Rosanna's Genealogical Thoughts

Mystery Monday – William Ward

Rosanna Ward — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:23:01 +0000

My husband’s great great grandfather was Francis Frederick Ward, born in Sevier County, Arkansas, 19 Aug 1852. This much we have established. Through talking with other genealogists, process of elimination, and all the dates fitting, I believe his father was William Ward and mother was Mary Wheat Ward. William Ward was enumerated with Mary in the 1850 census in Sevier County and he is listed as being born in Ohio whereas Mary was born in Arkansas. Their marriage records show them marrying in Sevier County in 1841. I can’t find him on the 1840 census in the area. There are several reason this might be; 1) He was still in Ohio, 2) The 1840 census only listed names of head of household and it is possible William was living at home in 1840. I haven’t been able to find any other records on William to help narrow down where in Ohio he might have been from and who his parents were. I suppose I am going to have to make a trip to Sevier County, although other genealogists have done so with little luck. The biggest problem is that William Ward is a fairly common name.

Does anybody out there have a William Ward, born about 1818 in Ohio, occupation Carpenter and died 1859 in Sevier County, Arkansas?

Sunday’s Obituary – Charles Gotcher

Rosanna Ward — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 02:49:52 +0000

Here is the obituary for my great grandfather, Charles Gotcher. He died in a car wreck, August 16, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Wordless Wednesday – picture taken 1899 in Lushton, Nebraska

Rosanna Ward — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:38:57 +0000

Tuesday’s Tip – The Help of Others

Rosanna Ward — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:04:43 +0000

One of the most important things I learned last year in my Genealogy Research is how much I can learn by reaching out to other Genealogists or History buffs. Sometimes it feels like genealogy research can be an independent, isolated endeavor – for me anyway. But last summer when I took a research trip I discovered that other researchers are much like me in that they love to share and help others with the expertise they have. Many times it was just little tidbits they said but it opened up whole new avenues for my research.

In particular, is the case of my great great grandfather, Daniel Gotcher. I had requested an obituary for him from the Omaha library but they hadn’t found one. His death certificate says he died in Omaha of a fractured skull from a st.ry. accident. So while driving from York County, Nebraska to Anamosa, Iowa I stopped off at the city library in Omaha hoping that I could find the obituary or news story myself. I ran up to the microfilm room to see what I could find in the short amount of time I had. After searching through all the local newspapers all around his injury and death date I was about to give up. I had been overhearing the two other researchers in the room and realizing they were genealogists I put it to them what I was looking for to see if they had any other ideas. First, I was surprised to learn that they knew about my earlier inquiry and had actually helped the librarian look for an obituary. Then, since we assumed Dan lived in Omaha, they took me over to the city directories and helped me look for a residence. No luck there, so the gentleman asked to see the death certificate and when he saw the name of Dan’s last residence he lit up. It seems he also knew about the old buildings in Omaha and knew where that address was, that it could be seen from the library window, and that in 1918 when my gg grandfather died it was a hotel. Which opened up the possibility that Dan’s obituary was in a newspaper in the city where his last actual home was – which would be Troy, Kansas. I still don’t know if st.ry. is steel railway or street railway (like streetcar?) but I hope to find the story someday.

This type of help happened over and over in libraries or historical societies at many of my stops. Even people that aren’t genealogists may know something about the area or the past that can open up new research possibilities. With this in mind I have become more outgoing about asking questions of the people I meet along the way. So my tip to new genealogists is to not be afraid to ask questions of the people you meet in your research journey.

“Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing”, my review

Rosanna Ward — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:40:27 +0000

About a month ago I preordered Megan Smolenyak’s new book, “Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing” from Amazon.com. It came in the mail last Thursday and I immediately started reading it. Between the toddler, the puppy, and the kitten I don’t get alot of time to sit and read lately and I must confess I have at least six books started and not finished which is so unlike me. But I was super excited about reading this book. I read the whole thing by Friday afternoon and I must say it was delightful! Not only is Mrs. Smolenyak excellent in the field of genealogy research but she pairs that with representing it well. She makes it interesting both on TV through the many shows she has researched for and been on like, “Who Do You Think You Are?” and through books like this one.

It is definitely a book I will keep and read again and much like Buzzy Jackson’s, “Shaking the Family Tree”, she writes in an informal way that makes you feel like you too can be a good genealogist. Where I felt Buzzy and I could be friends, I think Megan is more of my genealogy mentor. She is never condescending and although I know that I will never match her expertise in the field she affirms that what genealogists do is important not just for our family legacy but for America. She writes about DNA testing in such a way that I finally understand the importance of it to a genealogist and I can’t wait to get my DNA test results back from ancestry.com and send off for my husbands.

“Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing” definitely motivated me to keep going and taught me new ways to branch out and get past brick walls. I am a genealogy detective who brings family and American history to life. Thank you Megan Smolenyak!

