A TRIP TO THE NEHGS

During the Summer Boston has what is know as "Free Fridays",  a series of events
with free admission at  various museums and institutions. Yesterday the NEHGS
was one of the places taking part, and fellow geneablogger Barbara Poole and
I made plans to meet up there. This would be sort of an experiment for me. While
I've been much more active since my medical issues of last year, it's been quite
awhile since the last time I've braved the Boston subway system on my own.

It was pouring out when I got up yesterday so I took my jacket and drove to the
Braintree Tstop where I ended up parking at the lowest level of the garage. I had
no trouble negotiating up the steps to street level but when I walked into the
 station I realized I'd left my wallet in my car. So back out and down the stairs I
went to retrieve it, then back up the stairs and then onto the train to Boston I went.

I had to change over to the trolley line at Park Street and somehow managed to
climb up the stairs to the Inbound platform instead of the Outbound, so back down
I went and across to climb up the correct stairs and catch a trolley.  I continued my
errors by getting off two stops too soon at Boylston St instead of at Copley Sq. which
meant I had to climb up three flights of...you guessed it... more stairs. Sheesh! At
this point I figured I better make sure which way I was going to start walking, and a
handy nearby UPS driver pointed out the way to Copley Sq. Luckily, it had stopped

raining and all those walks in the woods made the distance to the NEGHS a snap.

There was quite a few people taking advantage of the free admission so it took a
few moments before Barbara and I finally met. She is a very pleasant lady and
despite what she told me I don't believe she could possibly be older than I. She
doesn't look a day over 39! Barbara introduced me to Josh Taylor, then helped

me signup for a free 15 minute consult with David Allan Lambert later in the morning.
Since I hadn't been to NEGHS in over 20 years I was grateful that she took me on a
tour until it was time for my consult. (The staff was conducting tours but it involved
climbing a lot of stairs again so I was glad to make use of the elevator.)

My consult with David was at 11:45 on the 6th floor and I made use of the oppurtunity
to see what he might make of the infamous John Cutter West brickwall. He had
good suggestions, including a database and a book on Sumner Maine where John
Cutter West and Arvilla Ames were married. We also discussed DNA testing. The

conversation got around to Civil War reenactments and it turns out David knew my
college classmate Edmund Hands.

Barbara took this picture of my consult with David Lambert

Barbara and I had brought lunches so after the consult she and I walked over to
Copley Sq and found an empty bench to sit on while we ate and talked. By now the
weather had cleared so we soent about 45 minutes in conversation about research
and blogging before heading back to the NEHGS. We stopped outside to get a
picture taken but Barbara craftly left me holding the ballons!

I was going back inside to look at a book about Paris, Maine we'd discovered earlier
but Barbara had to leave so we said goodbye. I spent an hour with the book up on
the 5th floor and then decided I better get going myself on  my way home to avoid
the rush hour traffic. I walked back to Copley Square to the subway stop by the
main branch of the Boston Public Library, stopping to take some pictures along the
way.

It was a nice day all around. I met Josh and David, got a badly needed tour of the
NEHGS, and proved to myself I can take other such trips into Boston by myself in
the future. I expect to see other geneabloggers at the NEHGS over this summer.

Thanks again Barbara Poole for an enjoyable day!

POST 1000

When I started this blog back on Jan23, 2007, I really didn't know how
long I would stick with it and how far I might go. I certainly wouldn't
have thought I'd write 1000 posts. But I have. I've been blessed with
a plethora of ancestors, direct and collateral, who have provided me
with plenty of blog fodder with no end in sight. There are the silly posts
as well, like the Word Verification Dictionary and the genealogical uses
of flutaphone, and I've thrown in some poetry as well.

Besides the rewards of writing and exercising my mind, I've benefited in
other respects from West in New England. There have been the relatives
who've found me through seeing this blog, and there are the other
geneabloggers (some of whom are distant cousins!) who have befriended me,
offering me advice and giving me assistance in my family research. I'm hoping
to meet many of you face to face in the years ahead.

So, thank you all for the comments and encouragement. I really appreciate it,
and on to post 2000! 

WORD VERIFICATION DICTIONARY 10

I'm coming up on another blog milepost and realized it's been almost a
year since I last posted a Word Verification Dictionary entry. These are
those words Blogger has us type to verify we're not spambots when we
post comments on each other's blogs.

So without adieu (or a Pepsi), here's the latest entries!

eulaggl- A long awkward pause in an eulogy. "James' eulogy for Aunt Sarah
             was filled with many eulaggls.

mistr-   The male equivalent of mistress.

reman- What you do when you move on to a new mistr. "When Sophie was
            bored with her latest mistr, she knew it was time to reman.

scowa-The look the clerk gives you when you ask for yet ANOTHER of your
            ancestors' deeds

tankes-You're Welcome!

A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS 18: WORTHY C. DUNHAM2

Benjamin Hobart's  History of the town of Abington, Plymouth County,
Massachusetts, from its first settlement  has become my first place to
look for information about my Abington cousins. On page 369 I found the
following:

IV. Worthy C Dunham, born in Abington June 17, 1815; was married to
Irene Shaw of Weymouth, December 24, 1837. Their children were—

V. Rensellaer, born September 16, 1838; died September 17, 1839.

V. Jotham Ellsworth, born May 3, 1842.

V. Sumner Ellis, born September 3,1847; died September 25, 1848.

V. Irene Shaw, born October 23, 1851.

V. Sarah Williams, born July 22, 1855.

V. Abbie Weston, born August 30, 1858; died August 15, 1859.

Irene Shaw, wife of Worthy C. Dunham, died January 4,

1860, aged 42 years, 11 months, 9 days; he next married Marilla Pratt, 
October 4, 1860.

