence of each other and of the testatrix respectively" The word "ordered" being first interlined as above. Jas. McLaughlin [CManczuk NOTE: James W. McLaughlin (1834–1923)]  M. Louise McLaughlin [CManczuk NOTE: Mary Louise McLaughlin (September 29, 1847 – January 19, 1939)],

Thereupon on the Eighteenth day of October in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty two James McLaughlin and M. Louise McLaughlin subscribing witnesses to the last Will and Testatment of Ruth H. Paul late of this County deceased personally appeared in the open Court and were duly sworn and examined according to law and their testimony therein was reduced to writing and filed in manner and firm following to wit.
Affadavit. The State of Ohio Hamilton County S. S. Hamilton Probate Court. Probate of the last Will of Ruth H. Paul deceased preented on the 18" day of October A. D. 1882.  Personally appeared in open Court. Jas. W. McLaughlin and M. Louise McLaughlin the subscribing witnesses to the last Will and Testament of Ruth H. Paul deceased who being duly sworn according to law to speck the truth and the whole truth and nothing but the truth in relation to the execution of said Will depose and say that they were present at the making of said Will and at the request of the deceased subscribed their names to said Will as witnesses in the presence of the deceased and of each other that they saw the said Ruth H. Paul deceased sign and seal said Will and heard her acknowledge the same to be her last Will and Testament that the said Ruth H. Paul was at the time of making signing and sealing said Will of legal age and of sound and disposing mind and memory and under no undue or unlawful restraint whatsoever. Jas. W. McLaughlin. M. Louise McLaughlinSworn to and subscribed in open Court this 18" day  of October A. D. 1882. Isaac B. Matson Probate Judge.
Probate. Now here to wit on the same day Our said Court made an order herein as follows to wit. In re last Will and Testament of Ruth H. Paul late of this County deceased was this day presented to the Court for Probate and Record.  It appears to the Court said decedent died leaving no husband or next of Kin resident of Ohio surviving her.  Whereupon Jas. W. McLaughlin and M. Louise McLaughlin subscribing witnesses to said Will of decedent personally appeared in the open Court and were duly sworn and examined according to law and their testimony therein was reduced to writing and filed.  It appearing to the Court from the testimony no token that the said Will was duly executed and attested and that the Testarix at the time of executing the same was of fully age and of sound mind and memory and under no restraint, and the Court now admits the said Will to Probate and orders the same together with the testimony so taken to the recorded according to the statue in such cases made and provided."And it is further ordered by the Court that the said Will and Probate thereof be re-record and the same is now done and that the record have the same force and effect - so said original record.
Isaac B MatsonProbate Judge.

**This is possibly where the Third term would have appeared, maybe it was missed in the transcription?

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

From the Probate Files: John Moore - North Hampton, Province of North Carolina, 1753

As promised, here's the 1753 will of my 5X great grandmother Tabitha Pace's husband John Moore (beginning at the bottom of the first page):

In the Name of God Amen
I John Moore of the Province of North Carolina
And County of N Hampton Being Weake and in
a Declining Condition do Make and Ordain this
to be my Last Will and Testament

in Mannor and Form Following (Vis) first I
Recommend my Soul to Almighty God who Gives and
my Body to be Decently Buried at the Discretion
of my Exe'rs. hereafter Named and as Touching my
Worldly Estate I Give and Bequeath as Followeth
Item I give and Bequeath unto my Son Mark Moore fifty
Pounds Current money of Virginia and Likewise one
Negro man named Jack - Item I give and Bequeath unto
my Son John Moore Fifty Pounds Current money
of Virginia, and Likewise one Negro man named Cofar
Item I give and Bequeath unto my Son Isham Moore
fifty Pounds Current Money of Virginia and Likewise
One Negro Man Named James. Item I give and
Bequeath unto my Son William Moore two Hundred
And Seventy Five Acres of Land lying near Pohill Creek
Commonly Called and Known by the name of the Spring
Lands and One Negro Boy named Cobb and ten Pounds
Current money of Virginia to him and his heirs and assigns
for Ever. Item I give and Bequeath unto my Son
Nathaniel Moore Three hundred Acres of Land joyning
my Son Williams it being the Land Whereon Abraham
Johnson now Lives with all the Stock Belonging to it and
Likewise Two Negro Boys ^named^ Matt and David to him his
heirs and assigns for Ever. Item I give and Bequeath 
unto my Son Richard Moore Ap 8[?] acre[s] of Land Whearon
George Harper and Samuel Carlile formerly Lived on
After my Wifes Decease and One Negro Boy named Daniel
And one negro Girl named Lotte to him his heirs and Assigns
for Ever. Item I give and Bequeath unto my Daughter 
Sarah Moore one Girl named Lucy and all her Increase
And One fether Bed And Furniture.

[North Carolina Wills and Court Records, 1679-1775; Author: North Carolina Secretary of State; 

Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: North Carolina County, District and Probate Courts.]

