Ancestry DNA Stats

Today, I read Randy Seaver’s post Ancestry DNA Statistics Update – July 2018 on his Genea-Musings blog. I have to admit, I am jealous that Randy has over 200 shared ancestor hints.

Below are my Ancestry DNA stats as of today

• 1362 pages of matches (first 1361 pages have 50 matches on each page)
• 154 Shared ancestor hints
• 46 pages of 4th cousin or closer (first 45 pages have 50 matches on each page)
• 41 DNA Circles
• 13 Ancestor Discoveries
• 534 Starred Matches (I’ve figured out our relationship)
• 26 people in the 3rd cousin or closer categories

Ethnicity – High Confidence

• 50% Great Britain
• 17% Scandinavia
• 17% Europe West

Ethnicity – Low Confidence

• 7% – Iberian Peninsula
• 3% – Ireland, Scotland, Wales
• 3% – Finland / Northwest Russia
• 1% – Europe East

Currey Bible

One of the items passed down to me by my grandmother, Winnie Crawford, was the Currey family Bible. This Bible contains a wealth of family information.

 

The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: Translated Out of the Original Greek; and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised. New York: American Bible Society, 1880.

 

 

 

 

 

Family Record:

NOTE: Since the Bible is copyrighted in 1880, any births, deaths or marriages prior to 1880 would have been written in the Bible after 1880.

Births:

Hiram M Currey Aug the 13^th A D 1835 at Peoria Ill

And his wife

Angelina Jane Burke was borned in Kentucky AD Oct 30^th 1836

 

Children of H M and A J Currey

Sarah Evelina borned January 31^st 1859

John Henry was borned March the 11^th A.D. 1861

Mary Caroline was borned May the 8^th AD 1864

Hiram Miles was borned October 23d AD 1866

William Quincy borned December the 11^th AD 1868

James Gilbert was borned the 10^th day of October 1871

Lizzia Jane was borned May 22^nd 1874

Dora Ann borned October 14^th 1876

Marion Franklin borned April the 12^th 1881

(different hand writing) Winnie May the wife of Hiram Miles was borned May 6 1871, Osage City Iowa

Marriages (handwriting similar to that recording majority of births)

Hiram M Currey and Angelina Jane Burke was married at Weston Missouri by the Rev J B Write on the 3d day of August 1856

Sarah E Currey was married September 25 1879

Mary C Currey married Febuary 12^th 1886 to Henery J Spears Lansing Kansas

Marriages – Children of H. M. Currey and Winnie May Hutchinson (different ink / different handwriting)

 

Herbert Miles Currey and Pearl Stewart was married Dec. 24 1916 at Ogden, Utah

Myrtle Irene Currey & Claude E Gaskill was married March 24, 1917 at Dodge City Kas by Pro. Judge Miss Mary Hale

Mary Lela Currey & Joseph Louis Walter was married Feb 2, 1919 by Rev Towsend Wright at North Kansas City Mo

Winnie Letha Currey & Leon Russel Crawford was married Dec 24 1919 by Rev Gray at Dodge City Ks

Earnest O. Currey

Alma Jean Currey

Family Record

(note in left margin: Children of H F & E A Burk)

Births

Henery F Burke the father of Angelina Jane Burke was borned Aprile the 30^th 1811

Elizabeth Ann Bland wife of Henery F Burke and mother of Angelina J Burk was borned December 25^th 1813

Angelina J Burke borned October 30 1836

 

Milton E Burke borned February 2d 1838

Sarah E Burke borned July 25 1839

Perillia A Burke borned July 15 1841

John Martin Burke borned Aprile 30^th 1844

Handwriting changes / also ink changes to what looks like pencil

Baby borned April 18^th 1892

Henry borned May 25 1893

Herbert borned April 31895

Hiram borned Aug 11 1897 died March 2nd 1901

Winnie M Hutchison wife of H M Currey died Sept (some date crossed out) 23 1913

Angelina Jane Currey

Baby died May 10 1892

Hiram died Jan 24 1898

Henry died May 20 1906

Winnie May Hutchinson the wife of Hiram Myles Currey died Sept (25 crossed out) 23 1913

Bck of Title Page

Children of Mary Lela Walters and Joseph Louis Walters

Daughter of Hiram Miles Currey & Winnie May Hutchison

Louis Elwyn Walters borned Nov 18 1919

Borned in North Kansas City, Mo.

