Play With Dolls To Banish Fatigue?

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Don Taylor
There was an amazing article in the Boston Sunday Post, regarding “Grown Women Who Play With Dolls To Banish Fatigue – Stars of Stage and Screen Enthuse Over Their New ‘Back-to-Nature’ Stunt That Gives Rest and Relaxation From Wearisome Work.”[i]
The article begins with:
All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl.
Jill in this instance is the professional girl of the stage.
She works hard—a great deal harder than her public may believe.
It is not the physical exertion that makes her yearn to play; it is the never-ending strain of the artificial – the make-believe.
So that when the stage girl does play she goes to the antithesis of the artificial—the natural. And that is the reason why her trunks are so apt to contain dolls, teddy bears, stuffed doggies, piggies and monkeys and what-not of children’s playthings.
—–
The average individual, on beholding a stage girl sitting on the floor, rocking a doll to sleep or tossing a teddy bear up and down, is apt to pronounce the whole proceeding as absurd….
The article continues on with a story about Effie Hartwell and her playing with dolls as a means of relaxation. The amazing part of the article tells us about Donna’s personal life.
Newspaper Photo of Donna Montran sitting astride a wooden horse.
Now when another photographer wended his way to make pictures of Donna Montran the Boston model and Singer and found the beauty sitting a-straddle on the floor of the studio he was not all surprised.
“Taking it easy?” the photographer asked.
“Right! The very first guess,” replied the model. “This business of posing is one that tests endurance to the limit as any artist will tell you. Physically and mentally you’re exhausted at the end of the working day.
“My own idea of resting up is going back to childhood times and playing as one did when a child. I know it sounds perfectly silly to say so but the remedy sure is a cure-all. And if one can have the children at hand to play with, why its value is increased a thousand times over.  Don’t argue about it; just go ahead and try the experiment once and let me know hit it works out.”
This story of models, actresses, and singers playing with toys as a means to cope with the hectic lives they lead is great material to fill in details about the lives of the famous. Should you play with dolls or toys for rest and relaxation?  Follow Donna’s advice and give it a try.

[i] “Grown Women Who Play With Dolls To Banish Fatigue”, Boston Sunday Post, January 27, 1918, Page 29; Online Archive, Newspaperarchive.com, accessed 2015.
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Not a Real McCoy nor a “Real” Hatfield either.

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Don Taylor

I finally had a chance to get back to my Hatfield Project. The question my friend asked was her Hatfield family related to the infamous Hatfields of West Virginia/Kentucky fame.

In previous work I had found that my friend’s great-grandfather was Arthur R. Hatfield (1868-1931) – See “Not everything is on the Internet – Arthur R Hatfield.” I had hit a small snag and asked my friend to order a copy of Arthur’s death certificate in hopes it would provide his parents names. She did and it answered the questions. Also, in some of her family documentation, she found a couple obituaries for Arthur which provide more detail about the family in 1931.
According to his death certificate, Arthur’s parents were Nathan Hatfield and “Delfa” Bird. Further research would indicate that Arthur’s mother name was actually Delphia Bird. 

Nathan Hatfield was born on 26 December 1831 in Wayne County, Indiana. He grew up in Wayne County (per 1840 & 1850 Censuses). He married Delphia in Wayne County. After his marriage to Delphia the family moved around Indiana several times and ended up in Mound City, MO before 1910 where he died in 1910. 

Nathan’s father was Jonas Hatfield. Jonas was born about 1798 in Kentucky. Jonas’ father was also Jonas Hatfield, however, that Jonas was born in 1764 in Yorkshire, England.

The Hatfield Clan of the Hatfield-McCoy-feud.
William Anderson Hatfield is second from left sitting with gun.
Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia.Commons
William Anderson Hatfield (aka Devil Anse Hatfield) was the patriarch of the Hatfield family during the infamous feud. His pedigree is fairly well known and available on the internet. Apparently Devil Anse’s immigrant ancestor was Matthias Hatfield who was born in Prussia.

