Thursday, January 31, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/31/08

January draws to a close with a full genealogy day at home. I stayed home and worked, but we had to go to the DMV and the store this afternoon which terminated 8 straight hours of genealogy time.

After reading my email and Bloglines at 8 a.m., I did a bit of research in the new Ancestry database of California Voter Registration Lists. I found many of my San Diego ancestors listed, and blogged about it in "California Voter Lists 1900 to 1944." I resisted the urge to waste more time, and got my Glocester RI probate record film images organized in my computer files. Then I transcribed the probate records for John Horton (1696-1796) and Elizabeth (Arnold) (Hawkins) Smith (1678-1758), widow of William Hawkins and Israel Smith.

In the afternoon, I went into the Rootsweb WorldConnect database and systematically looked for the marriage dates and names of spouses, and their birth and death dates, of the children and siblings of John Horton (1696-1796). I found some, and added them to my database. I posted "Probate Record of John Horton (1696-1796) of Glocester RI" later on. I played with Google Maps trying to get my Y-DNA and mtDNA trails defined, but couldn't figure out how to put the map in a Blogger post. Oh well. I love maps!

Tonight after dinner, I did a bit of Googling to find more information about John Horton, and reported on it in "More on the John Horton Family." I also searched the California Voter Lists for more relatives, including some of Linda's ancestors in San Francisco. This will be a good resource for Seaver families too when I get around to it.

Genealogy today was 10.0 hours - including 1.5 hours reading email and Bloglines (some excellent posts about Dinner Parties!), 2.0 hours blogging, 2.0 hours researching CA Voter Lists, 3.0 hours transcribing probate records, and 1.5 hours researching Horton data online.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/30/08

This was a very full genealogy day in which I made absolutely no progress on my own genealogy research. some days are like that, eh?

I was on the computer by 8:30 a.m., reading email and Bloglines. I printed off some of the color flyers and gathered the papers I needed for the CVGS meeting. Then I read Thomas MacEntee's blog post and thought "that was great" and decided to write the post that I have been mulling for a week now - "Bridging the Internet vs. Traditional Genealogy Gap" about genealogy societies and Internet-only researchers.

It was 10 a.m., so off I went to the UPS Store to get my copies made before the CVGS meeting at noon (see, I work well ahead of deadlines!). I got the two-sided agenda copies made, but while copying the 10 page handout two-sided, the first copy machine broke down. After 10 minutes, we decided to copy it on the second copy machine - it broke down doing two-sided copies immediately. The owner put me on the color machine doing single-sided copies - and it was really slow and balky too. He got the second machine working single-sided, so we finished the handouts and the flyers, but it took longer than expected. He gave me a good break on the cost due to the hassle, which I appreciated. He managed to have all three machines in working order (I think) before I left. I was glad I went down there early! Then it was down to McDonalds for lunch, the post office for mail, and then library to get set up.

I got to the library by 11:40 a.m., and entered through the employee entrance. Several board members were already there getting the food table and the audio/visual equipment set up. I put the agenda and program handouts on the table, grabbed a cookie, and went into the auditorium to see if the projector had arrived yet. The speaker was there waiting - it came at about 11:50, which was enough time to get the speaker set up to give her talk. The library doors opened at noon, and our members and guests invaded the conference room and auditorium. They know the drill - sign in, get handouts, buy a raffle ticket, have a snack, talk to everybody, go to the auditorium and find a comfy seat, talk some more until the meeting starts.

I started the meeting at 12:20 p.m. and we introduced the speaker, our own Shirley Becker, at 12:45 p.m. She talked about "Research in New York State." After the meeting, I went into the library and delivered the flyers for the February program, talked to my library contact person about the CVGS web page on the library site, and then came home by 3 p.m.

When I got home, I read my email and Bloglines again, then posted a summary of the presentation both Genea-Musings and the CV Genealogy Cafe blogs. I called the San Diego FHC to see if they were going to be open on Saturday, and they will not be due to Hinckley's death. I wrote a post on the CVGenCafe blog about that, then emailed our member list to tell them that we will be taking our research trip to San Diego Public Library on Saturday rather than the FHC. The library contact person emailed me with the web site information, which I edited and revised and returned to her. Then it was debate time on TV and dinner time.

I came back to the computer at 7 p.m., and made myself not browse through Google matches or WorldConnect databases looking for the elusive David and Russell Smith. I checked my Yahoo mail, read some of the Google genealogy newsgroups (these have really deteriorated), checked out the new Roots Television videos and checked in on the Forensic Genealogy photo contests. I received an email yesterday about the new Internet Genealogy magaizne, so I pulled that up and read it one sitting. I've learned to take some notes about web sites to investigate and other important issues when I have online genealogy magazines. I usually print out the table of contents page and make my notes on the back side. Hmm, now it's 10 p.m. and I've had a pleasant evening watching videos and reading genealogy magazines. I learned quite a bit tonight - the magazine is really good - and had a fun time too - cool.

Genealogy time today was 10.0 hours - 1.5 hours reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 4.0 hours doing CVGS activities, 1.5 hours watching videos, and 1.5 hour reading IG and other things. I feel like I'm back in the saddle again - finally. Maybe tomorrow I can do some database work. Or I could go to the FHC again...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/29/08

I worked on genealogy almost all day - taking a short break for lunch, another before dinner, and another to set my wife's new cell phone up this evening. Did I accomplish anything? The jury is out, I think!

I was reading my email and Bloglines at 8:30 AM, and posted my John Richman biography on Genea-Musings before I left at 10 AM for the FHC. I had three films at the FHC, and I read all three - one was will abstracts for Oneida county NY, 1790-1885 or so - and I found all of the Smith's...but not one for David or Russell smith - drat! I also read the two films with the deed index (grantor and grantee) for Smith - lots of deeds! There were some for David smith, and some for Russell and Esther Smith - so there may be some leads when I order the actual deeds on film. I got nauseous watching the film go by - I had to close my eyes, put my head down and put my hand in front of the machine while I rewound it. Then I copied the early Smith deed indexes onto my flash drive using the microfilm scanner/printer computer system. I left at about 1 PM, and was home by 1:30.