Claude Arnold Walters borned Oct 27 1921

Borned in Kansas City Mo

 

Doral LaVerne Walters borned Sept 18 1925

Died Oct 16 1925

Borned Dodge City Kansas

 

Edward Grant Briles Funeral

One of the items my grandmother, Pauline Briles, passed down to me was the funeral book for my great-grandfather, Edward Grant Briles. Below is a transcription of the information found in that book.
Edward Grant Briles

Birth place: Crandall Kansas

Date of Birth: July 18, 1809

Deceased

Date: July 23, 1951

Place: St. Mary’s Hospital, Emporia

Age (Years-months-days) 82-0-5

Services

Campbell Funeral Home

Yates Center, Kans

July 25, 1951 2 P.M.

Rev. M. C. Cook (Clergyman)

Interment:

Crandall

Coffey County, Kansas

Lad to Rest: 3:30 p.m. Wed. July 25, 1951

Ministry of Music

No Night There

Beyond the Sunset

Special Song Selections

Buddy Redfearn, Soloist

Charlene Morris, Pianist

Bearers

Leonard Turner

Leonard Massoth

1. O. Ashley

Aug. Flake

Luge Lake

N. L. Briles

Friends Who Called

Mr. amd Mrs. Wesley Peters

Mr. & Mrs. Norryce Mentzer

Floral Offerings

City Officials & Employes

Methodist Church

Leonard & Loretta Turner

Mr. & Mrs. L T Israel

Mr. john Israel

Mr. & Mrs. John Schnell

Mary & Geo. Phillips

Veda Cannady

Mr & Mrs. Carl Anderson Empria, KS

Mr. & Mrs. J. E. Ross

Mr. & Mrs. Earl Air

Mr. & Mrs. Ray Stoll

Mr. & Mrs. M yron Rhea

Mr. & Mrs. Nelson Davidson

Glen & Zola Baker

Ralph & Florence Bunegar

Mrs. Mae Cokely

Frank & Myra Leonard

Lula & Theo Starpebaum

Mr. & Mrs. T. H. Mitchell

Mr. & Mrs. Earl Craigg

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Hoag

Mr. & Mrs. Leige Lake

Mr. & Mrs. Wm Sorenson

Mr. & Mrs. Clyde Ryan

Mr. & Mrs. Orland Oswald

Mr. & Mrs. Wesley Peters

Mr & Mrs. Roy Campbell

Mr. & Mrs. Guy Cox

Mary & Geo. Phillips

John Brown

Mr & Mrs Earl Thomas

Mr & Mrs Ferd Timm

Mr & Mrs Walter Moore

Mr & Mrs Fred Wemmer

Mr & Mrs Winnie Almond

Mr & Mrs Wilhite & Jay

Mr & Mrs Joe Millson

Mr & Mrs Fred Quenther

Mr & Mrs Gus Monk

Mr & Mrs Bell Dillman

Mr & Mrs Magdaline Jones

Mrs & Mrs Roy Parks

Mr & Mrs Fred Reno

Mr & Mrs Julius Toedman

Mr & Mrs Arthur Toedman

Mr & Mrs C. L. Mathews

Mr & Mrs W. L. Capps

Mr. & Mrs Merle Dixon

Mr & Mrs Leonard Massoth

Mr & Mrs E E Tuttle

Mr & Mrs H R Campbell & dale

Mr & Mrs Francis Campbell

Mr & Mrs Nelton Tipton

Mr & Mrs Jess Brooks

Mr & Mrs Virgil Bell

Mr & Mrs Ivan Goodale

Mr & Mrs Charles Leighton

Mr & Mrs S. H. Shelton

Mr & Mrs. Else Hayden

Mr & Mrs. Harold Walton & Family

Mr & Mrs Elmo Cope

Mr & Mrs C A Cope

Mr & Mrs. B S. Jackson

Mr & Mrs Ben Hollingsworth

Mr & Mrs P V Steiner

Mr & Mrs May Jones

Mr & Mrs Warren Vaught & Family

Mr & Mrs Everett Chance & Family

Mr & Mrs Harley Mentzer & family

Mr & Mrs Everett Rose & family

Mr & Mrs Arthru Bacon & Alice

Mr & Mrs C L Wade & Sarah

Mr & Mrs Russell Ransom & Gene

Mr & Mrs Perry Rhea & Anita

Mr & Mrs Lee Easum

Mr & Mrs W S McLaughlin

Mr & Mrs Roy Burke

Mr & Mrs Chas Walker Jr

Mr & Mrs W F Arnold

Mr & Mrs. C W Hanson

Mr & Mrs M M Miller

Mr & Mrs Walter Fisher

Mr & Mrs I H Jackson

Mr & Mrs H A Burns

Mr & Mrs J W Williams & Wesley

Mr & Mrs A G Mulsow

Mr & Mrs E E Mentzer

Mr & Mrs Albert Cook

Albert Arthur & Fred Weide

Chas Craigg & Ida Parker

Mr & Mrs Walter Holmquest

Mr & Mrs Lester Harding

Mr & Mrs Hosea Randolph

Mr & Mrs Gail Edward & family

Mr & Mrs Ralph Massey

Mr & Mrs W E Etter

Mr & Mrs Harry Derbyshire

Mr & Mrs Ed McNeil

Mr & Mrs Cleo Smalling

Mr & Mrs Geo Doolittle

Mr & Mrs Eugene Crawford

Mr & Mrs Walter Briles

Mr & Mrs Frances Franklin

Barbara Briles

Family Spray

Favorite Memories

Interview with my dad (and mom)

What are your favorite memories of your kids
D: Well, I remember collectively I remember how good a student they were. That was not a problem getting any one of the three of you to study and to perform well in school
M: I remember them playing out in the backyard in Dodge City with the neighborhood kids. I remember Dave burying his shoe in the sand when they were building the house next door.
D: Oh – I remember Dave hanging his glasses on the fence
