Saddleback Valley Trails

SOCCGS EVENTS

SOCCGS monthly meetings are scheduled for the third Saturday of each month and are held from 10 a.m. to Noon at the Norman P. Murray Community Center, 24932 Oso Viejo Drive, Mission Viejo.

18 November 1995. Judy Deeter will present an overview of the Orange County Vital Records housed at Santa Ana. We will hold the election of Board members at this meeting.

16 December 1995 Installation of the new Board for 1996 will take place. The end of the year reports from committee leaders will be presented at this meeting also. Following will be a social hour.

20 January 1996 Our own John Smith will demonstrate use of the Internet as it applies to helping the genealogist. Here's your opportunity to learn how to "genie surf".

OTHER EVENTS

10-12 November 1995 Inland Empire CW Round Table, 11th annual West Coast CW conference, "Lincoln, Davis, and Their Generals". to be held at Orton Center, Univ. of Redlands, 1200 E.Colton, Redlands, CA. For further information call (909)789-7632

6 December 1995 So CA Gen Soc. will hold a French Canadian Workshop, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Room of the Burton Chase Park, 13650 Mindanao Way, Marina del Rey. Contact Ann LeBlanc Barrillas for more information at (818)769-0790

19-20 January 1996 The New England Historical & Genealogical Society will meet at Long Beach, at the Sheridan Hotel. The local host will be SCGS. For more information call (617)536-5740, Ext. 202.

16-18 February 1996 The California Historical Society will hold their annual conference in Ontario, CA.

13-14 April 1996 The Annual Jamboree sponsored by the So. CA Gen Society will be held on those dates. More information to follow.

MEMBERSHIP

Guests at the October meeting were Ida Mae Monroe, Jeanne Barrett, Alice Rosellini and Rich Faber.

Members renewing their memberships were Rosanne Orewyler and Diane Singer.

PHOTO RECOPIES

At our November meeting, Rich Faber will be present with equipment, and will take a picture of any of your old photographs you wish. The cost of such is $3.00 per photo, and you will receive from him the negative and one 3X5 photograph. Come early and prepared for it is a wonderful opportunity to have your pictures copied without having to leave them with someone else. This editor has used Rich's service many times, and can boast of his fine work.

THANK YOU

We wish to acknowledge our heartfelt appreciation to Pat Hruska who, on the spur of the moment, agreed to sit in for the absent Secretary and record the minutes of the September meeting.

1996 CANDIDATES

Candidates for the 1996 SOCCGS Executive Board are as follows:

President John Smith

Vice President Judy Deeter

Recording Secretary

Corresponding Secretary Mel Kinnee

Treasurer Ruby White

Election will be held at the November meeting. Please note - no member has been found to run for Recording Secretary. Possibly the office could be shared by two people. If you want an organization, you must help it work!

DAR INDEX

The Master Index of Genealogy in the DAR Magazine, Vol 1-84 (1892-1950) and supplement, covering Vol.85-89 (1952-1955) is now available. Contains 39,000 references appearing in the DAR Magazine under various titles, items from "Genealogical Notes and Queries", Bible records, records from cemeteries, courthouses, military units, vital records, etc. The index is divided into six separate surname indices.(Rowan County Register, (NC), May 1994)

GENEALOGICAL JUMBLE

About 15 percent to 20 percent of women college graduates these days are opting to keep their maiden names or go with a hyphenated surname, according to Kiplinger Washington Newsletter. It also notes a trend sure to confuse the family tree: couples making up their own new surnames. (Orange County Register, Oct 4, 1995)

TRIVIA - FROM MADAME EDITOR

The editor has just returned from a one week visit to Missouri. A big highlight of the trip was attending a weekend historical conference at Old Mines and Potosi Missouri in Washington County, sponsored by the Center for French Colonial Studies. Friday night's social, hosted by the Mine au Breton Society, was held in the old Austin-Milam store, Austin being Moses Austin himself who lived and mined at Potosi before leaving in 1820 to establish his colony in Spanish Texas. And Milam was the brother of dear old Ben Milam! And, ladies, let me tell you Ben Milam was a handsome man! Old Ben, I'm so happy to have run into you again. PW

CIVIL WAR RESEARCH

THE U.S. DRAFT

An act for "enrolling and calling out the National Forces" was signed into law on 3 March 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. This, the first effective draft by the federal government, called for all men between the ages of 18 and 45 to be enrolled into local militia units and be available to be called into national service. The draft law exempted men in some occupations, such as telegraph operators, railroad engineers, judges, and certain government employees. Men with mental disabilities or with certain types of dependents were also exempted. Physical disabilities that would exempt a man included imperfect vision in the right eye, lack of front teeth and molars, and lost of more than one finger of the right hand or more than two fingers of the left hand.