So, I let my friend know that her Hatfields came from England in the late 1700s and Devil Anse Hatfield’s ancestors came from Prussia in the mid-1600s. No apparent relationship on this side of the pond. Could she still be related? Sure, there is over 100 years of history for the Hatfields in Europe that can still be explored and connections found, but for now, her family’s oral tradition about being related to THE Hatfields does not appear to stand up to modest research. Sorry, my friend.

[Caveat: I did not do an in-depth study of each of the individuals in the family line. Such a study could reveal mistakes or errors in my thought processes or facts.]

———- DISCLAIMER ———-

  
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Five Steps to Genealogical Success

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Don Taylor

Complete genealogical foundations help answer family questions 

A Case Study: D’Amico

By Don Taylor

A friend was telling me that his wife knew her ancestors, the D’Amico side, were Italian, but didn’t know where in Italy they were from. He also told me he didn’t have any idea where to start. He said they had poked around Ellis Island records but found nothing. He provided me very little information, just the parents names, grandmother’s name.  He mentioned they settled in New England (Mass. & Maine) and one key bit of information, her father died in 1959 at the age of 43.
As a former Project Manager, I really believe in the process. My process is to always enter what I think I know into a family tree program.  I currently use Heredis 2015 World (Mac) [By the way, Heredis is running a 50% off sale which ends today.]  as my preferred genealogy organization software, but I could as easily other software or even paper. The process is the same either way.
1.  Enter what you think you know.
a.     Enter the known relationships and any known vital facts. In this case, there wasn’t much to begin with, but entered it and started.
Starting point for D’Amico Project.
2.  My next goal is to find the family unit in at least two censuses and make sure that I have a family unit understood.  I typically use Family Search for my initial start.  I like Family Search particularly because I like their “copy” feature. It provides an easy way to copy all of the data of the record plus the source citation in a single click so I can easily paste it into a source record in my software. I also like to confirm any of the seed facts from step 1.

a.     I then created a source entry and pasted the information into it. I saved that and then created the facts I wish, and drag and drop my source to the fact I’ve entered. In this case the month and place of death as well as the birthdate. 

b.     1940 Census, 23 year-old Michael with wife and daughter living in Maine.[i] 

c.     (1935 Living at Same Place)[ii] 

d.     1930 Census, 13 year-old Michael living with his widowed mother, Margaret, and four siblings in Franklin, Norfolk Co., MA. It also indicated her grandmother was born in Italy immigrated in 1900, and was naturalized.[iii]

I was fairly certain that this 1930 Census record was the correct family but wanted to be absolutely certain. I contacted my friend to have him ask his wife if her father grew up in Franklin, MA, and did she have an aunt Elinora and uncles, Frank, Joseph, and Victor. She responded that she did, so I knew I was with the right family.

