Relinking Family Tree Maker 3 — David Swayze in 1820 Census.

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Don Taylor

Relinking Family Tree Maker 3

Frustration strikes again with the linkage between Family Tree Maker 3 for Mac and my tree on Ancestry. I’m not sure how it happened but my Family Tree Maker (FTM) file for the Darling-Huber tree said it wasn’t linked to Ancestry, but when I went to Ancestry, it indicated that it was linked with Family Tree Maker and gave me the file name it was linked in. The same one that said it wasn’t linked. My on-line tree has many people I’m sharing with and my FTM has underlying source links and media that I don’t want to lose connections to.

I called Ancestry and spoke to their support. No help. They told me to break the tree, then go to FTM, start a new tree, and then download from Ancestry. Basically, revert to Ancestry’s version of my data. I have done that in the past and found that my sources were generally all messed up and that most of the media I had with my sources seemed to be lost. Then I happened upon a new idea.

I decided to go ahead and break the tree on Ancestry. Then in FTM, create a new tree by importing from Ancestry. After that task was complete, I merged my old FTM file into the new one. After completion there were a few duplicated individuals and a few duplicated sources but, all the connections appear to be correct. That’s okay. I’d rather have duplicates that I can select the best source from than have missing source information.
I’ll work with it for a while and let you know if I find any serious problems.

David Sweazy [Sr.] & the 1820 Census

The 1920 Census is always problematic because only the head of the household is named. Others in the household are only given a range of ages, sex, and status. There is also identification of what sector of the economy the individual was engaged in.

1820 Census Entry for David Sweazy – Image via Ancestry.Com.

I find it important to analyze the census information and associate all that I can determine.

For example:

The David Sweazy household of Richland, Fairfield County Ohio[i].
Census Item
Value
WM* Ages to 10
2
1 Presumed to be William Marsh who was age 6.
1 Presumed to be Daniel S who was 9 or 10.
WM ages 16 to 26
1
Presumed to be Evan who was 17 or 18.
David Jr. is enumerated elsewhere in the Census.
WM ages 26 to 45
3
All three are unknown individuals.
WM 45 & Up
1
Oldest male presumed to be David Sweazy age 58
WF** 10 to 16
3
1 Presumed to be Edith, age 12 or 13.
1 presumed to be Elizabeth, age 15 or 16.
1 Possibly Sarah who would be 19 or 20.
WF 45 & Up
1
Presumed to be wife Alice, age 51
* WM = White Males | **WF = White Females

In addition, an entry indicates that four people were engaged in Agriculture and one was engaged in Manufacture.

First, I believe there is enough detail to assure that I have the correct David Swazey/Swayze.

Then I take the information that is there and derive the following facts

For David, William, Daniel, Evan, Edith Elizabeth, and Alice I would add the following:

Name – I’d add Sweazy as an alternate surname for all.
Birth – In the Notes section, I’d add, “1820 Census is consistent.

For David – Census – Date: 7 Aug 1820 | Place: Richland, Fairfield, Ohio: Living with 10 others in household, He was engaged in either Agriculture or Manufacture.

For Sarah, – Birth – in the Notes section, I’d add “1820 Census is NOT Consistent” Sarah may have been 10 to 16 in 1820 Census or may be numerated elsewhere.

In the notes for the 1820 Census Source Citation I’d add: Neighbors: Love, Bailey, McBride, & Young
For Alice and any of the children, I might or might not add:

Lived 7 Aug 1820 – Richland, Fairfield, Ohio – Presumed to be living with (father) David Swayze.

I think that fairly well covers the things that we know from the Census. I would love to hear in the comments anyone who thinks I missed a fact or I added a “fact” not in evidence.

David Sweazy [Jr.] & the 1820 Census

Using the same process for David Sweazy (Jr.) I find

1820 Census entry for David Sweazy [Jr.] from Ancestry.Com

The same process for

David Sweazy [Jr.] household of Richland, Fairfield, Ohio[ii]:
Census Item
Value
WM* Ages to 10
1
Unknown male – b. 1810-1820
WM ages 16 to 26
1
Presumed to be David [Jr.] Age 24
WM ages 26 to 45
1
Unknown Male born b. 1775-1794
WF** to 10
1
Presumed to be Elizabeth, age 2
WF 26 to 45
1
Presumed to be Catherine, Age 25-26
WF 45 & Up
1
Unknown female – b. bef 1775

* WM = White Males | **WF = White FemalesIn addition, an entry indicates that two people were engaged in Agriculture.

