Saddleback Valley Trails

Monthly meetings are held on the third Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to Noon at the Mission Viejo Family History Center Institute Building, 27978 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo, between Medical Center Drive and Hillcrest Drive. Membership is open to anyone interested in genealogy. Individual membership fees are $20 per calendar year, $25 for joint membership. SOCCGS is not affiliated with the LDS Family History Center.

"Just one little word..."

Is all it takes. Ask an experienced genealogist about going to a lecture and you will hear them say..."if I learn one little fact, it will have been worthwhile". Why is that? "Just one little word..." worth it's weight in salt, gold, time saved, or what?

Do you see the light in their eye...the intensity with which they begin their tale, they know it might lead to a mystery solved. We can't know it all ...ever. There are so many places to look and more places available everyday. Listening, reading, sharing and going to lectures, and "just one little word" is what keeps the genealogist happy.

(Borrowed from Saddleback Valley Trails September 1995)

The first thing I would like to do in this month’s newsletter is thank all who attended the February meeting. The turnout for Barbara Renick’s presentation was absolutely overwhelming! We had at least 78 members plus 17 guests in attendance; one of the largest groups ever for a monthly gathering. Thank you for your support.

Another way that you can support your Society is to come to the library and check out the newest genealogy subscriptions that have been added to the computers. With the addition of FOOTNOTE.COM and GENEALOGY.COM, we now have an expanded selection of excellent websites for members and other patrons to utilize. Webmaster, Herb Abrams, has recently upgraded viewing features on SOCCGS computers. Now the image viewing and printing capabilities are easier to use.

The FOOTNOTE.COM website has nearly 27 million document images on line, and the number is growing monthly. There are currently 197 categories of files with multiple choices from which to select within each category. Some of the subjects covered include Colonial records, Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I and II documents, newspapers and photos. You need to go to the website and browse all the listings on your own. It is easy to print a nice, clear copy of a document is easy to do. I found a "Will" for one of my Revolutionary War ancestors who had settled in Oswego County, New York, in the early 1800’s. Samuel Stowell made his will in 1848. Thank goodness he did since he died in 1850! The copy I printed out is clear and easy to read. Now, I am anxious to search all the other categories on this website and see what else I may be able to find.

The second subscription website we’ve recently added is GENEALOGY.COM. When you enter a surname on their webpage, a number of categories will come up that you can choose to search. Their latest World Family Tree files are available as well as vital records, church records and probate records. Also, don’t overlook checking out the Family Books and Family Home Page section for genealogical information that might include your ancestor’s name. Also, be sure to browse the message boards category that includes the surname you are searching.

You can basically become familiar with FOOTNOTE.COM and GENEALOGY.COM in the comfort of your own home free, with limited access. But, you will need to come to the library to access the subscription areas. SOCCGS docents are always available to help you navigate these websites. Plan your visit to library soon to attack those "Brick Walls."

Wish you had a photo of your great-granduncle? Or have a photo of him that you wish you could share with other family? Dead Fred is a great site for posting and locating identified and unidentified photos. Right now the site boasts having 14,521 surnames, 75,245 photos, and 1,212 photo reunions. If nothing else, it's a fun site to browse.

Linda Bowens, Mission Viejo, <[email protected]>

Susan Fortune, Mission Viejo, <[email protected]>

Surnames: Page/Batchelor/Hussey 1630 MA & NH, McConkey 1770 OH, Robinson 1860 OH, Selch 1795 KY, Richardson/Brumfield, Irby/Ingold/Bulkely 1600 Eng, Hamilton & Smith-1850 OH

Elizabeth E. Raimondi, Villa Park, <[email protected]>

Teress Weber, San Juan Capistrano, <[email protected]>

Kathleen Hagan, MV, <[email protected]>

Surnames: HAGAN: From Ireland to Indiana to North Dakota, Early to Mid 1800s. LEBUS: From Germany to Minnesota & North Dakota, Mid-Late 1800s. BRUSH: Germany to Minnesota, North Dakota & Canada, 1800’s RAPP: Germany to Indiana(?), 1800s. JOHNSTON: Scotland to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; North Dakota, 1800s.

SMITH: From Scotland to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; North Dakota & PA – 1800s. (A Mr. Smith was a photographer in Canada – I believe had his own shop)

Comments and Corrections on Ancestry
~Mike Walton, Clinton, Maine

"Ancestry.com users, are you aware of the "Comments and Corrections" feature? How often do you come up empty on a search when you know that you have your ancestor's name right? Well, maybe you had it right, but the transcriber did not.

One example is the surname "Patten", indexed by Ancestry on the 1860 and 1880 censuses in Clinton, Maine. According to vital records for Clinton, Maine, there was no Patten family there, however, a Potter family was listed. All the given names and dates of birth for the "Patten" family that showed up in the census matched the information for my Potter family exactly. This was a huge error and I couldn't even find the family via Soundex.