D I remember you being sort of a judge or a referee with the neighborhood kids when playing especially when (what’s her name) (me – Shelly) – when all of you were playing together with Shelly – of course she was (me – down syndrome) retarded – she didn’t know what the rules were and how to play and I remember you sorting things out and keeping things calm and cool – nobody got hurt, nobody got in a fight.
D I remember Terry being a trainer for the basketball team and how important it was for him to do that job and how well he did it
D I also remember (him) going to the horse races and filming the horse races and how he thought at the time that was going to be his life work
D I remember him how proud he was when he bought his first car
M I remember Marcia getting her hood when she got her Masters librarian. And I remember I don’t know if it was your first date or what but you had a really pretty dress when we lived in Lincoln and you went out for a party (me – 9th grade formal – you bought me that dress in St. Louis when we went for your interview.)
M I don’t know if it would have to be a favorite memory but a very vivid memory was when Dave was in the hospital and they thought he had meningitis. He was strapped to the bed and they had IVs in him and he was literally strapped in bed and he was in isolation and we couldn’t go in and pick him up or anything. Just had to look thru the window at him (me – how old was he?) about 18 months – he had just gotten off the bottle and was dehydrated you both had had bad respiratory infections
D I remember picking him up out of the crib and trying to wake him up I remember picking him up out of the crib and he wouldn’t wake up he was so lifeless and it scared me – he was still in the hospital without a reason why he was there and I had to teach school and that was really tough.
Me – Did Dave go to an eye doctor in Emporia while we lived in Dodge City?
D – no
Me – Didn’t your bring him out here (Emporia) on the train?

 

 

 

Trail Diaries

The Family Search blog posted several items today about the westward migration, including the post: The Westward Expansion and Pioneers — How It Affects Your Family History. Even though I can’t prove any of my ancestors migrated to California or Oregon, I have done some trail research. In particular, I am looking for Hiram M. Currey who disappears sometime between 1845 and 1850.

Operating under the assumption that he might have gone to California in 1849 for the Gold Rush, I have sought out memoirs and diaries of the trek west. One of the resources I’ve used is the book, Platte River Road Narratives by Merrill J. Mattes. This book not only indexes around 2000 trail diaries but provides a description of the diary and information regarding the repository where the diary may be found.

 

I was able to read many of the diaries from the Peoria, Illinois area when I visited the Merrill J Mattis Research Library at the National Frontier Trails Museum in Independence Missouri.

Another resource I’ve used in my trail research is the series of books, Covered Wagon Women: Diaries & Letters from the Western Trails. Each book contains several diaries, letters or journals written by women about their journey west.

I investigated these books hoping to find mention of my Peoria, llinois Currey family. I did not find my Currey family. Instead I found the complete journal written by Amelia Hadley, my great grandmother’s sister.

These diaries, journals and letters provide great insight into the journey west. They are well worth the effort to locate and read.

Indexing Mystery

Over the past 10 months, I have had issues with my Ancestry tree, Heartland Genealogy, not being indexed. (Please see my June 2018 post, Tree Indexing Update, for background on this issue.) Now, I’m beginning to see evidence that my tree is indexed – at least some of the time.

To test whether my tree has been indexed, I have been using a free login to do an exact search of Public Member Trees for Judson Foster Crawford. This search has consistently produced 24 trees. My tree is not listed among these results suggesting that my tree hasn’t been indexed.

I recently noticed that when I search all collections for someone in my tree, one of the results is a ‘Matching Person (from family trees). When I tried my same Judson Foster Crawford search for all collections from the free account, the very first result is a link to my tree on my paid account.

