Have you ever made tons of progress in the indexed database from Ancestry.com or FamilySearch? I have! It always makes me feel so accomplished.
One of the things you have to remember about these indexes is this. It’s not the original. I’m no expert but I have learned this. Nothing is like seeing the original document. The best of circumstances would be in person but because of logistics, this is not always possible.
With the advances in technology, we’re definitely making progress though! I decided to go ahead and purchase some credits from Scotlands People the other day. I bought enough to really have some fun. I ended up getting the images for almost all of the children of Andrew Love and Agnes Hamilton, some of the Menzies family. I even ordered a copy of John Menzies and Jane Ferris‘ marriage record before I realized I could just use a credit and print out the record. Oh well!
In the index on FamilySearch, I would have been lucky to have had the parents names indexed. Then I would have been even luckier if both the birth and baptismal dates were recorded. If only one was recorded I would have been left wondering which date it was, baptismal or birth.
Love > Martha, Eldest Daughter and Third Child of Andrew Love, Hoodsyard and of Agnes Hamilton, his spouse. Born 29 July. Baptized 28th August. ((Beith Parish (Ayrshire, Scotland). Old Parish Registers, OPR 581/3, Martha Love birth (1831); New Register House, Edinburgh.))
I learned a lot just from that simple little blurb written in an old parish book. First of all… I thought Martha was Andrew and Agnes‘ second child. Oops. Luckily, I fixed that lickity split while I was already on Scotlands People. Second, there was another Love birth recorded a few records up the page. However, it wasn’t Andrew and Agnes‘ child. So now I can try and see if that was a family connection to Andrew.
There’s only one problem after all this wonderful progress. I used all my viewing credits in one day. Oops! That’s alright, that gives me time to analyze what I’ve recently learned!
January 1852: George was born in Germany. I used to have an article that stated a place in Germany, but it has disappeared with the other records I can’t seem to find anymore. So I’m back to just plain Germany. ((1900 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, ED 215, sheet 7-B, dwelling 133, family 145, George Thorward))
Between 1865 ((1910 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, ED156, sheet 2-B, dwelling 38, family 39, George Thorward)) , ((1930 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ., Caldwell, ED 353, sheet 11-A, dwelling 238, family 254, George Thorward.)) -1867 ((1900 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, ED 215, sheet 7-B, dwelling 133, family 145, George Thorward)): George immigrated to the United States
1870:George “Yohn” is living in the household of Harvey Bond as a cigar maker’s apprentice. His birthplace is listed as Wurtemburg. Wurtemburg happens to be the same place that the disappearing newspaper obituary gave. However, I no longer have the article to prove that. I have to get to the New Jersey archives so that I can search old newspapers. ((1870 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, page 112-B (stamped), dwelling 118, family 134, Harvey H Bond household)).
November 1871: George “Yohn” marries Josephine Doremus in Verona, New Jersey. My Great Grandma Llewellyn’s diary gives their exact marriage date and year. The marriage record refers to the groom as “George Yohn”. ((Moore, Llewellyn (Thorward). “Diary” MS. Caldwell, NJ, 1923-1926. Privately held by Kathleen Moore, {Address witheld for private use,} Lexington Park, MD. 2005.)) , ((Essex Co., NJ. “Marriage Records, 1795-1893.” Book D, pg. 176, for “George Yohn, Josephine Doremus,” marriage return.))
September 1872: George and Josephine’s first child, Frank Springsted Thorward, is born. ((1900 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, ED 215, sheet 7-B, dwelling 133, family 145, Frank Thorward.)) , ((World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, images , Ancestry.com, card for Frank Springsted Thorward, serial number 3485, Local Draft Board 4, Essex Co., NJ.))
January 1875: George and Josephine’s second child, Lewis Thorward, is born. ((1900 U.S. Census, Hudson Co., NJ, Harrison city Ward 3, ED 19, sheet 28-B, dwelling 422, family 613, Louis Thorward.)) , ((Moore, Llewellyn (Thorward). “Diary” MS. Caldwell, NJ, 1923-1926. Privately held by Kathleen Moore, {Address witheld for private use,} Lexington Park, MD. 2005.))