I posted the NGS Quarterly table of contents for the latest issue, and made some comments about several articles. Then I made the programs for the CVGS meeting on Wednesday, and the flyers for February. I'll take them to the copy shop, along with Shirley's handout, to make copies tomorrow.

After dinner, I messed around for most of the evening. I Googled for David smith a bit, and then searched WorldConnect for David, Russell and Arnold Smiths from RI, with no real success. WorldConnect and OneWorldTree don't have any useful family trees for my known Wade, Hawkins, Smith families... I decided to look for the genealogy and historical societies in Oneida County NY and found them, but there is not much decent online besides the USGenWeb site for Oneida County. They have listings for many cemeteries. I checked out Google Maps for Oneida and Jefferson counties to try to get a feel for settlements and the geography, but some of that area has not been mapped.

Genealogy today totalled about 8.0 hours - reading email and Bloglines was 1.0 hour, blogging was 1.5 hours, searching at the FHC was 2.5 hours, CVGS activities was 1.0 hour, and uselessly searching databases was 2.0 hours.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/28/08

Looking back on the day, it seems like I didn't get much accomplished.

I was on the computer by 8:30 AM, reading my email and then Bloglines. I polished up my post on "My Family History Genealogy Parade Float" and posted it on Genea-Musings, then I decided I had better burn down my email list. I have about 15 requests for information from my Ancestry Personal Member Trees. I printed each of them out, then went into my databases and made genealogy reports for each of them, saving them to my hard drive. Then I started answering the emails and attaching a report to the email. I got about half of them sent, and my email list is burned down a bit. Then it was lunch time and after that I went to the library for our regular Monday "table talk" session.

Dearl was holding down the fort at the library, and a couple from Colorado were busy looking at books in our genealogy collection. They have several one-name studies going as their life's work, and had an excellent system of finding data, abstracting it and eventually incorporating it into their database. Shirley came by with her laptop and showed us her NY state research presentation for comments - looked great to me. I got home by 2:30 PM.

I decided to post "Finding Cousins through Ancestry Member Trees" on Genea-Musings based on my morning efforts. Then I remembered that I needed to close out our financial records for 2007, so I did that for almost two hours. Then it was news time, dinner time, and I watched the SOTU before coming back to the computer.

I wondered if Juliana Smith had a summary for 1808 so that I could add it to my posts about "Where were they in 1808" and she didn't ... but when I Googled [1808 events] I found that Wikipedia has a page for every year and every day of the year. What a great collection of historical data (assuming it's correct...). So I read that stuff for over an hour and posted "What happened on this day, or that year?" Lastly, I updated my post about the 1940 census to add the procedure to obtain the Bill Dollarhide census book.

Hmm, I still haven't advanced the ball at all on my own research today! So I looked for info on Simon Wade and Phebe Horton on Google, Ancestry and WorldConnect - what I found was most of the submitted data reference my web page. Arggh. I give up for tonight. Tomorrow I'll go to the FHC and hopefully get some Russell Smith information.

Genealogy today was 7.5 hours - 1.0 hours was reading email and Bloglines, 1.0 hour was making genealogy reports and sending them out, 2.0 hours was blogging, 1.5 hours was CVGS related, and 1.0 hour was reading in Wikipedia and 1.0 hour was working in Ancestry/WC.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/27/08

We didn't get home from church until 1:30, there was the Annual Meeting today and I was elected to the Gifts and Memorials Committee for the third time - I've been Chair the last three years. I got my email and Bloglines read and posted about the CVGS meeting on Wednesday, but Linda wanted to do hers, so I took a nap, then watched the end of the golf - Tiger always wins in San Diego!.

At 4 PM, I came back and posted the Best of the Genea-Blogs on Genea-Musings, which takes awhile to put together. Then it was dinner time, and TV news after that.

At about 6:30, I answered a few emails and then started my blog post about the genealogy parade float. I went looking on the Library of Congress American Memory site for some images, but didn't find what I was looking for. I still have editing to do, and adding some links, but I have the basic post finished. Then I went back and spent an enjoyable hour or so looking at the photos on the LOC American Memory site - I had not visited it before.

Genealogy today was a total of about 4.0 hours - 1.5 hours with email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, and 1.0 hour looking through the LOC site.

Tomorrow may be a big genealogy day - I hope to get back into my probate transcriptions and get ready to go to the FHC on Tuesday.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/26/08

Well, the Lolo adventure is over for this month. We drove up to Temecula this morning and met her parents at the Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Murrieta. The best visual was when her mom and dad got there - Lolo came out of the restroom at the same time, saw them, and ran like in a dream shouting "mommy, mommy" with open arms and a big smile on her face. I didn't take the camera... We had lunch, exchanged stories about the week, watched Lolo play on the equipment, said goodbyes and came home, getting back at about 1 PM. I was tired from driving, so I took a nice 2 hour nap in my recliner. In the evening, one of our widow neighbors came over for dinner and conversation.

Besides reading email and other bloggers, the only positive thing I did in genealogy today was posting "Back to my Genealogy Future" and "NGS Book Collection at St. Louis County Library" on Genea-Musings. I did have an enjoyable half hour reading The Genealogue's most recent challenge results.

Other than that, I've spent a whole 3.5 hours today on genealogy - 1.5 hours reading and answering email and reading Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, and 0.5 hour researching the NGS book collection in St. Louis.

No football tomorrow - maybe I can get back to some research.

I notice that I've been putting more personal life activities in these posts - this is the only journal I'm currently writing and I will continue to write about my "real life" since it impacts my "genealogy life." Hey, it's my blog, right?

Friday, January 25, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/25/08

Today was not Lolo all the time, but it wasn't genealogy central either. We stayed home this morning until Linda came home and took Lolo to lunch and a play date. I took off for my weekly walk with George on the bayfront and then went to Costco for a new phone answering system (ours failed on Monday), and was home by 1:15. When they got back at 2, Lolo went down for her nap, and I followed at 3. I'm trying to shake the cold and failing. We went out to dinner to Rubio's, and when we got back Lolo watched TV then took her bath and was down to bed by 8.

