Ten Question Survey Challenge

This week the Saturday Night Genealogy Challenge consists of answering a ten question survey.  It can be found by clicking  HERE along with links in the comments for whoever accepted this weeks challenge.

1) Which genealogy software programs for your computer do you use?    I switched from Family Tree Maker to Reunion last October.  I started with Family Tree Maker several years ago when I had a windows pc.  When I switched to a MAC I switched to the Family Tree Maker for MAC.  But I found since it was a program that was made for windows and adjusted to work for MAC it was clunky with the MAC version and crashed a lot and I really got frustrated with the syncing.  I would fix things at my computer and in syncing with the app and with Ancestry my correction would get changed back to the wrong way.  I also was getting multiple entries that I know I only put in once with the syncing. Syncing was fairly new and I just found it messing me up.  I have enough problems keeping things straight with out the software messing me up worse.   I have been very satisfied with Reunion.  It was developed for MAC to begin with.   It was an easy transition and while I am still learning all there is to know about it,  I was quickly able to do enough to get by.

2) Which online family trees have information submitted by you - in either a separate online tree  or a universal online tree?  Rootsweb is where I update my working file periodically.  I like it because it is available to everyone at no charge.  It is not that I mind paying for access to records that cost the site money to digitalize and make available but it bothers me to pay to put the information I have gathered on a site and then have them collect money from  other people to see my work.   And then since Rootsweb is not able to house my media files I work collaboratively on FamilySearch.  I have just started working on their universal tree in the last six months.  I am sometimes not so sure if I am helping or hurting the group effort.  I am not a member of the LDS church but I appreciate their free site.

3) For which subscription genealogy record providers do you have a subscription?  None at the moment.  In the past I have had subscriptions for short times to Genealogy Bank and to Fold3.  Several years ago I subscribed to Ancestry.   What I prefer to do is a 30 day subscription during a time when I can hit what they have hard with searching and then wait till I have time again to do a great deal of searching to join again.  In between times I write to local libraries and local historical or genealogy societies and when they respond with information I donate to their facility.   Since I belong to the Ohio Genealogy Society I do as a result pay to have access to their data bases.

4) Which free genealogy record providers do you use regularly?  I use Family Search,  Find A Grave, State Archives,  Google,  Genealogy Gophers,  Rootsweb,  USGENWEB,  USBiographies,   and as I mentioned before,  I have really had good luck writing local libraries for information.

5) How much time do you spend doing actual genealogy research?  Average number of hours per week.  Some weeks I spend no time on my research.  Other weeks I spend several hours each day.   It depends on how much luck I am having finding things and what else is happening in my life.  For me it is feast or famine as far as time spent.  If I had to guess an average lets say four hours a week.

6) How much time do you spend doing research in an actual repository (library, archive, courthouse etc) estimate average hours per month over a one year period.   Again it would vary because I might take a research trip over a weekend or a day trip to a nearby place but it would be something that would always happen.  I would guess it would average over a years time to eight hours a month.

7) How much time do you spend each week adding information to your software program? Estimate an average number of hours per week over a one month period.  I spend more time in the winter than summer doing this.  I am going to estimate an average of four hours a week.   But in this too I go in spurts.  I have times I do  concentrated hours of work  and times I don't do much.

8) How much time do you spend each month at a genealogy society meeting, program or event (excluding seminars and conferences) estimate hours per month over a one year period.  None.  I always say I am going to but I work second shift and since most of these events are either early on Saturday morning or in the evenings that leaves me out.   I haven't found a group to eat lunch with yet.

9) How much time do you spend each month on genealogy education?  (reading books, periodicals,  seminars, conferences, workshops, webinars, etc) Estimate average number of hours per month over a one year period.  I attended my first conference this past April.  I do periodically watch a youtube video.  I keep saying I am going to watch a webinar or listen to podcasts but do not very often.  I have  a fairly long list of books on my wish list of instruction but do not buy or read them.  I do once in awhile go over to the Family Search Wiki.  So I am going to estimate six hours a month.