Now I knew there were more children who were not listed on the monument.
Could they have been buried there and the names not inscribed on the blank
western side of the marker? It was far more likely they had survived to
adulthood and were buried elsewhere. But what about the inscription
for Frank, Grace and  Robert on the south side? Grandchildren perhaps?

First though, I wanted to check on Worthy's parents, I looked on the previous
page, 368:

"III. Mr. Ezra Duuham was born in Plymouth, May 10, 1785; married, first, 

Susanna Ford, of Abington, January 30, 1806. They had one son, Henry,

born October 13, 1806; second, married Polly Cary, daughter of Howard 

Cary, Esq., of North Bridgewater. They had seven sons and three daughters,

viz., Susan, Howard Cary, Worthy Columbus, Charles Atwood, Cornelius 

Thomas, Ezra Rider, Angeline Huldah, Elbridge Cary, Francis William, 

and Lydia Howard." 

So, Worthy's middle name was Columbus and he was the half brother of 

General Henry Dunham and full brother to Cornelius T, Dunham, both of

whose graves I had previously discovered in Mt. Vernon Cemetery.

Now what else could I find out about him and his family?

A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS 17: WORTHY C. DUNHAM

Ever since discovering the Cornelius T.Dunham family plot only
a few yards away from my parents' grave in Mt Vernon Cemetery
here in Abington, I've looked for more Dunham cousins buried
there. I thought I'd found all of them but apparently, I was
wrong. A few days before I discovered David Ellinwood's grave,
I discovered another Dunham family plot.

I found it as I was photographing the graves on the hillside
above the family of Henry Dunham. This is the east side of the
monument:

The inscription reads:
"Worthy C Dunham
     1815-1882
       His Wife
     Irene Shaw
     1817-1860
       His Wife
    Marilla Pratt
    1819-1904"

On the south side:

The inscription here lists three children:

   "Rensellaer
    1838-1839  
   Sumner Ellis
    1847-1848
   Abbie Weston
    1858-1859
    Children of
W.C.& I.S. Dunham"

On the north side:

This side reads:
"Frank E. Dunham
     1879-1951
      Grace E.
    1881-1970
     Robert E. 
    1918-2005"

So, not only do I have Dunham cousins buried here in Abington, some of them
were living here while my Dad was still alive, and there may still be some here
living in town.

I'll discuss how I'm related to these latest discoveries in the next post in this series.

A NOTE OF THE ASA ELLINGWOOD CIVIL WAR PENSION FILE

I've come to a point in my transcription of 2x great grandfather Asa F
Ellingwood's pension file where I'm trying to decide whether or not I
want to post the entire transcription of the April 1884 hearing. A lot
of it is repetitious with witnesses answering the same questions from
F. E. Lawton. I'm going to finish transcribing them and make them available
in full to family members while I'll post a summary of the testimony here.

But there are some other parts of the file that I will post and I hope to be
finished with that by the end of July, well before the Ellingwood Family
Reunion in August.

THE 107TH CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY: THE SEASONS OF GENEALOGY

                     

 Welcome to the 107th Carnival of Genealogy! The intriguing topic for this edition from Jasia is:

"the seasons of genealogy. Do you spend more time on genealogy research in the summer or in the winter, or maybe spring or fall? How does the amount of time you put into research and blogging differ from season to season? Or perhaps you'd like to think of things metaphorically... which season is your genealogy research in?"


 And as usual, there are some great responses. Let's get to them, shall we?



Julie Goucher, in her Carnival Of Genealogy 107 - The Seasons of My Genealogy Research posted at Anglers Rest, shares, "Reflections of my seasons of genealogy"

Charles Hansen's  The Seasons of Genealogy for the COG # 107 posted at Mikkel's Hus, say's, "I really only have two seasons, one I am very busy and do not do much research and the second when I have a lot of time to research."

Ruth Stephens presents The Seasons of My Genealogy Research posted at Ruth's Genealogy.She tells us that in Texas there are only two seasons
and shows the parallel with her genealogy seasons.

Tara Anderson wrote The Summer of My Genealogy posted at A Family Mystery Blog, saying, "Just a little bit about why I feel I am in the Summer of my genealogy research, even though I am definitely NOT on summer vacation!"

Frances Ellsworth presents COG 107 - The Seasons Of Genealogy: Not What I Thought I Would Be posted at Branching Out Through The Years, saying, "Thanks Bill for the stimulating topic. I had to contemplate what season's of genealogy meant to me. Must say metaphorically." ((Well, actually, Jasia was the one who thought up this great topic-Bill))

Shelley Bishop in her Genealogy in Bloom posted at A Sense of Family, tells us, "With summer (finally) here, I thought about how genealogy grows much like a flower garden--through seasons of development, each with its own beauty. I hope you enjoy it!"

Linda Gartz contributes Seasons of Genealogy posted at Family Archaeologist, saying, "Trace how my family history research has blossomed over the years as I view my discoveries as an arc through the seasons, blooming from the early crocus of first awareness through my immersion in a robust summer garden of family treasures."

Dorene Paul in Seasons of Genealogy posted at Graveyard Rabbit of Sandusky Bay, says that "it is always the season for genealogy."

Barbara Cagle presents Seasons of Genealogy posted at Cagle, saying, "As the Leaves Begin to Fall My Pen Furiously Writes in the Names on My Family Tree"

Ed Hamilton views Family History Through Seasoned Eyes at My Old Ohio Home - Articles, saying, "A good landscape artist knows that we never see the same scene in the same way. As the earth rotates on its axis and circles the sun, the light changes from day to day and from season to season. So it is with our family history: each time we visit a part of it we can see things differently."