On the left side of the census record search screen is a "View Record" link. If you click it and go to the next screen you will see a "Comments and Corrections" section. Click on it and you can "Add an ALTernate Name."

Check out the following websites:

Five ways to compute the relative value of a U.S. dollar amount, 1790-2005

Five ways to compute the relative value of a UK pound amount, 1830-2005

Colonial (U.S.) currency -- all about money with currency examples and explanatory essays. Fun reading!

Registrations for the 2008 Jamboree are now being taken. It will be held June 27-29 at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center. You may register online, by mail, or by phone (818-843-7247).

SCGS is announcing the Blogger Summit, featuring many of today’s top genealogical industry bloggers at <http://genealogyjamboree.blogspot.com/>.

"I first began searching for my ancestors when I retired in 1991. According to family records which I had obtained, my great grandfather was William Fletcher Abrams and his father was Oscar Abrams, born in North Carolina in 1796. I read the 1850 Census of Hardin County, Tennessee and found William Fletcher and his father. William’s father's name was Thomas, NOT Oscar, and he was born in South Carolina, NOT North Carolina. And, William Fletcher was born in Alabama; something else I didn't know. I hit a Brick Wall after finding Thomas in the 1840 census of Lauderdale County, Alabama.

I searched for months, finding nothing. Then my wife suggested that I try the LDS Family History Center. I stalled for a few more months but finally did. Boy, was I glad! On my first visit I found a record of a book entitled "The Abrams Family Genealogy, 1745-1979" by George Carter Abrams of Newberry, South Carolina. I ordered the first 25 pages and the index from the Family History Library in Salt Lake. These pages listed Thomas Abrams and his ancestors back to Thomas' grandfather, James Abrams, born in 1745.

My next lucky break occurred shortly afterward. While browsing at the Huntington Beach Library, I found a land grant map of Newberry County, South Carolina. Shown on it was James Abrams, 120 acres, 1786, and next to him was Mary Telford with 100 acres, 1768. I have since found that it should have read 1773, and her name was misspelled. It was actually "Tedford." James and Mary's first child was born in 1774, so it all fit. The family lived on Mary's land; and, after the Revolutionary War James was awarded the above-mentioned 120 acres for his services.

The next break came in 1995 when I again was at the Huntington Beach Library and spotted a notice in the Natchez Trace Newsletter that their speaker was Mr. Edgar Byler, III, who had been born in Lauderdale County, Alabama and now was living in Collingwood, Tennessee, just a few miles from my great grandfather's home. Mr. Byler was a founding member and officer of the Wayne County, Tennessee Historical Society. I located him on the Internet and e-mailed a message. He graciously supplied the date of Thomas Oscar Abram's marriage in Lauderdale County, and put me in contact with a distant cousin of mine who had tons of information on the Tennessee branch of the family.

In June of 1995, my wife and I took a trip to Columbia, South Carolina and spent a week

searching the State Archives. There I found a map showing the location of Mary Telford/Tedford’s land grant. I also located a record of the Civil War death of William Fletcher's brother, George. He was killed in the battle of Chickamauga. He had gone to his parent's home in South Carolina and joined the Confederate Army. His brother, William Fletcher, joined the Union Army in Tennessee. I had heard that story from my aunt but never knew that he had been killed, although I suspected it because he was not mentioned in his mother's will. By the way, I found that Will on an LDS microfilm.

I still haven't established exactly where James came from but do know his wife immigrated to Charleston, South Carolina from Belfast, Ireland in January 1773. It is likely that James came over from County Antrim before Mary. They are both buried in King's Creek Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Newberry, South Carolina. There is a marker there that reads: "On this site stood the first log structure called The Old Irish Church. This congregation of Scotch-Irish Seceders from County Antrim, Ireland, was organized in 1772". There, we discovered the tombstones of James and Mary. A shamrock and a weeping willow were still visible on James' headstone."

According to my father, my great uncle George Abrams was not killed in the battle of Chickamauga, but in a battle near New Orleans. My brother had recorded an oral history with my father in 1975 and that information was on the cassette tape, which I had forgotten about. The record that I found in South Carolina was for a different George Abrams. Just shows how you need to be careful about making assumptions.

Some information I should add about Mary Telford/Tedford. I made an assumption that the correct spelling of her name was Tedford because two of James and Mary's grandchildren had Tedford as a middle name. I still believe that to be the case.

