2015 Genealogy Plan

I've compiled a list of Educational and Family Research goals for the new year.

• Index at least one batch of records per month for FamilySearch.org.
• Attend class weekly at my local Family History Center.
• Watch all recorded Roots Tech 2015 classes online.
• Learn both RootsMagic and Legacy genealogy software programs, with an emphasis on learning to use their To-Do list and Research Log.
• Continue to watch and update trees at Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, and FindMyPast.com
• Work on obtaining additional sources for my fifth generation ancestors and find additional sixth generation ancestors. Request and order missing vital records: birth and marriage records for my grandparents and a death record for an infant brother.
• Blog on a weekly basis. (Posts may include personal stories and photos as well as general genealogy info that I find worthy of sharing.)

 Pedigree chart generated at treeseek.com

Mormon Leaders Call for Laws That Protect Religious Freedom

From mormonnewsroom.org 
Elder Dallin H. Oaks said: “...the Church asserts the following principles based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, and on fairness for all, including people of faith:

• We claim for everyone the God-given and Constitutional right to live their faith according to the dictates of their own conscience, without harming the health or safety of others.
• We acknowledge that the same freedom of conscience must apply to men and women everywhere to follow the religious faith of their choice, or none at all if they so choose.
• We believe laws ought to be framed to achieve a balance in protecting the freedoms of all people while respecting those with differing values.
• We reject persecution and retaliation of any kind, including persecution based on race, ethnicity, religious belief, economic circumstances or differences in gender or sexual orientation.”

Watch the news conference here:

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said that “accommodating the rights of all people – including their religious rights– requires wisdom and judgment, compassion and fairness. Politically, it certainly requires dedication to the highest level of statesmanship.”  And he added: “Nothing is achieved if either side resorts to bullying, political point scoring or accusations of bigotry. These are serious issues, and they require serious minds engaged in thoughtful, courteous discourse.”

Auto-Biography - my dad's pickup truck

Photo from examiner.com, 63 Chevrolet C-10 Short Bed Fleetside

From an article entitled 1960 - 1966 Chevrolet trucks stand the test of time

My dad's pickup truck (similar to the photo above) originally belonged to my Grandpa Del Buckley. I'm not certain on the details, but somehow it changed hands when my Grandpa purchased a new truck for himself. It was my dad's first pickup and he loved it. When he brought it home, it was brown and had a few rust holes. But after my dad finished with it many weeks later, it was transformed from rusty brown to shiny royal blue with a creamy white top. My dad couldn't be prouder of his new toy.

Two interesting things about the truck. One, the floor in the back bed was wooden rather than metal. That meant you definitely had to watch out for splinters. The second item of interest was what happened on a special trip we took a trip to Kansas City, Missouri which revolved around a brand new refrigerator from Montgomery Wards.

The back story is my parents had shopped around a long time for the perfect refrigerator and finally decided on a beautiful brown one with double doors and a freezer on the bottom.  However there was just one slight problem--Wards didn't have delivery service to our home in Kansas. "I can get it," offered my dad, "with the pickup!"

He and I embarked that day with such high hopes. With the help of some guys at the loading dock we quickly had the refrigerator on board and it was tied down securely with ropes crisscrossed in several directions. About 30 minutes from home however, the unthinkable happened. We heard a horrible thud and screeching sound coming from behind us. A sick feeling came over me as I gazed out the back window and watched our new refrigerator bouncing down the highway. I was so sick at the sight I couldn't stop crying. I’m sure my dad wanted to cry, too. Can you imagine the turmoil he felt inside--what am I going to do? How will I break the news to my wife? Did it hit anything or anyone?

Fortunately, the only damage done was to the highway and to our new refrigerator. A number of cars saw what happened and stopped to help my dad lift the refrigerator back into our pickup so we could continue our drive home and break the news to my mom. Funny thing--I don't really remember what she did when she got the news. I can't tell you whether she laughed or cried. I guess I was too busy feeling sorry for myself, doing the only thing a six year old girl knows how to do–cry. And that’s what I did. Ultimately, I was the one who needed the most consoling that night. Luckily, the story didn't end there.

The next day, after a phone call to Montgomery Wards we returned the scratched and dented refrigerator and got another in it’s place. But this time my dad took my mom instead of me on the road trip in our blue Chevy pickup.