October 1879: George and Josephine’s third child, Dora Thorward, is born. ((1900 U.S. Census,Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, ED 215, sheet 8-A, dwelling 145, family 158, Dora Plume.))
1880: George’s family is living in Caldwell. George’s occupation is listed as Cigar Maker. ((1880 U.S. Census,Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, ED 94, page 403-B (stamped), dwelling 96, family 101, George Thorward.))
20 Aug 1890: George arrives back in the US after a trip to Germany. His port of departure was Antwerp and port of arrival was New York. However his occupation was given as ‘cooper’. I can’t be sure this is the correct George because of that. The birth year of around 1852 fits though. ((“New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,” roll M237_553, list number 1227, images, Ancestry.com:2010.))
December 1897: George’s daughter, Dora, marries Leslie Plume. ((Atlantic – Hudson Co., NJ., “Marriages, Atlantic-Hudson v. 34,” 1897-1898, pg. 166, record 154, for “Leslie J Plume, Dora Thorward”.))
31 Aug 1898: George arrives back in the US after a trip to Germany. His port of departure was Antwerp and port of arrival was New York. His occupation, marital status, age, and address all match my George. ((“New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,” roll T715_29, page 298, images, Ancestry.com:2010.))
October 1898: George’s son, Lewis, marries Jennie Love. ((Atlantic – Hudson Co., NJ., “Marriages, Atlantic-Hudson v. 36,” 1898-1899, pg. 169, record 1, for “Lewis Thorward, Jennie V Love”.))
1900: George’s family were living on Central Avenue in Caldwell, New Jersey. ((1900 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, ED 215, sheet 7-B, dwelling 133, family 145, George Thorward))
1910: George and his wife were living in Caldwell, New Jersey. ((1910 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, ED 156, sheet 2-B, dwelling 38, family 39, George Thorward))
1920: George’s household at 110 Central Avenue is counted, however it doesn’t seem like they were actually home at the time. I think the neighbors must have given information because it is very sparse. ((1920 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ, Caldwell, ED 22, sheet 19-B, dwelling 425, family 458, George Thorwood.))
1930: George and his wife were living at 112 Central Avenue. George gives a immigration year of 1865 and an occupation of cigar maker. ((1930 U.S. Census, Essex Co., NJ., Caldwell, ED 353, sheet 11-A, dwelling 238, family 254, George Thorward.))
1940: George passes away after a 6 month illness.
George Thorward obit. I have no source info for this one. It was among Llewellyn's thing.
I’m coming clean today about my addiction to naming patterns. My brother is a 4th generation William Moore, and that wasn’t even the beginning of the Williams. In my old “Original” family file, I had 180 Williams in a database of 4,349 people. That’s 4% of my tree being made up of men named William. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things but in my new revamped file, where I still have two branches of the tree to add, there are 49 Williams out of 923 people. That’s already 5% without adding in the Taylors, Crabbs, or Webbs. To anyone but me that doesn’t seem like much but I know for a fact I have 475 people with the Taylor surname in my old “Original” file.
I think it’s this over abundance of Williams that has led to my fascination with naming patterns. I’ve used naming patterns for the Scottish ancestry on my father’s side of the tree. I’ve talked about naming patterns on the blog. I’ve printed out every naming pattern variation I’ve ever come across online. I’ve tried to find patterns in my families that don’t follow a naming pattern. When I say obsession, I mean OBSESSION.
One thing I haven’t done with naming patterns is see if they pertain at all to my Mays line. The Mays family were the most prolific of my lines, so it would be really interesting to dissect them!
Click for full size
The naming pattern rules I’m using were found on the genealogy.com website. The article was written by Donna Przecha. An important part of the article is that you can’t put too much credence in naming patterns. They are very helpful if your family happened to follow them, but not everyone did. Especially if there are skeletons in the closet or a lot of children. A lot of times you can also count on a “regional” or “period” name. You’ll see it most in census records where you see so many names at once. I have only heavily researched the Ohio/Kentucky/Virginia and New Jersey areas. However, I can tell you the names Mahala and Arminda are more common to the rural Ohio/Kentucky area then New Jersey. In New Jersey you’ll find a lot more traditional names; Catherine, George, Lewis, Josephine.