10) How much time do you spend each week reading,  writing and commenting on genealogy blogs, websites and social media?  Estimate an average number of hours per week over a one month period. This is hard to say because the time is in short spurts.  But it does add up.  I am going to estimate 14 hours a week.


Total hours per week:  I think that is 27 1/2 hours a week.  Wow.  But that is not every week.  Some weeks I spend much more than that  and other weeks I don't do much with genealogy.

The Mists Of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Mists Of Avalon

by

Marion Zimmer Bradley

A friend recommended that I read The Mists Of Avalon and since I read The Once and Future King back in high school and loved  it,  I thought it was a good idea.  I don't remember much about The Once and Future King and perhaps I should re-read it to compare the two works but I can say my friend did not steer me wrong.  I listened to "The Mists" on audio and it was 50 hours long.  The narrater was Davina Porter which made it a special treat for me because she narrated all of the Outlander books and that series is a favorite of mine.  I listen to audio books on my commute to and from work and on any drives of distance that I happen to take and it took me two months to get through the six downloads that "The Mists"  is divided into from audible.com.   These books transport you to another world and when I finished listening this evening I felt like the land of Avalon had truly melted into the mists from me.   The novel is about King Arthur and the knights of the round table only it is told from the point of view of the women around King Arthur's world.  The story starts with the love story of his parents and soon moves on to the life story of his sister.  The main theme is religious tolerance  - or lack there of - and the inclusion of women - or lack there of - in religion.   The politics of religion in the dark ages is displayed with the rise of Christianity in Europe at the expense of other belief systems being a large part of the drama that unfolds.   Click on the links above and enjoy  the video that follows of the movie trailer for the movie that was made from the books.   This book was a really enjoyable experience for me and I recommend it.

Life From Scratch by Sasha Martin

Life From Scratch

by

Sasha Martin

Every once in awhile a book comes along that I know I will be giving away from time to time as a gift and Life From Scratch is one of those books.  I checked it out from the State Library Of Ohio on my kindle but it is a book I am probably not going to be able to go without buying a hard copy of to sit on the shelves with my other cookbooks.  Although it is not really a cook book - it is a memoir that comes with recipes.  Ms Martin tells the story of her life and  shares recipes that have been treasures for her along the way.   She also cooks a meal from every country of the world over a four year period and includes some of these meals in the book.   Her experiences in life have not been easy ones and I was crying by the time I was one quarter way through the book - but the peace and strength she is able to achieve comforts her readers.  I can't begin to explain how much fun this book is between the  tears but I will share one short quote from toward the end of the book.  

"Being happy takes constant weeding,  a tending of emotions and circumstances as they arise . . . It takes work to be calm in the midst of turmoil. " 

This work of non fiction is a quick read.  Please click on the book title and author's name above and follow the links there.  Be sure to  take the time to read her delightful  book and enjoy the video that follows.  

How Many Mary LNUs Do You Have Challenge

The above article mentions John Jacobs and Sarah Armstrong who are  my direct ancestors.   Sarah would be the sister in law of my Mary Unknown #2.  

Every once in a while I do something stupider than usual.  Generally I am okay with laughing at myself and moving on which is a good thing.   When I make a silly mistake on the world wide web I feel like I did so in front of a larger audience.  Last pm,  before my husband and I went out for dinner and the comedy club show, I commented on a blog about a Mary Lnu that I had an Elizabeth Lnu in my data base.  Afterwards I learned that LNU is not a surname.  LNU is an abbreviation for "last name unknown".   In my defense,  some people capitalize all the letters of a surname in their data base.  But actually,  to make things worse,  I think I heard that LNU is last name unknown before but had forgotten.  At any rate,  I survived my faux pas and enjoyed my evening and today am joining in on the challenge about Mary LNUs in my tree.  The challenge,  along with the links of others that joined in on it, can be found HERE.