Sunday’s Obituary – Maria Parmenter

Rosanna Ward — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:26:23 +0000

For my first Sunday’s Obituary post I thought I would post the most interesting family obituary I have. There were actually three obituaries in three different local papers. I will transcribe two of them here. These obituaries, as well as many others, came to me by way of my Aunt Terri.

From the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Friday, 3 May 1895:

“Our citizens were pained this morning on receipt of the intelligence that Mrs Parmenter, one of Marion’s oldest and most highly respected residents, had passed to the unknown beyond. Her death occurred at an early hour this morning, and was, no doubt, wholly accidental, her remains having been discovered in a barrel filled with rain water, half sunk beneath the surface of the ground. The coroner was notified but did not deem an inquest necessary, there being but little uncertainty as to the cause of her death. The funeral services will occur tomorrow afternoon from the family residence, corner Third avenue and Twelfth street.”

From the Marion Sentinel:

“An Unusual Death. Mrs. Maria Parmenter, who has been a resident of Marion for a period of forty years, was found drowned in a rain barrel at 4 o’clock this morning. At 2 o’clock her daughter Hattie, who has been living with her at their home in the south part of town, gave her mother medicine that had been prescribed for the afflictions that she has suffered for about two months. A little later the daughter discovered that her mother had left her bed, and she aroused Stephen Parmenter’s family who live across the street. Search was instituted and the startling and sad discovery was made. Several weeks ago Mrs. Parmenter received a fall from which she apparently sustained some degree of mental injury, and since the death of her husband she has at times been despondent, and expressed the wish that she might be with him. But those who know most about the case do not credit the theory of suicide. Mrs. Parmenter was restless of nights, and would arise from her bed and go about the house seemingly in the discharge os some trivial tasks, and it is thought she went to clean out the rain barrel and while leaning over was seized with heart failure. Her head was found resting on the bottom of the barrel in about nine inches of water. Mrs Parmenter was born in Massachusetts in 1828. She was an esteemed neighbor and friend, and her sad death has brought surprise and sorrow to many. Two sons and two daughters mourn her death. The funeral service will be held Saturday, the hour to be announced later.”

This poor ancestor’s accidental death really messes with my imagination as this sounds like something I might do. I also am restless at nights sometimes and wander around doing trivial chores. And my biggest fear is of drowning so drowning in a little bit of rain water would be ironic. I can imagine myself doing something like sticking my head in a rain barrel to clean it in the wee hours of the morning when no one is awake and falling in and getting stuck. What a way to go.

Surname Saturday – Tracy Family

Rosanna Ward — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:58:23 +0000

John Edward Tracy Family

This is the first “Surname Saturday” post I have done so I thought I would begin with the Surname I have spent the most time researching. The Tracy family. My branch of the Tracy family lived predominantly in the York, Nebraska area from 1874-now. John Edward Tracy was my first Tracy ancestor to move to Nebraska. He had previously farmed in McLean County, Illinois with his wife Maria Boblett Tracy and young family. Before that he had grown up and married in the Ross County, Ohio area. He was the seventh child of Joshua and Rachel Dilworth Tracy both born in Harford County (Anne Arundel) area of Maryland. Joshua had served in the war of 1812 and was granted the land in Ohio for his service. Joshua was a son of Benjamin Tracy Jr who was a son of Benjamin Tracy who was a son of Tego Tracy, son of Teague Tracy Jr, son of Teague Tracy. The first Teague Tracy was born in England 1650 and came to this area of Maryland around 1679. They were one of the first families of Maryland.

John Edward Tracy

My great great grandfather, John Edward Tracy received a land grant in York County, Nebraska for the purpose of planting trees in 1875. Over the years the family bought 5 more sections of land. That farm was in our family until my grandmother passed away in 1998. A small portion of the original land is still owned by a Tracy. John Edward had seven children, several of whom married and moved further west. His son John Wesley, my great grandfather bought the farm from his siblings after the death of his father. He married Maria Rusler (her parents immigrated from Germany). and they had five surviving children. Two of his daughters, Olive Nelson and Mary White and eventually one of his sons Ivan, moved to the Pacific Northwest and his youngest son, Everett, moved his family to Louisiana. My grandmother, Mabel, received the homestead portion of the farm and my grandpa, Leo Gotcher, farmed it until his death. The oldest brother, Bryce, also continued farming his portion of the land until he retired.

John Wesley Tracy Family

I love the stories of my Tracy ancestors. Someday I hope to find the connection across the pond. Where was Teague born? Who were his parents? etc. I have traced most of my ancestors back to their immigration to this country but now I need to turn my research towards their country of origin. If you have more information about the Tracy family, or perhaps know where a branch of Joshua Tracy or John E Tracy’s family ended up please let me know.

