Fishished

No, not with my genealogy, that should be at least another year or so.

I've competed the NGS Home Study Course and the ProGen Study Group. Both courses were enjoyable and informative, although, I probably could have done better if I had not overlapped the courses and focused on each one separately.

Next, I am planning on taking the "Gen Proof" study group using the Mastering Genealogical Proof by Thomas W. Jones beginning in September.

After that I plan to tackle the certification process through the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

I am a member of the National Genealogical Society and am thinking of joining the Association of Professional Genealogists at the subscriber level. I definitely need to work on my networking and joining more associations and local groups should become a top priority.

Goals for April

1.  Finish my biography of my great grandfather Dennis McFadden for the final NGS-HSC assignment.      I have most of the information I need, however including only relevant information and leaving out extraneous filler is proving to be difficult.

2.  Devote sufficient time to this months ProGen assignment-A proof argument for my great grandmother Sealy (Celia) AUTREY Sample.  Unfortunately on some of the assignments I didn't spend as much time as I should have and felt that I rushed the assignment.  I still learned a lot but don't think I did as well as I could have.

3.  Continue organizing my files and notes and entering my information into the Reunion software.

4.  I'm not able to attend any of the national conferences this year so I need to look for more local events.  First I'll sign up for the Angelina College Genealogy Conference in Lufkin, Texas.

5.  Be more consistent on posting here and start citing any sources used according to Evidence Explained.

6.  Start planning for genealogy research trips.  My first one will most likely be to Robertson County, Texas to look for Sealy's mother Dianacy "Dicy" Autrey who may have lived there and operated a store with her husband John Mabe.

7.  Decide on whether to get an iPad or iPad mini.  The Reunion app would be helpful especially at conferences and short genealogy trips.

Motivation Monday-February

National Genealogical Society Home Study Course-

The last few months have been fairly slow genealogy-wise.  I'm still waiting on my gr grandfathers military records from the VA to arrive so I have not ordered the third disc of the NGS  homestudy course yet.  Unfortunately, from what I have heard it can take anywhere up to a year to get a reply and so far he is the only ancestor I enough to write a biographical sketch about.  I plan on ordering the third disc this month and get the other assignments finished and turned in while continue to work on other prospects for the sketch in case I don't get much from the VA.

Professional Genealogy Study Group 15-

I am beginning the ProGen 15 course this month, which will occupy my time for the next 18 months.  This has put me back into the genealogy frame of mind.  Along with Professional Genealogy I'll keep up with various periodicals, blog posts and training webinars that I have let slip for the last few months.

Organizing:

I have finished scanning my grandmothers photo collection and letters and now need to organize, label and tag them. Next I need to go through her scrapbooks and albums and see what I can do with those and what may be hidden in the pages.

Conferences:

I need to register for the NGS 2012 Family History Conference in May and should be able get that done this week.   

Non Genealogy Goal:

I need to get on my bicycle again.  My last 20 mile ride felt more like an 80 mile ride. If I want to do the MS150 again, I definitely need to do better. 

Mystery Monday - A year in Oklahoma

I'm finishing up the NGS Home Study Course and am getting information together to write an ancestor biography.  I have decided to write it on my gr gr grandfather Zephaniah Webb (1826-1906). 

While I don't have a lot of information on him I probably have more than on most other ancestors I could do this assignment on. 

I had assumed that once he moved to Arkansas with his father around 1858, he stayed there until he died. 

In the 1880 census, he is living with his wife Clementine and four children:

     Elizabell (Elizabeth) age 14

     Huston N. age 13

     Mary A. age 10

     Charley J. age 5

In the 1900 census, he is living with his son Charley J. and his family.  His other son Huston is also living in the household.

According to a letter written by a cousin, Zephaniah moved with Charley J. and his family to "...Oklahoma about 1898...where they made only one crop and then returned to Pope County." 

I have not found any other reference to this move to Oklahoma.  I did search the Reconstructed 1890 census : taken from personal property tax rolls recorded by school district, range and township, Pope County, Arkansas / copied by Genealogical Records Committee, Persis Lovely Chapter, DAR and did not find any CJ or ZT Webb’s listed. 

My next step is to try to find some Oklahoma property records around that time period.  Hopefully they did own the land they farmed otherwise this may be one of those mysteries that remains unsolved.

Progress

Today I have been working on the NGS Home Study Course vital records assignment, lesson 6.  I visited the County Clerk's Office in order to survey their marriage records.  All marriage licenses have been digitized and can be accessed on one of several computers in the office for viewing various records. 

Cool, I thought as I sat down and began performing various searches.  I found the database easy to use and was able to quickly find the information I needed. 

I did come across a few pages that were dark and impossible to read.  The scanned image included a helpful notation that said Original Illegible.   Even so, and because I like looking through old books, I wanted to take a look at the original, so I went to the desk to ask if I I could see the original documents.

I was told that once the records are scanned they get rid of the originals.

I guess that is progress.

I can only hope that  before the aliens send a pulse to destroy our computer infrastructure as they begin their invasion that these records are somehow backed up and protected.  

Census

I just competed the fifth lesson in the HGS home study course dealing with census records.  While I didn't really learn anything I hadn't known or heard before about using the census, I did find the checklist very useful.

