From Military Records to Primogeniture

I left off my last blog post stating I needed to find the Military record for Amaziah Browning said to be a son of Roger Browning of Greene County, TN. After trying several different methods of searching Fold3.org and Ancestry.com for alternate spellings I finally located an entry for an Amsy Browning also spelled Browner. According to someone's posting at an Internet genealogy site this record stated his mother was named Mary, and that he died on 3 Dec 1793. There is nothing about his family or place of birth on his military records. December 3, 1793 was the day he was discharged from the Militia in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was discharged and said to be sick on that day so he may have passed away? This Amsy Browning seems a little too old to be the son of Roger. He was said to be a Corporal which I take to mean he would have been older than 18 to 20 yrs. old? I am now thinking that he was a brother of Roger instead of son? Also the name Mary is given as his mother by several researchers. I don't know where this is from? Mary Abbot was Benjamin's wife so this may point again to his being the son of Benjamin.

Roger Browning becomes sole heir because he is Eldest

Jeremiah Browning's Pension document

Previous researchers seemed to have over looked the wording on the deed between Roger Browning and Jeremiah Browning. It states Roger was the eldest son. This seems to imply there were other sons. I believe there were at least two Jeremiah's living in Frederick Maryland around the same time. I believe they had an Uncle and Nephew relationship. From Jeremiah Browning II's Revolutionary War Pension document I gather he was a young man when he joined in about 1777. He would not have been born in the 1730's like Jeremiah I son of Edward Browning. In the Pension document Jeremiah II states his father didn't want him to leave the farm for the entire summer. Sounds like a young man still living at home. We also have a Jeremiah Browning dying in 1834. He is most likely a son of Benjamin Browning. Jeremiah also states his brother joined the military during the Revolutionary War. The only other Browning, Frederick Maryland, soldier seems to be Zephaniah Browning. So besides son Roger, Benjamin may have had sons named Amaziah, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah? This is the same story as in most early families first names are often used many times. It's difficult to separate all of these men without more records.
I still need a definite link between Amsy Browning and Roger Browning with Maryland. Both lived in Tennessee by the 1790's with no references of where they came from. We can only infer from naming patterns that they came from Frederick, Maryland.

Revolutionary War Roster Frederick Maryland

Documenting the Browning family history

When Familysearch.org first went online I couldn't wait to give it a try. Like Ellis Island it was swamped with users the first few weeks, and it was difficult to get to the search page. When I finally got a search in the Browning family was the first family I found information on. I was thrilled to find a long genealogy for the family. I was new to genealogy then and didn't realize this information was submitted by someone who had not documented their sources. Later I realized that I would need to find the source material for all of this. I finally have gotten around to documenting this line. For years I basically had this same information from Familysearch.org copied into my genealogy database. I did change Nathan's birthplace of Polk County, Virginia because there is no Polk County in Virginia. I changed it to Sullivan, Tennessee because a couple Nathan's children stated he was born in Tennessee, according to their Census Records.Roger had lived in Sullivan, Tennesse in the 1790's.
For years I also went along with Rebecca as Nathan's mother. I recently found out that Rebecca's maiden name was McKaughan. I assumed she was my ancestor. As it turns out she may not be. I learned this when I researched Roger Brownings family in Maryland Land Records online here http://www.mdlandrec.net/msa/stagser/s1700/s1741/cfm/index.cfm
I found the deed below stating Roger's wife was Elizabeth, around the time of Nathan's birth.

Jesse's parents born in Maryland?

Browning Deed states Roger Browning
 was son and Heir of  Benjamin

I am still assuming that the previous Browning researcher is correct regarding the fact that Roger Browning of Tennessee was originally from Frederick, Maryland. The deed I found in Frederick Maryland for a Roger Browning stated he was the son of Benjamin Browning. Roger Browning of Greene County, TN did have a son named Benjamin who was named in his will. He also had a son Nathan (my ancestor). Roger Browning of Maryland also had an uncle named Nathan. So we know both families used the names, Nathan and Benjamin. This and the fact that Nathan b.1785 son said his father was born in Maryland. Jesse Madison Browning's 1880 Census record states his parents were born in Maryland. His mother was actually born in Tennessee.

