Monday, May 28, 2012
In Honor
Today is Memorial Day...A day to be thankful to all those that have come before us, that were willing to serve to protect our right of freedom. In honor of this day, I am spotlighting one of my service ancestors. Theron James Witherspoon. He is my Great Grandpa Jesse Burrows half brother. I don't know a whole lot about Theron but I know that he served during WWII. He enlisted on March 10th, 1941. He was a private in the Army. From what I have been told Theron was on the front lines and seen hard action. I wish I knew more about where he served. Theron had a hard time adjusting to civilian life after his service. It was so hard for him that he ran away from his family shortly after returning home. He may have rode the trains for a long time. One night, he showed up at Grandpa Jesse's house, saying he just had a feeling it was time for him to come home. As far as I know he never married or had children. I am grateful to my Great Grand Uncle Theron Witherspoon. And to all the men and women who sacrifice so much for all of us. Thank You!!
Look and then look again
I love the U.S. Federal Census records. Without them, genealogical speaking, where would we be....with a whole lot of relatives lost. I know that unless someone was moving at the time of a census, they are most likely listed there. Census takers were paid by houses. So even if someone didn't want to be included in a census they usually ended up on one anyways. Even if the census taker had to get your information from a neighbor or relative. So knowing all this, I knew that I should be able to find Isaiah & Florence, plus their children Mable, Dott, Claude and Leila in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census. And that I should also be able to find Isaiah in the 1910 Census. As of yet, I was missing those census. The thing to remember about census searches is that sometimes there is such a thing as "too much" information. After hours of searching through city directories I had come to the conclusion that Isaiah was probably in Salt Lake City in 1900 and in Tacoma, WA in 1910. In fact, I was sure that he was in Tacoma in 1910 as I had found a City directory for Tacoma for 1910 and he was listed there. So why then could I not bring him up in the U.S. Federal Census?? Because his name was transcribed wrong. He was transcribed as Alexander Timbert. As for the 1900 census, the reason I was unable to find him is because he made himself 10 years younger in that census and told the census taker he was born in 1863. Hmm...wonder if I could get away with that.....
So how was I able to overcome these transcribing errors?? Remember "less is more" sometimes...in this case that's what I needed. For the 1900 Census I knew that he was still going by Isaiah. So that's all I put in the search box...Isaiah Timbrel, living in Salt Lake City, UT. And voila, up he came. :) For the 1910 census, I had put in Alexander with no last name, living in Tacoma, WA born abt 1853. I was also looking for his wife Mae/May, daughter Beulah and step daughter Nettie. Leaving out the last name helped me to locate them there. I did a similar thing while looking for Florence (Isaiah's first wife) and their children. I usually always go look at the children if I am trying to find out more about the parents. I had so far been unlucky in tracking them that way. But I did notice that Mabel had a "hint" for 1900. There was a Mabel Timbrel working as a servant in Grand Junction, CO. She was 18 at the time, and I am thinking there is a pretty good chance that this is my Mabel. And most likely her Mom isn't far away from her. I think maybe she is in Grand Junction and I just never found her there. And it's not that far of a stretch. If the family was living in Grand Junction and Isaiah has to leave for work or whatever reason he leaves, Salt Lake City is not that far away. I enter in Florence, Mabel, Claude, Dott, and Leila with no last names or birth information, living in Grand Junction, CO. And there they are... Florence, Mabel, Claude and Leila Trimbril. Missing is Dott. I am not too surprised by this though as I have found no other record for Dott other than a Nebraska State Census from 1885. I think that Dott has passed away as a small child but that will be another story. I notice two things about this record, one, Florence is listed as Wd (widowed) and two, she says she has only given birth three times and has three living children. I know this is wrong but I am ok with it. The first thing, she might have actually believed that Isaiah was dead at the time or she no longer choose to claim him. Even though in the 1920 census she says she is married. And to the births, losing a child....I just could not imagine having to go through that, so it's not a far stretch to say that she probably just didn't want to talk or admit to it. Everything else matches though, names, births, places of birth, and places of birth for parents. I am pretty sure this is my family I have been looking for. :) Mark one for Mindy.