Jasia adds her The Seasons of My Genealogy Research over at Creative Gene, She says: "I've covered all 4 seasons in my genealogy research. It's time for me to move on to the organizing/writing phase of my family history but I'm finding it hard to let go of the puzzle solving!"

Denise Levenick has The Seasons of Genealogy: Content to be Stuck in a Genealogy Groundhog Day posted at The Family Curator, saying, "Sometimes it feels like Eternal Early Spring with my genealogy research, and I don't think I want these wonder-filled "aha" moments to end."

Greta Koehl presents The Seasons of Genealogy: It’s Okay to Daydream posted at Greta's Genealogy Bog, saying, "I like the cooler seasons for research and research trips, but I seem to be stuck in summer mode in my research. And I don't function very well in the summer."

Jennifer Woods at Climbing My Family Tree One Branch At a Time says 
that her time devoted to research is influenced by two very important 
factors. She beautifully illustrates her point at Carnival of Genealogy: The Seasons of Genealogy

Randy Seaver says his motto is " "life is short - do genealogy first" 
these days.  Genealogy is fun for me, and I'm doing what I want to do 
in this stage of my life." Learn how he goes about it in his post  
The Seasons of my Genealogy Research over at his Genea-Musings blog!

And finally Bill West(aka me) talks about The Endless Summer of the Genealogical Mind. 

And that concludes the 107 edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. My thanks to 
all the contributors and to the inimitable footnote Maven for the great graphic.


Jasia will return to host the next Carnival and here's the call for submissions:

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will be: Food! We haven't focused on food in the COG in quite a while so we're asking you to bring us your family recipes, stories of picnics, food fights, food allergies, favorite summertime foods you remember, and best of all, photos of family favorite foods. Let's make a great mouth-watering edition of the COG! The deadline for submissions will be August 1st. Bring your appetite!

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

A DIFFERENT ELLINGWOOD REUNION OF SORTS

I've blogged in the past about finding distant cousins from the Dunham family
buried at Mt Vernon cemetery here in Abington, the same cemetery where my
parents are buried. Well, today I found another cousin but this time from another
branch of Dad's family. Dad's grandfather Philip J West was married to Clara F.
Ellingwood, Originally the family spelled it Ellinwood or Ellenwood but our side of
the family adopted Ellingwood in the 19th century, (Clara, by the way, was the
daughter of Asa Ellingwood, whose Civil War pension file I've been posting here)

When I saw David Ellinwood's gravestone I was pretty sure we were related. All
the New England Ellingwoods are descended from Ralph Ellinwood of Salem,
Essex, Ma. What I wasn't sure of was how closely related we were. So, when I
came home I looked him up at Ancestry.com. It turns out he is a nearer cousin
to me than any of the Dunhams I'd discovered earlier, a second cousin five times
removed. Eliza Ann his wife turns out to be one of the numerous Stetsons from
this area and they were married in East Bridgewater, Plymouth, Ma.on 6Nov
1842. They had one child, a daughter. I suspect David probably came here
from New Hampshire to work in one of the local factories.

Here's a chart showing the two lines of decent from  Ebenezer Ellingwood:

A CLUE FOR A BRICKWALL?

Waaay back here in 2007, I wrote a post about my ancestor Lydia Phelps, detailing
how I'd had to revise the information I had on her. I'd discovered  that her parents
were not Jonathan Phelps and Lydia Parker, but were Scottish immigrants whose
names I have yet to discover.I also discovered that my 5x great grandfather John
Ames was Lydia's second husband.  She was the widow of Sampson Read.
(Thanks again to Larry Overmire for allowing the use of his research)

This morning I was looking at the newly released Sons of the American Revolution
Membership Application files at Ancestry.com and checking out the names of my
ancestors who served in the Revolution. Then I tried a few that had lived in the right
period but that I've never discovered any records to indicate military service. One of
them is my 4x great grandfather Philip Pierce Richardson, another brickwall
ancestor. The search brought up the name Lydia Phelps Richardson. Now that
piqued my curiosity, as you might imagine, so I clicked to see the image, and this
is what I saw:

This the application of one Ralph Joseph Richardson who claimed descent from
Sampson Read and his wife Lydia (Phelps) Read . Ralph's grandparents were
Joseph Richardson and Lydia Phelps Read.  Could there be a connection to my
Philip Pierce Richardson, or his son Philip Richardson?

I'll let you know what I find out.

ASA ELLINGWOOD'S PENSION FILE PT11

One of those testifying in April 1884 was Asa's eldest child, my great granduncle
Walter Fred Ellingwood. I'm don't know why he testified. He could have
asked to do so, of course, but considering the little amount of information
in his statement, I can't see why he would . Besides, how much would he have
been able to understand or remember about his father's physical condition
since he was only 10 years old when Asa returned home in 1861?

A few parts of Walter's statement were illegible. Perhaps the person
recording the statements was tiring?

It starts out by saying "..his age is 33 years, P.O. address Upton, Maine,
 occupation(Illegible)":

Q: Are you not the son of Asa F.Ellingwood the claimant
A: Yes Sir

Q: Do you remember when your father came home from the war in 1861
A: No sir I do not know what month. I know it was in the winter.

Q: What was the trouble with him at the time he came home in Dec 1861
A: He had the kidney complaint and (the rest of the sentence is illegible)

Q: When did you first know he had any ruptures
A: When he came home from the army the last time.

Q: How much of the time each and every yearsince 1865 has he been unable
     to perform manual labor by reason of said disabilities.
A: I don't know for I have not been at home most of the time.

Q: Do you have any interest directly or indirectly in the prosecution of said claim
A: No sir 

To be continued.