In my working data base I currently have 7112 individuals.   There are 87 listings that say Unknown and some of these don't even have a first name.  If I add in Elizabeth Lnu that would make it 88.  (Oh my,  it is always good to learn new things.)  When I narrow the search to Mary Unknown there are 9 Marys that I do not have a last name for.

1) Mary Unknown who married Henry Witmer.  No dates.  Their son, John W Witmer,  married Margaret Lyle in 1854 in Lancaster County PA.  Not a big priority to follow this line.  She is not in a direct line.  She is in my children's fathers family lines but not direct.

2)Mary Unknown who married William Armstrong.  No dates.  Their son, "Major Armstrong"  was born in 1766,  Cumberland Co PA.  I would love to know more about this Armstrong family but she would not be in a direct line back either.   But she is in a family that would be in my lines.

3) Mary Unknown who married Willougby Dexter.  No dates for her but he was born 1767.  She is not a direct line of mine.  This woman would be in a family that would be connected to my husbands side.

4) Mary Unknown who married John Duffield.  She was born in 1590 in England.  She is not a direct line.  This woman would be in my children's father's side of the tree.

5) Mary Unknown who married Morris Bailey.  She was born in 1889 in Mississippi.  She is not in my direct line.  This woman would be in a family that is related to my husbands side of the tree.

6) Mary B Unknown who married Arthur Fremont Morris.  She was born 1868 in Ohio.  She is not in my direct line but in a family that is in my side of the tree.

7) Mary F Unknown who married Hiram Clay Tipton.  She was born in 1847.  She is not in my direct line but is in a line that married into my side of the tree.

8) Mary J Unknown who married George Washington Reed.  I don't have dates for her but George was born in 1824 in Virginia.   She married a man who was an uncle in my side of the tree but not a direct line.

9) Mary P Unknown who married Leon Frederick Foss.   She was born in 1894 in Massachusetts.  She is not in my side of the tree.  She married into my husbands line.  Her husband's mother's maiden name was Dexter.

Therefore none of these Unknown Marys are in a direct line back from me.  Numbers 2, 6, 7 and 8 are Marys I hope to learn more about sometime.

2) No exact matches found on the Family Search Tree.

6) No exact matches found on the Family Search Tree.

7) No exact matches found on the Family Search Tree.

8)  I found three hits in the Family Search Tree but none were in Indiana where my Reed family was at the time this couple lived.    So I don't think I will take time to follow up on them.

If anyone has info on my Armstrong family please chime in!!

Mud bound by Hillary Jordan

Mudbound

by

Hillary Jordan

At 4 a.m. this morning I finished this novel.   Even though I am  an avid reader,  I don't say up in order to  complete a book too often.  But this book  had me from the first page.   I have enjoyed it for the ten days it took me to read it and looked forward to getting back to it each evening,  but the last  chapters wouldn't let me turn off my kindle.   I will be very surprised if this book does not make my top ten list this year  even though I have read some very good books so far.   No doubt,  I have  found a new favorite writer to add to my list of go to writers.  

Mudbound is set during the post WWII time frame in the southern United States.  It is about two soldiers who came home,  two mothers and wives,  and two farmers.   One of each is black and one of each is white.  Although there are characters in the book I grew to hate,  the six main voices of the story were people I was able to obtain a great deal of respect for.  This would be a wonderful book group novel as it lends itself to discussion but even on its own it is a very meaningful and enjoyable read.  

Please follow the links to learn more by clicking on the author's name and book title above.  And enjoy the author in the video that follows.  

The How Many Autosomal DNA Matches Do You Have Challenge

In order to read this weeks challenge and obtain the links to the other people's posts that took the challenge please follow this LINK.   My answer to how many autosomal DNA matches do you have is very simple.  Zero.  Zip.  Nadda.  I have tried to read about DNA and I admit the articles are way over my head.  The scientific reading is hard for me to follow.  I get through one paragraph and as I start the next paragraph I have forgotten what the paragraph before said.  Never the less,  I have waded though and conquered more difficult material.  But in order to work that hard I have to feel a need.  So I will use this blog to explain why I don't feel the need to understand DNA as it related to genealogy.   Before I do that,  I will direct  you to my brother's blog.  My older brother is who I refer to for all my genealogy DNA questions.  He is the one that has been tested in our family and the one that understands what matches to contact and what ones to not reach out to.  His blog is not current but I am sure you could still contact him through a comment there if you so choose.   Click HERE.  

