Granddad Daniel Grant Varner

Granddad Daniel Grant Varner
Daniel Grant Varner (front, far right) and siblings with spouses

Friday, January 17, 2014

Roots Magic 6 and linking to Family Search Family Tree

It's been a good week of researching my Smith family. I will write more about this in a separate post.  This week I've been faced with a data management issue.

I have an issue with merging data between Roots Magic and Family Search.  I have used the "share" fact process on some of my census events.  In effect, an individual fact is not created for everyone that a fact is shared with.  It's more like creating a link to the one instance of the fact.  In theory, this is an excellent approach.  It saves a lot of data entry time and since there is one master instance of the fact, a change to that record reflects wherever the fact is shared.

The issue with this is that the "shared" facts are not available for merging to Family Search Family Tree.  Obviously, that is a deal breaker for me.  So I need to replace every shared fact in my database with a regular individual fact for that event. The problem is I can find no report to run that will show "shared" facts.  Since it is not recognized as a fact as such, it will not appear if I run a fact list for an individual.  I have found no way of identifying all of the people that have shared facts that need to be replaced.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Continue working on BRESHEARS, HENDERSON, HOSTETLER families

This past week I continued the research of my granduncle Francis Breshears, Jr. family.  I was able to wrap up this family for the most part, still need to find one marriage record and one death / burial record.

This is a copy of the narrative report out of Roots Magic.

Francis Marion BRESHEARS Jr. was born on 1 May 1884 in Missouri, United States. He appeared in the census on 15 Jun 1900 in Benton, Missouri, United States. They lived in Alexander Township. Francis Marion showed in the census as Marion Breshears. He appeared in the census on 13 May 1910 in Fristoe Township, Benton, Missouri, United States. On 12 Sep 1918 Francis was a laborer for California Portland Cement Co in San Bernardino, San Bernardino, California, United States. He lived at 560 WI in Colton, San Bernardino, California, United States on 12 Sep 1918. He appeared in the census on 3 Jan 1920 in Colton, San Bernardino, California, United States. In Apr 1930 Francis was a motor oiler at a gas plant in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. He appeared in the census on 2 Apr 1930 at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States.7 He lived at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States in 1935. In Apr 1940 Francis was a maintenance worker at an oil well in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. He appeared in the census on 3 Apr 1940 at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States.8 He died on 26 Feb 1958 at the age of 73 in Patton, San Bernardino, California, United States.3 The city information was obtained from family search family tree.  This was an sourced entry based on the California Death Index, however the city was not shown on this source. Francis was buried on 28 Feb 1958 in Redlands, San Bernardino, California, United States. Obtained from family search family tree.  This was an unsourced entry.

Francis Marion BRESHEARS Jr. and Cora HENDERSON were married on 12 Jun 1904 in Hickory, Missouri, United States. The marriage date and location were obtained from family search family tree.  The entry was not sourced. 

Cora HENDERSON was born on 25 Jan 1887 in Benton, Missouri, United States. Exact date and location obtained from family search family tree unsourced entry. She appeared in the census on 13 May 1910 in Fristoe Township, Benton, Missouri, United States. She lived at 560 WI in Colton, San Bernardino, California, United States on 12 Sep 1918. Cora appeared in the census on 3 Jan 1920 in Colton, San Bernardino, California, United States. In Apr 1930 she was a citrus packer at a citrus packing plant in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. She appeared in the census on 2 Apr 1930 at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. Cora appeared in the census on 4 Apr 1940 at 128 Wilshire Drive in Whittier, Los Angeles, California, United States. She died on 3 Mar 1970 at the age of 83 in Redlands, San Bernardino, California, United States. Exact date and location obtained from family search family tree unsourced entry. She was buried on 5 Mar 1970 in Redlands, San Bernardino, California, United States. Exact date and location obtained from family search family tree unsourced entry. Cora was also known as Cora Breshears.

Francis Marion BRESHEARS and Cora HENDERSON had the following child:

Juanita "Fay" BRESHEARS, born 5 Jan 1908, Missouri, United States; married Rolland HOSTETLER, abt 1927, California, United States; died 6 Oct 1993, Yucaipa, San Bernardino, California, United States.

More information on Juanita "Fay" Breshears may be found on my previous post of 1/7/14 on the Breshears family.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Fine tuning my work process for Roots Magic, Ancestry member tree and Familysearch Family Tree

My work  process has been slightly fine tuned and is now working fairly smoothly.  The steps are as follows:

  1. On Ancestry.com work the "shaky leaf" hints.  Prove out the hint prior to accepting.
  2. Add the hint to the person on my ancestry member tree.
  3. Download the record and save to my computer
  4. Create a source for the person / fact in my Roots Magic 6 program.
  5. Share the data between my Roots Magic database and my matched person on the Family Search Family Tree.
  6. If data or sources are available on Familysearch but not on Ancestry I will have them automatically update my Familysearch Family Tree record.
  7. Sync the updated record between FS Family Tree and Roots Magic.
  8. Manually update my Ancestry member tree. 

This is a rather involved process but it allow me to keep my three family trees all updated and pretty much in sync.

I do have to manually add my photos to both Ancestry and Familysearch which I have not done a lot of yet.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Still working on my Breshears line - Juanita Fay Breshears (Hostetlers, Odenbaughs)

For the past week I've been working on my first cousin (once removed) Juanita Fay Breshears.

Fay was the daughter of Francis Marion and Cora Henderson Breshears.  She married Rolland Hostetler around 1927 in California.  I still need a marriage record to support this.  They lived in California their entire lives.

Rolland and Fay had two children.  Sharon and Duane Keith Hostetler.

Sharon married Leonard Odenbaugh in San Bernardino, California in 1956.  They had two children Keith and Kelly.

I really enjoy working in the state of California.  The available records on line is amazing.  The California Birth and Death indexes are great.  Between those and the SSDI and Find A Grave I was able to piece together a lot of information on this "lost side" of my family.

Due to the distance my immediate family was never really close to this family.  Fay Breshears was a first cousin to my mother.  Years ago Rolland, Fay and Duane use to come to our home in Missouri for summer vacation.  They visited all of the Breshears relatives in the area while they were here.  I remember they had a camper for their pickup that they traveled and stayed in.


In the above photo:
Front: Alberta Shepard, Lula Breshears, Zelma Varner. Rear: Charlie Breshears, Duane & Fay Hostetler and James Varner.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Working on the Breshears - Marilla S Breshears and Henry S Henderson family of Fullerton, CA

The past few weeks I've been working on my Grandaunt Marilla "Rilla" Breshears Henderson and her family.  I have discovered five new first cousins (once removed).  Rilla was the daughter of my Great Grandfather Francis Marion Breshears.  Rilla and her husband Henry moved from Missouri to California in around 1929.  For that reason our families were never that close.

Again, Ancestry.com came to my rescue.  The amount of information that I was able to find on Rilla, Henry and their five children was unbelievable.  Using census records, birth, death and find a grave records I was able to trace their births in Missouri, move to California, deaths and burials.

The family as far as I can reconstruct it is as follows:

Henry S Henderson - Father
Marilla (Rilla) Breshears Henderson - Mother
Neva Pearl Henderson - daughter  >  married Wilbur Weaver
Mabel Henderson - daughter
Willetta Henderson - daughter
Samuel Henderson - son
Mary Henderson - son

As usual I'm willing to collaborate with anyone who is working on this family.  Simply post a comment here or send me an email.  It would help if you stated your relationship to the family