I managed to read my email and Bloglines this morning, and then wrote my "Dinner With my Elusive Ancestors' Children" (written for the Carnival of Genealogy) after I got home from my walk. Tonight, I read email and Bloglines and browsed the new Ancestry databases, and saw the Walter Goodwin Davis compendiums are available, so I posted "Walter Goodwin Davis Ancestry Compendium on Ancestry." I didn't do much else today!

Genealogy today was about 3.0 hours - 1.0 hours on reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, and 0.5 hours checking out the Davis compendium.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/24/08

Lolo won the time battle again today. We went to the mall this morning and she played in the kiddie area for awhile, then we had Sbarro pizza for lunch - she ate a whole piece, as I did. Then it was home for a nap, but she didn't sleep. She watched TV most of the afternoon (I read and did nap!) and then she was cranky at dinner, so much so that we couldn't have an ice cream bar for dessert. She was in bed by 7 and out by 7:02 I think. On top of that, I've caught the cold that Logan had last weekend and will probably feel crappy for the next week (I use Tylenol cold and Flu to reduce the symptoms). The perils of grandparenting - I just hope Lolo doesn't get it, or her parents.

Genealogy today was limited to reading email and Bloglines, writing two posts on Genea-Musings and three on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe, getting up to speed on the Transitional Genealogists Forum blog (including reading the first study article - this is a members only blog), and searching through the English links at Price & Associates for awhile.

My total time was maybe 3.5 hours - 1.0 hour reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours blogging, 0.5 hours on the TGF blog, and 0.5 hours doing research.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/23/08

This was another Lolo-centric day - I did nothing in genealogy but read email and Bloglines and write three posts. Lolo woke up early this morning, and I let Linda get up and give her breakfast. I got up at 7 and essentially took over as Linda wanted to leave by 8 for her day out. I wanted to get on the road by 9 if possible, but Lolo didn't really want to go - she was watching Disney Channel programs.

We finally left for the Zoo at 9:45. We saw the orangs, then went down Monkey Trails to Tiger River (tiger not visible), past the hippo pool (they were sunning themselves), saw the Pandas, then up Bear Canyon and saw the lions out in the sun. At the top of the hill we had lunch, then watched the elephants up close, and left the park by 11:45. I got my exercise in - probably a good two miles. She went down for her nap when we got home so I had about 3 hours to do my genealogy thing.

I managed to read email in the morning while Linda was here, but didn't get to Bloglines until after we got home. Then I wrote three Genea-musings posts on "Where Were They in 1808? The Seaver Side," "DAR Patriot Request" and "The Baby Name Wizard NameVoyager." Lolo woke up at about 3 and we watched videos until dinner time (well, I dozed a bit too).

After dinner, we shared an ice cream bar (this is "bonding with Grandpa"), played with the Wedgits and the puzzles for awhile, then watched Diego and Blue's Clues videos, then she had her bath. I read my book for awhile and after the bath she went in to Grandma to read books, and then I put her down for bed - no fuss, she just lies down, talks a bit and goes to sleep. I watched Deal or No Deal until 9, then came to the computer and read email and Bloglines, looked for the new Ancestry databases and wrote this post.

Genealogy today - about 4.0 hours - of which 1.5 hour was reading email and Bloglines, 2.0 hours was blogging, and 0.5 hour was working in Ancestry. Not much genealogy, eh? Lots of good family history stuff, though!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/22/08

It's good to be home, although genealogy is still taking a back seat to grandfather duties. Lolo is visiting for the week while her mom and dad work.

My last week has been very busy, with little time to do any genealogy research. I managed to read my email and Bloglines, and post several prepared blogs while at my daughter's home, but that was about it. Two little boys and a frazzled daughter don't leave much time for the fun stuff, but I did get to make more family history with the grandsons. Not much sleep, but some good times.

I got home last night by 6 PM, but didn't get on the computer until 8:30 since I had to give Lolo her bath and get her to bed. When I did get online, it was email and one Genea-Musings post about the Weary Genealogist. I went to bed early and had a good nights sleep.

This morning was Lolo-centric until 10 AM when she left with Linda to do errands, play at a park and have lunch - girl things. I decided to post about the February 8-9 St. George Expo, and then gathered all the info for the Best of the Genea-Blogs for last week. They came home and I got Lolo down for a nap, and then answered some email. I don't think she slept at all - got up at 2 PM and we watched Disney TV until she fell asleep in my recliner at 4. I dozed too! She woke up at 5 and we went out to Chick-Fil-A for dinner - Lolo played in the play area for 30 minutes before we came home. Then it was TV, bath, books and bedtime, but it took an hour for her to go to sleep. I finally got back online at 9 PM and read my email and Bloglines, but did nothing else of value. Maybe tomorrow. I'm still working on an Ancestors Parade post and also the 1808 post in my head.

Genealogy today - only 4.5 hours, 2.0 was reading email and Bloglines, and 2.5 hours was blogging. No research, no CVGS, just pretty much Lolo time - which is fun because she is really a good 3-year old full of life and just starting to talk. I'm blessed with instant family history here.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/16/08

Today was an interesting genealogy day as I prepared to go up to Santa Cruz to visit my daughter and grandsons. I managed to do some genealogy work...

I was on the computer by 8:30 AM, and read my email and Bloglines. I posted the CGSSD 1/19 meeting notice then wrote several blog posts for later this week. I also scanned one year of Family Chronicle magazine for interesting web sites and visited most of them. That's a great magazine. A friend gave me 6 years of the bound together magazine to review.

I went out at 11:15 for lunch, then to the post office box, and to the library for the CVGS Computer Group meeting at 12 noon. The library database link worked on all but one of the computers (the one with the projector attached, of course), so we got that fixed by the staff. Everybody worked on their own problems, many of them on Ancestry Library Edition. After the meeting, I used the library newspaper microforms to do two query lookups. I got home at about 3 PM.