The actual drafting of the men was the responsibility of the states, which usually used a lottery system. When the government issued a call for more troops, each state would be given a quota to fill based on its population. The number of volunteers would be subtracted from the quota and the difference would be drafted. If a draftee volunteered before the final muster, he avoided the stigma of compulsory service and was eligible to collect a bounty of $100 from the federal government plus additional bounties from the state and local communities. In total, the bounties could exceed $500, which was about average yearly wage in those days. A draftee could gain an exemption by paying a fee of $300 or by hiring a substitute. The obvious inequity of this provision prompted the cry of "rich man's war, but poor man's fight". A New Yorker rhymed, "since poverty has been our crime, we bow to decree. We are the poor who have no wealth to purchase liberty."

The bounty system also made possible the enrichment of a large number of unscrupulous persons called "bounty jumpers". These men would enlist to collect their bounty, then desert and enlist somewhere else and collect another bounty. (Somos Primos, Summer 1995)

CIVIL WAR PHOTOS

Do you want Civil War photos of your ancestors? If you are seeking a photo, contact: US Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA 17013. Their staff will check their card files for names and for regiments and send photocopies (limit 10 per patron) of what they have, along with the copy costs. They are also seeking to obtain photos of any and all CW soldiers. Consider sharing your pictures with them. Contact Michael J. Winey, Curator, US Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA 17013.

(Desert Diggings, Sept 1995)

CONFEDERATE GRAVES

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is seeking to identify burial sites of confederate veterans in all states. By contacting Dennis Todd, 1113 Pine St., Cayce SC 29033 you can register your ancestor's burial site. They will also provide an official marker which has the Confederate Cross of Honor, name, b/d dates, company and regiment, free of charge, and shipped free. All you need to do is put up the stone on the burial site.

(Excerpt from OCCGS Newsletter, Sept 1995, source: Heart of TX Gen Soc Quarterly)

ANOTHER BRICK WALL

James Abrams and Mary Tedford were married prior to 1774 as they had their first child in Newberry Co SC in that year. Mary arrived in Charleston from Ireland 6 Nov., 1772 on the ship Britannia and petitioned for 100 acres of land on Jan 23 1773. She apparently was granted that land as her name appears on a land grant map adjacent to James Abrams who was granted land in 1786 for his service with the SC militia in the Revolution.

My puzzle is: where did James come from? James and Mary are both buried in a Presbyterian cemetery, and the headstones say James was born 1745 and Mary in 1748. There is a plaque in the cemetery stating that the original congregation was Scotch-Irish seceders from County Antrim, Ireland. I feel sure that applies to Mary, but I am not so sure about James. The name Abrams is rare in Ireland. It is fairly common in England.

Family legend states that James was a seaman who went to sea at the age of 13. After becoming Captain of his own ship he arrived in this country through a port in Virginia. I doubt that story, but maybe he was a seaman on the ship that Mary came over on.

A clue to their families was left in the manner that James and Mary named their seven children. Their third son was named James and their third daughter was named Mary., This follows the Irish and English custom of that period that states:

The first son is named after the father's father.
The second son is named after the mother's father.
The third son is named after the father.
The fourth son is named after the father's eldest brother.
The first daughter is named after the mother's mother.
The second daughter is named after the father's mother.
The third daughter is named after the mother.

Assuming they used this pattern, then James' father was William Abrams, his mother was Elizabeth, and his eldest brother was John. Mary's father was Alexander Tedford and her mother was Anna.

Most of the information about James and Mary was from a book titled The Abrams Family Genealogy, 1745-1978 by George Carter Abrams. I have checked the LDS church records for additional information with no luck.

Any information as to where James came from would be appreciated. Herbert V. Abrams, 24801 San Andres Lane, Mission Viejo CA 92691.

SOCCGS QUERIES

Alfred Baxley, (c 1806 NC), married abt 1825 to Priscilla (probably Counsel), (c 1806 NC). 1850 census in Madison Co. IL w/children Sarah (1830), Wm J. (1831), Elizabeth (1838). Family then moved to Benton Co. AR. Need any information on (Baxley/Counsel) before and after 1850. Believe Mary Jane Baxley is his dau. She married Francis Marion Baldridge 1848 in IL, by 1860 in Benton Co AR. Kathie Mauzey, 28451 El Sur, Laguna Niguel CA 92677

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