Transcribing errors happen...it's a part of life. So we get used to it and find ways around it. I give high marks to all indexers. I think it's wonderful that they are taking their time to work on getting these records indexed. So if it takes me a few hours or days or even weeks, I am ok with that. Because it's a hard job to index. And they do the best they can and that's really all we can ask for. If you don't believe me go ahead and head out there and give it a shot....the 1940 census still is being indexed. ;)
So how was I able to overcome these transcribing errors?? Remember "less is more" sometimes...in this case that's what I needed. For the 1900 Census I knew that he was still going by Isaiah. So that's all I put in the search box...Isaiah Timbrel, living in Salt Lake City, UT. And voila, up he came. :) For the 1910 census, I had put in Alexander with no last name, living in Tacoma, WA born abt 1853. I was also looking for his wife Mae/May, daughter Beulah and step daughter Nettie. Leaving out the last name helped me to locate them there. I did a similar thing while looking for Florence (Isaiah's first wife) and their children. I usually always go look at the children if I am trying to find out more about the parents. I had so far been unlucky in tracking them that way. But I did notice that Mabel had a "hint" for 1900. There was a Mabel Timbrel working as a servant in Grand Junction, CO. She was 18 at the time, and I am thinking there is a pretty good chance that this is my Mabel. And most likely her Mom isn't far away from her. I think maybe she is in Grand Junction and I just never found her there. And it's not that far of a stretch. If the family was living in Grand Junction and Isaiah has to leave for work or whatever reason he leaves, Salt Lake City is not that far away. I enter in Florence, Mabel, Claude, Dott, and Leila with no last names or birth information, living in Grand Junction, CO. And there they are... Florence, Mabel, Claude and Leila Trimbril. Missing is Dott. I am not too surprised by this though as I have found no other record for Dott other than a Nebraska State Census from 1885. I think that Dott has passed away as a small child but that will be another story. I notice two things about this record, one, Florence is listed as Wd (widowed) and two, she says she has only given birth three times and has three living children. I know this is wrong but I am ok with it. The first thing, she might have actually believed that Isaiah was dead at the time or she no longer choose to claim him. Even though in the 1920 census she says she is married. And to the births, losing a child....I just could not imagine having to go through that, so it's not a far stretch to say that she probably just didn't want to talk or admit to it. Everything else matches though, names, births, places of birth, and places of birth for parents. I am pretty sure this is my family I have been looking for. :) Mark one for Mindy.
Transcribing errors happen...it's a part of life. So we get used to it and find ways around it. I give high marks to all indexers. I think it's wonderful that they are taking their time to work on getting these records indexed. So if it takes me a few hours or days or even weeks, I am ok with that. Because it's a hard job to index. And they do the best they can and that's really all we can ask for. If you don't believe me go ahead and head out there and give it a shot....the 1940 census still is being indexed. ;)
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Isaiah Alexander Timbrel
So after doing more research I have decided to call it....Alexander and Isaiah are one in the same person. The more I look into these two individuals the more I realize that one life ends and the other begins. I can't find anything on Alexander Timbrel before 1920. Of course, I can't find anything on Isaiah Timbrel after 1880. Which leaves about 40 years in between. The 1890 US Federal Census was burned in a fire in 1921, so that leaves that decade out. I still have not been able to find him in 1900 or 1910 though. I will keep looking for those years. Two reasons why I am going to say they were the same person:
1. Jacob Timbrel is listed as his father on his death certificate. I know that Jacob Timbrel is a family name but it looks like there was only one Jacob Timbrel that would fit the time frame for being his father and that is my Jacob Timbrel.
2. I set up a memorial page for Alexander I Timbrel on findagrave. And requested a photo of his headstone. Richard Stauff is a volunteer in the area and within minutes had claimed the request, and within a couple hours had the photo posted. Thank you Richard! The cool thing about Alexander's headstone it says IA Timbrel. Interesting.... I love it!
I am going to combine the two on in my tree and see if I get some new findings. I will keep trying to piece together Isaiah Alexander Timbrel's life and try to learn more about him. And maybe in the process find some living relatives. :)
1. Jacob Timbrel is listed as his father on his death certificate. I know that Jacob Timbrel is a family name but it looks like there was only one Jacob Timbrel that would fit the time frame for being his father and that is my Jacob Timbrel.
2. I set up a memorial page for Alexander I Timbrel on findagrave. And requested a photo of his headstone. Richard Stauff is a volunteer in the area and within minutes had claimed the request, and within a couple hours had the photo posted. Thank you Richard! The cool thing about Alexander's headstone it says IA Timbrel. Interesting.... I love it!
I am going to combine the two on in my tree and see if I get some new findings. I will keep trying to piece together Isaiah Alexander Timbrel's life and try to learn more about him. And maybe in the process find some living relatives. :)
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Isaiah Timbrel
Just a little update on my research for Isaiah Timbrel....I sent off for a copy of Alexander I Timbrel's marriage record from Washington State Archives and received it sometime last week, I think. (Being sick doesn't help with the memory) Sadly, all it stated was that A I Timbrel married Mae O'Herr. No mention of parents or how many marriages either had had. So here is where we stand with Alexander...I have his death certificate, which lists Jacob Timbrel as his father, I have his marriage record to Mae O'Herr in Tacoma, WA. I have an obit and directory's for Santa Cruz, CA. It's time to get creative. I really do believe that Alexander and Isaiah are one in the same. And his death certificate stating his father as Jacob Timbrel really do lend to the conclusion, but I need more proof.