After email and Bloglines, I posted the latest NGS NewsMagazine TOC and then I answered some emails. I also posted some funnies and my NFL picks on Randy's Busy Life. Then it was news, nap and dinner time, and after dinner I helped Linda and packed. I got a phone call from a lady looking for a relative in Chula Vista, so I searched my favorite sites for death records, address, telephone number, land records and probate records in San Diego County. We didn't find a phone number, but we found an address for the right person - he lives (?) about 5 blocks away from me! I posted the latest Della's Journal entry and wrote up "The Four-Mile House of Ranslow Smith." Then Linda wanted to use the computer again, so I went and read my Vince Flynn book and watched the end of American Idol.

Genealogy today was 9.5 hours - of which 1.5 hour was reading email and Bloglines, 3.5 hours was CVGS related, 3.0 hours was blogging, and 1.5 hours was researching.

I'll be away until Monday and I'm not sure if I will have the time or energy to write this journal. There will likely be little genealogy activity, but there will be lots of family history activity as I have fun with my 4 and 2 year old grandsons.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/15/08

The month is half over and I fel like I haven't made much research progress this month. I guess negative results are progress, but they really don't advance the ball. This was a blog-happy day...

I got on the computer at about 9 AM, and read my email and Bloglines. It took awhile to figure out what I was going to blog about - I decided on a list of online resources to visit for my Russell Smith research - so I posted "Online Research Strategy for Russell Smith." That took a long time to write because I added so many items to my previous list.

After lunch, I was surprised to be on the list of the "Ten Best Genealogy Blogs" at Kimberly Powell's About.com:Genealogy site. I had to brag about it and act humble... Then I did a People Search for a friend of mine - he was looking for a fellow he worked with years ago. I found him in Reno NV, I think, but no phone number. I answered a few more emails too - everybody werote back real fast so now I have more to answer. I guess that's why I kind of let the emails stack up in my Inbox, eh? I wrote four more blog posts for the coming week. At 4 PM Linda wanted to use the computer and it was my nap time.

After dinner, the news, the debate, and the election returns it was 8 PM by the time I returned to the blogging arena. I read Bloglines and found Jasia's post about the Michigan Genealogist magazine and read it, and then read several presentations on the MHAL site, so I blogged about it in "Many heads are better than one." Back to Bloglines, and there was an interesting article on Legacy News, so I tested the 1900 Census on FamilySearch Labs and wrote about it in "Free 1900 US Census Images and Index on FamilySearch."

Genealogy today was 8.5 hours, of which 1.5 hours was reading email and bloglines, 5.0 hours was blogging, 1.0 hour was doing a People Search, 0.5 hour was reading the Mivhigan stuff, and 0.5 hour was testing the 1900 census on FS.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/14/08

I seemed to spend a lot of time doing genealogy things today, but really got little accomplished.

I was on the computer by 8:30 AM, and posted the "Elusive Russell Smith - Post 5" timeline on Genea-Musings. Then I worked for over an hour filling out my other forms for Russell Smith - the Research Summary form and the Online Research form. Now I'm a bit better organized with those three forms filled out and ready to be written on. I got to thinking about how researchers and societies should share information, so I wrote "Working Together Really Works." The post kind of morphed from extolling online researchers to work and connect with traditional researchers to what societies should and could do to communicate with, consult with and educate their members. It probably should have been two posts. Then it was lunch time ... and I went off to the pharmacy, bank and library.

I got to the library at about 12:10 PM for our Monday "table talk" session - just Dearl and I today. I had a chance to read some of the latest Everton's Genealogical Helper magazine. I headed home at 1:15 after checking to see that there were enough of the CVGS flyers in the display box. I read my email and Bloglines, then decided to burn down my email list a bit - I sent 6 off. Then I read some political news sites, got sleepy and went into the family room for my nap. Linda was on the computer, so it was 4:30 by the time I got back on. I posted "The Year was 1916 - Chula Vista isolated" about Hatfield the Rainmaker and the consequences of toying with Mother Nature. My hook here was that historical societies may have interesting articles about historical events that may help explain what your ancestors experienced, or how or why your ancestor moved somewhere else. Dinner time.

At 6:30 PM, I was back at it, and decided to fill in the "Online Resources" form by doing controlled searches for Russell Smith in various databases - I went to WorldConnect, Rootsweb Mailing Lists, USGenWeb Archives, Rootsweb MetaSearch and SearchThingy, the Genforum Message Boards, WeRelate.org and MyHeritage.com tonight. I'll do the rest later. The results? No luck at all - no matches that I haven't already seen.I probably should write a post on Genea-Musings listing the databases I routinely search for ancestors. I also went to the Carlsbad library databases genealogy page to look at PERSI for Russell smith and Oneida County NY articles. I got sidetracked by the new link to NewspaperARCHIVE on the database page, so I tried that out. Like HQO, it requires a Carlsbad library card, which I have. I posted on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog about the Carlsbad databases. Then I looked at PERSI and found a lot of articles about Oneida County - most of them in two periodicals.

Genealogy today was 8.5 hours - 1.5 hours dealing with email and Bloglines, 2.0 hours blogging, 1.5 hours at the library, 1.0 hour creating research forms, 2.5 hours looking at online databases for RS.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/13/08

Genealogy was not the biggest thing on my plate today. I was a "home Presbyterian" today so I could watch all of the Chargers-Colts game (10 AM here in San Diego). I had on my Chargers shirt, sweat pants, my Bolt hat, and I did say some prayers ... and they were answered. The Bolts won 28-24 in an exciting game that either team could have lost. The Chargers made fewer mistakes but took more injuries, and now have the "honor" of playing New England on a balmy Sunday in Foxboro MA at 3 PM ET. I will continue to root on my Bolts - I changed the color of Genea-Musings and Randy's Busy Life to Chargers gold and blue last week - did anybody notice? I'll stick with them through the playoffs.

I checked my email and read Bloglines in the morning, and posted "The Year was XXX" on Genea-Musings.

After the game, and my nap during the Cowboys-Giants game (I was really tuckered out from all that rooting for the Bolts), I posted "Best of the Genea-Blogs". I went back to watch the end of the Giants win over the Cowboys, the news, had dinner and more news. I came back to the computer at 7 PM, and read email and Bloglines, then started a Timeline for Russell Smith. Linda needed help with some documents, so I helped her edit and print two papers. After awhile, I uploaded several funnies and a Geography IQ game to my Randy's Busy Life blog. I'm going to go read my new book ...