Tracy Farm 1981

Mystery Monday – James Stinson

Rosanna Ward — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:10:52 +0000

There is one brick wall that has bothered me for some time. My husband’s great great grandfather, James T Stinson (Stinsere). Not only can I not find out where he came from but I also don’t know what happened to him. I have the marriage record between him as J.T. Stinsere and Miss Tennie Gainer (Virginia Tennessee Gainer). They were married in Wise County, Texas June 26, 1884. The 1900 census has the family (Stinson) in Washita County, Oklahoma. The family includes James, Tennie, Effie (great grandmother), Oliver, and Erma. James is 50 and they have been married for 16 years. He is said to be from Missouri as are his parents. It looks like his occupation is listed as a mechanic. By 1910, Tennie, now Virginia is remarried to Thomas Everitt. They lived in Washita. There is a stepdaughter, Lena, living there who is age 9. There are two other children, boys ages 4 and 2. So James seems to have died between 1901 and 1905. Death records were random at that time in Oklahoma history and I haven’t found a tombstone or obituary for him.

So he was born in Missouri in 1850, married Virginia in Texas in 1884, lived in Oklahoma in 1900 and died sometime after that but before 1905. I haven’t been able to find him in Missouri yet either, although there was a James Stinsan married to an Eva in Moniteau, Missouri in 188o. At this point I am not real sure where to look next.

Family Summaries

Rosanna Ward — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:18:06 +0000

In preparing to write my great American Story I have been writing “Family Summaries” or “Character Sketches” of all the family members I plan to include in my book. I use all of the research I have and just write in sentence form all of the information I have on each one. I started with the first main character, my great great grandfather, John Edward Tracy. That one took awhile, I have copious research on him and his wife. Then I started working on his children, all of them, not just my great grandfather. And I realize that there are quite a few gaps in my research on some of them. In fact several of them just disappeared. So it has been slow going on this summary business as I have to stop and go back to research and see if I can find information to fill in my gaps. During this I have found some interesting leads that connect with other generations. My grandmother who was born, raised and died in York, Nebraska at some point in her life, owned property in Los Angeles, California. I know this because at one point I had the records and receipts from when she sold it (to buy irrigation equipment for the farm I believe). I had heard a story that she might have won this property in some kind of a contest but no one was really sure. Well, I recently discovered, while trying to find more information on grandma’s aunt Olivia “Anne” Tracy Plummer that Anne was living in Long Beach, Los Angeles, California during the 1930 census, possibly longer. Anne and her husband, Eugene Plummer, did not have children so it is a possibility that she left property in California to her niece, my grandma. I know I am jumping to conclusions here and I may be totally off base but I hope to verify it one way or the other and it would be a great connection between generations. These kinds of stories, or some may call them rabbit trails, pop up all of the time while I am trying to write summaries. But that is what makes family history so interesting and addictive.

Genealogy organization – where do I begin again?

Rosanna Ward — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:49:44 +0000

I spent the past two weeks catching up on all the end-of-the-year bookkeeping for my husband’s donut shop so that I could get back to focusing on my genealogy addiction. I finished this morning and now my mind turns to the file boxes sitting in the corner of my office. January is my month to organize and I need to get a better grip on my filing system. I probably overdo it but my main goal in researching genealogy is finding the stories and story-lines get sketchy and confusing if I don’t have the information I need or if I can’t find (have mislaid) the record I need. I am determined to actually do something with the research I have accumulated in the last 24 years. So the first step is going through the files and making sure I have the records I need and that they are in the right place to be found and used.

Here is what I am working with: I have four file boxes: One for my paternal line, one for my maternal line, one for my husband’s family (need 2), and one for notes, articles and reunion information.

My Genealogy Record File System

Then I have a box full of index cards. Last year I started making a card for every individual in my tree with vital statistic information. I never finished…

Index card box

Long ago I bought these two 9 generation charts. They need some serious updating. I like them because they are a visual form so that I can see where I am missing people and information. But I don’t have wall space to leave them up so they got rolled up and put in the corner several years ago.

9 generation charts

I also have a three ring binder where I printed out a large family report several years ago from my Ancestry.com tree (severely outdated), a heritage scrapbook I made two years ago (in which I have already found mistakes), and my ancestry.com and familytree maker files on my computer. I feel like I am overdoing it on the organization but other than the 3 ring binder I don’t feel like I can give any of the others up. I believe if I can get these resources organized it will make writing the stories so much easier. But I am open to suggestions. Maybe I don’t need the card file? Maybe I don’t need the Familytree Maker program. I don’t really get a lot of use out of the familytree maker program. I was so excited when they finally came out with a MAC version but the first version, which I have, doesn’t sync so I have to re-add all the sources and those blasted flashing leaves are driving me crazy!

I also want to organize my bookmarks bar where I have all the genealogy sites I visit. It has so many now it has become quite cumbersome and it takes so long to find the one I need that I often resort to just googling it again.

And I have this dream of having someone come and paint a large tree on my office wall (I am not artistic at all) so that I can hang my old family photos all over it.

So for all you genealogy addicts out there like me? How do you organize your research? What has worked well and what hasn’t? How do you display your research or pictures? Feedback would be so helpful!

Thanks, Rosanna