This Census is a bit more concerning because a daughter, Emily Ann Swayze is not accounted for. If she was born on 21 Jan 1820 she should be enumerated here but isn’t. Also, there are two other adults who are unknown. We know that David’s parents were enumerated elsewhere, so, these two adults could possibly be Katherine’s parents, James & Margaret. Everything else seems to fit so I’m going to accept this entry as being that of David Swayze/Sweezey

Facts Found

For David, Elizabeth, and Catherine I would add the following:

Name – I’d add Sweazy as an alternate surname for all.
Birth – In the Notes section, I’d add, “1820 Census is consistent.

For David – Census – Date: 7 Aug 1820 | Place: Richland, Fairfield, Ohio: Living with five others in household, He was engaged in Agriculture.

For Emily – Birth Notes – 1820 Census NOT Consistent – Not enumerated. May have been born after 7 Aug 1820.

For Emily – Under Tasks – Analyze birth information regarding Emily. Could she have been born after 7 Aug 1820?

In the notes for the 1820 Census Source Citation I’d add: Neighbors: Noble(?), Williams, Marguhart, & Martin
In my research notes for Catherine’s parents, James & Margaret Walker, I’d add

the following note:“Conjecture:  May have lived with daughter Catherine during 1820 Census. “

And under my tasks for them, add a task to search for James Walker in the 1820 Census.

Again, I would love to hear in the comments below if anyone thinks I missed a fact or I added a “fact” not in evidence.

Endnotes
—–

[i] “United States Census, 1820,” Database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHLS-J2K : accessed 16 June 2015), David Sweazy, Richland, Fairfield, Ohio; citing p. 191, NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 87; FHL microfilm 181,393.

[ii] “United States Census, 1820,” Database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHLS-VQG : accessed 16 June 2015), David Sweezy, Richland, Fairfield, Ohio; citing p. 188, NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 87; FHL microfilm 181,393.
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My Wife’s DNA Results

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Don Taylor
I was bad. I mean, I was very bad. I got my wife an Ancestry autosomal DNA test for her birthday. Sure, she received some other gifts from me, but she thinks the autosomal DNA test was more for me than for her. She’s probably right – actually, she’s always right. I like figuring out relationships of DNA matches. For me it is great sport and she knows me well. So, I guess it really was my gift to me on the occasion of the celebration of her birth.  


After the test was done and the results were received, I started looking at her results. Ireland, Scandinavia, Great Britain – no surprises there. Iberian Peninsula is a bit odd, but not unbelievable. Then it hit me – No Swiss!? That is very odd. Two of her great grandparents emigrated from Switzerland. Her great-grandfather, John Huber, came from Windlach, Zürich, Switzerland. Family oral history says that his family farmed the same land for 800 years. Her great-grandmother, Bertha Trümpi, came from Ennenda, Glarus, Switzerland. With both great-grandparents coming from Switzerland, I would have expected her grandmother to have been 100% Swiss. With her grandmother being 100%, I expected my wife to be about 25% Swiss. However, there was no reference to that ancestry in Ancestor.Com’s ethnicity profile for her. That is really odd. Now, the “trace regions” make up 10% of her DNA, but diving into that showed that she about 9% Italian, Greek, and “Europe West.” Anyway, 9% is a far cry away from the 25% that I expected. I’ll have to see if I can get her mother to test as well and see what comes through from those results.

About 9% from areas that include Switzerland

Although the Ethnicity Estimates are fun, the real reason for DNA testing is to make connections with others researching the same family trees and to facilitate communications between cousins researching the same family. For that, I was disappointed that Ancestry allows you to connect your DNA profile only to one tree. Long ago, I separated my wife’s family trees into two different trees – one for her paternal line and one for her maternal line. The biggest reason I did that was that other people, who are researching one line, are never researching the other line. I’ve also found that few people really care about the genealogy of individuals related only by the marriage of a distant cousin. Anyway, I think Ancestry should allow you to link an individual’s DNA to any tree that they are a part of.

Anyway, because Ancestry.com doesn’t allow for multiple trees to be linked to an individual DNA profile, I needed to create a new tree just for her autosomal DNA results. So, I exported her two trees, then merged them into one, uploaded that as a new tree, and then linked her DNA to that tree. Sigh… Not a huge task, but now I have an instance of her tree that I probably will not manage.

I looked closer at the DNA Matches. Wow, 180 matches at 4th cousin or closer. That’s amazing. One of the matches shared a common ancestor hint. A new 4th cousin’s relationship appeared. Ancestry showed my wife’s tree going up to the common ancestor and back down to the cousin.

Then I looked at the cousin’s tree closer. She had parents for that common ancestor, names that I didn’t have. So, I now have two new ancestors named. The great thing is that individual also had sources for those ancestors. I can then take what she has and determine if I can follow her analysis and see if I agree. So, it is a great beginning to another research project.

Matching tree from Ancestry.com 
(first two generations not displayed) 

The other matches (3rd cousin or closer) either have private trees or do not have meaningful trees on Ancestry  matched to their DNA. I will need to contact each individual and see if they have a tree elsewhere they will share with me. In any event, there are many new leads to follow because of the autosomal DNA testing of my wife.