Genealogy today was 3.5 hours - 1.0 hour for reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours for blogging, and 1.0 hour for the Timeline.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/12/08

I had looked forward to this day for awhile - the Arlene Eakle seminar was today at the SDGS meeting in Mission Valley.

I was reading my email and Bloglines by 7:30 AM, and posted the "Family Tree Magazine TOC" article (prepared last night) early on. I left at 8:25 for the valley, and was inside the hotel at 8:50. I registered, received my handouts, and wandered inside. I saw several of my CVGS colleagues and quite a few SDGS people I knew. The program started at about 9:15, and I've described the seminar at "SDGS Seminar with Arlene Eakle" in some detail. I got home at about 4:15, just in time to see the end of the Seahawks/Packers game in the snow.

That left about 30 minutes to post the Seminar article before the Patriots/Jaguars game came on, and we ate dinner watching the game.

I got back on the computer at about 8 PM, and checked my email and the TGF blog and wrote some responses. Then I looked on the San Diego Historical Association site and found a lot more historical material than I've seen there before. Cool. I downloaded and printed the latest CVGS newsletter too.

Genealogy today was 10.0 hours, of which 0.5 hour was reading email and Bloglines, 7.5 hours was at the SDGS seminar, 1.0 hour was blogging, and 1.0 hour was reading stuff. Obviously, I got nothing really useful done, but it was a good genealogy day! Tomorrow is the Chargers/Colts game, so I may be missing until the afternoon. I hope I'm in a good mood then...

Friday, January 11, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/11/08

Today was a light genealogy day. I had to spend an hour doing church business in the morning, then went to lunch and a walk at the bayfront with George. Tonight, we went out to dinner and I went to Borders for awhile, but didn't buy anything. Both our daughters called tonight to set up birthday parties at Disneyland for the grandchildren in February.

I was on the computer at about 9 AM, and after reading my email and Bloglines, I posted my Thomas Richmond and Julia White biographies as part of my biography series. After I got home from my walk at 1 PM, I posted "The General Land Office records." I read the TGF blog for awhile, then found some articles on Ancestry, and decided to write a post about the articles on "Information, Sources, Evidence and Proof." That was enough for the afternoon - I went and took a nap and watched TV and let Linda do her email.

Tonight after we got home at about 7 PM, I added several more article links to the last post, and then wrote a blog post for tomorrow. Then the daughters called, so I stopped my genealogy activity.

Genealogy today was only 4.5 hours, of which 1.0 hour was reading email and Bloglines, 2.0 hours was blogging, 1.0 hour was looking for useful articles for the TGF Study Group, and 0.5 hours was searching for FHLC resources.

Tomorrow is the SDGS Seminar with Arlene Eakle as the speaker - it starts at 9 AM until 3 PM. I won't have much chance to blog until after the seminar, depending on our dinner plans.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/10/08

This was a fairly productive and fun genealogy day. I didn't waste any time in fruitless searching, and I learned some things.

It was email and Bloglines at 8:30, then I posted "Dear cousin - I think we're related!" for my Carnival entry. I gathered my book bag and went off to the FHC to read my Glocester RI probates film for Smith's in hope that David Smith or Russell Smith was mentioned. Nope! In the process, though, I found probate records for Elizabeth Smith (I knew that was on the film) and Ruth Hopkins and John Horton, both of which were surprises to me. So the film had 4 probates I needed instead of the 2 I knew about. Cool. I spent some time reading at the Rhode Island Genealogical Register on the shelf looking for Smith probates in RI - the FHC only has two volumes. Because I left my FHLC printouts at home, I got on the FHC computer and found the info for the 3 Oneida county microfilms and ordered them. Cool - maybe Russell and David smith will be in those probates or deeds. They better be if I want to make any headway.

I was home by 1 PM, grabbed some lunch and then got lost on Roots TV for 30 minutes watching Megan's Kissing Cousins video. I got the password in email for the Vaux book, so I went to the web site and read most of it - it took over an hour. Sara and Hanna have done a wonderful job, and credited me with the census lookups and family data I provided, which was a bonus. I decided to write my "Kissing Cousins" post. Linda wanted to do her email and I took a nap, then watched TV, we ate dinner and I watched the Pubs debate until 7:30.

After email and Bloglines, I quickly wrote my "Elusive Russell Smith - Post 4" and then went in and watched Celebrity Apprentice and ER - this is my TV night.

Genealogy today was 7 hours, of which 1.0 hour was email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours was blogging, 3.0 hours was at the FHC doing research, 0.5 hours was watching videos, and 1.0 hours was reading the Vaux book.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 01/09/08

Another good day of genealogy - with varied experiences.

I was on the computer by 8:30, reading my email and Bloglines. I decided to try out the We're Related social network application on Facebook.com. I registered, added my personal stuff, and added We're Related to the site. Then I tried to upload a GEDCOM file and it failed - twice. I sent an email to the Help Desk at We're Related. Then I posted about my experience on Genea-Musings with " 'We're Related' at Facebook.com." Then I wrote my post about Mark Tucker's question about "What do you want genealogy software to do for you?" I made my comments to Mark's question last night. I signed up for the Transitional-Genealogists-Forum Study Group blog yesterday, so I logged on today and wrote an introductory post. This is a blog for members only - it may be interesting. At 11 AM, I got my stuff together for the CVGS Research Group meeting, had lunch and left at 11:45.

I got to the library right at noon, and the door opened almost 5 minutes late. We moved into the conference room - there were 11 of us. I shared some of my elusive Russell Smith material - and asked the group to suggest research opportunities. The meeting ended about 1:40, and I was home just after 2. I read my email and Bloglines again, and then I remembered that I hadn't posted a Della's Journal installment this week so I posted the Christmas Cards Received list. I wrote the Research Group summary and posted it on the CV Genealogy Cafe blog here. At this point I was sleepy so I took a nap and watched TV until after dinner.