THE ENDLESS SUMMER OF A GENEALOGICAL MIND

I've never been a cold weather guy. Weather-wise, I take after my Mom's
Irish roots. I'd rather be dry and warm inside than outside schlepping around
in the cold and snow. I'm sure my Dad's hardy Maine forefathers are all
shaking their heads in dismay in the great hereafter over their wussy
descendant. That's okay by me; they don't' have to drive on icy roads any
more so they can be as judgmental as they want and we'll hash it out when
I join them.

So it should come as no surprise that the warmer seasons have become my
more active ones genealogically speaking. To be honest, this is a recent
development.. I've worked full time most of my life and didn't really spend much
time on my family tree until about five years ago. But recent events have left
me with a lot more time on my hands, and I've made use of it. I started getting out
taking pictures of headstones at local cemeteries last Fall and continued with
that this Spring once the snow melted. In the process I discovered the graves of
distant cousins, descendants of the sisters and brothers who stayed behind down
here in Plymouth County when my own ancestors moved north to New Hampshire
and Maine two centuries ago.

I recently became a member of Find A Grave and have had some success fulfilling
photo requests of other members. It's a good way to get myself out of my chair and
outside moving about more, and I'm slowly gaining a better knowledge of the local
cemeteries and histories of the towns.  I also started photographing all the graves in
Mt Vernon Cemetery here in Abington, some of which are three hundred years old.
When I'm done there, I'll move on to another cemetery. There's so many older
gravestones that have deteriorated so badly they can't be read, so preserving a
record of the ones still readable is a goal.

There's other things I'm planning to do this summer: attending the Ellingwood
Family Reunion and the New England Geneablogger's Bash in August, trips into
Boston and to Billerica to find out more about my grandfather Edward F White
Sr.'s family, research  trips into the NEHGS and The Mass. State Archives, and
visiting the genealogy room of the Dyer Memorial Library right here in Abington.   

It's Summertime for my genealogical research as a whole. I keep discovering new
information online and adding collateral branches to my family tree. I'm one of
those lucky New Englanders blessed (on my Dad's side) with prolific ancestors so
I'm not in danger of running out of cousins for awhile yet. And because I live in New
England there's also plenty of history to explore as well. So genealogywise, it's an
endless Summer for me.

To use a typical New England expression, I'm as happy as a clam!

A GENTLE CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY REMINDER:

I'll be hosting the next edition of the CoG for Jasia here at West in New
England and this is the call for submissions for it:

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of 
Genealogy will be: the seasons of genealogy. Do you spend more time 
on genealogy research in the summer or in the winter, or maybe spring 
or fall? How does the amount of time you put into research and blogging 
differ from season to season? Or perhaps you'd like to think of things 
metaphorically... which season is your genealogy research in? Write up 
your thoughts and observations and submit your articles to the next 
edition of the COG.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy 
using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the 
title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/
introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival
submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written
about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts 
and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.


I have my post written up already...in my head.  Now I need to get it
onto my blog!

How about YOU?  Send your post to the blog carnival submissions page
or send your link right to me as a comment to this or as an email to the
email address at the upper right of my page.

I look forward to reading what your seasons of genealogy are!

PAYING FOR PAST GENEALOGICAL SINS

Back when I first discovered online genealogy, I downloaded the free PAF
program from FamilySearch at the suggestion of my late friend Diana Probus
and entered all the information that my Aunt Dorothy had sent my Dad. Then
I entered information from Florence O'Connor's book about the Ellingwood
branch of my family.

And then I made a mistake. I name-gathered.  Here was all this information
on FamilySearch that went back centuries that I would never have found so
quickly on my own!  So I downloaded gedcom after gedcom into my tree.
To make matters worse, because I'm not the brightest of people at times, I
ended up sometimes importing a gedcom several times. Now I had multiple
entries for people on my tree,

 I compounded my mistakes by uploading the tree to Ancestry. Now the
information from Aunt Dorothy and Cousin Florence as well as a Barker
family genealogy a Barker cousin had sent me gave me a solid foundation
to start with and I've been adding citations and sources to that as time and
energy allowed. And as time went on and I became wiser in the ways of
the Genea-force, I checked and double-checked anything else I might add
to that foundation. Eventually I switched to RootsMagic as my primary
hard drive genealogy program and used the merge functions on it and on
PAF to clean up the duplicates.

But there is no merge function on Ancestry.com(at least as far as I know).
I could delete my present Ancestry tree there and upload what I've cleaned up 
so far but I'm afraid I'd lose all the citations and document images I've found.
So I am using a more laborious method: first, I"d capitalized all the surnames on
my tree when I originally uploaded it . Now I started working backwards from
myself on each individual. I go into their "View Profile" page, check the information,
check and add any documents Ancestor might have that I don't already have
attached to the individual, then click on "Edit this person" and adjust the surname
from the all caps. Then I search for the same person's name in the "Find a person
in this tree" search box and then delete any duplicates with capitalized surnames
who match the individual I just corrected.

It's a long process given the number of names on my tree and it's why I haven't
been blogging as frequently as I normally have in the past. Think of it as the
genealogical equivalent of Bart Simpson at the chalkboard.

Only this time, he's writing:
"I will not name-gather"
"I will not name-gather"

"I will not name-gather"
"I will not name-gather"

"I will not name-gather".....

ASA ELLINGWOOD'S PENSION FILE PT10

The next witness was his cousin Oliver Pratt. On the affidavit he
says "his age is 64 years. P.O. address West Paris Me. Occupation carriage
maker by trade and painter."
Q: How long have you known the claiman Asa F. Ellingwood
A: Ever since we was a little boy

Q: Did you ever work with him
A: Yes sir from 1853 to 1860 we worked for a chair mfg. co. and he did the
lifting part of the work

Q: What was his physical condition  when you and he worked together
A: I don't know and never knew but what he was an able bodied man.