Jesse's wife's father was born in Maryland so I wonder if this was just a repetition error? A few of Nathan's children lived until 1880 and beyond. Most stated he was born in Tennessee or Virginia in the US Census.

I have not found anything other than naming patterns to link Roger Browning of Greene County, Tennessee with Frederick, Maryland. Roger's son Amaziah served in the military and his mother was named on a military document according to something someone posted  on the internet.. Don't know if the document also stated where he was born? If Amaziah was born in Maryland that would be enough proof for me that Roger was indeed son of Benjamin Browning of Frederick County, Maryland. I need to find the military record for Amaziah Browning. I haven't been able to locate one yet.

Happy 12th Anniversary Ellis Island Site!

SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse LLoyd line

I remember when I first tried to access the Ellis Island website 12 years ago and it was so popular it took forever to even get to the search field. I spent days on there waiting and then final retrieving a few passenger lists related to my family. It was very exciting making all those discoveries.
Recently I happened to find one that didn't surface on earlier searches. This particular passenger list was for my great-grandmother  Maria Kappel and her daughter. They were making a return trip after visiting family in Inzenhof, Hungary. Maria made several trips back to her native village. Most of her trips were made from Antwrep, Belgium on the White State Line. The one I found recently was a trip from Bremen Germany and was a second class voyage. She traveled on a famous ship this time, the "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse".  This ship was one of the ships called the four fliers because of its speed. It had a very first class luxurious interior. She must have had a little extra money, or got a good deal on this trip.
I still need to scan a 1910 passenger list which my Grandfather Rudolph Kappel appears on at age 1 year.

Franz Koppel my great-grandfather arriving at Ellis Island 1896

My Great-Grandparent travelled on the same ship in 1898. They were not married yet  and appear as Maria Kurta
and Franz Koppel

My Great-Great grandfather Johann Kurta arriving at Ellis Island 1900

Here are Maria and husband Franz Koppel returning from a visit to their native Inzenhof Hungary in 1901

Kritian Koppel my great-great grandfather appears on this list  coming to stay with our family

Maria Koppel and her daughter Maria returning after a 1905 visit to Inzenhof Hungary

Owens Death Certificate Update

I previously posted and analyzed some of the Owens siblings Death Certificates . I had forgotten that someone had a copy of another death certificate bringing the total number of certificates to 4. It is the death certificate for John W. Owens, he died 30 Apr. 1927 in Chicago Illinois..This one matched up with that of Mary Owens/Mason giving the father's names as George Owens. Although the mother's name was correctly stated as Nancy Hicks; unlike, Mary's death certificate which states her name was Mary.

As I stated before George Owens was his own informant on the death certificate so his info was so far the only certificate with completely correct info.

Three Death Certicates 3 different opinions?

We have 3 death certificates for three Owens siblings. Mary and Frances Owens' informants give their father's name as Owens. William according to Frances' imformant and George according to Mary's. He was born in Kentucky, according to Frances' informant, and born in Ohio according to Mary's informant . Mary Owens/ Mason's informant, which was her daughter, gives her mother's name as Mary E. Owens born in Ohio. Frances Owens/ Wilke's informant, her husband, stated her mother's name was Miss. Hicks. George apparently provided the information himself as the informant is given as the decedent. He says his parents names were William F. Owens, born in Kentucky and Nancy Hicks, born in Ohio  which of course is the correct answer. This is the first time I've seen the decedent given as the informant.
It's interesting that George Owens and his nephew Fred Mason, my great-grandfather, contracted TB. They were both painters and paper hangers. The chemicals they used may have led to their contracting TB?

Where Fances Owens/ Wilke died

My Great-Grandfather Fred Mason son of Mary Owens

Learning Evernote

Rootstech finally spurred me into actually using Evernote. I downloaded it a while ago, but couldn't figure out how to use it for my genealogy. After listening to Caroline Pointer's Evernote Hangout I finally understood how to set up the Evernote in a useful way for me. Above is a video I made about how I am using Evernote.

