Lost in summer things and genealogy software program change to RootsMagic 6

It has been quite some time since my last post.  It has also been quite some time since I've done any serious family history research.  Been very busy with "summer" things.  Mostly Grand kid's related.   Many many baseball games, overnight visits and cookouts.  I've really enjoyed my summer.

Now it's time to get back to family history.  Lot's of things have been happening, especially over at Familysearch.  I've been working on loading the family tree into the new Family Tree program there.  I was doing this manually as my current software program (Legacy 7.5) is still not working with Family Tree.  I decided it was time to give RootsMagic 6 a try.

So far I'm very pleased with the program.  Fairly simple to use and the interface with the familysearch Family Tree is great.  I have spent several hours viewing the on line "how to" webinars to become familiar with the program.  So now I'm using two genealogy software program Family Tree Maker 2012 (to sync with my family tree on Ancestry and RootsMagic 6 to sync with my tree on familysearch.  At some point in the future I'm going to have to decide which one to work with as my primary.  I really don't want to be maintaining two different programs.

I imported my Legacy database directly into RootsMagic without going through a gedcom.  For the most part everything appears to have worked fairly well.  Of course, the sources all came in without the sourcewriter (ee format) style.  Also many of the locations shown in the census and residence facts was dumped into the description field instead of the place field.  Using standard RootsMagic queries / filters I've been able to identify the problem records easily.  Now I'm working on cleanup.  Re-linking the images was also very easily done in RM.

One good thing about switching programs and the resulting file cleanup process is that it forces you to look carefully at your data again.  I'm seeing several areas that need some real detailed review and cleanup.  My "To Do List" is growing daily.

Hopefully I will also get back on track with this blog, posting more family information.

Memorial Day 2013 - remembering James Varner

This memorial day weekend  my sisters, my wife and myself made the round to all of the local cemeteries where our relatives are buried.  Since my retirement and relocation back "home" we are now able to do this each year.  We do this to put flowers on the graves of our deceased family members.  We also do this because that is what our parents taught us to do.

Memorial Day holds many fond memories for me.  Around the age of 10 or 11 my father, James Varner, began taking me along each year to put the small flags on the graves of the military veterans.  We did between six and eight small cemeteries.  Usually our group included my father and uncle, James and Elvie Varner, and a good friend Reuben Bryant.

Thursday or Friday before memorial weekend we would go to each cemetery meeting two or three others there that helped us place the flags.  The flags would be placed in small round aluminum tubes (usually broken TV antenna's) that had been painted with red, white and blue stripes.  One person "ran the book" checking off the names as we went to make sure that no veteran was missed.  This was generally a fairly long day and my memory is that most of these days were rainy and chilly.

After Memorial Day we would go back to each cemetery to pickup the holders and flags.  These had to be saved to use again the next year.  Over the fall or winter the holders would be repainted as needed and the old faded or torn flags disposed of and new replacements obtained.

As I got older we had to manage around my work schedule if I was able to be there to help.  I missed the four years I was in the Air Force. After many years we turned over all of the cemeteries to other volunteer's.  My father, uncle and Reuben were no longer able and due to my employment I had to relocate to a distant state.

To me Memorial Day is much more than remembering our veterans.  It is also about remembering and recognizing our family members that have gone before us.  After all, if not for them there would have been no me.

WWI draft records and Ernest VARNER marriages

It's been two months since I've posted on this blog.  I have taken a little time off, but I hope to be back in the groove now.

With the coming of warmer weather the last few days I have been unable to make it to Englewood Cemetery and take care of the photo requests on Find A Grave.  I was able to clear up a three month back log.  I've also been able to key in several hundred more names in the Marine project for Ancestry.com's World Archives Project.

I took a slightly different tact on the family history the last two weeks.  Instead of working on a single individual or family I ran a list of people in my family tree maker database that should have been registered in the WWI draft.  I was able to find the draft registration for almost all of them on Ancestry.com.  I still have the WWII draft left to do.

I also spent some time working on my 1st cousin (1x removed) Ernest Varner.  Ernest (Ernie) Varner was married three times (Pansy Briggs, Fern Simms Horn, and Helen Harness).  I've been searching for marriage and divorce records with partial success.  I've been able to document all three marriages but I'm still searching for a divorce record for Pansy.  I also have not been able to document a divorce or death (not sure which) for Fern.  Still have more work to do here.

Still working my SMITH line - more descendants of Phebe SMETHERS found (BRATTAIN, WILSON, SPARKS and GINDER)

This week I continued indexing on Ancestry's World Archives Project.  Added approximately 600 more names to my index total.  Getting a little faster each week.  Skipped indexing on Family Search and used my indexing time to start a family tree.

I decided to try the new (in beta testing) Family Tree in Family Search.  I'm not an LDS member but anyone can request to help with the beta testing prior to the general release to all.  I could not find a way to upload a GEDCOM using my FTM 2012 file.  Watched the training videos and it appears as though the only way to create the tree is to manually add one person at a time.  When a person is added to the tree the program checks Family Search to see if that person is already connected to an existing tree in Family Tree.  If found, there are two options given.  One is to choose the person or if not the right person there is an option to create a new person.  I like the interface but it will be very slow going to build out the tree.  I believe I will limit the tree to my direct line only.