 No. 12 Charlie J. Webb (1874-1937)

            1880, Arkansas, (named male, 6 yrs, in household of his father Zephaniah Webb)

            1890, Arkansas, (no census for Arkansas due to fire damage to census)

            1900, Pope Co., Arkansas, (Head of household, 25 yrs)

            1910, Pope Co., Arkansas, (Head of household, 35 yrs)

            1920, Pope Co., Arkansas, (Head of household, 45yrs)

            1930, Pope Co., Arkansas, (Head of household, 55 yrs)

No. 13 Roxie Anna Hughes (1876-1961)

            1880, Arkansas, (named female, 4 yrs, in the household of her father)

            1890, Arkansas, (no census for Arkansas due to fire damage to census)

            1900, Arkansas, (named female, 24 yrs, in the household of her father)

            1910, Pope Co., Arkansas, (wife, 34 yrs, in the house of her husband, Charlie Webb)

            1920, Pope Co., Arkansas, (wife, 44 yrs, in the household of her husband, Charlie Webb)

            1930, Pope Co., Arkansas, (wife, 54 yrs, in the household of her husband , Charlie Webb)

14. Dennis C. McFadden (1847-1924)

            1850, Ireland

            1860, Ohio, (named male, 13 yrs, possibly in the household of his  sister, Unk Ferry)

1870, Pennsylvania, (head of household, 23 yrs)

            1880, Pennsylvania, (head of household, 33 yrs)

            1890, (no census for Pennsylvania due to fire damage to census)  

1900, Washington Co., Pennsylvania, (head of household, 53 yrs)

            1910, Washington Co., Pennsylvania, (head of household, 63 yrs)

            1920, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania, (head of household, 73 yrs)

15. Elizabeth Neuland (1866-1949)

            1870, Maryland or Pennsylvania, (named female, 4 yrs, in the household of her father, Lewis Neuland)

            1880, Pennsylvania, (named female, 14 yrs, in the household of her father, Lewis Neuland)

            1890, (no census for Pennsylvania due to fire damage to census)

            1900, Washington Co., Pennsylvania, (wife, 34 yrs, in the household of her husband, Dennis McFadden)

            1910, Washington Co., Pennsylvania, (wife, 44 yrs, in the household of her husband, Dennis McFadden)

            1920, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania, (wife, 54 yrs, in the household of her husband, Dennis McFadden)

            1930, Baltimore, Maryland, (named female, 64 yrs, in the household of her son Cornelius McFadden)

Before when I searched for census records it was more scatter shot and I really didn't have anything planned out.  Using this I think will be very beneficial, time wise. 

I'd also like to create a spreadsheet for this so I can search it and not have to scroll or flip through several pages to find what I am looking for.

Motivation Monday -Those Troublesome Autrey's

I am currently working on my NGS-home study course lesson 2 and am starting to obsess on it a little.  This assignment involves analyzing a family story.

The basic story is that we are distantly related to a certain singing cowboy from back in the day.  Other Autrey family searchers seem convinced that the story is true, however in my search so far I have been unable to confirm their findings.

Here is what I need to do this week:

1. Stop obsessing over which Cornelius is the likely common ancestor.

2. Don't worry about having a cite for each and every believed fact.
The point of this exercise to to evaluate what I have uncovered,
not to prove something beyond a reasonable doubt.

3. Cover the highlights of the story and whether they mesh with the     facts.

4. Write the summary, no more than two pages, and submit it.

NGS-Home Study Course-Lesson 1

I just completed lesson 1 and it's on the way to be graded. This lesson was to create a pedigree chart and family group sheet with citations. I figured this assignment would be a breeze, but it turns out, the little genealogy I had done in the past was not done with any system in place.

I had small pieces of paper with little notes scribbled that I couldn't figure out what they meant. I had copies of pages from books that had no information about the source, and if it did, it had important items missing like page numbers, etc.

I did refer to Elizabeth Shown Mills’ book Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, which made it much easier. Now I just have to sit back and wait. Oh, and start the next lesson.

What I Learned Today

Today I learned that proper citations are our friends.  I found on Roots Web a nice transcription of a family Bible that includes one of my ancestors birthdays.  That with a couple of census records verify at least the month and the year. 

Unfortunately, no other information about the source was included other than it was the George Washington Webb & Elizabeth Gant family Bible.  I tried to email the original poster but since the message was from 1999 it was unsurprisingly returned.  I have contacted a few distant cousins who are also working on this line in hopes that they have a little more information on this source.

And I thought the  first assignment in the NGS Home Study Course would be a cinch.

Now I'm just repeating to myself, "cite your sources, cite your sources" until it sticks.

NGS Home Study Course-lesson 1

I finally received the first disc for the NGS Home Study Course and am currently working on the first assignment.  My Webb line is the one I probably have the most information on so I figured it would be a breeze, especially first starting out.

I already had the pedigree chart pretty much filled out but I hadn't done any family group sheets.  I don't have a genealogy software program yet because I am still planning on buying an Apple that I plan to use primarily for genealogy.  Hopefully if things go right I should be able to get it soon.  So right now I just need to figure out how to export the form into Word so I can work on it.

I also have learned that I really need to work on my organization.  Unfortunately, I do almost everything the introductory section of  lesson 1 says not to do.  I have notes scribbled on small scraps of paper.  I have sheets of paper with multiple names from different family lines written in no order.  So in order to find my citations, I have to go through several folders and loose pieces of paper to find what I need.  This is helping because when I find a citation, I now double check the cite for accuracy and put it in its proper location so I don't have to waste time in the future shuffling paper.

The sad part is that I thought I was fairly organized, and after seeing the organization skills of some others I probably am.