Mary came from Belfast, Ireland on the ship Britannia in December 1772 and petitioned for 100 acres of land. This was recorded in the Council Minutes of Charleston, South Carolina on 23 January 1773. Her name was listed as Mary Telford. At the time they were giving away land to poor Protestants. She was on a list of "poor people who have generally sworn they are not worth five pounds sterling." Perhaps James was on the same ship but did not qualify for the free land. Their first child was born in 1774 so they must have wed shortly after she arrived. I have found no record of their marriage.

The Council Minutes to which I refer were in the book "A Compilation of the Original Protestant Immigrants to South Carolina, 1763-1773" by Janie Revill, is in our library and online at WorldVitalRecords.com. "The Abrams Family Genealogy 1745-1979" is in our library and online at Genealogy.com. "Land Grant Maps" which cover parts of Chester, Fairfield, Greenville, Laurens, Newberry, Spartanburg and Union Counties is available at our library.

"Coal Delivery" - A Story From My Childhood
~Patricia Dean Christiansen

We did not own our house in Columbus, Ohio; we became renters of this three-story Victorian home early in the spring of 1920. There were two major faults with the house and the driveway. For one, the driveway did not lead to the garage at the back of the lot; it ended at the back porch of the house. The only access to the garage was from the alley. The coal bin in the basement was on the left side of the house next to the furnace, but the coal chute and driveway where the coal truck made deliveries was on the right.

Several times a year a coal truck would carefully back of the ribbon strips of concrete and two men was shovel coal through the cute that emptied into the basement. As the coal dust flew our German shepherd dog, Jinx, would begin barking. After unlocking the outside basement storm door Mother would let the dog out of the basement. Only then could the deliverymen enter and shovel the coal from the base of the chute into the coal bin by the furnace. This was a hot and messy job not matter what time of year deliveries were made.

Soon after we moved into the house Dad placed an order for a coal delivery; it was April and the nights were still cold. Mother agreed that she would be there to tie up the dog, let the workers in and pay for the coal. However, a misunderstanding developed with the first load. The coal men had not been told that, after dumping the coal through the chute, they would then have to shovel it from one side of the basement to the other. Coal going into the chute was one price; shoveling it into a bin was an additional price. In most homes coal was shoveled directly through a chute into the coal bin. Our house with it off-kilter coal bin was an exception. As a courtesy, because it was a first delivery the coal company did not charge for the extra shoveling; however, in the future, there would be an additional charge of $l.

During the second delivery Mother missed the appointment and was not home when the coal arrived. The coal was dumped through the chute, the dog barked and the truck drove away. When Dad came home later that night, he realized his worst coal nightmare; he would have to shovel it into the bin himself. The deliverymen were unavailable, the coal was blocking the bottom of the basement stairs, the dog needed to be fed and the furnace had to be stoked since the nights were still cold. My sisters and I watched with fascination as a highly verbal and animated coal-shoveling discussion between our parents unfolded.

Dad continued talking as he changed from his suit into coveralls. He tied a large handkerchief over his nose and mouth so that he wouldn’t inhale coal dust. He then began shoveling the coal all the while talking loudly to Mother. As the coal dust began to rise of the steps from the basement into the kitchen, his voice got louder because Mother shut the door to keep the dust out.

While Mother was on the second floor filling the bathtub, my sisters and I opened the door to the basement to get a look at what was going on. This was quite a show! Jinx, thinking Dad was there to play, was barking and pummeling him with his front paws. We yelled, "Down Jinx," but to no avail. Dad yelled back at us, "Shut the door," while he was trying to keep coal on the shovel, fend off the dog and fill the bin. Chaos, coal and coal dust reigned.

After a while, Dad came up and began removing his shoes and coveralls in preparation for a bath. When reduced to his underwear and coal dust he was quite a sight! Here was a vision of our father previously unknown to us; a picture in black and white stripes. White feet and ankles, then coal dust from the top of his sock line to the bottom of his boxers, then his white cotton boxers next to his once white coal dust, sweat-stained undershirt, black neck, stripe of white where the handkerchief had covered his mouth and nose, raccoon holes for his eyes, then the coal dust resuming on his forehead, ears and hair.

By the time Mother came to the kitchen to help Dad, rivulets of perspiration had formed a streaking pattern down his forehead, cheeks, chin and neck. Mother gathered up the coal dust-covered clothing and held them away as she made a quick trip to the back porch where the ringer washer was located. The bath was another exercise in loud animated conversation. After his bath I began cleaning the tub with rags and Dutch Cleanser, while my sisters were assigned other chores relating to helping with food preparation.

The coal deliver fiasco was discussed during dinner. It was agreed that the reason for the mix-up was that the men arrived earlier than the agreed upon time, while mother and daughters were attending an Ohio Avenue Elementary School event. Roles were well defined in our family. Dad worked. Mother stayed home with the children and kept the house. Children did chores, went to school, mostly stayed out of trouble and grew up. The coal men delivered. If any of these duties were altered, problems a rose!

