What's In A Name

I came across a genealogy involving one of my ancestors. There was a dispute over his name. I could offer my argument for the name IF I could offer proof. Of course, there is no birth or death certificate and this case there is no marriage certificate due to a courthouse fire. I know where the body is buried but there is no readable stone. I have several pictures of him which prove nothing. My grandmother, for reasons unknown, always referred to her grandfather as Berryman B. Wood. Something about that amused her but I never thought to ask. I have no doubt as to his name. And there was certainly no provision to add the following.

Berryman Baughan and Solomon Wood were close friends. They married sisters. Solomon Wood married Phebe Lucas and Berryman Baughn married her baby sister Jane Lucas. The story is they each agreed to name a child after the other. When they made this arrangement is unknown. Both married in Greene County, Ohio, and then came to Logan County, Illinois, settling in Corwin Township.

In researching families we frequently see sons named after grandfathers with the third son named after the father.

Berryman and Jane had six children, four of whom were girls. The boys were Abraham and Hiram, probably the grandfathers - we know Abraham was Jane's father. Then Jane died. Berryman remarried and had four children, three girls and one son, Solomon Wood Baughan. His second wife died. He remarried again and seven children, two of whom were boys. He promptly named the first son Berryman but the child died. The second son was also named Berryman. In the end Berryman Baughan had 17 children, only five of whom were boys. But one was named after his friend Solomon Wood.

Solomon and and Phebe had eight children before Phebe died. Only two were boys. The first was Joel, which was Solomon's father's name, and the second was Berryman Baughan Wood. After Phebe's death Solomon, who was the second coroner of Logan County, married Rhoda Turman. They had one son, Solomon S. Wood, before Solomon died. 

How can there be doubt as to the name of Berryman Baughan Wood?

Fantasy Genealogy

A woman wrote that she was descended from "almost all of the Magna Carta Sureties." I advised that several of them either had no known issue or their line was extinct within four or five generations. She became very upset, said I was just jealous. I didn't hear from her again.

I don't know of any Magna Carta Sureties in my lines. My sister has some. She's a Calvert descendant. It doesn't seem to make her life better or worse. She may not even be aware of it because she's not terribly into genealogy.

Frankly, if I were going to pick a noted ancestor I'd want it to be one of the Yorkists, the later Plantagenets. I just find them more interesting. Alas, I think that is highly unlikely.

I have seen one of my lines traced back to Adam online. A genealogist of some regard thinks one of my lines goes back to Charlemagne. I don't believe either one.

I have ancestors who were Revolutionary War veterans, War of 1812 veterans and Civil War veterans. Isn't that enough? There are plenty of people who would happy for those. I have Huguenots. I have Dutch settlers and those who were in Jamestown and early New England. No Pilgrims though. No Kings either. There is a thief who was transported, barely escaping death at Old Bailey*.

What is with us that we need to have fantasy pedigrees to someone famous? Isn't a thief we can prove better than an fantasy online pedigree hooking us to Cleopatra?

*Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 6.0, 27 November 2011), April 1740, trial of William Isgrigg (t17400416-2)

Occupy Genealogy

Have we lost sight of what genealogy is all about? There is a movement to turn genealogy over to a select few with highly specialized skills. By making it a formal profession with strict requirements, testing, etc. they hope to give it credibility as well as allow the pros to make more money doing it. I don't think the founders of the movement meant to push the rest of us out but some are advocating just that. Will it happen? Not in my lifetime!!!

Back in the dark ages, before we had the internet, we had CompuServe and the Roots forum. In 1987 I was looking for a program to diagram my research into those pesky later Plantagenets who liked to all use the same first name. I knew I wanted pedigree charts and family group sheets, having been raised with genealogy, but I wanted my computer to do it. That's when I learned about PAF. Later members of the Roots forum would get involved in an experiment which resulted in The Master Genealogist, TMG for short. I began using that genealogy software when it was in beta [because I knew beta testers, not because I was one] and I used it until last year. It is a highly flexible but very complex program. I never did learn all its bells and whistles and I had regular problems. Eventually I decided I wanted to spend less time on the program and more time on genealogy. After a lot of agony and then research I switched programs.

Recently there was something I wanted to try but couldn't find enough information in the program's help file to do it. I posted on the program's user forum, a pretty active group. I got the answer but I also got some that distressed me. A received a couple private emails and one forum post suggested I should spent more time learning the finer points of the program so I wouldn't have to ask questions!

Yes, I know, what is a user forum for if not to ask questions. But it also seems to me that we should be able to expect a genealogy program that just works, keeps track of our information and then spits those pedigrees and family group sheets back at us on demand without requiring a degree in computer science. Apparently those three don't think so. Maybe genealogy software pros are coming next?

Let's "occupy" genealogy, from the comfort of our homes of course, and take it back for family researchers!

Google Search Tips for Genealogists

Google Search Tips for Genealogists | TechTips | FamilySearch

'via Blog this'

Nearly 11 minute video showing ways you can use Google in your genealogy search.

Scientists Discover Virus Responsible for Genea-Skankery

Scientists Discover Virus Responsible for Genea-Skankery:

'via Blog this'

I'm sure you have seen trees like she discusses.

Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907–1933

Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907–1933 | Learn | FamilySearch.org

The Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907–1933, are online. You can read the details of the collection at the link above. Near the bottom is an index to the rolls with a link to each roll. Unfortunately you will have to go through the roll to see if the person you are seeking is there. If you chose pdf and wait for it to load [and you will wait] you can save the entire roll to your computer. I found that contributed to faster searching. I used Adobe Acrobat and viewed the pages two up.

The cards only cover 1907-1933. If your veteran and beneficiary died before 1907 you won't find them here. If you do you will find the veterans service and maybe his disability, often his location and sometimes his cause of death along with the date. If the final payment to the widow it generally states that. Most I checked were handwritten but some were typed.

These veterans would have preferred that their disability not be listed on cards for all to view. It seems many of them suffered from chronic diarrhea.

Not every veteran is a male. Ellen Downing, a nurse, got a pension beginning June 12, 1896. When she died June 19, 1910, her final payment went to Daniel W. Downing of Pittsburgh. It doesn't state his relationship to Ellen.

One George Downing alias Henry Harris [that's what it says] began collecting his pension on August 7, 1894. On May 24, 1913, he was dropped from the pension rolls. He didn't die. They learned he "did not render 90 days of service." This really sounds like an interesting story. He wasn't the only person with a totally unrelated name as an alias that I ran across.

A word of warning. Whoever alphabetized these cards was not perfect. Check before and after where you expect to find your ancestor.

Huguenot Records at FamilySearch.org

The Lucases came to the US in 1710, having fled up the Rhine from Otterberg, Germany. Before that they lived in France. They were Protestants and fled France to Germany. For some reason the records of the French Protestants in Otterberg survived three centuries of war. Now you can look them up on FamilySearch.org. The Otterberg records show up in Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558-1898.  [https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://hr-search-api:8080/searchapi/search/collection/1473000]


Just because I could I checked out France, Protestant Church Records, 1612-1906. [https://familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://hr-search-api:8080/searchapi/search/collection/1582585]

There are Lucases there, haven't checked those out yet. There are images of the French Protestant records so I can check out nearby names.