To reiterate,  the first two reasons I am not the DNA contact person in my family are that 1) I don't understand it and 2) my brother is good at it.  But there are two more points I would like to make about my lack of interest in DNA as it relates to genealogy.  

My family heritage is predominately Pennsylvania Dutch and shows an ancestry of deeply religious people who were often Amish, Old Order Brethren,  German Baptist, or Mennonite.   These religious groups did not want their members marrying outside of their churches.  As a result they intermarried awfully close by todays standards and my family tree resembles more of a spider web than a tree.  How a DNA test can determine direct lines when lines are so closely mixed in exceeds my understanding.  

My last point reflects my personal feeling in regards to the age old question of "nature verses nurture".  While I concede that some potential is determined by nature or DNA as far as our abilities, it is my opinion that we are much more influenced by our nurturing.   It is those that raised us that instill our values and our morals.  It is the influence of those that are close to us as we grow that determines how we use the potential that  DNA handed us at birth.  Therefore,  I am much more a paper trail kind of genealogist. I don't really worry  if someone was begotten by the milk man somewhere along the way.

In closing, and bringing those two points together,  the question as to whether my ancestors were cousins or married their sisters husbands cousin who was their uncle's mother's son,  or whatever all those crazy relationships are in my family tree, is a mute point.  While I do the paper trail because it is like a fun puzzle for me to try to figure out and I find it interesting, what is important to understanding my heritage is to understand the value system that the Pennsylvania Dutch heritage passed down to me.   What I really need to understand in order to understand who I am is the voyage of the Swiss people across Europe and then on the the New World.  The persecution they were subjected to due to their beliefs,  the hardships they were able to endure,  and their journeys across this country to forge a life out of the land.  

The President's House by Margaret Truman

The President's House

by

Margaret Truman

This evening I finished reading a book I checked out on my kindle from the State Library of Ohio entitled The President's House by Margaret Truman.  This is a non fiction book and very light reading.  President Truman's daughter  wrote it in 2004.  The book is not arranged chronologically.  Each section is divided by topic.  For example,  one topic is pets in the White House while another area is about the Secret Service.  Then, as the various topics are covered, the time frames jump back and forth between the administrations.   For example,  in the section about the White House Staff a story is told about a man named Thomas Pendel taking care of Tad Lincoln after his father was shot.  The book is full of delightful behind the scenes stories about our president's families.  An illustration of this would be that Alice Roosevelt Longworth's sofa pillow is described in the book as having the inscription "If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody,  come sit next to me.".   The book is a short read at 264 pages and very easy.  Margaret Truman wrote many books.  Some were non fiction and some were mysteries.  Read more about her by clicking on her name above to follow the link for more information.  Also click on the book title to learn more.  And there is one link in the text for further reading.  In closing, enjoy the following video which is a news clip of the author's wedding day.  

The How Long Do The Men In My Ancestry Live Challenge

Grave of John Stair

my male ancestor that lived the longest in the past five generations

buried in Swanton Cemetery, Fulton County, Ohio

This week's challenge is similar to last week's only instead of determining how long the women in my ancestry lived, it is taking a look at what age  the men in my family background  passed away.   In order to read the directions of this week's challenge and to find the links to the other people's posts that took the challenge click HERE.  In my tree I have to start with my grandfathers because my father is still living at age 84.