Here are the steps for creating Notebooks for you research:

Step 1. Click file then new notebook
Step 2. Name your notebook. Right now I am making surname notebooks for each surname.
Step 3. Open the drive location with the folders you want to put in Evernote and view this side by side with Evernote.
Step 4. Click file then new Note
Step 5. Drag the folders to Evernote
Step 6. Right click on the file in Evernote and tag it with a more specific description.
Step 7. If you have a number of files with the same tag click on tag in left side window and drop the files there.
Step 8. Sync to the Evernote server by clicking on sync. You can only see the files from online on any computer if you sync it. You also need to sync in order to start the clock which allows you to upload 60mb per month.

This is what the online page looks like

My favorite Rootstech 2013 tips

1. Archive Grid for searching for manuscripts
2. Zendone sounds like a great way to keep track of your progress with your to do list. It's based on the "Get things done" productivity methodology.
3. Duck Duck Go search engine is one to me. It presents slightly different results than google, with a nice easy to read layout.
4. Use the phrase "cemetery near" to display all cemeteries in an area at google maps. I was very surprised to find hundreds of small family burying grounds in southern Virginia and northern Tennessee.
5. GeoNames is a map site I've never used before.
6. I need to use the source box at Family Search to add sources for tree.

Little dots are all cemeteries or family
burying grounds

Looking forward to the Fan Chart at Family Search. Love those Fan Charts.

The session  Paper Piles to Digital Files was excellent . I am always looking for quick ways to organize. The presenter gave some wonderful tips. It inspired me to finally use Evernote. I bit the bullet and learned to use it. Is is a great place to organize and plan future research. Now that I understand it I like it.

One of my new Evernote notebooks

My first gleanings from RootsTech 2013

RootsTech 2013 Conference began today. I thought the keynote speeches were wonderful! It's true that we need to preserve the details of our families everyday lives. I put together many of the anecdotes and stories my mother told me about her family, and uploaded the finished product to Archive.org : http://archive.org/stream/CharlesAndGracielaForgeyBookIiRevised61012/RevisedCopyCharlesAndGracielaForgey61012#page/n0/mode/2up

When the Italian project at FamilySearch Indexing was mentioned it brought to mind that I might have some Italian blood through Central America? It seems the name Granzio might be Italian? I already know we have some German through a Central American line.
I've read through some of the posted online syllabus material already. I am attending the conference virtually and will only be able to see those sessions that are streamed. I found two great websites listed in one syllabus that I never used before. It was for the session Five Most Important Resources http://s3.amazonaws.com/rootstech/original/Five_Most_Important_Resources.pdf?1359704536 Searching one of these, Archive Grid, I found that there are some Susan Forgey letters at Duke University which might provide great insight into the family from the Civil War to the early 20th Century. These letters are a part of Cornelius Miller Pickens' Papers (see image above).
I also saw an image of the above chart on another syllabus. I love charts and had to print one for myself. I found out that it came from the Progeny Site . I downloaded the free trial. It pulls the information from your FamilySearch Tree. This software does produce some nice charts and reports.
So I have have picked up some tidbits already, and the conference has just started.

My Irish Townlands

I looked up my family's Irish townlands at google maps. I only know about the two that the Mullens and Huvanes lived in for at least a couple hundred years if not much longer? Irish townlands range in size from as little as an acre to thousands of acres.

Ellen/Helen Mullen/Mason she was born and
raised in Pollaturick

I had not idea that they now have outlines of the Townlands at google maps. The nearly octagonal shape of Fallakeeran is very interesting to see.
I then switched to street view to take a tour of the area. I now would love to know which properties belong to the Mullen and Huvane families. There are still some older buildings in the area. I am hoping some of the old homestead survives. I do have some contacts in the area. I better hurry up and ask because my best source of information in the area is elderly.
Pollaturick was the townland where my great-grandmother Ellen/Helen Mullen was born 26 December 1880.

 Pollaturick now:

Fallakeeran Today