At 6:30, I wandered back into the computer and decided to do an organized search of online databases for Russell Smith and David Smith. I went to the Smith message boards and the Oneida County and Jefferson County message boards (both Rootsweb and Genforum) and tried to find posts from other researchers. Absolutely nada. They are "virgin" ancestors -- it looks like nobody else has touched them! Drat. Then I searched again on Google for them, and finally on Ancestry in all sections. I found only the books that I already have found, and my own blog posts on them. If someone else ever wants to find them, I've plowed the ground pretty well, I think. Bored, I checked the latest databases on Ancestry - hey, they have some NY State vanity books - I'll have to search those for more family names.

Genealogy today was 9.5 hours, of which 1.0 hour was reading email and Bloglines, 2.0 hours blogging, 2.0 hours was CVGS related work, 1.0 hour was registering and testing We're Related, 1.0 hour was working on the TGF blog, and 2.5 hours was Smith online research.

I think I'll go to the FHC tomorrow and order some Oneida County NY films and look for my Smith's on the Glocester RI probate film I have in the drawer.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 1/8/08

This was another full genealogy day - it was fun!

I got on the computer at 8 AM, and read my email and Bloglines. The APG list had more posts about genealogist definitions, so I decided to write a note about "Definition of a ____ Genealogist" on Genea-Musings. That took awhile because I wanted to get the links right. I reviewed my biography file and made some new biographies for my great- and great-great-grandparents. I also messed around with some of the pictures I have - I cropped some to improve the picture content, and added contrast to others, especially on black and white photos. I posted about my great-grandparents - Frank and Hattie (Hildreth) Seaver.

After lunch, it was off to the UPS store to make copies of the CVGS flyer for our January programs. Then I went to the library and handed them over to be put in the distribution rack and the bulletin boards. I looked for the latest Evertons magazine but it was missing. I went and checked some things on Ancestry Library Edition - it looks like they have more database only computers now - good! I got home about 1:30 PM.

I resolved today to do some useful research work, so I downloaded the John Horton of Glocester (RI) probate records from my flash drive into my computer. Then I transcribed the will and other probate records of Susanna Barber of Charlestown RI into my FTM database. Linda came home and wanted to do her email, so I went and watched TV (well, I read the paper and napped) for an hour. I came back and reviewed my Russell Smith data.

After dinner, I got on the computer at 6 PM, answered several outstanding emails, and sent one out for the CVGS members about the Research Group tomorrow. I started the post 3 about "The Elusive Russell Smith" and put it on the blog. I spent over an hour trying to track down some of the folks who were early settlers with David Smith in Oneida County NY using the WorldConnect database. Some may have been from Glocester RI. How lucky is that - I have the probate record film at the FHC right now! Then I went methodically through the Oneida county NY USGenWeb site looking for history information and old maps. Finally, I went through the LDS FHLC for Oneida county NY and printed off several microfilm summaries and notes that I could order at the FHC. Then my daughter called and we talked for 30 minutes while she drove home. I'm going up to Santa Cruz late next week to help with the boys - she may have a computer online by then, I hope!

Genealogy today - 10.5 hours, of which 1.5 hours was reading email and Bloglines, 2.0 hours was blogging, 2.0 hours was CVGS related, 2.0 hours was transcribing probate records, and 3.0 hours was researching the Russell Smith and David Smith ancestry, associates and localities. I should go look for them in the Surname file on the LDS FHLC and also on PERSI - maybe someone else has already done this spadework digging up information on them (somehow, I doubt it!).

Monday, January 7, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 1/7/08

Today was a decent genealogy day, but I got no research accomplished. I did watch the first half and some of the second half of the Ohio State-LSU game, but I compensated for that transgression by reading the NGS NewsMagazine that came today.

In the morning, I read my email and Bloglines, and then posted "Where were my ancestors in 1908?" In researching that, I found one census record that I had missed! I also found that I haven't posted some family pictures or some biographies of my great- and great-great-grandparents. From email came the information about the "Pennsylvania Historical Records Access" web site and I posted that also. I got in my database and made several genealogy reports, and thenanswered several emails and sent the reports along. I've put this off for too long. Then it was lunch time.

Before noon, I went off to the library (they were closed for four weeks for re-carpetting, and are now open on Monday and Wednesday at 12 noon instead of 10 am) for our weekly chat in the Family Research section. John and I were greeted with a hug by our friendly librarian and we were shown our remodeled research area and the new carpet. Dearl went and got reservations for the CVGS meetings through March on Wednesdays at 12 noon - so now we can put out our society publicity. We talked about society issues and a bit about our research challenges. I spoke to the librarian about several other things, and then talked for 15 minutes to another patron looking for house history information for a home in Chula Vista. I was home by 2 pm with some new reading books in hand.

On the computer, I wrote posts on the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe blog about the new library hours and the CVGS calendar for January. I created the flyer for the January events and emailed it to our email member list. Then I answered several more emails before game time.

I was bored by the football game after dinner, so came into the computer around 8 pm. Then I printed the color CVGS program flyers and several black and white program flyers. After reading email and Bloglines, I posted my Winter in San Diego memories blog. That's enough for tonight!

Genealogy today - a total of 9.0 hours, of which 2.0 hours was reading email and Bloglines, 1.0 hour was responding to email, 3.0 hours was CVGS related work, and 3.0 hours was blogging.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 1/6/08

Today had pretty much zero genealogy content, at least as far as research goes. I wrote a bit in the morning, and in the evening, but today was church, football and TV. We got home from church at 11:30, and I watched most of the second half of the Giants-Bucs game. Then the Chargers-Titans game came on, and being a diehard Bolts fan, I watched the whole thing (of course), plus the interviews and highlights afterwards. We won, 17-6 - a tough but clean game. In the evening, I can't miss Desperate Geneal... er, Housewives. This one was all about family. There was even spreading of cremains at the ballpark, and the snarky niece who didn't want all of the old heirlooms from her aunt who died in a tornado while saving Lynette's family.

