TEXAS RESEARCH RAMBLERS

GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

           Volume XV, No. 7, July 15, 2005    Bryan-College Station, Texas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Officers
2. Last Meeting
3. Treasurer’s Report
4. Next Meeting
5. Future Seminars and Trips
6. FYI
7. Success Stories
8. Websites
9. Historical Moment
10. GenQuip

OFFICERS  for 2004-2005

President:  Bill Lay

Vice-President:  Mary Elizabeth Dresser

Secretary:  Georgianne Bigam

Treasurer:  Sue Foy

Corresponding Secretary:  Carol Lyon

LAST MEETING

Our June 29, 2005, meeting was called to order by President Bill Lay.  Then Sue Foy introduced our program entitled, “Success Stories.”  

Sue shared her story of her 91/2 year search for her great-great-grandfather Robert Swan.  One thing she had to deal with was which family stories to believe.  However, through “Patience” and “Perseverance,” she ultimately found a rewarding success.

Sue’s Methods:

1. She researched the collateral lines of  Robert Swan’s ten children to find the writings of the youngest son, which led to more clues.
2. She got in touch with a distant cousin, who gave her the address of the family historian, and then wrote the family historian in 1996.
3. Responding to a grandson’s project, Sue found on the Internet a website pertaining to the Swan memorabilia of the Indiana Historical Society.
4. Through a casual meeting of a fellow researcher from Indiana, who located five boxes of memorabilia of Mr. and Mrs. William F. Swan of the Indiana Historical Society, Sue obtained a large amount of information of the family.
5. In August of 2004, Sue wrote a second letter to a family historian, and her Christmas present in the mail was information about her dead-end ancestor that she did not have.  This event opened up an e-mail correspondence, which led to even more information.

WAY TO GO, SUE!

Carol Lyon spent 26 years playing “hide and seek” looking for her great-grandfather, a ship captain on the Great Lakes.  .  Thanks to online databases, she was able to overcome some obstacles, like looking for Lawrence Lawrence, and the possibility that he was buried at sea, plus his life events that occurred prior to the Great Fire of 1871 in Chicago, which destroyed all vital records. She encouraged us to not hesitate to Google for your folks, and get a “finder” mentality to help us along the way.

Carol’s Methods:

1. She found city directories were valuable as census, marriage, and death substitutes, because they give more information than names and addresses.  In her case she not only found her great-grandfather listed in the 1859 Chicago city directory, but also found out he was living with his brothers and found out their occupations.  Her g-grandmother was listed as a widow in a later directory, naming her deceased husband.
2. Also, she found ship enrollments of the Great Lakes to be a great substitute for deed records.  This information is available online as an index, and ordering the records gave her the complete history of his schooner and an abstract of the title.
3. An online book, Norwegian Sailors of the Great Lakes, written in 1929, proved to be a valuable source, as siblings of both g-grandparents were named there as well as their family data.
4. A completely filled out death certificate of her g-grandmother Lawrence and the cemetery lot card were sources that led Carol to find information her g-grandfather and g-g-grandfather’s death dates and burials.
5. A cemetery monument work order gave her the clue that her g-grandfather may have been a Civil War veteran, which led her to do an online search of Illinois Civil War  soldiers.  She found out he served with a Scandinavian regiment from 1862 to 1865.
6. Search on The International Genealogical Index online at FamilySearch.org  led Carol to films, which gave additional siblings not listed online, as well as marriages and deaths in the families there.

WAY TO GO, CAROL!

Doris Emshoff searched for information about her father, who did not know about his family.  She knew her dad’s dad came from Alabama to Robertson County and Milam County.  Her grandfather had married in 1902 in Milam County and said he did not have any family.  Even her dad did not know them. Her results were titled, “Bittersweet Findings.”

Doris’ Methods:

1.  Her first story was her search for information at Social Security offices in several towns, which resulted in family information of her father, such as his parents’ names, mother’s maiden name, birth date, and place of birth.

2.  The second story was about replacing medals her father earned in military service.  She said we can go to the internet to download Application Form #180, or even better, go to the Veterans Administration Office in downtown Bryan to pick up the form.

3.  Although she started out searching for just the Purple Heart medal, she ended up with eight more medals he had earned.

4.  The gracious gentleman who helped her is Frank Kochman with the American Legion. He would be a local contact for anyone needing information on this type of search.

WAY TO GO, DORIS!

It is fortunate that the Ramblers have not only these three ladies as “experts,” but we also have a whole group of people to help us with our research. Whether you search on foot or online, you too will have success.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Sue Foy reports the ending balance as of /2005 was $ 5,419.35.  She will be collecting dues for next year at the July and August meetings:  $20/individual, $35/family.

WELCOME to our visitors.  Bobbie Middleton introduced her husband, Robert Middleton, and Doris Emshoff introduced her friend, Anna Kellett.

NEXT MEETING DATE AND PROGRAM

We will meet at the College Station Utility Service Center, located at 1601 Graham Rd. in College Station, on July 27, 2005, at 9:30 a.m.   

·        We will vote on a slate of officers for 2005-2006 that Dan J. Louis, chairman, and the Nominating Committee, Gail Pope Sewell and Barbara Brodigan, developed.  That slate of officers include:

v     President:  Dan Castillo

v     Vice-President:  Mary Elizabeth Dresser

v     Secretary:  Georgianne Bigam

v     Treasurer:  Sue Foy

v     Corresponding Secretary:  Helen Wolf

·        Bring a covered dish for our social hour.  Drinks, ice, silverware, and plates will be provided. 

