Early Transcribers Preserved Records Later Lost

The Irish religious Census and Quebec Tanguay records are examples of how early transcription preserved the contents of records later lost. Anyone with ancestors in Quebec or Ireland should be grateful to these 19th century genealogists who transcribed  records in these areas. 
Father Cyprien Tanguay was a Priest and Genealogist. He was born in 1819 and died 1902. He was appointed to the Dominian Statistics Department because of his interest in the records kept there. He spent many hours consulting these records and compiled  "Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes françaises depuis les origines de la colonie jusqu'à nos jours" a set books containing detailed family trees for every early settler. I am lucky he transcribed the records for St-Augustin Quebec because many of the pages are now missing from the church records. Sometime between the late 19th and recently someone removed whole sections from the church registers. When Ancestry.com offered free access to Canadian records a couple of weeks ago I took that opportunity to collect some family records. That is when I found out the St-Augustin book was butchered. Most of my family pages were missing. When I laid out everything I had as far as connecting generations in the Martin family I recognized how indebted we should be to Fr. Tanguay. His transcription is the only way we can bridge the gap between records. I've posted all of my relationship proof records here https://sites.google.com/site/forgeyfamilies/mason-to-martin-1624 You can see where the missing records are and Fr. Tanguay records fill the gap.

Another person I am indebted to is Tenison Groves. He copied many records which were later destroyed in the Four Courts Building fire during the Irish Civil in 1921. He was a professional genealogists whose reports now form a very important record source in Ireland. He transcribed the 1766 Religious Census of Ireland (see right) We believe that Andrew Forgey and Hugh Reynolds are our ancestors? Few original pages still survive making this an important document collection. It's one of the few surviving sources of family info during that time period; and the only source for some areas.

We are also indebted to an unknown family member who was doing Mason Family research in the early to mid twentieth century. I believe it's a she? The distant cousin who provided me with the copy of the handwritten family history didn't know who actually wrote it or when? A small example of the writing is right. Who ever wrote this did a wonderful job. Everything I've looked up is correct. This is very unusual because most of the family histories passed on to me have contained major errors. Ida Mason daughter, of Peter and Mary Mason, may have made this out but we can't be sure? We would have had a very difficult time locating the family in Quebec if this information had not been recorded. The person who put this together had first hand knowledge of the family location in Quebec.

The really Herculean efforts of these pre-computer age genealogists have provided us with valuable records, and family traditions which otherwise would have been lost.

MyGenShare.com Beta Test Experience

I've really enjoyed the privilege of being allowed to use MyGenshare site during beta testing . I've just scratched the surface in the past few days. I have spent many hours looking over a wealth of genealogy information shared here. This is certainly a very important site for beginners. It will provide them with a great reference library and how-to articles. I've been researching many years, and I've pretty much read every genealogy book available at the many libraries in my area. I still consider myself at an intermediate level, and continue to pursue further education. I have picked up many great tips this week at MyGenShare. It's been a very fruitful experience. The books and many referenced articles contain helpful advice on every aspect of research. They also contain inspirational articles. The genealogy humor book series "Collecting Dead Relatives" and "Further Undertakings of a Dead Relatives Collector" are at the site. I've read those books so many times and never get tired of them. There is also a genealogy search engine, and link directory which is very extensive.
Some of the notes I made while using the site:

1. Found a query placed by a Forgey cousin of mine in the 1960's in Everton's Genealogy Helper.
2. Discovered that Scots-Irish was seen as a derogatory term. Ulster Scot was the term preferred by Scots who settled in Northern Ireland.
3. When my Ulster Scot ancestors came to America the ship likely only had an approximate date of departure, so they would sometimes spend an extended time living and working in the port town. Liverpool was sometimes a departure port for the Ulster Scots.
4. Ulster Scots often came over in groups led by a local preacher (you can also sometimes determine a place of origin if you know the date of emigration based on emigration patterns).
5. Local histories are also a great source for Ireland.
6. A majority of the felons transported to Virginia were non violent criminals. The transportation of  criminals to the American South during the Colonial period gave the area a bad reputation. These people often served their sentences as slave labor on tobacco plantations.
7. I found an article about someone with a similar background who had European ancestors who settled in Nicaragua. I believe some of my ancestors were Germans who settled in Nicaragua. I found the research as difficult as the person sharing their story in this article. Did get some good tips. I will try to get a baptismal certificate for my grandmother, if it has survived all the disasters? 
8. I also was reminded that deeds can be filed well after a person in the deed's death. Someone found one filed 110 years later.
9. In order to own a piece of property you had to be over 18 years old.
10. A lease record my be the only way to find out more about the Forgey's in Ireland. These records can contain a significant amount of genealogy. More people leased land than owned land.
11. Landlords' personal records are a great source for Irish research.
12.  Talk to members of the local historical society where my ancestors lived. They are the most knowledgeable about local families.
13.  Between 1922 and about 1940 a woman could lose her citizenship for marrying an alien.

