BLOGGING BRUNCH9

Sitting here on my day off basking in the afterglow of last night’s
Red Sox victory as I drink a cup of coffee and surf my fellow
genealogy blogger’s sites.


I’m glad that Randy Seaver and his family have been spared
from the fires in the San Diego area. His post on Genea-Musings
about blog post statistics made me check mine. I regularly check
the Visitor Activity stats at StatCounter to see what the daily
activity has been but I haven’t really checked the Keyword
Analysis or Keyword Activity since “flutaphones” seems usually
to be at the top of the list.


Today, though, I found that “Amos Hastings” had been the
most used term at 6, (albeit it was only by two visitors) followed
by “ruth perley ames murder” with 4.


However, if I add the 2 for “flutaphones” with the 2 for “pictures
of flutaphones”, that puts it right up there for a tie at second place.
It is nice though to think that maybe something I’ve posted here
about my ancestors might help others of their descendants.


Dick Eastman’s post about “jump drives” prompted me to check
the K-Mart across the plaza from my store and I now own a 1gb
flash drive that is small enough to carry around in my shirt
pocket if I so choose. It just amazes me that it was so inexpensive
($19.99) and that it has so much space on so small a device. It’s
more memory than I had on the hard drives of my first two desk
top computers--combined! I’ve already backed up my genealogy
files on it as well as the family photos I’ve scanned.


Finally, last night I downloaded the Revolutionary War Pension
File of my 4th great grandfather Moses Coburn at Footnote.com
and looked through them this morning. Among the documents
there’s a “schedule” of his belongings:
1 Cow $20
1 Hog 8
1 Sheep & lamb 2
Table 0.50
Crockery ware 1.50
glass ware 0.50
Pot & kettle 1.50
Chair 1.00
4 dung hill Fowls .80
______
$35.80

As an aside, the dollar amounts on the document were further
over to the right from the items listed. For some reason, I can
never get these sort of lists to publish here the way I enter them.

I immediately had to google “dung hill fowls” and found that they
were chickens. Then looking at the list again, the thought struck
me: where’s the bed? Given that Moses’ family at the time
included his wife Esther Spaulding and three of their children, (the
oldest 14 and the youngest 5) they’d have needed beds, right?

So, where did they sleep?


This is a two cup of coffee problem.

BLOGGING BRUNCH5

Another hour or so this morning at my kb with the mandatory
cup of coffee as I browse the genealogy blogs.


The A*******.com debate continues with posts at Dick
Eastman’s blog and Craig Manson’s careful examination of the
legal issues involved at his site. One thing I must comment on is
that while I don’t agree with Dick’s point of view, I do feel he has
handled some of the less than civil commentary with grace and
style.


Several of his commenters let their anger get the better of
themselves and it added nothing useful to the debate, nor is
Dick deserving of ad hominem attacks.


I did notice at the WorldVitalRecords Blog something that may
be at offshoot of the controversy. In an invitation to genealogists
to upload their gedcom files to their FamilyLink.com site, they
added this:

“Important: Your family tree is YOUR data. You can remove it
at any time, limit who can see it, collaborate with others and
grow it together, and share it with whomever you choose. We
will never charge others to search and access YOUR data.”


Now I don’t know if they’ve posted that before, but in light of
recent events it certainly caught my attention today.

THE STREETS WHERE THEY LIVED

Dick Eastman mentioned a new website from Tufts University,
Boston Streets and I checked it out. It has historical maps and
city directories from a number of years and I searched the
directories for my Mom’s family.

The McFarland’s didn’t arrive in Boston until sometime around
1880 so I began with a look at the Sampson and Murdock
Boston Directory of 1885. I had no success with McFarlands or
with the Whites or Offingers from Mom’s paternal grandparents
but they were born in 1873 and would still have been children in
1885.


I had a bit more luck with the 1905 edition. Great Grandfather
John McFarland and his eldest son Mike are listed:

McFarland John laborer h 950 Parker Rox

McFarland Michael E plumber bds 950 Parker Rox

I found only two Offingers listed:


Offinger Albert C upholsterer 338 Boylston bds 23 Metropolitan
av Ros

Offinger Joanna C widow h 23 Metropolitan av Ros


And I found my great grandfather White:


White Edward J teamster h 33 Ridge Ros

The 1925 edition had more. John McFarland had died the
year before and the death is noted by two entries:


McFarland Annie widow John h 950 Parker Rox

McFarland John (950 Parker Rox) died Aug 3 1924

There are entries for three of their sons:


McFarland Michael E shoe cutter h 946 Parker Rox

McFarland Robert J shoeworker h 946 Parker Rox

McFarland Thomas diamond cutter h 7 Dunlap Dor


This might be Uncle Leo who married Peggy McFarland:


McCue Leo motorman h 28 Worcester sq

One of the Offingers remained. Perhaps Albert was a brother
to Great Grandmother Pauline?

Offinger Albert mgr of work room 30 Winter h 23 Metropolitan av Ros

And finally Great Grandfather White and two of his other

sons other than my grandfather:

White Edward J electrician h 41 Philbrick Ros

White Charles W clerk 395 South sta h 31 Philbrick Ros

White Fred E checker res 41 Philbrick Ros

An interesting site that I definitely will spend more time exploring.