To verify that I am using a free account for the search, I clicked on the link to Judson Foster Crawford in my tree. This took me to a page where I could purchase access to Ancestry.

Hoping that this wasn’t a fluke, I tried another search with the name Edward Grant Briles. I received a link to Edward Grant Briles in my tree when searching all collections but my tree wasn’t listed when searching only the public member trees. I then tried a similar search for Ozias Wells — and my tree did not show up with either search. I repeated the ‘test’ with the name Charles Oliver Mentzer. This produced a link to Charles Oliver Mentzer in my tree when searching all collections but my tree was not listed when searching ‘public member trees’.

At this point, it looks like my tree may come up when searching all collections but not when searching Public Member Trees. My initial theory as to why Ozias Wells did not show up in a search of all collections but searches for Judson Foster Crawford, Edward Grant Briles and Charles Oliver Mentzer did produce links to my tree was based on thinking that I had not worked the Ancestry hints for Ozias Wells while having accepted hints for the other ancestors. However, I don’t have a shaky leaf for Ozias Wells and I have accepted eight hints.

Just to make sure my tree is still public, I checked the privacy settings for my Heartland Genealogy tree.

Can anyone explain why

• My tree doesn’t come up when searching only Public Member Trees, but a person in my tree may come up when searching all collections (same search criteria used)?
• When searching all collections for some individuals in my tree, the results will show a link to that individual in may tree — but won’t for others in my tree?

Research Notes

A couple of years ago, I joined Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Do-Over project. The primary thing I learned from participating in this project dealt with a need for continual learning. Thanks to this push, I am learning from many other researchers thru blogs, webinars, YouTube videos, Facebook posts and even tweets. Each of these challenges me to think about my research methods.

This last Mondays with Myrt discussed compiling research notes to support information shared in a tree. Most of the discussion centered around the need for such notes.  During the Wacky Wednesday zoom meeting, participants discussed a research question and worked thru creating research notes on a spreadsheet.

As I participated in both of these events, I was thinking about how I haven’t done a good job of compiling research notes. I recently watched one of Crista Cowan’s Barefoot Genealogist videos on how Crista uses the NOTES feature with her Ancestry tree.

Based on the concepts shared in this video, I have started creating similar notes for my direct line ancestors. To start creating these research notes, I am using a Microsoft Word document so that I can have the notes open and my RootsMagic screen open at the same time. As I work my way thru the various events and associated citations, I am also doing the transcribing, attaching images and updating the sources as needed (in other words a true go-over).

When finished, I copied the text from the Word document and pasted it into the person’s note field. By using the TreeShare feature of RootsMagic, I can upload those notes to the corresponding person on my Ancestry tree.

Even though it will take time to create all of these research notes, I find them helpful and will likely spend the time working thru my tree.

One of the points made during Mondays with Myrt was the need to not only keep such research notes — but to share those notes. Based on Crista’s video on notes, I don’t believe the person notes that I transfer from RootsMagic to Ancestry are public.

However, notes attached to an event can be transferred from RootsMagic to Ancestry. With TreeShare, these notes get separated from the source and appear in the list of sources separate from the original source. Thus, this isn’t an ideal way to share these notes.

In order to share these notes, I could include Notes when uploading data to my RootsMagic website. If that option is selected, the person notes appear at the top of the page in a scrollable box.

Like others mentioned in the Mondays with Myrt chat, I am reluctant to put all of my work online since I would like for other researchers to contact me versus just copying my sources, transcriptions and photos. However, if I want others to understand why I connected a son to his father, I likely need to create and share these notes. This will become critical if Ancestry pursues ‘peer review’ of member trees. (See post in the Ancestry.com Facebook community by Crista Cowan)

In the chat log for the Monday’s with Myrt, Tony Proctor makes a case for publishing research notes in a blog (at 10:51:32). Tony also added a comment to the Mondays with Myrt post where he pushed for research notes that discuss the ‘why’ versus those that just restate the ‘what’. He argues for a ‘rich-text’ format that includes items such as scanned images, maps, timelines and tables. By including these items, one can draw the reader from the raw data thru the reasoning to a conclusion. This would be similar to what the genealogical proof standard refers to as a sound and coherently written conclusion.

Because of the need to incorporate images and a variety of formatting, I believe I will have to share them thru a blog versus thru the person notes. Once I manage to write a research conclusion that includes the ‘why’, I will also need to figure out the best way to attach that conclusion to my tree.

Thinking thru this process, I have a couple of questions:

• Is a blog post the best way to share a written conclusion incorporating images and a variety of formatting?
• If research notes are published in a blog post, how would one connect them to a person (or persons) in a tree?