Free Microsoft Expression Software a Great Family History Tool!

I found a new toy! It's Microsoft's Expression Software. You can record your computer screen with it which allows you to make videos you can post on Youtube. You can make instructional videos showing your screen only, or combine it with other tools such as drawing and Movie Maker to make a creative Family History video.  Expression Encoder offers a free version which only captures your screen in 10 minute increments. You can work around this and make longer videos by combining 10 minute segments in Microsoft Movie Maker.

Here is a tutorial on how to use Expressions: http://youtu.be/gYhSo7U_CCg

This wonderful video at Vimeo is a great example of what you can create:  http://vimeo.com/30868456

I made this video combining a Google My Map with Movie Maker . http://youtu.be/glplJD6ujhA


Made this second one using Open Office drawing where I inserted the picture of the map and and picture of a little boat. I then added pictures at Movie Maker. I got the music from Youtube enhancements audio. I figure it's best to use their own selection. which is copyright safe. http://youtu.be/k1NrjhcG6nE

Metes and Bounds Troubles

I finally have most of my metes and bounds deeds platted. I wondered whether the free Deed Platter actually gave a correct representation of my ancestors properties? Some turned out looking quite odd. Many did not close correctly, and some lines ran too long. In these cases I wondered whether they were measuring all the way to the central marker? Another possibility is they weren't taking into account the degree angles and just adding up the pole numbers?
I decided to use Open Office drawing to verify the plats I made from the free site. I found trying to reproduce these plats in drawing a little tricky. It takes a little manipulation to get the numbers exact. The degrees can only be estimated to the nearest degree, since only increments of 5 can be selected. This isn't really a big deal since the differences are fractionally small. I was able to reproduce them, and they looked the same. I entered one of Jacob Roller's deeds at the Deed Platter site last night. It actually closed perfectly! This also verifies that the site does accurate renderings of the deeds. If a deed does not render in a plausible way then the deed likely has errors.
I made a video for Youtube demonstrating some of what I've learned. I plan on ordering more deeds to get a better idea of where Hugh Forgey lived.

Plotting to find your Ancestors

 Plotting or platting your ancestor's land isn't as easy as it may seem. I had previously used Google Earth to locate my ancestors land grants in the Midwest. This does not work with the older metes and bounds surveys. The deed surveys I have for my early ancestors all contain measurements in poles. I found a free online tool to draw these plat maps for me. The site has some basic instructions. I did not realize that some of the coordinate numbers on the surveys were degrees and not poles. I eventually realized some the numbers referred to degrees when some of the deeds did start stating this fact. Here is an example:

 The example above demonstrates that degrees were sometimes not included as a part of the land description. You can infer degrees when see the coordinates phrased like the example above. They seem to always state it when they are referring to poles. So a direction with a number, another direction, and number of poles would mean we are dealing with poles and degrees. So the above would refer to a line running southeast at a forty degree angle 100 poles. You could draw this with a protractor or you could draw it with a drawing program which will calculate the angle for you. The easiest way is to use a program designed to do all this for you, when you enter the coordinates.

I looked all over the internet for answers to questions regarding metes and bounds deeds. I did find some great instructions at About.com. Unfortunately, it didn't answer every question such as that above. I looked at some videos at Youtube, and FamilySearch Wiki. I would like see a course at FamilySearch Learning demonstrating every step in the process of platting. I couldn't even find many platted deeds and descriptions posted anywhere. A video showing someone platting a deed on paper would be great too.

My primary purpose in platting these deeds was to find the approximate location of Hugh Forgey's property in Knox County, TN. I have a deed for his property and a couple of neighboring properties. One is a deed for a large 4000 acre tract which Hugh shares a line with. After platting this deed I now think Hugh's property could be a little south of Emory Road near Little Flat Creek. I was thinking it was North of Emory.  I need to examine this deeds further to be certain of this. I've found this project to be very rewarding. Seeing the online of ancestors' land brings you closer to them. It's interesting to reconstruct the area your ancestors lived in using neighboring surveys. The descriptions can be very vivid regarding the landscape too. You really get a better feel and appreciate for their surroundings when you do a project such as this.
Options for platting:

1. Hand draw it with a protractor and compass
2. Use a computer drawing software program  
3. Use the free tool on the internet at  Deed Plat
4. Buy a more powerful program such as Deed Mapper

You'll find more About.com Metes and bounds articles at FamilySearch Wiki.

Two brickwalls exploded today!

The Virginia Memory project and Nan's careful reading of these many page difficult to read documents is responsible! Thanks Nan!
I searched plaintiff and defendant names in the search boxes and forgot to do a general name search yesterday, and walked away thinking there was nothing else here.
This document confirms the inferred brother relationship between Andrew Forgey and Archibald Forgey. I also confirms that Ann (Anna) was the daughter of Jacob Roller. We had inferred that because one of Anna's sons was named Jacob Roller Forgey. I was never able to find a baptismal record to confirm this. Earlier I had posted that I was searching for Lutheran Church records in Rockingham and Shenandoah Counties Virginia. Now I can continue to trace the Jacob Roller and Eva Zirkle line with confidence.