Q: Did you ever hear him complain of any disease or pains prior to his
enlistment
A: I don't remember ever hearing complain at all

Q: Did you ever see him naked prior to his enlistment
A: Yes sir once we went in swimming but I was not near him

Q: Did you ever see him in the service
A: No

Q: Have you seen him often since the war
A: No sir

Q: Do you know for what he claims a pension
A: No sir

Q: Have you any knowledge what has been the trouble with him since
the war
A: No sir

Q: Have you any interest directly or indirectly in the prosecution of said
claim
A: No nor prejudice.

This concluded Oliver Pratt's testimony.

To be continued.

  

ASA ELLINGWOOD'S PENSION FILE PT9

In my last post in this series on my 2xgreat grandfather Asa Freeman
Ellingwood's Civil War Pension file, I talked about the revelation in the
testimony of his cousin James Barrows that he(Barrows) had testified
before in the case and in fact there were two previous afidavits!  When
I checked the testimony of several other witnesses on Asa's behalf, I found
they had also testified on earlier occasions.

So how did I miss that?

Simple. I didn't look to see if the documents from NARA were in chronological
order. Each page was numbered so I went with the order in which they were
numbered assuming they were chronological.

Yeah, I know. I can dream, can't I?
Then I made a second assumption, that the transcripts of the hearings in April of
1884 must have been for the original pension claim. Once I read in James Barrows'
testimony that he had made previous statements, I looked at some of the other
documents. There were at least three other earlier occasions when some witness
or another had testified, in the years 1877, 1879, and 1881,  

Now I know Asa got his pension, his file has a certificate number. So what is
going on here?

Apparently, Asa's pension was granted originally because of his kidney disease,
but afterwards he filed for additional benefits based on the fact of his rupture. 
This is why Special Examiner F E Lawton has so  many questions about Asa's
physical condition before and after the war,

You'll have to keep reading to find out if Asa was successful!

THE FIRST ANNUAL NEW ENGLAND GENEABLOGGERS BASH!

For the past few years many of us on the east coast and New England have
have wistfully read about the SCGS Jamboree and especially the gathering
of our fellow geneabloggers. Many of us can never make the trip out to
Southern California so we read about Jamboree with lust in our hearts.
Why, oh why, couldn't there be something like that meeting of bloggers
closer to home?

*SIGH*
Then Barbara Poole asked whether anyone was interested in a New England
genealblogger get-together. Heather WIlkinson Rojo answered with another
question: "Why not?" and volunteered to host everyone.

So on Saturday, August 27th she is hosting the 1st Annual New England
Geneabloggers Bash in Londonderry, It'll start at 12 noon, run until 6pm, and
will be an informal picnic/cookout style event. Geneabloggers living in New England
or who research in New England are invited to attend and bring along some
family tradition picnic food.

You can find more information as it develops at the New England Geneabloggers
Bash page on Facebook, and on this and other blogs.

Lucie Leblanc Consentino did a great job designing the logo for the event using a
photo Barbara Poole had of a typical New England scene. Feel free to grab it to
display on your blog.(please remember to credit it to them if you do). Thanks Lucie
and Barbara.

So watch out, geneablogger world! The New Englanders are coming!

SNGF TWO TRUTHS & A LIE: THE ANSWER

So here's the answer to my "Two Truths and a Lie" for Randy Seaver's
"Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" at Genea-Musings.


#3   I had a relative drowned at sea. TRUE
My 9x great grandfather Stephen Greenleaf drowned on1Dec 1690 near
Cape Breton  while returning from the Phipps Expedition against Quebec. I
blogged about it here exactly two years ago on 11Jun 2009.

#2  I had a relative killed in an earthquake. TRUE
My 7x great granduncle Ralph Houghton died during the sinking of Port
Royal, Jamaica harbor in 1692. His wife escaped by clinging to a trunk of clothes.
You can read about it here in New-England historical and genealogical register, 
Volume 19 page 122.

#1 I had a relative wounded at the Battle of Concord, Ma. LIE
While I had many ancestors and relatives respond to the alarm that April
morning in 1775, none of them were wounded at Lexington, or Concord, Ma!

Ironically, Randy was the only person with the correct answer.
Thanks Randy for a fun SNGF challenge!

SATURDAY NIGHT GENEALOGY FUN: GENEABLOGGERS PAJAMA PARTY

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge over at Randy Seaver's
Genea-Musings blog is inspired by a Geneabloggers' PJ Party being held at the
Southern California Genealogy Society's Jamboree:

Tonight at Jamboree is the Geneabloggers Pajama Party, and everyone knows
that fun folks play games at their pajama parties.  So, for SNGF tonight:

1)  Play "two truths and a lie."  Tell us three facts about your family history -- 
two have to be true and one has to be a lie.

2)  Put them on your own blog post, in a Facebook status or in a comment
on this blog.  Ask readers to guess which one is a lie.

3)  After one day, be sure to put the right answer as a comment to your blog.
 or Facebook status.

Ok,  then readers, riddle me this: Which is my lie?

1. I had a relative wounded at the Battle of Concord, Ma.


2. I had a relative killed in an earthquake.

3. I had a relative drowned at sea.

So, Randy and the rest of you out in California, which two are the truth, and
which the lie?

Answer tomorrow.

INFERENTIAL GENEALOGY: THE BLOG ATE MY HOMEWORK!

Well, not really. Actually, in this case, this blogpost IS the homework!

I'm taking part in an Inferential Genealogy Study Group over on Second
Life. It's based on an free online course from Dr Thomas W Jones over
at FamilySearch that you can view here. The Second Life group is being
led by none other than DearMyrt who in Second Life is known as
Clarisse Beaumont. 