Actions to take:

Have my wife’s mother tested though Ancestry.
Follow-up research with Catherine A.D. Walter (wife’s shared common ancestor).
Contact each of the 5 people identified as 3rd cousins and
   see if we can determine the relationship and
   identify and research any new ancestor leads.  

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100 Years ago – Florence Wilma Huber – (1908-1934)

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Don Taylor

Research Darling/Huber

by Don Taylor

One hundred years ago, June 1915, Florence Wilma Huber was a six-year-old living on a farm in the Swiss Colony of Elberta and Josephine, Baldwin County, Alabama. Her father, John, and her mother Bertha (Trumpi) moved the family to Alabama from Wisconsin when Florence was a baby. Her five-year-old brother, Clarence, had been born in Alabama.

John was a farmer, but I suspect that farming was difficult for the young man from Switzerland. The land was much different from his native land and different from Wisconsin where he farmed for seven years.
Children_and_adults_in_front_of_a_school_building_in_rural_Baldwin_County_Alabama.jpg From Alabama Superintendent of Education photograph album, LPP16, Alabama Dept. of Archives and History. via ADAH https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/photo/id/18058/rec/1
Baldwin County School Building, c. 1913
Courtesy: Alabama Dept. of Archives and History
Both of Florence’s parents could read and write, so I suspect that Florence probably began school about that time. Certainly, she could read and write by the time they moved to Michigan and were enumerated in the 1920 census.
Family history says, “Bertha didn’t care much for Alabama, too hot and lots of bugs.” Also, we don’t know exactly when, possibly in 1915 or 1916, but according to family legend, John became a hobo, “riding the rails” for some time. After a bit, he came back to Bertha and said Michigan was the place they would move sometime between 1916 and 1919.
Nationally, June 1915 was an exciting time. Certainly, the war in Europe was taking central stage in the news. There was a major German offensive in Argonnes[1]. Nationally, The League to Enforce Peace was organized in Philadelphia, with former United States President, William Howard Taft, as the League’s president.[2] Meanwhile, President Wilson was demanding reparations for the German sinking of the Lusitania.
Locally, the sale and regulation of alcohol was a bitter issue in Alabama politics. In 1915, Gov. Henderson vetoed a ban on the sale of alcohol; however, the legislature overrode his veto. Despite prohibition, 386 illegal stills were seized in Alabama in 1915[3].

 

[2] Ibid.
[3] Alabama Department of Archives and History –https://archives.state.al.us/historythisweek/week27.html
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A Find-a-Grave visit to the Gorham Cemetery (Old Village Cemetery)

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Don Taylor
Find a Grave logo. Source: "Musings From Mommyland"
Logo for “Find A Grave”

I love Find-a-Grave. It is a fantastic resource for genealogy research; and, I really like to do my part in helping the database along. As such, I like to volunteer to fulfill photo requests. It provides a great opportunity to get out into the fresh air, get some sun, and provide a purpose to visit a cemetery. The other thing is I often request photos on Find-a-Grave and think it is only right to take as many photos for others as I request.

Since moving to Maine last year, I really hadn’t had an opportunity to get out for a cemetery walk. The snow was gone, the ground was fairly dry, the temperature was comfortable, no reason not to do my part. I had seen six requests for photos for Gorham Cemetery. (It is also known as South Street Cemetery according to Find-a-Grave and Old Village Cemetery by the local historical society). I saw it was fairly small, 130 interments, the size I could mindfully walk in an hour or so. It was also close enough, about 20 minutes away.

Rather than just looking for the six photo requests that were active, I thought I’d apply the filter of “Names with no grave photos” and print out the list. Then I highlighted the six names that were active requests so I could provide special attention to them. I packed my camera, a mirror, and a whisk broom and headed out.

This is a small cemetery in the center of town, very old (for the U.S.), and well kept. As I walked the cemetery I looked carefully at each marker. As I walked, there were a few that were damaged or worn beyond my ability to read. In all but two cases, I could tell none of them, based upon the information I could read (part of a name, date of death, etc.), were the six requests I was working for. Happily, I never needed the whiskbroom. A couple markers could have used the mirror but they were too far under trees to make its use helpful. (Take the mirror and direct the sun to the marker from an extreme angle to make worn markings more visible.)

Marker of William Gorham
Gorham Cemetery
Photo by Don Taylor

As I walked I looked to see if the name was on my list of individuals whose markers should be photographed for Find-a-Grave. All together, I took 27 photos of 9 markers that weren’t in the Find-a-Grave entries for the cemetery.

Back home posted 8 of the photos to Find-a-Grave (One of them will need some Photoshop work to make it usable.). I then reported that I walked the entire cemetery and was unable to find the markers to FG.