This document also contains a great story about my Andrew and Anna family. According to document Andrew and Anna Forgey migrated to Indiana which is correct. This narrative then takes a wrong turn and describes them as migrating beyond the Rocky Mountains where they are murdered by hostile Indians? I am afraid not. The true story is they settled in Indiana. When Anna dies a decade after migrating to the area. Andrew then migrates to the Davenport, Iowa area where he remarries and dies of a stroke in old age. Andrew lived a very quiet life of farming. The Rollers should have been able to reach Hugh Forgey by letter because he continued to live in Indiana?
This is now definitely one of my most cherished documents!

Alex Forgey Found? A twenty year court battle

I wrote in my last post that Alexander Forgey went missing several times in his life. I wondered whether anything else would surface for this elusive man. Wonder no more because a great find has been made! Nan continues to follow the roll-out of new records at Virginia Memory. She found a case referring to Alexander Forgey as defendant in a recently added Augusta County, VA Chancery Court collection. This digitized record contains an 8 page summary of his case. It likely stems from the sale of Alexander Forgey's wife's dowry back to her father Samuel Meek. I guess there was continued haggling over who owned what? In this case Alexander states he was coerced into turning over property which had actually belonged to him. All this led to a twenty year quarrel over property in dispute.
Thankfully, this twenty year feud led to the creation of records for this elusive man. What we've now gleaned is that Alexander Forgey lived at least until the early 1800's. I had lost track of him after 1796. Court records confirm he was in court in 1803, and probably was also in court in 1807. Alexander had sold his property in January 1796. He no longer appears on tax lists after that date. I don't know if he actually continued to live there and was exempt from paying taxes at that point? He may also have migrated to Tennessee where he had family. The 1810 Census for Tennessee is missing; so he could have lived there and not been recorded on any records. Hawkins County suffered serious early record losses, which could be why nothing has surfaced there for him? Another possibility is that the Knox County, Tennessee property purchased by Alexender Forgey was actually purchased by the Senior Alexander?
There are concrete facts in the documents from which inferences can be drawn. Here is a summary:

1. It seems like a forgone conclusion, after reading through this, that Alexander Forgey lived into at least the early 19th century.
2. Jacob Anderson is said to have provided security for Alexander. Don't know if he is a relation?
3. Alexander Forgey was awarded a judgement against Samuel Meek for $66.67 (a lot of money then).
4. Samuel Forgey planned to appeal the judgement against him to the Staunton District Court in Augusta County, VA.

It looks like the court papers being digitized for Augusta County Chancery Court Staunton District are loose case files. I don't think they are digitizing the order books? So I am thinking that anyone interested in Alexander Forgey and his line might want to order the court order microfilms available for borrowing through the LDS Family History Centers. There are order books for both Augusta District and Staunton District. Here is a very interesting blog post regarding these records http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2012/06/18/augusta-co-chancery-reveals-pioneer-stories-of-western-virginia/
If Alexander Forgey did not live to collect his judgement his heirs may have collected. So the court orders may contain the names of his heirs?

WANTED!!! A. Forgey between 1775 & 1779

Alexander Forgey is one of the most elusive people I've researched. I have no idea where he was between the time he disappeared from Cumberland County, PA in 1774 and 1779 when he seemed to have settled in Washington County, VA. Also, I lose trace of him after 1796? If we could find his locations in these time periods we might be able to find a brickwall breaking record? We are trying to verify that the above children are his.

I believe he would have been married at least a couple of times based on his age. He seemed to have a short duration marriage in 1786 which is the only marriage I've found for him. Any earlier marriage would seem to have taken place possibly in Ireland or 1760's South Carolina or Pennsylvania? With very few records to go on it is difficult establish whether Alexander Forgey had children or not. 

I've searched all the records available through the Family History Library for the areas I know he lived in. I feel like any breakthrough will come in a different location unknown to us at this time? I would recommend that anyone with possible connections to this line try to locate Alexander's locations in the time periods he is missing.

It will be a major earthshaking breakthrough to find any additional info on him!

Here is a timeline and what we've found already.