First son: Father’s father.
Second son: Mother’s father.
Third son: Father
Fourth son: Father’s eldest brother.
First daughter: Mother’s mother.
Second daughter: Father’s mother.
Third daughter: Mother
Fourth daughter: Mother’s eldest sister.
The family I’m using this time is the family of my 3rd Great Grandparents, William Mays and Anna Click.
William and Anna’s first son, James. I don’t know the name of William’s father, so there is no way to see if the pattern holds up.
William and Anna’s first daughter, Frances Susan. Frances gets both her names from her grandmothers. Her first name after her father’s mother and her middle name after her mothers. Frances went by both names at different points in her life.
William and Anna’s second daughter, Nancy. I don’t see any instance of Nancy in the immediate family, but I know they use this name often in future generations.
William and Anna’s third daughter, Rebecca. She is not named after her mother.
William and Anna’s second son, John Harmon. Anna’s father was named John, so this fits with the pattern.
William and Anna’s third son, William. He does have the same name as his father.
William and Anna’s fourth daughter, Elizabeth. Anna’s eldest sister was named Elizabeth.
William and Anna’s fourth son, Thomas Lindsey. As far as I know, William’s eldest brother is named James. So this doesn’t fit in with the pattern.
So I came up 4/8 on the first four of each gender. That’s actually not bad especially with quite a few holes in the family picture. Another thing I noticed while looking over the siblings of each family for a few generation is a few middle names that most likely came from surnames that married into the family (ie. Harmon, Lindsey, Hudson). For the sake of research sake I also must mention that William’s brother, Nathan, had at least 18 children and I don’t think any of them followed any type of pattern.
Now the fun part would be to see if the Mays family follows their own pattern. Maybe I can make a chart and dissect the family names myself. Do you see what I mean by obsessed now?
Disclaimer: I am no expert at naming patterns. I’m not even sure about most of the information a generation above William and Anna. I used my “original” file to analyze this hypothesis. I haven’t delved deeply into Anna’s family yet, because I know it twists and turns amongst the Mays/Slusher/Whitt lines, so I decided to hold off until I had the rest of the tree re-added. That way I can keep moving forward instead of continuously going sideways for now.
After looking over my timeline of William H Moore, I became determined to check Brooklyn in the 1875 New York State Census. For me, finding William in 1875 would be a big help. This way I would be able to tell whether he had made it back from Chicago yet. I didn’t like having that huge gap between 1871 and 1880.
The first thing I did was check the Brooklyn city directory for 1875. I figured if I could find William at one of his usual addresses, then my job would be that much easier!
Analysis:
There are two William H Moores in the directory. One is a basketmaker and the other a carpenter. The carpenter makes me happy, but I don’t recognize the address, so it’s going down as my first possibility.
There are 3 other carpenters that are just listed as William Moore. I’ve added them to the list under the other William H Moores. If I find the other two, and still haven’t found my William, then I’ll check them.
My next step was to plot the first William H Moore into Google Earth to see where exactly he was located in 1875. From there I can see how far he was from the later addresses I’ve documented for William’s family.
It might be a little hard to tell in the scaled down version, but Stockton Street is not far at all from William H Moore‘s 1880-1886 address.
My next step was to find out where to start. FamilySearch has the 1875 New York State Census, but not an index. There is a website that has a great list of the 1876 Election Districts of Brooklyn.
Now the hard part comes. I have a little clue in the fact that I have never found William H Moore in a Ward under 20. So I decided to start at the highest ward numbers and work my way backwards.
Ward 25, District 4, doesn’t exactly work. I used the polygon tool in Google Earth to see the area covered by each district. The red thumb tack is where the William H Moore in the city directory is located. With this, I know I can probably jump to another ward, and check to see if that’s a little closer to where I need to be.