As I understand it so far, Inferential Genealogy is the process where you
piece together different sources of information to arrive at a conclusion
when you don't have a definitive document to help you. (Although I think
I'd search for those other sources anyway even if I do have one.). The
steps to the process are:

1. Establish a Focused Goal: Who was someone's parents, for example.

2.Conduct a Broad Search: Remember to check a wide area and time
period. Check documents for the subjects parents or children, and include
documents that might involve family and friends.

3.Understand the Records: What are their purpose. These include wills, deeds
and court records.

4. Correlate the Evidence: Take all the information you've gathered and put it
together. If there is conflicting points, try to resolve that conflict.

5. Write Your Results: Make sure they are clear, correct,and don't pass on
   incorrect information.

So far I haven't done any genealogy research using all these steps. I have yet
to search through wills and deeds other than those I've already found on the
internet. Now that I have more time on my hands I'm planning to remedy
that with visits to the various places that are nearby where my ancestors once
lived. Some of the places thatg are further away, like Western Maine, might
have to wait a bit. If I had to pick a case where I used some of the steps it
would be the one  I blogged about in "DIGGING UP ALEXANDER 
AUGUSTUS BARKER"

I am really enjoying this course and plan to put it to good use in my research.
But it's hard trying not to "read ahead"!

THIS IS THE FACE OF GENEALOGY

My grandmother Agnes McFarland

My paternal 2x greatgrandparents Amos H Barker and Betsey Jane Moore and family

My grandfather Floyd E West Sr

I repost these pictures in response to the picture that the LA Weekly website used
to illustrate a calendar event notice on the upcoming 42nd annual Southern
California Genealogical Society Jamboree. Someone at LA Weekly thought it
would be funny to use a photo of two special needs kids with the caption:
"Inbreeding: Still thinking about your hot cousin?".

I sent LA Weekly the following email:

Sir or Ma'am
I find the graphic used in conjunction with your event page for the 42 Annual
Genealogy Convention highly offensive, not only to genealogists
but to special needs children as well. I don't know what infantile
wit thought this was funny but they need a serious attitude readjustment.
Shame on you all.


Bill West 

You can view the page in question here, and if you find it as vile and
offensive as I do, please let the editor of the LA Weekly know by sending
an email to
http://www.laweekly.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters 

ASA ELLINGWOOD'S PENSION FILE PT8

The next person to testify in Asa Ellingwood's pension claim case was his
cousin James Barrows.
According to the statement,  James "says  his age  52 years, P.O. address
 West Paris, Maine occupation  mfg of chairs

Q: How long have you known the claimant Asa F.Ellingwood
A: Ever since 1850

Q: Did you work with him at that time
A: I worked with him from 1850 to 1860

Q: What was his physical condition in those years
A: I considered him sound

Q: Have you personal knowledge that he was not sound
A: None other than I could gain from acquaintance with him

Q: Did you ever know of him being sick or complaining of any disease prior
   to 1860
A: Not to my knowledge

Q: Did you ever see him in a (illegible) state
A: Yes sir every summer before 1860 we were in the habit of bathing together

Q: Did you ever notice any ruptures while you were bathing together
A: No sir and if he had have had any I think I should have known of it.

Q:Did you see Asa F Ellingwood in the service
A: No sir

Q: When did you next see said Ellingwood after he enlisted in to the service
A: I saw him the day that he came home

Q: What was his physical condition at the time that he came home
A: He was looking rather bad

Q: What was the trouble with him
A: I don't know the nature of the disability

Q: Did you ever know of him being ruptured
A:  I may but I have forgotten it if I did

Q:  Do you know what disability he has suffered from since his discharge
from the service
A: I don't

Q: Have you ever testified in this claim before today
A: I think I have

Q: Are these two affidavits now show you signed by you
A: I should say they were

Q: How is it you state in on of said affidavits he had kidney disease
when he came home from the service and today you say you don't
know what disease he has had
A: I recollect now that he had kidney disease since I have now my old affidavit

Q: Do you have any interest directly or indirectly on said claim.
A: No sir.

The introduction of two previous statements surprised  me and had me
rummaging through the other pages of the Pension File images. I'll
discuss what I found in the next installment of this series.  

THE 106TH EDITION OF THE CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY IS OUT!

Well, it's almost Summer, and that means another Swimsuit Edition of the
Carnival of Genealogy over at Jasia's Creative Genealogy. This is the
fourth one and nineteen geneabloggers have contributed great posts full
of family history and photographs.

I'll be hosting the next edition of the CoG for Jasia here at West in New
England and here's the call for submissions for it:

Call for Submissions! The topic for the next edition of the Carnival of 
Genealogy will be: the seasons of genealogy. Do you spend more time 
on genealogy research in the summer or in the winter, or maybe spring 
or fall? How does the amount of time you put into research and blogging 
differ from season to season? Or perhaps you'd like to think of things 
metaphorically... which season is your genealogy research in? Write up 
your thoughts and observations and submit your articles to the next 
edition of the COG.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy 
using our carnival submission form. Please use a descriptive phrase in the 
title of any articles you plan to submit and/or write a brief description/
introduction to your articles in the "comment" box of the blog carnival
submission form. This will give readers an idea of what you've written
about and hopefully interest them in clicking on your link. Past posts 
and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

 I know there are going to be some interesting blogposts on this one!

TO WEST COUSIN MARKR

Mark, could you please contact me when you read this? I have a question
for you concerning our ancestor John Cutter West

Thanks!.