• Lucille Wallace felt that an Alexander Forgie/Forgy who arrived in Charleston South Carolina in 1768 was the same Alexander as above. If true we might infer that Alexander was born sometime before 1746. Tax lists would point to him being at least 21 in 1772.
• 13 February 1768 he receives a warrant for Land in Granville or Craven County Carolina for 100 acres
• I don't find him again until 1772 when appears on a Taxlist with Andrew Forgey in Cumberland County PA
• His last appearance in Cumberland County, PA was on a Tax list in 1774
• We don't see him on any records again until 1781 when he appears on a tax list in Washington County, Virginia (we know Andrew Forgey was in Washington County, VA in 1779 when he is involved in a court case).
• He purchases land in Washington County, VA in 11 October 1782
• He marries Agnes Meek in 1786
• 1787 there was a white male in his household between 17 and 21 years of age
• His marriage to Agnes ends in 1788
• He witnesses a deed in Washington County, VA in 1792
• In 1794 there are 3 white males over 16  in the household according to taxlist
• In January 1796 he sells his Washington County, VA property and I lose track of him completely

Lessons From Jamboree 2012

This past weekend's Genealogy Jamboree live stream proved very helpful to me! All of the sessions from the first, dealing with placing your ancestors in historical context; to the last, finding Diaries and Journals were very thought provoking. Being at home in front of the computer already I was able to put some of their suggestions into practice immediately. I went to google books and found some of the books that were recommended plus additional related books.
The NARA Military records talk helped me locate the ship info for my twin Uncles who were in the Navy. Some of which I've posted here.
Curt Witcher addressed the problem we sometimes run into when we don't have focused goals. We then aimlessly search for nothing in particular, and spend fruitless hours searching the internet. I feel like participating in Second Life, and all the educational activities I've participated in the last couple years, has helped me to focus my research and actually find solutions to family mysteries. Blogging helps me focus too, and analyze what I find more accurately.
Here is a link to the Syllabi for these sessions  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ra3yvqceqmb40ng/3l8nVnVdzu/Stream%20Video%20Syllabi.pdf


I picked up interesting tips from all the speakers.

 Here are some of the sites mentioned which I got my attention:

1. Mentioned by Lisa Louise Cooke for creating photo collages www.ShapeCollage.com
2. My Genshare, not available yet, is going to be a very important Genealogy website with links, genealogy ebooks, periodicals, and maps http://mygenshare.com/mgs/coming_soon
3. I don't recall hearing about this genealogy look-up service before. Genlighten sounds like a great resource for long distance research http://www.genlighten.com 

 

A Look at My Lulu Family History Book

I received my "Our Forgey Family History" in the mail from Lulu yesterday (it took 4 days from the time they shipped it). I thought it came out AWESOME (video above isn't very clear, but give an idea of how it turned out)! Never having published anything I worried about whether text might get cut off because I didn't lay it out correctly. Everything printed; even some of the text I had previously questioned was not in fact cut off. The charts appear uncut.
The quality of the book is as good as any text book you might find in a college bookstore. The paper very white and silky smooth. All of the colors printed very well, and the text is a good font size. I should have printed chapter headings at the top. Otherwise, it's a more than satisfactory first experience with publishing! I hear the black and white copies, which are much cheaper, are also good quality. I will be ordering black and white to give to relatives.
I do want to continue publishing even more stories, and research results. Looking through it in printed form jogged my memory, and I now have a list of more subjects to research.
No one would believe all the time and spent on this little 102 page book. Not only my time and money, but that of many others too. It represents many years of research. Like Joshua Taylor said in his session, yesterday at Jamboree, Family History is a life long pursuit. It's not something you do in a weekend. Someone contacted me once about putting together a family history as a Christmas present. He thought if he started in August he would have enough time to put one together one for Christmas that same year. When you are just beginning your research that is not enough time; unless, you are luckier than me!

How Many People does it Take to Write a Family History?