I've added a few more second / third cousins to the tree.  They are part of my paternal Grandmother Smith's line. Working primarily on Phebe Smethers Brattain.  She was my great grandmother Mary Francis Smethers Smith sister

Phebe SMETHERS was married to Samuel BRATTAIN and they had four children.
Clara BRATTAIN, married John GINDER
Della BRATTAIN, did not marry
Lillie BRATTAIN, married Earl SPARKS
Nellie BRATTAIN, married Lona WILSON
All of the families lived in the Hamilton and Madison County Indiana area.

Holidays and new cousins (BRATTAIN / WILSON families of Madison County, IN) found

The Christmas and New Year's holidays have come and gone.  The last two weeks have been extremely busy and very enjoyable.  This year we were able to meet not only with all of the immediate family but also my two sisters and their families as well.  Nephew Eddie Neuenschwander and niece Debby Vanslyke and family were the only ones missing this year.  We had an extremely full house (30+) on Christmas eve.  We again waited until Grandson Kaleb Varner could be here to have our family Christmas, which was done on December 26th this year.  On Christmas day Carolyn and I drove to southern Missouri to pick up Kaleb and bring him back.

With all of the holiday activity I was still able to spend a couple of days at the Henry County Museum volunteering.  I'm working on creating a database program to store their collection records. Hopefully I will be able to finish this project in the next two or three weeks.  Current plans are to move to the genealogical library next to digitize their records and automate some processes.  I was also able to spend a few hours indexing for both Ancestry and Family Search.

On the family history front I've been working on the Brattain and Wilson families of Green Township, Madison County, Indiana. These are the families of  Phebe Smethers the daughter of Eli and Barbara (Welty) Smethers.  The Smethers are my paternal 2nd great grandparents.  I have found several 1st cousins (1x and 2x removed) and 2nd cousins.  Ancestry.com came through again with their fantastic census record,  Indiana marriages and SSDI collections. I still need two or three days to finish up the documentation on the Brittain and Wilson branches of the tree.

Working on SMETHERS branch of family and indexing on the World Archives Project

As I mentioned in my last blog post I have resumed indexing on Family Search.  I was working on the New York Naturalization project.  I thought I would try something different  so I begin indexing on Ancestry's World Archive Project as well.  I've been working on the Kansas (city and county) state census there.

Comparing the two I believe the indexing tools are fairly equivalent with a slight edge to Family Searches.  However, Family Search far surpasses Ancestry on project instructions, examples, help forums and accuracy ratings.  In fact on Ancestry there appears to be no way of knowing what changes had been made to your indexed records.  For that reason the frustration level is much higher working with the World Archive Project.  At least on Family Search you know what the arbitrator changed and if you do not agree you can request a further review.

For now I will continue to do some for each.

Also this week I was able to spend a lot of time on Ancestry working on my paternal 2nd great grandmothers family the SMETHERS (SMITH'S).  With the help of another researcher on Ancestry I was finally able to determine and prove her maiden name of WELTY.  So far it appears as though the most of the family have stayed in the Madison and Wayne County, Indiana areas.  A few (my great grandmother) came to Missouri and one or two to Kansas.  I have found several death and marriage records and many census records on Ancestry.  I also found some burial locations, and tombstone photos on Find A Grave.  The family tree grew by almost 30 people this week.

I still have much work to do on the Elias SMETHERS / Barbara WELTY family.  There are 9 children in the family and most (if not all) married and had children of their own.  I will be spending the next few weeks on this branch of the tree.

Documenting the HOLLY / HOLLOPETER / MARTIN family connection

It's been a very busy last three weeks.  Thanksgiving was great with all of the family here at the new house.  I've also re-started my Family Search Indexing efforts again.  I've just past the 5,000 records indexed mark. I've also been volunteering at the Henry County Museum and Genealogy Library a couple of days a week.  That has left little time to spend on my family history.

No new relations uncovered but I've been concentrating on more complete documentation of those I already  have in the family tree.  My concentration areas of the last few weeks have been the MARTIN / HOLLY / HOLLOPETER connections.  These connections are related to the VARNER side of the family.  Primarily I've found census records, marriage records and a few obituaries.  The HOLLY name came from Ray V HOLLY who choose to shorten his surname of  HOLLOPETER  to HOLLY.  At this point I'm not sure how many of his siblings's choose to do that as well.  I have a research "TO DO" to look into this a little more at a later date.

I received some invaluable assistance from Bill Martin to set me on the correct path for his mother's (HUEY) side of the family.

I've now decided to rework my research strategy with the focus being on more complete documentation of the family file I have.  My intent is to focus more on family history and less on genealogy.  Now to put together a game plan.  Also for the new year I plan on rethinking my genealogy "Tool Kit".  That may be a future blog subject.