Category: Moore Family

Proof I’m not the first Genealogist in the Family

Posted on by Kathleen

For years I’ve suspected that my Great Grandmother, Llewellyn Thorward-Moore, was researching her family history. I’ve come to that conclusion because of the notes and papers she left behind. This week, I’m starting to go through some of Grandpa’s final papers. These are the ones he kept with him. In those papers, I found some pretty cool evidence that I’m not the first one in the Moore family to be obsessed with tracing our roots. I only wonder how far they got and if there are any other surprises to find one day.

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click for full size

This record transcription is dated September 9, 1942 and it has a raised seal from the county clerk of Kings County, New York. I know that Grandpa always said his father couldn’t locate a copy of his birth certificate because of a fire and therefore was unable to volunteer as an air raid warden during WWII. (I actually think it was because it was under his middle name of Lawrence, instead of his first name of William.)

Did William secure a raised seal of this as an alternative form of birth record? Did William and Llewellyn secure this as a genealogical record? I guess we’ll never know. I just know that I know exactly where I get my record hunting love from now.

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Just for fun, here’s the original census page from 1905.

William Thorward Moore, 1930-2012

Posted on by Kathleen

Every weekday for the past year, I’ve woken up, cooked Grandpa breakfast, and we’ve watched the news or Today Show together. This morning I’m not doing that. It’s hitting me harder then I thought it would but I have to remember Grandpa’s favorite thing to say when he was having a hard time.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

 

William Thorward Moore, 1930-2012

Posted on by Kathleen

Every weekday for the past year, I’ve woken up, cooked Grandpa breakfast, and we’ve watched the news or Today Show together. This morning I’m not doing that. It’s hitting me harder then I thought it would but I have to remember Grandpa’s favorite thing to say when he was having a hard time.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

 

Making some Observations

Posted on by Kathleen

I worked quite a bit yesterday on my maternal lines. The only drawback is it burned me out a little bit on researching. So I decided to switch to my paternal line, and just kind of observe it in pedigree format in FTM2012.

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Here are some things I’ve noticed:

  1. Josephine Doremus is the only one of my 3rd great grandparents that wasn’t an immigrant.  All others that are listed were born in other countries
  2. The missing spots in my 3rd great grandparents aren’t immigrants… at least I don’t think. I have possible parents for both Jennie Featherson and Sarah/Sadie Sutcliffe, just no paper trail yet.
  3. My Moore line is completely Irish.
  4. My Thorward line is a quarter German, a quarter ?, and half Scottish.
  5. My Redford line  is half English and half ?.
  6. My Parkin line is half English and half ?.
  7. All the known immigrant ancestors on my paternal line were all here before 1875.
  8. This entry has been sitting idle for 45 minutes because I’m watching Ugly Betty on Netflix Streaming.
  9. I probably shouldn’t “work” in a room with a TV, much less one with Instant Streaming capabilities.
  10. Featherson and Sutcliffe don’t sound like normal names. They’re not exactly Thorward, if you get my drift, but they aren’t Moore or Johnson either.

What I Learned Today

Posted on by Kathleen

Okay it’s time for another lesson learned by me! Actually I think it’s two lessons learned in the grand scheme of learning.

I started off on The Evergreens Cemetery website. I wanted to see if their database was updated enough to include some of my Moores.

I’m using the information that was handwritten on the back of this cemetery deed. I actually have two deeds to this cemetery lot. One is the original from 1896 when William H Moore‘s wife passed away. The next is when ownership of the deed transferred to Mary J Moore, William’s daughter in 1928. The handwritten notes are on Mary’s copy of the deed.

It was when I finally found Mary’s record, that I came to my first lesson learned. I had assumed that whoever wrote the notes on the back of the deed, had written the dates down as death dates. That was where I went wrong. What I think is that whoever wrote the notes (my great grandparents most likely), went to the cemetery, and got the information from them. Now I know, that the cemetery lists Mary Jane Moore‘s (first mention of her middle name too!) burial date as May 21, 1940. This happens to be the same date written on the back of the deed.

Lesson 1: Don’t assume anything about dates written down by another person.

Lesson 2: Cemeteries are in the market of knowing BURIAL dates, not death dates.

Okay, so I learned three lessons. After realizing my mistake today, I had an epiphany. I was always blessed when other localities would look for my records in the whole month. Obviously, they knew subconsciously that I’m not good with dates.

Lesson 3: Repositories are not required (rightly so), to do your research for you. Therefore, if you give them an exact date. They’re only going to look for that exact date. If they are nice enough to search the whole month, then you’re very lucky. If you’re not sure about the date your are requesting for your record and you’re not doing the searching yourself; then I would say it’s okay to go ahead and be vague about the date of the record. Not every place requires an exact date. Most just require a month and year.

If I had learned these lessons when sending away to New Jersey for my vital records, I might have actually gotten records in return for my money. Instead, my William H Moore request came back to me, unfound, because unbeknownst to me, I sent away for the date of his burial, and not his death. Oops!