It takes a village It literally does take a village to write a good family history book. I have seen very few good family history books. Even some of the good ones have factual errors. Professionals with the best resources at their finger tips can produce an error ridden product. A family history book, American Tapestry, recently put together for Michelle Obama contains some erroneous connections. I've tried my best to provide the most accurate info in my book. As more records are found I may find that I will have to revise my book at a later time.
The problem which arises most often, writing these family histories, is when an author becomes overly ambitious and tries to include too many lines in one book. A book which attempts to provide info about hundreds or thousands of people makes it virtually impossible for a single average writer to do all the necessary research to verify every piece of info, and generally is just a compilation of family trees found on the internet. The one exception would be the genealogist who has personally documented every detail on every person over a number of years doing research. Most of those who write these books rely on others to provide vital statistics on each person.  Lucille Wallace is an example. When she wrote her Forgey family history in the 1950's she wrote to Forgey families asking them to provide the info they had on their own line. She did do some research on each line, but it was very limited. The book was good by Family History book standards. It did contain many wrong connections, because the research wasn't thorough enough. The author's own line was the most accurate, as usually the case.
I have written a more limited family history for a single immigrant family (instead of everyone with the surname) and their descendants to about the 5th generation. In doing this I have included about 600 names. I have basically done the same thing as Lucille Wallace, and used info provided by others on most collateral lines. I just don't have the time to track down info on 600 people. Unlike Lucille I have been able to use records posted online to verify what I can (I have verified nearly every relationship to the point where I am highly confident, but some exact dates could be wrong?). What I can't verify online I have had to rely on others to provide. I have done extensive research on my own line which should hold up to scrutiny by other researchers. Most of the info I have not been able to personally verify has been provided by skilled researchers- unlike Lucille Wallace who relied heavily on the family traditions of those she wrote to. Some of those who provided her with info transmitted stories which were passed down verbally from generation to generation, which is helpful but needs verification using documents.
The technical formatting of my family history has been a challenging learning experience. I am going with Lulu to self publish my book. I noticed I haven't made my page margins equal on the left and right hand sides in portions of my manuscript. I'll have to see how this looks. As I understand the left and right page margin should be set to 0.8 to give enough space for binding. I've ordered a copy to see if my layout is alright. I'll be reviewing this copy for picture print quality too. I might have to adjust to clarity of some of  pictures?
My advice to those interested in writing a family history is only take on as much as you can handle so you can produce the highest quality book. If you want to produce a more comprehensive family history it does take the active participation of several people helping with research and proof reading. A family history is full of facts which need checking. I have been reading a wonderful family history which would have been perfect with more focus on fact checking. This person did not know when  the Civil War started, which  led them to incorrectly date a family letter. I have noticed some family had been left out of this 300 page book. I think scope of the book was just too wide ranging which made editing extremely difficult.
I think it is extremely important to record yourself reading your manuscript to get a feel for how it reads. Use spell check several times and read it over as many times as possible for grammar errors. Order a black and white copy of your book to check to see if the layout is correct and use that copy to edit further. A black and white copy is only $5 to $10. I have noticed several people have ordered $100 in copies, or even more, of their book only to discover it wasn't laid out correctly or they didn't catch all of their typos. You do need to order a proof copy before making the book available to others (Lulu occasionally offers one free to authors) . I will post images of my book when I get  it in a few days.

Designing Your Own Genealogy Charts

Really working hard trying to put my family history book together. I tried to make a pedigree chart using my gedcom file and saved it as a PDF. When I tried to upload it at Lulu the file wasn't accepted. I then turned to designing my own chart. Since my focus in the book is the Forgey line designing my own chart really is the best solution anyway. I decided to make a basic hierarchical chart beginning with my grandparents in two rectangular boxes, with my great-grandparents boxes going down the page. Not sure about how colors and fancy formatting would translate as far as publishing at Lulu, so I decided to just go very basic. Hopefully, Lulu will accept this PDF. Lulu does not accept PDF's without embedded fonts.
Looking at several videos at the Microsoft Charts page I see you can really create some interesting personalized charts. With time and creativity you can produce a work of art. I like the idea of making unconventional charts that will display well in a book format, or on an 8x11 piece of paper.
You can see my entire chart here https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwF6-JJ2FtA1Vm52QUZuY3U5T2s
In other news I received an email from someone descended from the Forgy family of Pennsylvania and Ohio. He took the FT DNA Family Finder test. This family did not match my line as far as the Y test goes. This may have been due to a non paternity event in one branch of that family. I am curious as to whether this person's Family Finder results may show a relationship to our family? Since this is an autosomal test it may not pick up a relationship that far back in time?

Searching for John and Nancy Forgey in Maury County, TN

The search continues for John and Nancy Forgey documents in Maury County, Tennessee. I thought I might find them in deeds records. I sent a request to Maury County Archives and asked for a search of their indexes for the Forgey/Forgy surname. They did not find them listed in the deeds. I might search myself eventually because it's always possible the name was badly misspelled. I should also check the deeds records for Giles County, TN. Numerous entries were found for the Andrew and Eleanor Forgey's children.
So far I've only seen John Forgey listed with Andrew Forgey on Taxlists for Giles and Maury County, TN the 1820 Census for Maury County. We know that John Forgey was in the Giles/Maury County in 1810 when he was appointed Militia Captain. He also appears to have been involved in a lawsuit in 1813:
 "Giles County TN 1813-11-16

On motion of Isaac SAMS by John WHITE his atty. and it appearing to the satisfaction of this court that the said Isaac SAMS has paid as security for John FORGEY, the sum of $11.23 on an execution which issued in pursuance of a judgment rendered at the last term of this court in favour of William BALL against said FORGEY & AMS, it is considered by the court that plft. recover against said deft. the aforesaid sum. (Judg. & Clks. fees paid) GI Cty. Ct. Min. 

John is not mentioned in any records for Maury County after 1820. Although, I believe this 1822 Maury County Deed book entry probably refers to John Forgey, because I have not found a John Forney living in the area at the time:

Maury County Will abstract

 I have not found Nancy Forgey mentioned in any records in that area.

This is the deeds Index for James Forgey the Maury County archives Clerk sent me:

Join the Marines see Nicaragua??

I've been collecting family pictures and scanning them for a Family History book. When I found a song at YouTube called Nicaragua I knew I needed to make a photo video (just click above to watch).
My grandfather Charles Lynn Forgey was a US Marine. He joined the Marines in June 1916 (he was actually under age at the time so he lied about his age). First stationed at Mare Island Alameda, California he shipped out to Nicaragua in 1917.