Thank you Dear Myrtle, Mondays with Myrt panel members and everyone who participated this week for pushing me to not only think thru the process of writing research notes but to actually work on writing them.

Locating Local Information

With lots of online information, I feel like I’m forgetting to look for information offline. In the process, I’m also forgetting some of my early research skills.

I’ve recently read several Facebook posts inquiring about who to contact for local information. Thanks to these posts, I’ve been thinking about the question and how I should tackle such a research question. I’ve also been thinking about what I would tell someone looking for Nemaha County, Kansas information.

I believe this question is actually two questions:

• What type of information (or document) do I need?
• Where can I find that information (or document)?

The answer to the first question will make it easier to determine where to look for the document. When I first started researching my family history, I would pull the Handy Book (The Handy Book for Genealogists) off of my shelf and turn to the desired state to learn about where I could write (or sometimes go) to obtain the document.

 

Included was information for each county stating what documents were available in the county courthouse.

This book still occupies a space on my bookshelf and I still consult it. However, the Internet makes it easier to learn about the availability of records. Below are some of the resources I would check to learn about Nemaha County, Kansas (where I happen to live).

• Family Search Wiki — Results for Nemaha County, Kansas
• Cyndi’s List — Results for Nemaha County, Kansas
• Kansas GenWeb — Nemaha County, Kansas GenWeb page
• Red Book — digital copy available thru Ancestry (similar to The Handy Book) — Kansas Family History Resources

( Note: The issues with RootsWeb being down affected many GenWeb sites, GenWeb Archive sites and the RedBook. Those sites are coming back — but it may take some time.)

The above resources would help me learn about the courthouse, local libraries, local historical societies and possibly provide links to library catalogs, archives, digitized records, books and local newspapers. Since many records were transferred to the state, I would do a similar review of the above resources for the state.

By researching the county/state, I can figure out the best place to contact (or go) to locate the desired information. I need to remember to apply these skills in my research!

 

 

Research Notes Part 2

In my previous Research Notes post, I discussed compiling and sharing research notes. This discussion was prompted by conversations on the July 16th Mondays with Myrt. Towards the end of my Research Notes post, I asked two questions:

• Is a blog post the best way to share a written conclusion incorporating images and a variety of formatting?
• If research notes are published in a blog post, how would one connect them to a person (or persons) in a tree?

In trying to answer my own question, I have looked at various options and believe that writing a blog post that incorporates images is the quickest and easiest way to share this type of information.

Even though I haven’t published my complete research notes for an individual, I have published parts of them. For example, I recently compiled research notes for my great-grandfather, Edward Grant Briles. Included in those notes was the transcription of his funeral book. Since it was already transcribed, I was able to easily create a post for the funeral book that incorporated the images from the funeral book with the transcription.

In theory, the answer to the second question is simple: just add a web link to the person on my Ancestry tree. Adding the link is easy.

I’ve added a web link for my funeral book blog post. Unfortunately, most viewers of my tree won’t see this web link.

Web links that are added will appear at the bottom of the sources. Since I have a lot of sources, the web links disappear off of the screen. Most users likely will not scroll down the screen to discover the web links.

 

 

EHS ’18’ Club

Guys and Dolls

An “18” Club at E.H.S. has been recently established. A student may become a member if he is 18 years of age, and with his parents’ consent, is willing to give blood at the Emporia Bloodmobile. Those who have donated a pint of blood are Robert Brecht, Larry Hayes, Richard Frederick, Marie Cisneros, Eva Gasper, Donald Miller, Jim Anderson and Richard Carlburg. Randy Murray and Elaine Taylor, members of the club, volunteered, but were rejected. Co-chairmen of the Junior Red Cross Bloodmobile Committee, Karen Courtney and Sandra Clinkenbeard, assigned Emporia High girls to help at the Bloodmobile Feb. 27^th and 28^th. Those who assisted as the Blood Bank this week were Adrianne Hotzel, Jean Resch, Darla Smalling, Darla Andrews, Judy Deputy, Linda Fredrick, Linda Pocock, Sandra Clinkenbeard, Marilyn Moore, Juanita Osborn, Glenda Lang, Alice Hayes, Judy Haley, Nelta Britton, Cynthia Lyster, Joy Vail, Joanne Beck, Elaine Wilson, Phyllis Burroughts, Myrna Williams, Janet White, Teresa Burch, Sharon Potter, Shirley Brockelman, Pat Lewis, Pam Hotzel, Mar Gene Blair, Sara Steerman, Karen Courtney and Chriss Fogg.

“Guys and Dolls,” The Emporia Gazette, 1 Feb 1958, p. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 13 July 2018).