I searched for possible military records, thought about social security and quickly dismissed it (there was no Social Security number listed on his death certificate, plus SS had only been around for a few years when he passed). But I will not dismay...I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I will call the cemetery office in the morning and see if they have any information on file. I will also request a photo of his headstone. I will soon have access again to newspaperarchives.com and genealogybank.com (I am in a group for these subscriptions but they are currently experiencing difficulties) and will search for any newspaper articles relating to his wedding to Mae.
Since Ohio didn't make requiring birth & death records a law until the late 1860's trying to find a birth record for my guy is out of the question also. It would be nice to know if Isaiah's middle name was Alexander. I will have to find my answers elsewhere.
Gut feelings have been known to be wrong...especially mine. :) So I will keep at this fellow. I must prove it now, I am invested. He haunts my thoughts everyday. It may take me awhile though but I will figure him out.
I searched for possible military records, thought about social security and quickly dismissed it (there was no Social Security number listed on his death certificate, plus SS had only been around for a few years when he passed). But I will not dismay...I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I will call the cemetery office in the morning and see if they have any information on file. I will also request a photo of his headstone. I will soon have access again to newspaperarchives.com and genealogybank.com (I am in a group for these subscriptions but they are currently experiencing difficulties) and will search for any newspaper articles relating to his wedding to Mae.
Since Ohio didn't make requiring birth & death records a law until the late 1860's trying to find a birth record for my guy is out of the question also. It would be nice to know if Isaiah's middle name was Alexander. I will have to find my answers elsewhere.
Gut feelings have been known to be wrong...especially mine. :) So I will keep at this fellow. I must prove it now, I am invested. He haunts my thoughts everyday. It may take me awhile though but I will figure him out.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Picture Projects II
Decided I would put up a list of my projects, and a little info on each.
Bev Thornton - In Progress
Wahl-Thornton 520 photos **from Earl & Marge Wahl
Nana's Favorites 1,427 **from Sandy Adamson
Adamson-Pattee 924 with picture index ** from Bill & Wavel Adamson
Bob & Sandy Adamson 614
Pics of Mindy 718
Nancy Keilsing 226 with picture index
Timbrel-Burrows 370 **from Lloyd & Helen Timbrel
Lyle Adamson 155 with picture index
Misc photos 74 **from Sandy Adamson
Tina Bailey 535 with picture index
I also have files on each major surname that I research: Adamson, Pattee, Timbrel, Burrows, Wahl, Thornton, Hadley & a few other lines that I have worked on over the years. These files include headstone photo's, obits, pictures of family members that I have received through email or off ancestry.com. Some of these photo's I only have permission to use on my personal tree on my computer, not online.. I have to respect when others use their right to claim copyright on photos. I could with my volunteer photo's that I post on findagrave but as I only am trying to help people connect with their loved ones. I don't worry about it too much. I have given permission on my bio page for people to use my photo's. I am not to worried about the credit. A few might be bad enough that I don't want to take credit for....lol. And then some have "living" family members in them and I have been asked not to post or share those ones. And that is fine with me too. But for the most part I can share a lot of those photo's too, just ask.
Bev Thornton - In Progress
Wahl-Thornton 520 photos **from Earl & Marge Wahl
Nana's Favorites 1,427 **from Sandy Adamson
Adamson-Pattee 924 with picture index ** from Bill & Wavel Adamson
Bob & Sandy Adamson 614
Pics of Mindy 718
Nancy Keilsing 226 with picture index
Timbrel-Burrows 370 **from Lloyd & Helen Timbrel
Lyle Adamson 155 with picture index
Misc photos 74 **from Sandy Adamson
Tina Bailey 535 with picture index
I also have files on each major surname that I research: Adamson, Pattee, Timbrel, Burrows, Wahl, Thornton, Hadley & a few other lines that I have worked on over the years. These files include headstone photo's, obits, pictures of family members that I have received through email or off ancestry.com. Some of these photo's I only have permission to use on my personal tree on my computer, not online.. I have to respect when others use their right to claim copyright on photos. I could with my volunteer photo's that I post on findagrave but as I only am trying to help people connect with their loved ones. I don't worry about it too much. I have given permission on my bio page for people to use my photo's. I am not to worried about the credit. A few might be bad enough that I don't want to take credit for....lol. And then some have "living" family members in them and I have been asked not to post or share those ones. And that is fine with me too. But for the most part I can share a lot of those photo's too, just ask.
My Picture Projects and Dropbox
I have been super busy this week, but not on my normal research. One of the things, for me, that comes along with family history is preserving all the photo's I can get my little hands on. I have traveled far and wide looking for photo's. Including taking a trip to Colorado to visit with my Grandma Helen's sister, Nancy. It was a wonderful trip. I took my family and my Mom. We were able to visit with Aunt Nancy, Aunt Marilyn (Grandpa Lloyd's sister in law) and some cousins. We had a great time and made lots of new memories and got to know some people that we didn't know before.