Isis Forgey death record

My grandfather met and married my grandmother in Nicaragua. He remained in Nicaragua after his June 1920 discharge. He worked in the Chontales Honduras gold mines and for the Asotria Mahogany Comapny which was based in New York. Two children were born in Nicaragua. Isis Forgey (misspelled Hayses in her birth record) and my mother Edna Forgey. Isis was the oldest and sadly died a few months after her birth in 1920. According to the death record she died at half past 2 am on May 13, 1920 of an acute Gastrointestinal Infection. My mother was stung by a scorpion as a toddler and had to learn to walk a second time after that.
The family left Nicaragua in 1925 aboard the mail steamer Venezuela. My mother recalls leaving Nicaragua. She rode on a mule or donkey to the ship. She remembers monkeys trowing twigs. She threw one of her shoes overboard once they got on the ship. She also remembers the cabin steward was Chinese. Most of the passengers were American. They stopped at Mazatlan Mexico where passengers were taken off in baskets for site seeing.
They landed in San Pedro California where the family lived a short time.

Forgey family Passenger list (my mother didn't come over stowed away on a banana boat as my father said lol).

A Software Generated Family History

I've been comparing software generated Family templates for creating a Family History. I started out by using my own Rootsmagic program. I used the modified register report and added more photos for family members. It produced a nice layout, with lots of detail included in the family group layout. It also produced an index which is so helpful.

I also downloaded a free trial of The Family Historian software. I created another modified register here. It produced a slightly different layout. I believe that company is based in the UK where they have a different protocol for the arrangement of the data. Rootsmagic provided more details for individuals at the family group level whereas Family Historian only gave date ranges and no spouse info at this level. I could not manipulate the pictures in the Rootsmagic program but could with Family Historian. I was able to make the pictures small, medium and large. I could also move them. I later found out I could change the size of the pictures at Rootsmagic by going into setting then options and resizing them. I don't think you can move them in Rootsmagic?

I like the uncluttered, neater, layout Family Historian produced. It's easier for family members to read. Genealogists would probably prefer a more detail oriented layout like Rootsmagic.

Interchangeable Ancestors? The Family Search Tree

Musical Ancestors?

The game I've been playing at FamilySearch Tree . First an explanation of the situation at FamilySearch Tree. I am not sure whether this is now open for everyone to look at? If you have access it is the Tree which is displayed when you sign into FamilySearch and click the link to your own tree. This is the shared Family Tree created by FamilySearch which merges info that you may have contributed with contributions from other researchers. FamilySearch is also attempting to combine duplicate entries. All this merging has led to the merging of separate individuals, with the same name, being merged into one person.  So when you display your ancestor's individual profile you might see something like the profile to the right. What's the matter with that info? Well could someone born in in 1732 have been a resident of Calumet, Pike, Missouri in 1850? Also Andrew Forgey died in 1809. So obviously two separate Andrew Forgey's are being referred to in this one profile.
Another problem is disagreement among researchers regarding facts. If several separate facts are available for an ancestor all remain attached to the person. This can be useful. Research can then focus on resolving these discrepancies.
The biggest problem is once we have solved these discrepancies the bad information remains posted. The visible information may be changed to that verified with documentation as correct, but all of the bad information remains and can be added back at anytime.

Here is an example in my own family. There is a disagreement among Forgey Family researchers regarding the father of Andrew Forgey b. 1794. Some believe his name was James Forgey. I've done extensive research and believe his name was Hugh Forgey. Some researchers will never accept this. The parents I found for Andrew Forgey when I looked at the New Family Search Tree were James Forgey and Margaret Caldwell. We have their bible, and they didn't have a son named Andrew Forgey listed. According to his date of birth he does not fit into the birth order of their children; unless, Margaret had twins born 6 months apart?  I was able to add the parents I believe to be Andrew's parents at New Family Search (apparently you cannot add parents at the Family Search Tree).  You can see in the example image that Andrew Forgey now has four possible parents. These can switched be at anytime; hence, musical ancestors. I guess if you get tired of one set you can switch. Seriously though, this creates a muddled family tree with contending relatives switching parents back and forth. Hopefully, an arbitration situation can be created in the future where only the ancestors proven by a preponderance of the evidence can be displayed. 

Converting Your Blog to PDF Free

My blog contains information which isn't recorded anywhere else . I've used it as a log for my research and consult it often.   I've backed it up downloading it from Blogger. This file can only be opened using blogger. I wanted to save it in a format not dependent on Blogger to open and view. I've looked into Blog Publishing Companies Blog 2 Print and Blurb. These companies charge from $20.00 and up to print your blog in book form. I plan on printing my Forgey Family History in the near future so I would rather not devote that money to printing my blog. It sounds like my blog would cost about $70 to print in a soft cover at Blurb. As I stated I basically just don't want to lose all this work. A digital copy in a usable  Format was my goal to create today. I could print it later. I discovered I could save it as PDF. I used two different techniques to to do this. One technique was using the BlogBooker website. The final results were fair. The formatting is different from the actually format found at the blog. Different fonts and picture arrangement made everything a little confusing. It's not bad though and has a table of contents.