I polished up the "Searching for Living People" post and put it up this morning after reading email and Bloglines. During the sermon at church, I mentally tallied where all of my ancestors were in 1908 - I figured almost all of them were in a graveyard somewhere. This afternoon before the Chargers game, I posted a reply on the APG list about the definition of different types of genealogists. It's been an interesting discussion.

Tonight after dinner, I polished the "Best of the Genea-Blogs" post and put it on Genea-Musings. Then I changed my colors on Genea-Musings to Chargers colors - blue and yellow. I can't find the exact match to the dark blue - I need to play a bit more with the color codes (I'm still using the original Blogger and have to mess with the HTML rather than pick from a limited color palette).

So - genealogy time today was maybe 3.0 hours - 1.0 hours reading email and Bloglines, and 2.0 hours blogging. Tomorrow promises to be a busy genealogy day - the library re-opens after re-carpeting. We may find out when our January CVGS meetings are - we haven't been able to schedule anything due to the closure and the holidays.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 1/5/08

Today had two major topics of interest - genealogy and football. I watched most of the Seattle-Washington game (except for the 45 minute nap in the first half) and the first half of the Pittsburgh-Jacksonville game, then the last 5 minutes.

I was on the computer by 8 AM, and read my email and Bloglines before posting my Elusive Russell Smith note. I got out my RI probate stuff to see what film I would be reading today - Glocester Probates (1731-1796). I checked my computer files to see which probate records I haven't transcribed yet - I found about 5, so there is work to do - I need to find time to put my nose to that grindstone. I left for the FHC at 9:45, and had the film pages copied to my flash drive by 11:15. Then I went on the computer system, as described in The Full Ancestry at the FHC. I looked for Russell smith's in some CT and RI books, and found two, but they are not the one I'm looking for. I was home by 1 PM.

At half time of the Seattle game, I came into the computer room and saw a picture on the floor, and blogged about it in A Four Generation Picture.

After dinner and at half time of the Pittsburgh game, I came into the Genea-Cave and started working on finding RevWar records for David Smith. There were many of them in the RevWar! The Major from CT is the one who ended up in Oneida county NY, I think, so I concentrated on him. I abstracted data from about 10 books to try to sort them all out.

Genealogy today - a total of 7.5 hours, of which 1.0 hour was reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours was blogging, 2.5 hours was researching at the FHC and 2.5 hours was researching on Ancestry for David Smith military records.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 1/4/08

Today was pretty much a full-time genealogy day, with a break only at lunch and dinner time. Lolo got up before 7 AM, so I spent almost two hours taking care of her while her mom slept in. We had our frozen waffles, fruit cup and apple juice together, played with puzzles and blocks, snuggled a bit and watched Disney Channel most of the morning. They went to the zoo in the morning, and then home in the afternoon. The kid is beautiful. Sorry - this is supposed to be about genealogy. Even a geneaholic needs a little play time...besides searching ancestry, that is.

I got on the computer after 9 AM, and after reading my email and Bloglines, I posted "The Genetic Genealogist Challenge" and "Another WorldvitalRecords Survey" on Genea-Musings. Then it was time to go to the bank, get lunch, and go for my walk on the bayfront with my friend, George - it was cold, about 64 F with wind, I had to wear my windbreaker.

I got home before 1 PM, and since Linda was on the computer, I took a nap. Then I spent a fun hour watching one of the Heir Hunter episodes, and blogged about it with "Heir Hunter Videos on BBC." I decided that I'd better look for my Smith notebook with my collection of papers from Jefferson County, NY. I found it easily (only had to move two boxes in front of the bookcase) and perused the contents for a good hour. I found that the Carnival of Genealogy had been posted by Jasia, so I read several of those posts and added two blogs to my Bloglines. Then it was dinner time.

After dinner, I read my book ("Legacy of Ashes" about the CIA) and watched the news for awhile, then got back on the computer at 7 PM. I had an hour of CVGS newsletter article writing, and some emails about our program days and times. Then I spent almost two hours writing blog posts for tomorrow, since I hope to go to the FHC in the morning and come home to watch the football games in the afternoon.

Genealogy today -- 8.0 hours, of which 1.5 hour was reading email and Bloglines, 1.5 hours was CVGS business, 2.0 hours was blogging, 1.0 hour was watching the video, and 2.0 hours was working on the Smith problem.

Some people might think that I waste too much time blogging - I think that occasionally too. But today was a good day to blog - lots of news, some interesting topics, and frankly I'd rather be writing posts than searching mindlessly through Ancestry for the impossible to find stinking Russell Smith. Why don't our ancestors have the decency to leave records for us to find? Huh? Just one little deed or probate record would really help me out, but no, there is one obscure mention in a list of people - that's it! Bonk (oops, the brick wall is hard).

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 1/3/08

This was a frustrating genealogy day. The only saving grace was that Tami and Lolo (almost age 3) came to visit for a day - Lolo had fun shopping, eating dinner out, playing on the floor, and bathing. She is really a pleasure to be with - happy, fun, talkative, loving.

I started the day at around 8:30 AM, reading my email and Bloglines. I had no idea what to blog about, but I remembered that I had the latest NEHGR on my desk, so I posted the TOC for that. Then I did some more searching for Russell Smith in non-Ancestry and non-LDS databases. Zip, nada. In the process, I found several web sites not tested before, so I added them to my running list of genealogy web sites. That took me all the way to lunch time somehow - time flies, but I think I wasted it.

In the afternoon, I worked a bit on Ancestry, WeRelate and MyHeritage in my databases - trying to sort out how things work and how I can use them to their fullest. Frankly, I don't like the reporting/publishing capabilities of any of them. More frustration. Tami and Lolo came, so I posted my article about Access Genealogy and then about Genealogy Bank before we took off for shopping and dinner before 4.

We got home after 6 PM, and I played with Lolo a bit and helped with her bath. I tried some more Russell Smith searches to no avail. Frustrated, I watched Deal, Apprentice and ER rather than bash the keyboard searching for the elusive Russell Smith. I think I'm going to have to let him go until I can dig out my Jefferson County NY research book from the pile - I abstracted wills, got deed indexes and captured the Southern Jefferson County Historical Association vertical files on Jeffco Smiths several years ago.