Placing your ancestor into historical context is one of the most important means of understanding him or her better. Like you, your ancestors and their families did not live in a void. They were attentive to the news and events of their times. Information they received influenced their opinions and attitudes and helped them make important decisions. Hearing an announcement about a new tax was liable to cause them to become angry and to worry about how they would make financial ends meet. News of political or religious unrest or about the approach of a foreign army might cause tremendous stress and fear. Economic downturns, drought, famine, and disease all meant potential disaster for the people. Such news could also cause your ancestors to make the crucial decision to migrate elsewhere or immigrate to another country.

Genealogy involves the active study of history and geography, among other subjects. Some of us proactively seek written histories to read and gain insights into historical periods in specific places. We may seek to locate old maps, atlases, and gazetteers so that we can see and study the geopolitical boundaries of the places our ancestors lived so that we can better understand the governments and political forces that influenced their lives.

I enjoy reviewing historical timelines for the places my ancestors lived. You can find a vast number of these on the Internet, some more detailed than others. Locating these timelines is simple. Use your favorite search engine to find timelines of any geographical location. I prefer to use Google for timeline searches and you’ll understand why shortly. Let me give you two simple examples to try.

Let’s say that you want to learn more about the historical events of Scotland. Enter the following into Google: timeline scotland. Your search results will be very extensive but you can explore some of the sites to see if one or two give you the detail you want. I located one called Scotland’s Past–-Scottish History Timeline that lists events from 8,000 B.C. to 1999, many of which have links to detailed descriptive pages at the site. For the period of 1274 to 1329, for example, Robert the Bruce is listed. The link for his name takes you to an extensive article and bibliographic reviews for other reading.

Let’s now consider a multiple-word place name, such as North Carolina. To search for a timeline for North Carolina, you should enclose the two words in quotation marks in order to tell Google (or any other Web search engine) to treat this as an exact phrase. In other words, you tell the engine to search for instances in which both words are always together and in that order: an exact phrase. Therefore, enter the following in Google: timeline "north carolina".

The search results for this query include a number of different types of timelines. One is supplied by the North Carolina Secretary of State’s website. Another, by SHG, Ltd. is a detailed, general timeline. For African American researchers, another site from the AfriGeneas Slave Research Forum is included, and the North Carolina Museum of History presents a historical timeline for the North Carolina American Indian populations.

One reason I use Google for timeline searches is that it offers the ability to specify a numeric range that can narrow your search to only Web pages that include these numbers. For instance, if I want to look for a timeline for France (or anything else, for that matter) on Web pages that include the years 1800 through 1899, I’ll use the same format I used for the search queries above but I will also add something else; I’ll add the beginning number (year) and the ending number (year), separated by two periods (and no spaces). I will enter it into Google like this: timeline france 1800..1899

The search results will include only those Web pages that include at least one number between 1800 and 1899. While the majority of timelines are every-year inclusive, some have been divided into separate Web pages for a specific century or two. This may save you having to look through as many search results.

Try these timeline search examples for yourself and then try searches for other areas and times specific to your ancestors. Start learning about the historical events that may have influenced them, and then pursue other reading that can expand your detailed knowledge of those times.

2008 GENEALOGICAL EVENT CALENDAR

March 8 – North Orange County Genealogical Society: Annual Seminar, "Finding Kin In Court Records," at the Brea United Methodist Church. Flyers are available at SOCCGS Library.

March 29 – North San Diego Genealogical Society will present a Spring Seminar featuring Christine Rose. Topics include Genealogical Proof Standard, Military Records for Problem Solving, County Land Records in Depth and Using Little Known & Neglected Sources. The event will be held at the Carlsbad Senior Center, 799 Pine Street. Contact Nina Anderson <[email protected]> or (760) 599-9958.

April 26 – Family History Fair at the Orange Family History Center, 674S. Yorba St., Orange. Information and registration form may be found at <ZRoots.com/OFHC,htm>.

October 18 – SOCCGS Seminar featuring George C. Morgan.

Vice President…………………………………...Nellie Domenick <[email protected]>

Membership.........................................Jack Naylor9 <[email protected]>

Librarian.............................................Bunny Smith <[email protected]>

Hospitality.............................................Trish Leard

Historian...........................................Barbara Wilgus <[email protected]>

Editor......................Mary Jo McQueen

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South Orange County California Genealogical Society Membership/Renewal Application

( ) New ( ) Renewal ( ) Individual, $20/yr. ( ) Joint Members, same address $25/yr.

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Make check payable to: SOCCGS (South Orange County CA Genealogical Society) Check No. __________________

Mail with application to: SOCCGS, P.O. Box 4513, Mission Viejo, CA 92690-4513 Date Rec'd__________________

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