Create PDF from Print Screen

Another way I was able to create a Blog PDF was by using the print screen on my computer (see an example bottom). From print I was able to save the Blog as a PDF. This produced a result closest to the original blog layout. There was one hiccup. Two posts contained pictures over the text. This probably had to do with my layout not being correct for those two posts. I was not able to display all my posts on one page at blogger. I made seven PDF's and combined them together using this free software PDFbinder. I could have appended the PDF's when I saved them too. You can compare the two PDF layout here:

1. Created by BlogBooker  http://archive.org/download/AksGenealogyBlogBook/t13vfm04-book.pdf
2. Created by saving with Print Screen  http://ia701206.us.archive.org/25/items/MyGenealogyResearch/AksGenealogyResearchCompleteBlog.pdf

Hugh Forgey reference Deeds Knox County, TN

I've been so busy with the 1940 Census I haven't had time to do an analysis of the deeds I received from Knox County Archives for Hugh Forgey. I had hoped one of these deeds would be a purchase deed for Hugh Forgey's 250 acres on Flat Creek. Unfortunately none were purchase deeds. In fact none of the deeds were transactions for Hugh. He was a witness or mentioned in these deeds. They are all helpful, however, because they name associates and neighbors. Since no census records exist for this time period (1790's) the deeds help to identify the Forgey neighbors. The deed to the right top contains a property description. Hugh Forgey's property is mentioned as bordering this very large tract. It's a 4000 acre tract so it doesn't narrow the area of the possible location of Hugh's land by that much. I need to map out these tracts to get a better picture of where the land may have been? That's my next project. The John Meek (to the right) was witnessed by Hugh Forgey. I don't know whether this Meek is a relative of Agnes Meek who married Hugh's Uncle Alexander Forgey in Washington County, VA? I do think it is highly likely that Alexander Forgey and Andrew Forgey of Maury County, TN were son's of Alexander Forgey Sr. of Washington County, VA. I had been a little troubled about not find Andrew or Alexander listed in taxlists for Washington County, VA. Actually there are several possible reasons for this including living in someone else's household, possibly working on another farm or as an apprentice? There are unnamed young men living in Alexander's household, but they are not listed on every taxlist.

Another deed to the right bottom was witnessed by Hugh Forgey and John Reynolds, Hugh's Uncle and neighbor on Little Flat Creek. They witnessed this deed for the prominent citizen of the area Nicolas Gibbs.

I am happy I ordered these deeds. I think it's important to collect and analyze any scrap of paper involving the family in that area.

Finding My Family 1940 Plus Indexing the First 1000 are the Toughest

Kapple/Kappel family home on Forest in Chicago, Illinois

A week has passed since the harrowing 1940 US Census debut. The first day left us wondering if we would ever actually see any of the census images. A tsunami of people hit the servers on that first day bringing the Official Site down. It looked like we would not be able to index that first day. By about 5 pm pacific time I was able to get my first batch to index. Since then I'v pasted the 1000 name mark. I am sure my first few batches of 1940 Census Index pages weren't the best. I am learning the indexing game as I go along; on the job. I heard someone complain at a recent 1940 Census Webinar that indexers are not following instructions. For the most part the instructions for each field on the Census are plainly explained in a box to the right of what you are indexing. When you are getting started, however, these numerous instructions can be overwhelming. It is necessary to keep referring to them until you have gained some skill. It takes time to learn how to interpret handwriting etc. plus remember all of the instructions. After a week I predict those who stick with indexing will be on their way to near perfection when it comes to indexing. The arbitrators will have to bear with the newbies for a while.
As far as the handwriting goes interpretation has been much like what I am familiar with regarding my research in original records. You have to keep looking at the words and names you know to untangle the ones you don't know. I have also used Google Search to find the correct place names and Family Search to find hard to decipher family names. I often find the same families on the 1930 US Census. If you like solving these handwriting puzzles you will love indexing. It is rewarding when you finally correctly identify some of the  scribbles.
So far I have worked on indexes for Delaware, Colorado, Kansas, California, Illinois, Oregon and Virginia. The readability of these pages ranges from nearly completely illegible and sometimes very blurred images, to excellent quality, very legible handwriting. Most images are 90 some percent readable with a few   indecipherable entries. I have noticed many misspellings of places and names. The Census takers often used phonetic spellings. I would have thought by 1940 the names would have been spelled correctly. 
I think a problem for young indexers is going to be the outdated first names. Post baby boomers likely don't have much contact with this older generation. I remember a young saleperson at Macy's had never heard of the name Marjorie before. My mother's best friend was Marjorie and she was surprised that this young woman never heard of it before. Names like Marjorie, Mildred, Doris etc. coupled with outdated handwriting styles, might be a little tricky for the younger generation.