Item I give and Bequeath unto my Loving Wife
Tabitha Moor One Negro Man named Peter and two
Negro Women named Moll and Hanner With all the
Remainder of my Estate not before Mentioned and
her Living on the Plantation That I Gave to my
Son Richard During her Natural Life and
I do hereby Appoint my Loving Wife & Richard Moore
and Thomas Pace my Exers. to This my Last Will
And Testament and I Do Heareby Revoke all others
made Heartofore Either by Word or Wrighting in
Witness Whereof I have heareunto Set my hand and
Seal This first Day of September, in the Year of
Our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred and fifty
Three
     Tests.                                      John Moore {Seal}
George Harper   }
John Melldesley } Jurat

No. Hampton }
     County      } ses     November Court 1753
The Within Written Will of Capt'n. John Moore
Deceased was Exhibited Into Court & Proved by
the Oath of Both the Subscribing Witnesses thereto
at the Same Time Tabitha Moore Richard Moore 
And Thomas Pace were Qualify'd Executors thereof
Which on Motion Was Ordered to be Certified.
                    Test  J Edwards tter?ur

It's clear from his will that John Moore owned a considerable amount of land which he divided between three of his six sons, including my direct ancestor William. The other sons had to be content with 50 Pounds of Virginia money and a slave. In all, John mentions twelve enslaved persons which he distributed among his children while reserving three to his "Loving Wife."* His daughter Sarah, apparently unmarried at the time, was to receive a feather bed and "one Negro Girl named Lucy".

Since it's the "Plantation" that Tabitha was given a life tenancy I wish I could decipher the clerk's handwriting describing the land left to Richard Moore. Maybe you can do better?

[Detail of above]

The Thomas Pace named as one of the executors along with Tabitha and son Richard is almost certainly her brother who can be found in later North Carolina census records.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any further probate documents online--I was hoping for an inventory which would enable us to have a better idea of the material circumstances of John and Tabitha.



*There were five men--Jack, Cofar, James, Cobb and Peter; two women--Mall and Hanner; three boys--Matt, David and Daniel; and two girls--Lotte and Lucy.





© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Very Limited Time Free Webinar: "Systematically Using Autosomal DNA Test Results to Help Break Through Genealogical Brick Walls" by Tom Jones

Good grief, Legacy Family Tree Webinars is coming out with all kinds of great webinars lately!  I nearly missed this one's free-to-nonsubscribers window.

I can always use another example of how to use autosomal DNA to solve genealogical problems.  Tom Jones presented this webinar "Systematically Using Autosomal DNA Test Results to Help Break Through Genealogical Brick Walls" on October 6, 2017:

A case study set in the early 1800s demonstrates methodology for using autosomal DNA test results to help solve longstanding genealogical problems. Presented live at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogy

Runs 1 hour 4 minutes
Free to non-subscribers through October 13, 2017


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Ross Lloyd Hughes (1878 - 1967) Stationary Engineer

Abandoning, at least for the moment, the farther reaches of my family tree, my attention was drawn to the career of Ross Lloyd Hughes who's the oldest child of Lewis Logan Slater's sister Serena Adeline and her husband Dr. Ezra Hughes. (So he's my first cousin, twice removed.*)

[Courtesy of Vicki D. via Ancestry.com]

In the 1900 Federal Census he was a single man working as a farm laborer in Kansas but by the end of the next year he was living in Blaine County, Oklahoma Territory, where he married Arizona native Blanche Rowe.

[Ancestry.com. Oklahoma, County Marriages, 1890-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

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

I don't know where these pictures were taken but they're each holding the same branch of that leafless tree.

[Courtesy of Vicki D. via Ancestry.com]

[Courtesy of Vicki D. via Ancestry.com]

From another of Cousin Vicki's photos we can place the couple in North Dakota in 1906 at the Fort Berthold Indian Mission** in Elbowoods.

[Courtesy of Vicki D. via Ancestry.com]

This double portrait of Ross and Blanche, dated 1909, was taken the year after the fire mentioned at the top of the preceding picture.

[Courtesy of Vicki D. via Ancestry.com]

And the 1910 Federal Census found the couple and their two children residing at the Vermillion School at Pipestone Mission in Minnesota. (For some reason, the enumerator listed both adults as Canadian-born which they clearly weren't.) Ross's occupation was given as Eng[ineer} and Blanche was listed as a Teacher.***

[Year: 1910; Census Place: Township 62, Saint Louis, Minnesota; Roll: T624_724; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0244; FHL microfilm: 1374737. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Eight years later 40-year-old Ross, still residing at Pipestone Mission, registered for the draft and gave his occupation as stationary engineer.

[Registration State: Minnesota; Registration County: Pipestone; Roll: 1675774. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.]

Subsequent census records (1920, 1930, and 1940) confirm that Ross remained at Pipestone as a stationary engineer at least through 1942 when he again registered for the draft.

[Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group Number 147. National Archives and Records Administration.]

[Courtesy of Vicki D. via Ancestry.com]

After his wife died in 1960, Ross went to live with one of his sisters in Oklahoma where he died in 1967. His body was taken back to Minnesota where he's buried next to Blanche in the Old Woodlawn Cemetery in Pipestone.



*All of the pictures of Ross Lloyd and Blanche in this post were originally shared by his great granddaughter Vicki D. in her Ancestry.com public tree (And she's a 5th-8th cousin in my Ancestry DNA matches).
**You can read more about the history of Indian Missions in North Dakota. including the early history of Fort Berthold, here.
***Here's a history of American Indian boarding schools in Minnesota (and elsewhere), and if you really want to get into the subject Adam Fortunate Eagle's memoir Pipestone: My Life in an Indian Boarding School is available from Amazon (and other sources).


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.