CONFESSION OF A GENEALOGICAL FUDDYDUDDY

It had been a really nice day, blessed with nice weather and a pleasant walk
in the woods. After I spent a few hours watching tv I settled in for sometime
working on a collateral line of my family, the Barrows. I was adding the
siblings of my 6x greatgrandfather Moses Barrows to my Ancestry.com tree
with information from the book The Ancestors & Descendants of Asa
Freeman Ellingwood and Florilla (Dunham) Ellingwood and then searching
Ancestry for records. I'd entered Samuel Barrows, then clicked on "search
rewcords"....and my pleasant day came to a screeching halt.

I was on the "new search" screen.

I don't like the "new search" screen. Not at all.

I looked in vain for the "use old search" link which I'd clicked on back when
"new search" was first introduced and continued using the "old search" right
up to this evening. Could Ancestry have decided to move everyone onto the
"new search" much in the same way Facebook handles such matters?

Speaking of which, I had Facebook up in another tab on Firefox. I made the
comment that "I hate  Ancestry "new search". Just saying" and several people
commented back that they agreed with me. A discussion started and Tina
Sansone helped me figure out how to get back to "old search". Phew! Thanks,
Tina!

What surprised me was that at this late hour of the day(it was actually early in
the morning, after 1am)six of my fellow genealogists immediately agreed that
they didn't like "new search"either. I thought it was just me, grumpy old fart
that I am, who found it cumbersome and tedious to navigate but apparently that
is not the case.(and I haven't heard yet from my fellow East Coasters who were
still slumbering peacefully in bed at the time).

Now I know Ancestry and Family Search (who also is moving to a new "improved"
search engine) feel the need to  refine their sites, but  somebody has to say it:
not all change is good.  All the filters and search fields just clutter up things, make
it more confusing and more frustrating for users like myself.  The beauty of the
"old search" is its simplicity.  The most relevant items are right there at the top.
I still dig through the succeeding pages but I like having some of the answers
right there at the start of the search.

If this makes me a genealogical old fuddyduddy , well then, so be it, I'll just
happily fud and dud along in "old search" while you younger more hip folks
use "new search" and more power to you!

Just stay off my lawn, you dang kids!

NEW BACKGROUND

Well, I decided it was time to change the background to something a
little more in step with the season. So I've switched to a picture I took
a few weeks ago when my sister Cheryl and I took a long walk out at
World's End in Hingham.

It was one of the nicer Spring days so far and we had a good time!

AUGUST 1976

When I was a kid my family often visited the cottage owned by
my Mom's Aunt and Uncle Peggy and Leo McCue out at Hough's
Neck in Quincy. In later years the cottage was sold and the
scene shifted to cousin Bobby McCue's place in Marshfield. By
that time I was in my 20's and didn't go along very often. (I was
worried I'd be mistaken for a beached whale). But my younger
brother did and I think either he or my sister Cheryl took pictures
one day in August of 1976:

Mom & Dad

Mom

I'm not sure what Dad is pointing at here.

Dad about to try water skiing

Mom & Cousins

As you can tell from the pictures, my folks enjoyed the beach, and really enjoyed
the time spent with the cousins!

((Written for the 106th Carnival of Genealogy))

THE "TO-DO" LIST

Now that I've become a "gentleman of leisure" (more on that later) I find myself
with time to do some of the things I've put off over the years. Writing a book,
for one.  But I also have a list of genealogy "to dos" which include the following:

1. The BIG one: breaking down the John Cutter West brickwall.

2. Following up on finding out more about maternal grandfather Edward F.White
Sr and possibly contacting my newly discovered uncles.

3. Adding collateral branches to my family tree

4. Trimming duplicate entries from my family tree

5. Locating and correctly citing more sources

6. Photographing all the gravestones at Mt Vernon Cemetery, then posting
them to find a grave.

7. Locating and photographing the gravestones of ancestors buried in various
communities of Massachusetts.

I'm sure there's more I can add to the list, but that should keep me out of trouble
for a bit!

ASA ELLINGWOOD'S PENSION FILE PT7

One of the little mysteries of the precedings on 3Apr 1884 is that there
is no indication as to what order the various witnesses testified nor is
there any notation of time of day. If Asa wife, my 2x great grandmother
Florilla Dunham Ellingwood gave her statement late in  the day after all
the others it might possibly explain the somewhat (I think) prosecutorial
tone of the questioning. Despite that Florilla's responses steadily agree
with those Asa gave in his statement.

Again, the punctuation and grammar are as they appear on the original document:




On this 3rd day of April, 1884, at Upton, County of Oxford, State of Maine,
before me, F. E. Lawton, a Special Examiner of the Pension Office, personally
appeared Florilla. Ellingwood, who, being by me first duly sworn to answer
truly all  interrogatories propounded to her during this Special Examination
of aforesaid pension claim, deposes and says: her age is 50 years. P.O. address
is Upton Hill, Maine, occupation housekeeper

Q: When did you marry the claimant Asa F. Ellingwood
A: In the year 1850

Q: Have you always lived with each other since you were first married
A: Yes sir,

Q: Do you distinctly remember when he enlisted in May 1861
A: Yes sir

Q: Did he have a rupture either over the right or left side when he enlisted
A: No sir I know he never had any ruptures when he enlisted in 1861


Q: What was the trouble with him when he enlisted in May 1861
A: I never knew that he had any.

Q: Did he never complain prior to his enlistment of pain in his hips
and on his back,
A: No Sir 

Q: When did you next see him after he enlisted in May 1851
A: I saw him in June 1861.when he came home on a furlough

Q: What disease or disability did he have when he came home in June 1861
A: He had none.

Q: When did you next see him after June 1861
A: I saw him in Dec 1861 when he was discharged and came home.

Q: What was the trouble with him in Dec 1861 when you say he came home
A: He had two ruptures when he came home one on each side.


