Category Archives: History

Is a Utah Mormon the Real King of England?

There’s an interesting DNA case that has been developing in Britain. There is a dispute involving

Stichill, Roxburghshire, Scotland

the 13th century Pringle of Stichill, with Stichill being a town and civil parish in the county of Roxburghshire in Scotland. Described in the article as a “bitter dispute,” 2 lines of Pringle men are battling out the true and rightful heir to the title. Both have spent a great deal of money in the courts to sort it all out. And it all started with a simple family tree project!

Invoking DNA evidence, the case is now to be decided by the highest courts in Great Britain. The Queen herself had to make the decision to send the case to the 7 judges of the Supreme Court based on a little used law called the “Judicial Act 1833.”

Here in the Daily Mail article, you can read the details of that case and also the potential case of Mormon lawyer James Ord. He “joked” that if DNA evidence is ruled to be admissible evidence, he may be able to make a claim to the throne. It seems that George IV sired a bevy of illegitimate children (I’ll pause for the collective gasp) and Mr. Ord may be a distant cousin of one of those offspring, an American seaman.

The Royal Family has only been subjected to DNA testing once. The case of Richard III and the DNA results from that test could prove catastrophic to the current Royal line inasmuch as it would call into doubt the lineage of Henry VII who seized the throne from Richard.

Genealogists may want to subscribe to the Daily Mail to follow these stories.

Chicopee Library Named LDS Family History Center

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Chicopee Public Library

The Chicopee Public Library at 449 Front Street in Chicopee, Massachusetts has been designated a Family History Center by the

Family History Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). These are the folks who bring us billions of genealogical records to research at their website Family Search and they do it for free!

On Thursday, 19 November 2015, representatives from LDS will be presenting the library with a very generous check to support the genealogical activities there. For example, along with 5 or 6 other genealogists, I’ve been volunteering to assist library patrons with their own family research. In addition, the library sponsors a variety of genealogy research classes, lectures and presentations. I’ve been invited to participate in the presentation ceremony.

Keep an eye on my schedule of activities at Old Bones Genealogy of New England and click the “Workshops/Classes” tab. You might also take a look at “Useful Documents” where I post dozens and dozens of genealogy documents, charts, spreadsheets, lists of genealogically oriented Facebook pages and a list of good websites to take a look at.

I hope to get a few pictures to post!

Using the “FAN” Club—This one was too easy!

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Here’s a short hint regarding a search I was having some difficulty with. The family name is “LISIEWISCZ” which, as I’m sure you can imagine, has a wide variety of spelling possibilities. After all, “speeiln duzn’t cownt” right?

So the point of the search was to find the obituary for a 1932 death. The obituary still needs to be found, but in the course of the search, I was able to figure out a few things. First, the family had immigrated in the early 1900’s. Since the family is still living in the general area, it was safe to think that they should have appeared in the 1940 census. Bingo! Off to Ancestry.com and there’s the widow (husband died in 1932) and her 4 children ranging in age from 21 down to 14. Since all of her neighbors reported that they lived in the same house in 1935, I thought there was a good chance they were also there in 1930. So, rather than look for yet another spelling variation, I did the FAN trick: Friends, Associates and Neighbors. The easiest was a neighbor.

English: (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Typical census record, un-associated with this blog post.

All of the families on this page of the 1940 census were farmers. So the next assumption was that there had to be a neighbor listed on that street who might also have appeared in the 1930 census 2 years prior to the alleged death date of the husband and father in this family. And so it was! I didn’t have to guess about “similar spellings” or “similar meanings” of the Eastern European surname. I simply used “Reynolds.” a neighbor in 1940 and, as it turns out, also a neighbor in 1930!

I’m not done yet tracking the obituary. Here’s the part where we say, “It’s not all on the internet!” Tomorrow, I’ll be at the archives and I check city directories which should get me closer to the actual death date. From there I can go to the microfilm of the local newspaper (not digitized or published on any newspaper website) and sort this one out to a happy conclusion!