3.  My next process is to follow the individual through all the censuses of his or her life. I found him in the 1920 Census with his father, Michael (new name) his mother, and his four siblings. The census reported that the father, Michael, was born in Italy, immigrated in 1890, and was naturalized in 1900.[iv] That finished all of the census records for the Michael the son. 
Next, a quick check found Michael’s birth registration which yielded the maiden name for his mother, Marguerita Melano.[v]
Now on to follow Michael the father through more census records; he should be listed in 1910 and 1900. 
The 1910 Census finds Michael in Franklin, MA with his wife and three children. His oldest child, Donato is 4 years old doesn’t show up in the 1920 census, so I suspect something happened to him. It also indicated that he immigrated in 1886 and is naturalized. This broadens his immigration date to between 1886 and 1890 for future searches. It also indicates that Marguerita immigrated in 1904.[vi]
1920 Census
1910 Census
Michael Immigration
1890
1896
Michael Naturalization
1900
Na.
Marguerita Immigration
1904
1904
Marguerita Naturalization
1904
*
* Note: Before the 19th Amendment women took the citizenship of their husbands upon marriage.
I wasn’t successful in quickly finding Michael D’Amico nor Marguerita Melano in the 1900 Census but I decided to continue on anyway and see if I could answer the questions.
Switching to Ancestry.com I searched Immigration & Travel for Margherita Melano arriving in 1904.
Searched Immigration & Travel for Margherita Melano.
There she was in the New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 arriving on 23 Jul 1904 aboard the Citta Di Torino sailing from Napoli (Naples). Her “race or peoples” is listed at So Italian and her last Residence was Caserta.  We don’t know for certain if that is Caserta the city or Caserta the province. Caserta (the city) is only about 15 miles north of Naples, so it makes sense that she would take a ship out of Naples to America.[vii] 
Using the information, I had regarding Michael, I didn’t find anything in Immigration & Travel that seemed to fit him. Then I searched the Birth, Marriage & Death records for Michael D’Amico born in Italy 1864. Up came an index record for Michele D’Amico, Baptized 1 May 1864 in Civile, Casalvecchio Di Puglia, Foggia, Italy.  Father Donato D’ Amico and Mother Eleonora Rossacci.[viii]  That must be him. Michael’s first son was named Donato and his first daughter was named Elenora clearly after his parents. The age was right. Casalvecchio Di Puglia is about 100 miles northeast of Naples.
I know that it is a leap to ascribe the Baptism record of Michele D’Amico of Casalvecchio Di Puglia to Michael D’Amico, the grandfather of my subject individual, but because of the expected birth date and the parents’ names (as they relate to the grandfather’s children’s names) I believe it is a good fit. So tentatively, I have him with that baptism and birth location.
According to The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. website, there was a Michele D’Amico who arrived in 1899 aboard the SS EMS whose last address was Cercemaggiore, which is about 35 miles from Casalvecchio Di Puglia. That is his likely immigration, however, I can’t prove it and it will take a bunch more research to prove it.
But going back to the process:
1.     Start a tree. Fill in what you think you know.
2.     Confirm what you think you know with evidence.
3.     Find the individual in every census.
4.     Find the individual’s vital (birth, marriage, death) information.
5.     Seek answers to specific questions in appropriate locations.
Move on to another ancestor.
In this case, I believe that Michael D’Amico was born in Casalvecchio De Puglia and possibly lived in Cercemaggiore.  I also believe that Marguerita Melano was from Caserta. Both were from southern Italy within 100 miles of Naples.

Endnotes

[i] 1940 Census; Michael A D’Amico – Ward 9, Portland, Portland City, Cumberland, Maine, United States; Family Search.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] 1930 Census; Margaret Damico – Franklin, Norfolk, Massachusetts, District ED 52, Sheet 15A, Household 351, Line 27; Family Search
[iv] 1920 Census; Michael D’Amico – Franklin, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Sheet 5A, Household 82, Line 44; Family Search
[v] Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1920; Michele Archangelo D’Amico – 1916 – Record #115; Family Search
[vi] 1910 Census; Michael D’Amico – Franklin, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Sheet 26A, Household 525; Family Search.
[vii] New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957; Margherita Melano – 1904 Arrival, New York, New York; Ancestry.com.
[viii] Italy, Select Births and Baptisms, 1806-1900; Michele D’Amico – Baptism Index; Ancestry.com. 

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Molly, Jack, & Larry – A DNA Success Story.

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Don Taylor
[This week guest blogger, Carol Katzenmeyer, is sharing one of her DNA successes. Carol and I are both researching Darling ancestors in Michigan and New York.]
In the early 1950’s a man named Fritz and a woman named Margie had an affair. When it was over, Fritz moved to Alaska. Margie lingered awhile, then moved to southern California…..
* * *
After my husband, Larry, passed away I became serious about my long-time interest in genealogy. I subscribed to Ancestry.comand spent long hours “entering and searching.” Soon, I had my DNA tested. In early 2013 I decided to have my children’s DNA done so I could derive my husband’s DNA also.