Genealogy today - a total of 9.0 hours, of which 1.5 hours was email and Bloglines reading, 1.5 hour was blogging, 2.5 hours was working with my online databases, and 3.5 hours was searching for RS records in databases in vain. Argggh.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 1/2/08

Today was a two-bagger - genealogy was CVGS oriented in the morning and blog-related in the afternoon and evening.

I got on the computer at 8:30 AM, and read my email and Bloglines. Then I printed out my agenda and proposal sheets for the CVGS Board meeting today. I left at 9:30, went to the Post Office box for CVGS mail, and got to Wanda/Gary's house right at 10 AM. We had our Board meeting and adjourned to the Quizno's in the Von's shopping center in Bonita at about 12:30. I got home around 2 PM after a nice lunch and conversation with half our Board. Our big issue this month is the change in days and times for our programs, since the Library changed their hours from 10 AM to 9 PM to 12 noon to 8 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays (our meeting days - all at 10 AM previously). We still don't have them nailed down - we need the library calendar person to put them on the calendar. The other big decision was a seminar on Saturday, 5 April.

I got home by 2 PM, and read my email and Bloglines again. Then I posted the Genealogy Software Reviews on Genea-Musings. Linda wanted to use the computer, so I took a nap before dinner.

It was 7 PM by the time I got back on the computer, and so I posted my Elusive Russell Smith post, and then Genea-Musings Stats for 2007. Then I looked for all of my census data for Jefferson County NY, but couldn't find it (buried behind stuff, I fear) so I went on Ancestry and did 1810, 1820 and 1830. Now it's 10:30 and time to stop.

Genealogy today - 10.0 hours total, of which 1.5 was reading email and Bloglines, 4.5 hours was CVGS business, 2.5 hours was blogging, and 1.5 hour was researching census data.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Genealogy Journal - 1/1/08

This was a day of general sloth, genealogy research and computer frustration, in the main. After I got up late, and had breakfast, I read some of the paper and watched part of the Rose Parade and the Michigan/Florida football game. It was 11 AM by the time I got on the computer.

After reading my email (the mailing lists had a lot more entries today!) and Bloglines, I posted "My Greatest Genealogy Find Ever" on Genea-Musings. That done, and being hungry (again), I went in and had lunch and watched the rest of the Michigan/Florida game, which morphed into the USC/Illinois game because I dozed off in my chair just before 2 PM. Roused from my nap at about 3:30, I came into the computer again and read my email and Bloglines again. Then I worked a bit finding David Smith (darn surname!) in the Military databases on Ancestry - he was a Captain or Major from Waterbury in the Connecticut line during the RevWar. There was nothing that summarized his service, only name, rank, and muster date. Frustrating - need to check Footnote resources, I guess. Then I checked the DAR database hoping to find something useful about David Smith, him being an officer and all. More frustration - that search system is hard to use. I looked for David Smith's who lived in Waterbury CT in the WorldConnect database and found none. By now, the Hawaii/Georgia game was on and then it was dinner time.

After dinner, I came to the computer again and decided to look in the Barbour collection of Connecticut Vital Records pre-1870 to see if I could find some children of David Smith of Waterbury/Watertown/Plymouth CT. There were four (Aaron (1771), David (1776), Junius (1780) and Lucius (1784) ) from the 1770-1790 period in Watertown CT born to David and Ruth Smith (now I have a wife's given name - no record of a David Smith marrying a Ruth in the Marriage records, though). Googling these names, I found books mentioning that Aaron and Junius were sons of Major David Smith of Waterbury CT. Then I went through the 1790 census, and identified the Smith's in Watertown in Litcfield county CT (Plymouth did not exist yet). I also checked the LDS FHLC for David Smith and Watertown/Waterbury works - some interesting things there. Finally, I decided to post a note on Genea-Musings summarizing my Russell Smith data from yesterday's search, and I was halfway through the post when Internet Explorer shutdown on me - argggh - I hate when that happens - darnit! I think Blogger saved most of it, though -- I haven't looked. I rebooted the computer, went in to do the dishes, came back and logged back on to write this post, and decided I'd wait until tomorrow to finish the Russell Smith post.

Genealogy today - 6.0 hours at most - including 1.0 hour reading email and Bloglines, 1.0 hour blogging, and 4.0 hours doing my Smith research.

Genealogy Journal - 12/31/07

This was a fairly active genealogy day. I was on the computer from about 8:30 AM until about 5 PM with several breaks. We went to a Progressive Dinner party at 6 PM with our church social group - four courses at four different houses in Chula Vista, with a gift exchange and midnight champagne at the dessert house. It was a lot of fun - about 30 attended. The most interesting thing for me were the family photos on the walls at the last house - she has done a magnificent job of choosing pictures and framing them in a wonderful presentation.

After reading my email and Bloglines, I wrote the post about "Genea-Musings in 2007." This took awhile to research and post, but will be handy for me in the future. After receiving the email from Bob Velke about TMG 7, I wondered about genealogy software in general - what's available, how do they compare, what do they cost, etc. I spent over an hour reading software web sites and looking at add-on software items.

After lunch, I wrote the "Della's Journal - Christmas Presents" post. Then I decided to look for data on the Jefferson County NY USGenWeb page for Russell Smith and his family (I'm pretty sure that David Smith was his father). There was one mention of a Russell Smith in Adams township (just east of Henderson where Ranslow Smith settled) in the transcribed pages of the history books. There was also a David Smith, perhaps Russell's brother, and several other Smiths in Adams around the 1800 time frame. Brothers? Uncles? Cousins? That led to a Google and Ancestry search for Russell Smith and David Smith, which uncovered several mentions in the Oneida County NY history books, with some leads to Plymouth CT (Russell was purportedly born in CT). Then it was 5 PM and time to get ready for the party. Where did the time go?

Genealogy today - 7.5 hours, of which 1.5 hours was reading email and Bloglines, 2.0 hours was blogging, 1.0 hour was researching software, and 3.0 hours was researching my elusive Smith's in the history books.