Heritage Quest – The New Version

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English: Seal of the United States Census Bureau. The blazon is defined here as: On a shield an open book beneath which is a lamp of knowledge emitting rays above in base two crossed quills. Around the whole a wreath of single leaves, surrounded by an outer band bearing between two stars the words “U.S. Department of Commerce” in the upper portion and “Bureau of the Census” in the lower portion, the lettering concentric with an inner beaded rim and an outer dentilated rim. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ll readily admit that I have not been a regular user of Heritage Quest. As a matter of fact, I would avoid it. Probably because I didn’t know how best to take advantage of it. When I did go there, it was usually at the library where I volunteer and occasionally teach or lecture on genealogy research principles.Today, however, I watched a video that introduced me to the new version that has just been released. I think they hit a home run with this one. Maybe a grand slam!

The style echos what will be the newest version of Ancestry.com once they release the beta version which some of us have been able to “get friendly with” and provide feedback to Ancestry. More on that in another post another day. For now, I just want to encourage everyone to take a look at Heritage Quest and see all the new features.

First, it’s a little more pleasant of an atmosphere. Maybe, for me, it’s just that it’s a refreshed website. But the real meat of the upgrade is the collections that you will find there.

Brief rundown: The original 6 data sets are still available but PERSI and the US Serial Set will, for now, redirect you back to the original site. Census records are now available to 1940 given the collaboration with Ancestry.com. The census records and other sets will now display images in 256 grey scale or color rather than “bi-tonal” making them easier to read. You will also be able to save them, download them or e-mail them in a image format.

In addition to US Census Population Schedules, images for US Territories, Military and Naval Forces records, US Indian Census Rolls 1885-1940, Mortality Schedules from 1850 to 1880, the 1880 schedules of Dependent, Delinquent and Defective classes and select Non-Population schedules from 1850 to 1880.

English: A collage of American Revolutionary War public domain images. Clockwise from top left: Battle of Bunker Hill, Death of Montgomery at Quebec, Battle of Cowpens, “Moonlight Battle”. Interlingua: Un collage de imagines in dominio public super le Guerra de Independentia del Statos Unite. Ab sinistra superior in senso horologic: Battalia de Bunker Hill, morte de Montgomery a Quebec, Battalia de Cowpens, Battalia de Capo St. Vincente. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The complete NARA M804 Revolutionary War pension and bounty land applications with “every name index” of pension apps and applicants. All NARA pension apps are included regardless of page count or genealogical value.

The image viewer appears in either basic of advanced view without the need for any special plug-ins. Boolean operators are not allowed (AND, OR, AND NOT, etc.) but truncation and wildcards are (Eli?abeth or Sam*). An exact match option appears when typing begins. You are also allowed to add life events or other family members to refine your search and use double quotation marks for specific phrases (“first edition”),

All documents are downloadable in PDF format. The site includes several pages of tips and tricks for researchers.

Map of campaigns in the Revolutionary War (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Map Guide to the US Census” has been moved to the new interactive MAPS

English: Map of US Census Bureau’s geographical regions Category:Census Bureau images (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

section. The maps have their own tabs, can be saved, printed or e-mailed using a right click for the option menu.

“The Census Book” by William Dollarhide is included in the MAPS section and includes blank census forms. You may be interested in other William Dollarhide books which include “American Migration Routes 1735-1815,” “New York State Census & Substitutes,” or “Managing a Genealogical Project” among others. They’re all available at Amazon.com.

I’m not familiar enough just yet to expound on the new features or any of the improvements to what has been available for a while. But it’s certainly worth a look!

Switched at Birth—Really!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Judy G Russell, JD, CG, CGL “Visits” Western Mass Genealogical Society

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If I’ve ever prepared for a monthly meeting of WMGS, it’s this month’s meeting. It will be our 4th virtual meeting, each with an increasing level of technology and the resultant learning curve.

English: British genealogist and heraldist Sir Arthur Vicars (1862–1921), Ulster King of Arms and Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We’ve had some high profile guests in virtual environments over the past year interspersed with local genealogists. For example, Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, was our guest late in our 2013-2014 season. Big success! Great program! We’d love to have her again!