Grandfathers:
Fred Edwin Rohrer - (1903-1985) - 82
Loyd Hazen Rairigh - (1911-1984) - 73

Great-grandfathers:
Oscar Rohrer - (1878-1938) - 60
Anthony Leroy Shively - (1869-1946) - 76
William Harve Rairigh - (1884-1956) - 71
Harry Elbert Funk - (1875-1957) - 82

2nd Great-grandfathers:
Frederick Rohrer - (1843-1931) - 88
Daniel P Shively - (1841-1900) - 58
David George Jacobs - (1846-1918) - 71
Herman August Funk - (1850-1916) - 65
Justice Hildebrand - (1843-1883) - 39
James Quinter Rairigh - (1850-1911) - 61
Leroy Shepler - (1864-1945) - 80

3rd Great-grandfathers:
David Rohrer - (1813-1876) - 62
William Stair - (1820-1865) - 45
Frances Henry Sullivan - (1822-1878) - 55
Daniel Shivley Jr - (1800-1863) - 62
William Little - (1811-1856) - 45
David Jacobs - (1811-1902) - 90
John Garber - (1822-1889) - 66
William Hildebrand - (1815-1887) - 71
Henry Ramer - (1809-1888) - 78
Solomon Zelner - (1825-1886) - 61
Rev. Samuel Rairigh - (1816-1889) - 83
Elias Dickey - (1825-1876) - 51
Abraham Shepler - (1821-1891) - 70
Samuel Southard Patton - (1843-1920) - 76

4th Great-grandfathers:
Jacob Isaac Rohrer - (1780-1850) - 70
John Stair -  (1790-1885) - 94
Private Jacob Sullivan - (1778 - 1848) - 69
1st Sergeant David Hamilton Morris Sr. - (1769-1843) - 73
Daniel L Shively - (1773-1818) - 45
David Bowman - (1775-1816)  - 85
Christopher Little - (1788-1850) - 62
James E Reed - (1793-1863) - 70
John Jacobs - (1769-1822) - 53
Thomas McKinstry - (1793-1859) - 65
John Garber - (1782-1856) - 73
Micheal Beeghley - (1789-1856) - 67
Peter Moyer - (1800-1857) - 57
Rev. George Rairigh Sr. - (1793-1856) - 63
Jacob Martin - (1798-1871) - 73
Jacob Wissinger - (1783-1833) - 50
Vincent Patton - (1806-1848) - 42
Cornelius H Sullivan - (1814-1898) - 83

I have more names than this but some have either a birth or death date but not both so I could not obtain the age at death for them.  In addition, I have one that I am not sure which is a father verses a grandfather.  There is also one illegitimate line.

The longest living male would be  John Stair who died at age 94.  Although born in Pennsylvania,  John moved around in his life, living in what is now West Virginia,  in Missouri,  and in Ohio where he died in Fulton County. The male that lived the shortest life was Justice Hildebrand at age 39 in Cass County Indiana.  I do not have a cause of death for him but he was an immigrant from Hessia.

The average age length for them all is 67.  One interesting thing I noticed is the top three oldest living men were all on my father's side of the tree.  Another interesting fact is that the person that lived the longest is in the generation that is the farthest back.  I do have one ancestor that lived to be 100 but he is the one that I am not sure if he is a grandfather or a father of one of my ancestors.  If he is a father he would have been in the generation farthest back.  If a grandfather then he would have been in the sixth generation back.  But he too is in my father's side of the tree.

The generation averages are:
Generation one - grandfathers - 77.5 years (range 73-82)
Generation two - great-grandfathers - 72.25 (range 60-82)
Generation three - 2nd great-grandfathers - 66 (range 39-88)
Generation four - 3rd great-grandfathers - 65.35 (range 45-90)
Generation five - 4th great-grandfathers - 66.33 (range 42-94)

When compared to the study on death dates of the women I did last week (which can be found HERE) it seems that the life span averages were about the same length in both genders in my family.  I wish I knew the cause of death for more of my ancestors.  I do have cause of death for some of them and it always interests me when I find medical information.

Grave of Justice Hildebrand

my male ancestor that lived the shortest life

buried in Cass County Indiana