Mary Kappel and family 1940 US Census

As I said earlier the first day the Census was released was a day of frustration and confusion. After all the build up to this day I was inpatient to find my family. I did all the preliminary research at the Steve Morse One Step 1940 Site. I had my ED districts ready. I got up early which was unnecessary because the official site crashed. Ancestry.com was the first site to get viewable images up for a few states. Lucky California was one of those states which was available by midday. That night I found out the My Heritage Site had Illinois images posted so I began searching there about 10pm. So by the end of that day I found my Great-Grandmother Mary Kappel in Chicago, Illinois with some of her family, and my mother's family in Puente, California. Sadly the Forest address is not where my grandparents Rudolph and Dorothy Kapple lived in 1940. I have tried to search the area for them but Chicago is such a large city I quickly found it would be nearly impossible to find them that way. I may have to wait for the index. I do have a list of people to search for in the index when that is ready.

Charles and Graciela Forgey family 1940 Census

I found the information for my family very interesting. I did not know my grandfather Charles Forgey still worked for the WPA in 1940. I knew that he had worked for the WPA in Glendale when he was supposed to make a list of all the City Trees in Glendale giving their species. In 1940 he seems to have been working on a School Construction site. I am thinking that may have been Hudson School or El Monte High School? I have some lighting fixtures and a few other items from Hudson School which was demolished in the 1980's. My mother remembers when her family was getting relief during the depression. The government gave jackets to poor families which my mother did not want to wear because then people knew you were on relief. Soon after this my grandfather was able to get defense work. He worked at Douglas in Long Beach as a shipping and receiving clerk during WWII. 

Major League Pitcher Denver Lemaster

A picture my family has of Denver Lemaster makes more sense now. When I looked at the entry before my grandparents I found the Lemaster family with their child Denver. Apparently this child later became a Major league baseball Pitcher; Denny Lemaster.
My mother was selected to answer more questions in the 1940 Census which actually didn't provide any info I didn't already know.
I noticed that my Forgey Grandparents land was valued at $2000.  
It was wonderful that my Great Grandmother Mary Kappel still lived on Forest in Chicago in 1940. Her daughter and son-in-law and couple of her children and grandchildren also lived with her. Apparently her son-in-law and his family moved in when my grandparents moved out. It's great to get more family names. I will have to research the newly identified family members. As I said previously my Grandparents divorced and my Grandmother Dorothy Kapple brought her family to California. My grandfather Rudolph Kapple remained in Chicago. The family in Chicago was rarely referred to. I never knew that Rudolph had 10 siblings until I began researching. I am just now learning the names of more of his nieces and nephews. We have no pictures of the early Kappel family in Chicago. My father was young when his parents divorced. One of the fond memories my Father had regarding his father was a tour he was given of a steel mill by his father. I wondered about how my grandfather had access to a steel mill? Now I see that his brother William and his brother-in-law were working in the steel industry 1940. I will see if Rudolph also worked in the steel industry when I locate him.

1940 US Census: Separating Communists from Patriotic Americans

Actually Communists and Patriotic Americans were allies during WWII.  So Communists, leftists, rightists and everyone is encouraged to help index the 1940 Census beginning April 2nd  (except Fascists)!

"
What You Can Do Now

1. Download and install the indexing software
   Watch an Overview | Get Started
2. Learn how to index the 1940 US Census
   Watch a Video | Try the 1940 Census indexing simulation
3. Let others know about the 1940 US Census Community Project
   Like the Facebook page | Follow @The1940Census on Twitter | Follow the page on Google+ | Tell friends about the1940census.com

You can keep up with the latest updates by visiting the1940census.com often over the next few weeks.

Thank You!
The 1940 US Census Community Project Team"

I've mapped out my strategy for tomorrow.

I went to Steve Morse's On Step Website http://stevemorse.org/census/unified.html

I found the following enumeration districts using addresses and a 1930 enumeration district:

1. 103-602 for 11321 Forest Avenue Chicago Illinois for the Kappel/Kapple Family. Half the family living in that house spelled the name Kappel and the other half Kapple LOL. I am not sure whether any members of the family lived there in 1940? I have not been able to locate the address of the Rectory House the family later purchased and may have lived in 1940? I am going to try some more to locate the address.
2. I found 3 districts for 4th Avenue Puente, California 19-166 A-D, 19-167, 19-168. This is for the Forgey family. They also may have still been in Glendale, California on 124 Cypress enumeration district 19-210?

I am fairly sure I can find the Forgeys tomorrow? Will probably need Rectory House Address for Kapple's ? Anyway I will be here http://1940census.archives.gov/ at around 6am pacific tomorrow