My daughter’s results arrived first and there was an immediate close match, a first cousin. Now, I have been in this family for over 55 years and I know all the cousins! This was not one that I knew of.
I looked at her tree and saw that she had been born in Roseburg, Oregon, in 1954. Her parents had been married in Roseburg and her father died there also.
Larry and I were attending Roseburg High School during 1954 and Larry’s brother, Jack, was in his first year at the University of Oregon.
I pondered…….
I remembered when we were first married, I overheard my mother-in-law tell Larry that her estranged husband, Larry and Jack’s father, “had a woman friend uptown.” The rumor was that Larry had a little sister. We shrugged it off at the time and I don’t remember that we ever talked about it again.
Now, all these years later – could it be?
Her name is Molly. I was surprised because my father-in-law’s mother is named Molly and two of her grandchildren are named Molly.
I contacted new cousin Molly via email, I mentioned many of the family names and places. She responded right away and indicated she did not recognize any of the names. We emailed back and forth a few times, exchanging information. Nothing clicked.
Soooo…… I said that I did not want to offend her, but I told her the story of Larry’s father’s woman-friend. She answered immediately. She was not offended, rather she was very much interested. Her father was Italian, but her DNA showed no Italian. She had wondered….
We continued to exchange information over the next few days .
I decided to talk to Larry’s brother, Jack. I asked him if he had heard the story about the woman friend and the little sister. He exclaimed, “that’s a new one on me!”. We discussed it for a few minutes and he said that he guessed it was time for him to have his DNA tested.
I ordered an autosomal DNA kit from Ancestry and we impatiently waited for the results.
The results show a close family match with Molly! Jack, Larry and Molly are siblings. Molly is a half sister. We shared all of this back and forth and spent some time getting used to the idea.
Finally, in June 2015, Molly and her husband Randy came to Roseburg to meet us! Eight months later, Jack and his wife Pat went to southern California to visit Molly and Randy.
What wonderful people! I am so happy Molly submitted her DNA so we could connect! Welcoming our new sister into the family has filled both our families with love and joy.
– Carol Katzenmeyer
27 March 2016
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Determining Cousins – My Formula/Process

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Don Taylor

Determining Cousins

I was recently asked by a family member how to figure out cousins, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so forth and what “removed” means.  What makes someone a first cousin once removed, and so forth.
First, there are many charts on the Internet that show how to figure out the relationships. I have pinned several of them to my “Genealogy – Cool stuff I find” board on Pinterest.
When I use a chart, I use Blaine T. Bettenger’s chart most often.  Not only does it show the cousin relationships, it also shows the average number of centimorgans of DNA you would expect from a particular relationship and a range matching to show relationships.  I like this one because it shows the DNA amounts for various relations. My link to it is via the DNA Testing Advisor.com page on DNA Relationship Data. (By the way, I’m very excited to be seeing Blaine Bettenger, Ph.D., J.D. speak at the Maine Genealogical Society’s 2016 Spring Workshop this April 23.)

My Formula/Process

I don’t think I’ve seen this method anyplace, but it is the method I use and it works really well for me.

First, determine the common ancestor two people
share. Second, count the number of generations to the common
ancestor for person number 1. (For example, it is 4 generations to my 2nd
great grandparent.) Third, count the number of generations to the same common ancestor for person number
2. (for example, 5 generations to the same
person.) Take the smaller number and subtract one. That gives
the cousin number. (for example, above person #1 is 4 generations to a
common ancestor, subtract 1.  Whoever I
share that common ancestor with is a 3rd cousin.
 Finally, take the larger generation number and
subtract the smaller number. That defines the “removed” number.  (In the
above example, the larger number was 5 generations, minus 4 generations, equals
1, or once removed.

So, if Marion (Sanford) Brown is my 2nd great grandmother and Marion (Sanford) Brown is your 3rd great grandmother, we are third cousins once removed. 
Try it a couple times and you will find it works really easy. It is how I do it and it works well for me.
So, cousins are defined by who you share a common ancestor with, removed is defined by the generational difference between you and a cousin. 
– Don Taylor
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