I wondered if the Gorham Historical Society had anything regarding the cemetery. Sure enough I found their website and on it was a downloadable spreadsheet of “Town of Gorham Cemetery Records.” None of the six individuals requested were on the listing, however, all eight of the markers I did find were there. My inference is that the six requests were based upon entries in Find-a-Grave that were there by mistake. I then went back to Find-a-Grave and indicated for those requests that, “The Gorham Historical Society’s ‘Town of Gorham Cemetery Records’ has no listing for this individual. Please see: https://www.gorhamhistorical.com/vital-records.” I also suggested that their photo request be withdrawn.

As I looked at those records I realized there was no source for the information other than the creator of the memorial. There is a place for general notes but nothing to identify what the entry creation was based upon. I feel that is a major shortcoming of Find-a-Grave. Maybe, now that it is owned/managed by Ancestry.Com, they will add a source field to the data. I think it is a necessary addition that will help volunteers understand the data they are looking at and suggest revisions or removal of incorrect data.

A few notes regarding Find-a-Grave.

Don’t use Find-a-Grave entries as a source. Consider them as clues.  
Consider Find-a-Grave entries with photos done by someone other than the creator as confirmed there is a grave with the stone shown. Remember, markers often have errors, too.
Always check and check for a local historical society and see if they might have additional information on the cemetery. 
When you do find a problem with Find-a-Grave information, query back to the originator. Be nice, state the facts as you have them including your sources.

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Might they be cousins?

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Don Taylor

Many years ago I was hanging around in the Navy barracks at Treasure Island and was chatting with another sailor. I mentioned I was from Minnesota and he said he had many relatives in northern Minnesota. I said, “Where ‘bouts.” And he said, “The Motley-Pillager area.” I said, “Really, that’s where my family is from.” Sure enough, after a bit more discussion, we learned that his mother was my grandfather’s youngest sister. We were first cousins, once removed.

A couple years ago my half-sister, who lives in Oregon, started dating a guy who was also from Oregon. In their discussions, they learned that he had family from Pillager, Minnesota, also. They laughed about it and started calling each other “cousin.” Not that they thought they were actually related, but they figured if both their families were in Pillager during the same years, it is likely that they must have known each other. The town only has 469 people, according to the 2010 census. Back in 1910, it only had 252 people,[i] so it is easy to suspect that someone in one family married someone in the other. So she asked me the obvious question – are she (a Brown) and her new beau (a Haywood) related?

The family of interest is George Edgar Heywood (or Haywood) and his wife Christina Catherine Hull. It appears that George and Christina came to Minnesota from Wisconsin about 1875 and had all 10 of their children in Minnesota. Several were born in Kandiyohi County, but most were born in Cass County in Township 133 (May Township (S)). Christina died in 1901 and it appears that the family moved out to Idaho shortly thereafter. In the 1900 census, George’s sister, Delia, shows in the as a schoolteacher. In the 1905 Minnesota census, she still shows up in Pillager, but by 1910 she and, apparently, the rest of the family had moved on. Most of the Heywood family moved to Idaho, but some moved to other places.

Family locations by year.

Year
Heywood/Hull
Brown-Manning
1875
Kandiyohi Co., MN
1885
Kandiyohi Co., MN
North Dakota
1892
Pillager, Cass Co., MN
Cass Co. MN
1894
Sylvan Township, Cass Co. MN
Note: Pillager is in Sylvan Township,
1896
Pillager, Cass Co., MN
   next to May Township.
1897
Pillager, Cass Co., MN
1900
May Township, Cass Co. MN
Pequot Lakes, Crow Wing Co., MN
Note: about 25 miles
1901
Pequot Lakes, Crow Wing Co., MN
1902
North Dakota
1905
Pillager, Cass Co., MN
Note: Delia only (Other gone).
1910
Montana (Marian)
1910
Texas (Delia)
1917
Backus, Cass Co., MN
1920
Idaho
Sylvan Township, Cass Co., MN
The Browns moved from Cass county to North Dakota about 1896 and then back to Cass County about 1897. They then moved to Crow Wing County by 1901 and back to North Dakota by 1902. They moved back to Cass County, again, about 1916.Anyway, it appears that the Philips and Brown families were both in the Pillager area from about 1892 until about 1897.

It will take a while to go through all of the descendants of George and Christina and their siblings that lived in the area to see if there were any marriages between the families; however, it doesn’t look that way. I’m fairly certain my sister and her beau are much farther apart then that sailor I encountered so many years ago are.

ENDNOTES

[i] United States. Bureau of the Census – Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910: Population by Counties and Minor Civil Divisions 1910, 1900, 1890. Page 252 – https://books.google.com/books?id=T9HrAAAAMAAJ
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