Biggest Family History Discovery in 2014

 

Photo linked from Findagrave.com 

Albert Monson Parker and wife, Elizabeth Y VanZant

1)  What was your best research achievement in 2014?  Tell us - show us a document, or tell us a story, or display a photograph.  Brag a bit!  You've earned it!
Finding the Albert & Elizabeth Parker family in Montana and documenting their relationship to my great grandfather, Charles Albert Parker, was my biggest breakthrough in the year 2014. I'd been looking months for a clear parental connection between this couple [the Parkers] and my great grandfather.
Charlie Parker ended up living most of his life in Missouri where he raised two daughters and a son with his wife, Leona Ann Anderson. I had US Census records documenting an "Albert and Elizabeth Parker family" living in Iowa & Nebraska but there was no trace of them in their later years. Since "Albert Parker", "Charles Parker" and "Elizabeth Parker" are fairly common names, I felt I needed concrete evidence that could connect the Parkers that immigrated to Montana to the Parker family that lived for years in Iowa, then in Nebraska, and finally in Montana. 
My big break came through a distant cousin I met through FamilySearch.org. He sent me scans of several documents, including an obituary for Charlie's step brother Edwin E Smith, which helped me finally connect all the pieces. [Thank you Cousin Robert!]

2)  We all have elusive ancestors.  What research problem do you want to work on in 2015?  Tell us where you want to research and what you hope to find.
In 2015 I hope to discover more about the Parker and VanZant families, especially Elizabeth's parents.  

• Why did the Parker family leave the mid-west and head to Montana?
• And how did my great grandfather Charlie end up in Missouri?
• What's the correct spelling of VanZant? I've documented at least four different spellings
• Is Elizabeth's mother's maiden name Sarah Hutton or Hutlon?
• How did Elizabeth's first husband, Esiriah Edward Smith die? This is when a death certificate would come in handy.
• Discover more about the child, Henry S Parker, that shows up on the 1880 US Census while the family is living in Woodbury, Iowa but isn't listed in the 1885 Nebraska Census or the 1900 US Census? Perhaps he was a child that died young. Once again, I need to locate a death certificate.

There are also a couple of other female ancestors I want to spend time looking for (ie., my great grandmother Lillie Virginia Grissom, 2nd great grandmother Sarah Jane Olivar, and 3rd great grandmother Elizabeth Lee). I have US Census records for each but I need to locate and order vital records such as birth and death certificates, most from rural Missouri but some from Oklahoma and Texas.

What you can learn from the 1840 US Census

I just finished reading The Secrets of the 1840 Census, Revealed on ancestralfindings.com. It was an eye opener. In the past I thought any census taken before 1850 was generally a waste of time except for citing the head of household's name. But this article gives some great insight into what can be found and what you won’t find in other census records, even after 1840. Much of the information included in the 1840 census is particular to that census alone. Most interesting to me is the listing of Revolutionary War Pensioners. Who knew?

Taken directly from the ancestralfindings.com website:

Here are the things the 1840 census includes that you won’t find in earlier census records:

• The name of the head of the household
• The address of the house (useful if you want to try to find it, or the land on which it was located)
• The number of free white males and free white females, divided into the following age groups: 0-5 years, 5-10 years, 10-15 years, 15-20 years, 20-30 years and every 10 years up to age 100, and ages 100 and older.
• The number of slaves in the household, divided into the same age groups and by gender
• The number of free black people in the household, divided into the same age groups and by gender
• The number of insane people in a household, by race
• The number of deaf, mute, and blind people in a household, by race
• The number of people actively attending school in each household
• Seven different occupations, and the number of people in the household employed in each of these occupations, if any
• The number of white people in a household over the age of 20 who could not read or write
• The number of Revolutionary War pensioners in the household

Auto-Biography - the family station wagon

Over the years we had several white station wagons. We used to take family vacations almost every year to Idaho Falls, Idaho to see our grandparents and cousins. I have lots of great memories of those road trips. We saw the great Salt Lake once and Mount Rushmore another year. Usually we would take three days to make the 1000 plus mile trip from Kansas to Idaho with overnight stops in Nebraska and Wyoming.
 

Our family Pontiac Catalina sometime in the 1970's on our way to Idaho. 

If you look closely you can see my little brothers sitting in the very back.

On one such trip my brothers and I were swimming in the motel swimming pool when my legs cramped up and I couldn’t move them. I started yelling “Help! Help!” when our mom dove into the swimming pool, clothes and all, to rescue me. Being a teen who considered herself "fearless" I got out, waited for 30 minutes then told myself to get back in there. It wasn't long after I mustered the courage to jump back in, when a Hispanic lady started to scream hysterically for “help”. At first we had no idea what she was saying because she was screaming in Spanish. Once again, my mom jumped into the pool to rescue the woman. It took a long time to calm the stranger down; I guess you could say she didn't handle a near death experience as well as I did. She made quite a scene. Once the drama had finally passed, my mom decided it was time for all of us to get out of the pool for the evening. And she could finally get some dry clothes.

It was definitely a family vacation that I will never forget.

Best genealogy websites for you

The blog article is entitled "Which are the Best Genealogy Websites for YOU?" written by Lisa Louise Cooke. It's a quick and easy read and gives some good general advice.

She suggests using Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org for general depth of records. For its international user base try MyHeritage.com  and FindMyPast.com is a good choice for its British sources.

I'm including links to each website.