Q: Was there any other disease or disability at the time you say he came home
in Dec 1861
A: He was troubled with his back and kidneys. I know of nothing else.

Q: Has your husband been sick each and every year since Dec 1861 with
back and kidney trouble
A:: Yes sir

Q: How much of the time each and every every year has he been incapacitated
for the performance of manual labor by reason of his kidney or back trouble
and the aforesaid ruptures.
A: I should say he has been laid up one quarter of the time so he could not
work each year since he came home in 1861.

Q: What was the age of your oldest child when your husband returned from
the service in 1861
A: The child was 9 years of age and his name Walter F. Ellingwood and he
lives in Cambridge N.H.

Q: How did your husband tell you he incurred the alleged ruptures.
A: He said the Col was on his horse and ran over him which ruptured him.

Q: How did he tell you he contracted kidney disease or back disease
A: He said he got overheated on a march and laid out without blankets
and got cold which settled in his back and kidneys.

Q: What were the size of the ruptures when he came home in Dec 1861
A: They were the size of a walnut I should say..

Q:You say he had his ruptures when he came home in Dec 1861
A: Yes Sir.

Q: Are you positive that you have stated these questions correctly when I have
asked you
A: Yes Sir.

Then the signature of Florilla Ellingwood as deponent.

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 3rd day of Apr 1884 and I 
certify that the contents were fully made known to deponent before signing.
F. E. Lawton Special Examiner.

SYNCHRONICITY AND ASA ELLINGWOOD

Talk about synchronicity...

As regular readers of this blog know, I'm in the midst of transcribing the
Civil War Disability Pension file of my 2x great grandfather Asa Freeman
Ellingwood. Now, last Friday night I checked into cousin Chris Dunham's
Maine Genealogy Network website and saw his post that FamilySearch
had posted Maine court record images. I followed the link over to the
site and didn't see any listing for Oxford County yet, but there was a link
just labeled Maine,


I clicked on it. The link on the next screen said "Military Records-Civil  War".
One more click and I was on a page listing the various Union Army units
from the state of Maine, and on it I found the following:

The second page of the Descriptive Roll of Co, I of the 5th  Infantry. Asa Ellingwood's
name and description is on line 46. He is listed as a mechanic from Paris Me. and
described as being 31 years of age and being 5' 8" in height with light complexion:

Next I found the Enlistment Rolls for the 5th Infantry for Bethel Maine and found Asa's
signature twice: once in the right hand panel on line 34 dated May 2, 1861, then on line
34 in the second column on the right hand side of the screen:

The third image was the also from the Enlistment Rolls and might be the reverse
side of the second half of the previous image. In a group of men on the right hand
side from Oxford County taking the "oath of fidelity to the United States"  on May
3rd 1861 is the name of Asa Ellingwood.

So, exactly 150 years ago to the day I am writing this, my 2x great grandfather
enlisted in the Union Army, then took the oath of fidelity the next day, and by May
28th he was part of Co I of the 5th Maine Infantry. And by some synchronicity, I
happened to see Chris Dunham's post on the Maine Genealogy Network that
lead me to these documents just in time to celebrate that anniversary.

Thanks, Chris!

.

VIRTUALLY THERE: MEETING MY FELLOW GENEABLOGGERS

Although I've been pretty active in the geneablogging community I have yet to
attend a meeting og a genealogy society or been to a genealogy conference.
Work and finances haven't permitted me that luxury yet, and even when my
job comes to an end in a few weeks end, the prospect of me being able to
get to, say,  the Southern California Jamboree are exactly the same as for me
going to Mars: slim to none.

But while I haven't physically met any of my geneablogging colleagues, I have
met them "virtually". This began with me sitting in on Miriam Robbins Midkiff's
Scanfest chat room over at her Ancestories blog. While the stated purpose is
for us to get together and scan our troves of family photographs, the chat can
cover just about any aspect of genealogical research. Scanfest is held in the
afternoon of the last Sunday of the month.

Next came Thomas MacEntee's GeneaBloggers Radio over at BlogTalk
Radio.This is an actual radio show broadcast on the internet which began as
weekly Friday broadcasts following the genealogy television show "Who Do
You Think You Are?" which included guests whose own research areas had
something to do with the areas the tv show covered that week. But it has since
evolved in a weekly themed show, with programs on subjects like Irish, Latino,
and African American genealogy, Civil War research, or Mayfl er ancestry.
As Thomas does his excellent job interviewing the guests, the chatroom buzzes
with conversations and comments. It's fast-moving and fun stream of conversation.

My third and most recently added method of meeting other geneabloggers online
is the Genealogy in Second Life group. Second Life is an online virtual reality
world with various communities: there are buildings to enter and meet in and you
have an avatar. The Just Genealogy meetings are held in a Family History Center
and range from  the Monday "Meet and Greet" to a discussion of the upcoming
release of the 1940 Federal Census. This past week there was a "scavenger hunt"
on the American Heritage website hosted by Clarisse Beaumont (aka DearMyrtle)
that was fun and educational. Another presentation earlier this year by Alice Kane
on Boston repositories was extremely useful to me.


Here are some screen shots:

Upstairs at the FHC building. Each one of those laptops link to a specific sites, like the NARA Military Records.

The exterior of the FHC. Meetings are sometimes held on the front terrace..

The fire pit is another chat site. The screen is a whiteboard to display graphics.

There is a Genealogists on Second Life Group page on Facebook which has the list
of discussions for the upcoming week. If you decide to check it out, take a little time
to learn how to maneuver your avatar around so you won't be as much of a klutz at it
as I am!

So while my face to face encounters with other genealogists haven't happened quite
yet, thanks to computer technology I have had the pleasure of "meeting" many and
I've learned about new and useful genealogy tools to boot!