But being the genealogist that I am...I also brought along my trusty, scanner-printer. This printer that I got has been all over the country side with me, going to places like: Colorado, Utah, Montana, Washington, Oregon and of course to a couple family reunion's in Reno, NV. The best part about this trusty printer....it was free. :) Well, so Aunt Nancy gave me free reign to scan and copy many things. This was just one of many trips I have made with my scanner.
So needless to say, I have had my work cut out for me. I spend endless hours working on these picture projects. I am currently in the middle of scanning all of Theron's Grandma's pictures. This process has taken longer than normal...probably because I have the pictures here with me and keep thinking I have time. I will hopefully get back to scanning this weekend however.
I also make a picture index to go with these big picture files. I ask anyone I can that might have a clue who they know in my photo's and then have compiled it all into one neat little word file. This is what I am currently working on, a couple picture indexes.
I do this so that anyone that would like copies can have them. This makes sure that everyone has access to their family history, in the form of pictures, and also that they are not lost.
I title my projects by whom I received the pictures from. Each photo is given a number. Which corresponds with the picture index. Easy...peasy...
So now that some are finished and some are close to being done, I can share them with my extended family. I say extended because I have a special project I am working on for my brothers and sisters and Theron's siblings. ;)
Which, brings me to Dropbox...
For those of you that don't know what Dropbox is, it is "cloud" space on the internet. I can put big files, such as my picture projects into my Dropbox, from my computer. Then my family can take it from my Dropbox and copy it to their computers. It is free for the first 2 gb. But you can get more "free" space when someone signs up from your link, see above link for me. You can upgrade and purchase extra space, which I am really considering. For one thing, I am constantly worried about what would happen if my computer crashes. I am quite paranoid in fact and have many backups hidden all over the place. This would just be another backup for me. Plus, I can now share things between my phone, Nook and computer. This is a very cool service, that I highly recommend. There are other services that are similar to Dropbox but I find this one is quite user friendly. I will be able to set it up on my Mom's computer and show her how to use it, with ease I think.
For me this is such a better alternative to having to buy flash drives for all my "cousins" and then go to the post office. Which I totally don't mind doing. It just gets expensive after a while.
Please email me at mtm_ad@yahoo.com or contact me through Facebook (you will have to ask to be my friend if we are not already...sorry I screen) if you are interested. :D
But being the genealogist that I am...I also brought along my trusty, scanner-printer. This printer that I got has been all over the country side with me, going to places like: Colorado, Utah, Montana, Washington, Oregon and of course to a couple family reunion's in Reno, NV. The best part about this trusty printer....it was free. :) Well, so Aunt Nancy gave me free reign to scan and copy many things. This was just one of many trips I have made with my scanner.
So needless to say, I have had my work cut out for me. I spend endless hours working on these picture projects. I am currently in the middle of scanning all of Theron's Grandma's pictures. This process has taken longer than normal...probably because I have the pictures here with me and keep thinking I have time. I will hopefully get back to scanning this weekend however.
I also make a picture index to go with these big picture files. I ask anyone I can that might have a clue who they know in my photo's and then have compiled it all into one neat little word file. This is what I am currently working on, a couple picture indexes.
I do this so that anyone that would like copies can have them. This makes sure that everyone has access to their family history, in the form of pictures, and also that they are not lost.
I title my projects by whom I received the pictures from. Each photo is given a number. Which corresponds with the picture index. Easy...peasy...
So now that some are finished and some are close to being done, I can share them with my extended family. I say extended because I have a special project I am working on for my brothers and sisters and Theron's siblings. ;)
Which, brings me to Dropbox...
For those of you that don't know what Dropbox is, it is "cloud" space on the internet. I can put big files, such as my picture projects into my Dropbox, from my computer. Then my family can take it from my Dropbox and copy it to their computers. It is free for the first 2 gb. But you can get more "free" space when someone signs up from your link, see above link for me. You can upgrade and purchase extra space, which I am really considering. For one thing, I am constantly worried about what would happen if my computer crashes. I am quite paranoid in fact and have many backups hidden all over the place. This would just be another backup for me. Plus, I can now share things between my phone, Nook and computer. This is a very cool service, that I highly recommend. There are other services that are similar to Dropbox but I find this one is quite user friendly. I will be able to set it up on my Mom's computer and show her how to use it, with ease I think.
For me this is such a better alternative to having to buy flash drives for all my "cousins" and then go to the post office. Which I totally don't mind doing. It just gets expensive after a while.
Please email me at mtm_ad@yahoo.com or contact me through Facebook (you will have to ask to be my friend if we are not already...sorry I screen) if you are interested. :D
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