So I looked around where I want to find William in the census, and tried to find a boundary street in the district listings that matched. I hit pay dirt in the 21st ward. All the districts in the 21st ward have boundary street combinations of Lafayette Avenue, Nostrand Ave, and Myrtle Avenue.
Jackpot! This is the 21st Ward, District 6. While it took a little while to plot the different districts. I was able to keep them plotted and turned off in Google Earth in case I needed to check them for the other William Moores.
As it turns out, I won’t need to because this is in fact my William on Stockton Street. So I’m now able to confirm another address for William between 1870 and 1880. I also know that his family made the trek between Chicago and Brooklyn sometime between 1871 and 1875. Despite what it says on the census, the three boys were all born in Illinois.
So this is how I found my William H Moore in 1875 without an index to search!
I have a situation that has recently come up. You see, when I was rebuilding my father’s side of the family tree, I didn’t have the problem I’m about to explain.
I’ve finally made my way past the Mays line of my family tree, and now I’m onto the Slusher line. Funny thing is that 3 Slusher siblings married into the Mays family, so technically I’m still researching Mays’. Of the 10 Slusher children you see above, I’ve already researched 3 of them. Well technically two, because I couldn’t find the paper trail for the third. I’ve probably spent the past month going on down the Quesinberry line of the Slusher family. Technically I’m not related to the Quesinberrys. Oliver Quesinberry married Mahala Slusher, but I’m not descended through Mahala. I am descended through her sister Celia.
For some all this work on the Quesinberrys could be a waste of valuable research time. However, in rural Kentucky, it’s actually not. A lot of the times families in rural Kentucky had 10-15+ children. However, this is rural territory. A lot of times you have siblings of your ancestors marrying the siblings of their in-laws. I hope that made sense. It’s why I have 3 Slushers marrying 3 Mays‘. For me, anytime I run across Slusher, Mays, Click, Adkins, Whitt, or Crisp, I just go ahead and document everything I can about the siblings. Sometimes, when you’re in the midst of all these people, it’s hard to resist just adding everyone.
In my original family file, which was a combination of my Grandma’s copy of the family tree and online trees, I made the mistake of getting TOO carried away when it came to documenting the in-laws of my family tree. I haven’t done that this time yet. So far, I document the parent names of the person marrying into the family and most times I will also go ahead and add their siblings into the tree, it depends on how I’m feeling. I however, do not research the siblings in that case. I’m only researching the siblings of my blood relations. This rule gets thrown out for me if I run across a lot of people with the same surname marrying in. Then that surname gets bumped up on my priority list.
Of course, sometimes this gets me into trouble. Like today. I’ll admit to getting a little bored with the Quesinberry family. Not because they weren’t interesting, just that there were so many of them! Lawson Quesinberry‘s first wife gave birth to 16 children! Oy!
However, searching through newspapers has been an eye opener. A lot of the Quesinberry’s were LDS Church members. So when they were in the paper, they were IN the paper with full histories. It was glorious! Today I ran across the above article about Alfred Quesinberry. At first I wasn’t sure if it was Alfred, but after putting a few different clues together, I’m pretty sure it is. Most especially the Hunnewell, Greenup County, Kentucky reference. Alfred’s brother, Farris, spent a lot of years in that area at the same time. Farris‘s first marriage didn’t work out as well either.
After trying to find out the outcome of the bigamy debacle, I decided to do something a little more productive for the moment. I looked up the young son that is mentioned in the article. I found him in the Kentucky Birth Index and then was able to find another interesting bit on him.
Despite all the other wonderful information, I notice that it mention his parents Mr. and Mrs. Frank Newman. Yes, Pearl Griffith Quesinberry Sharp decided to give marriage another go, this time with Frank Newman. I found the couple in the 1930 census in Ashland, Kentucky. I even found another marriage record for Alfred Quesinberry in West Virginia.
What I did not find however, is Charles or Alfred in 1930! Where on earth are they? Do you see the wonderful mysteries and adventures you can find when you go on down the side branches of your family tree?