A few months later, our next virtual guest was Dick Eastman, genealogist and publisher of the monthly Eastman’s Online Genealogical Newsletter. You can subscribe to the basic account at no charge with a small fee for the “Plus Edition.” He spent the evening helping our members understand how far MyHeritage has grown and the ins and outs of using it as a research resource. Very informative and helpful. And he’s right…MyHeritage has grown by leaps and bounds and through that growth is challenges the “big guns” such as Ancestry.com.

Last November, we were challenged to organize our research in 12 months with one project per month by “DearMYRTLE, your friend in genealogy.” She had 12 challenges with 3 bonus challenges that were handed out at random to 15 WMGS members. They each took the “hot seat” to be personally challenged by DearMYRTLE to tackle the project they had been handed when they walked in the door. in addition to her genealogical community, you can visit her public Facebook page.

Keep in mind that these guest presenters were nowhere near our meetings which take place at the Agawam Senior Center in Agawam Massachusetts. They were each sitting comfy at home while they talked to us in real time and we were able to interact with them. What a world!

This Wednesday, 4 February 2015, our guest will be Judy G Russell, the Legal Genealogist. I’ve

Judy G Russell, JD, CG, CGL

heard Judy speak many times and I’m always impressed. She’s a trained attorney and a highly respected genealogist. You can tell from her post-nominals: JD, CG and CGL. JD is her law degree, “Doctor of Jurisprudence“. CG is her designation as a Certified Genealogist, not a small feat! CGL refers to Certified Genealogical Lecturer, another professional milestone. I always have told my genealogy research classes that the easiest ancestor to research is a criminal. Judy is here to prove that concept with “Rogues, Rascals and Rapscallions: The Family Black Sheep.” Can’t wait for this one!

She’ll be visiting with us via Google+ Hangouts on Air. Our membership is certainly invited to come to the meeting in person, of course. But if anyone cannot make it for any reason whatsoever, they can sit at home and actually participate live! Most of our members belong to our “WMGS Google+ Community” as well as having paid memberships in the Society. Only paid members will have access to the program after it is archived at YouTube.

If you haven’t experienced a Google+ Hangout or joined a Google+ Community, it’s worth

thetime…there are thousands that cater to nearly every interest. You should take a look at the technology and the different types of Hangouts: private, one-on-one hangouts, business meetings, applicant interviews, educational broadcasts…all with FREE technology!

If you can be with us Wednesday night, great! We’d love to have you.

One more thought: If your in or near New England, please consider attending the New England Regional Genealogical Conference, April 15 – 18 in Providence, Rhode Island. Get the details here: NERGC.

Hezekiah’s Farm

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This link is to an aerial view of what was my 4th great grandfather’s farm in Alabama. http://www.findaspring.com/locations/north-america/usa/robinson-hollow-spring-elkmont-alabama/. It’s located on Robinson

HESAKIAH ROBRSON: Yet another way to spell Hezekiah Robinson or is it Robison or maybe Robertson!!

Hollow along Robinson Road near Elkmont, Limestone Co, Alabama where you’ll find Robinson Family Cemetery.

After marrying Anne Grantham who died young and then his sister-in-law Tabitha Grantham, Hezekiah Robinson (or Robison or Robertson or Robson) settled here after his service in the War of 1812. The Robinson Family Cemetery is here but hidden by the trees in this view. He was born sometime between 1777 and 1784 in Virginia and died in 1852 in Elkmont on his farm. His gravestone reads “HESAKIAH ROBRSON”! Another case of “speeling duzn’t cownt”!!

Hezekiah’s widow, Tabitha spent almost 30 years trying to claim her widow’s pension. Government bureaucracy and the confusion as to how to spell his last name, letters went back and forth from Elkmont, Alabama to Washington for years! She finally won out but died about 2 years later.

Old Bones Genealogy of New England – Blog

Hints, news, successes, polls and a few other items

Category Archives: History

Is a Utah Mormon the Real King of England?

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Chicopee Library Named LDS Family History Center

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Using the “FAN” Club—This one was too easy!

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Heritage Quest – The New Version

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Switched at Birth—Really!

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Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

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Judy G Russell, JD, CG, CGL “Visits” Western Mass Genealogical Society

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Hezekiah’s Farm

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