·        A Silent Auction will be going on too.  Bring your books, tapes, periodicals, maps, etc., to donate, for a worthy cause.  If you wish to put a minimum value on an item, check with Carol Lyon about it.  Perhaps Shakespeare had genealogists in mind when he wrote, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

FUTURE SEMINARS AND TRIPS

·        Every 2^nd Wednesday of the month:  a trip to Clayton Library in Houston.  Meet at Sam’s Club Parking Lot prior to 6:45 a.m. $7.50 to your driver.  Sack lunch.  Contact person:  Bliss Wolfe, 696-0170 or (even better) cell ph# 255-2429.

·        Every 3^rd Wednesday of the month:  Computer Genealogy Users Group, headed by Bill Adams, will meet at the Exit Teen Center, 1600 Rock Prairie Rd., at 9:30 a.m.  Everyone is invited to eat at a local restaurant after the meeting.

·        Every last Wednesday of the month:  Research Ramblers will meet at College Station Utility Service Center at 9:30 a.m.  Everyone is invited to eat at a local restaurant after the meeting. 

·        For a complete listing of events, see the “Education Committee Events Calendar.”

·        For workshops around the state: http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Etxcoke/txsem.html .

·        For trips to the library in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 23-30, 2005; and to the library in Dallas, July 31-August 4,2005; contact Travel Committee Chairman, Mary Elizabeth Dresser, meatd@cox.net.

·        August 8, 2005:  Research Ramblers Workshop 1:00-3:00 p.m. at THE EXIT, Rock Prairie Road, “Writing Your Family History.”  Contact Dan Louis: dlouis1938@aol.com

FYI:  TIPS FROM OTHERS:

Authors Terry and Jim Willard  discuss “10 Common Research Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” in a recent Ancestry magazine article.  They make some suggestions so we won’t make the same mistakes they did.  (#10 and #9 were in the June newsletter)

Mistake #8:  Overlooking the maiden names of female ancestors.  By writing the maiden name on a form, you are providing information for future research since some families use the mother’s maiden name as a middle name for the oldest male child.

Mistake #7:  Assuming you are related to a famous person who shares the same surname.  When people assume they are related to a famous person with the same surname, they make the mistake of starting their research with the famous person and working to themselves.  Remember to start with yourself and work backwards in time, prove the connection between each generation, and record where the information was found.  If you do prove the connection, you’ll really have something to brag about.

SUCCESS STORIES

Lucy Patton is the recipient of the July Success Story for her book on her grandfather, James Job Taylor, pictured below.  Lucy compiled her information from letters, interviews, funeral homes, libraries, newspapers, family, and cemetery research.

James Job Taylor wrote to his son Mack about being wounded in a battle near Richmond, Virginia, on June 30, 1862.  The oral history that accompanied the story was that he was shot through the lower jaw and was “left for dead on the battlefield.”  The story goes that he regained consciousness, crawled to a puddle and washed the blood out of his mouth and then made his way to help.  During his recovery he started his apprenticeship in medicine which qualified him later to become a much esteemed doctor of Richland Springs, Texas. 

      Not only did J.J. Taylor become a doctor, but he and his wife raised 14 children.  Lucy Taylor Patton’s mother was the youngest of the 14 children.

      How many of us can say our grandfather was in the Civil War?  Fantastic job, Lucy!  What a treasure for your children and grandchildren.

WEBSITES

Anybody know what a “dit” name is?  Researchers with French ancestors are sometimes confused by the common usage of a “dit” name.  An example of such a “dit” name is Joseph Paquin dit Pocha.  Joseph is the first name, Paquin is the family surname, and Pocha is the “dit” name.   A “dit” name is an alias or nickname attached to a surname.  In contrast to a nickname given to an individual, a dit name is often given to distinguish between branches of a family.  Its usage exists mostly in France, New France, Acadia and even the Me’tis population of Canada.  For more information point your browser to

http://www.eogen.com/AcadianDitNames

HISTORICAL MOMENT

“I love him as hard as a mule can kick downhill.”  [Jane Ramsey, to her cousin Mary Jane Barton of Washington, Texas, 1847.] While romantic relationships in the early to mid 19^th century in Texas shared the same emotions as today’s relationships, the expressions and expectations were often quite different. 

      In the more remote areas of the Republic, some women learned to love for the sake of survival.  Ann Raney Thomas Coleman came to Texas as a young woman from England in 1832 with her parents and sister.  After the sudden loss of her parents, it became crucial that Ann find a husband.  Pressured by her temporary host family, Ann agreed to marry a man 15 years her senior, for whom she felt no attraction.  They were married exactly one week and one day later.  Ann sadly recorded her thoughts on her wedding night, “I masked the feelings of my heart on this night that it might make him who I have chosen for my husband feel happy…I had been sitting in one position half an hour before a looking glass that reflected my form to my view, when I thought, ‘I am dressed for a sacrifice.’” Like many women in Texas, Ann married for protection and provisions.

From Star of the Republic Museum Notes, vol. 30: No. 2, 2005, “Love and Marriage.”

GENQUIP

Old Polish Proverb:  “The woman cries before the wedding; the man afterward.”

The Research Rambler Newsletter is published by the Texas Research Rambler Genealogical Society, P. O. Box 11195, College Station, Texas 77842-1195. Editor,  Helen Kunz, hkk@tca.net