The Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library Family Tree
Wee Snippets (2)

Indiana State Library has Biography Index
The Indiana State Library's Indiana Biography Index includes over 40, 000 citations based on the original card file of 200,000 citations. Books and periodicals are continuing to be indexed. Each entry includes a first and last name, dates of birth and death (if available), and basic information about the source such as the title of the book or periodical, title of the article, author, publisher, date of publication, and call number for the book in the Indiana State Library.
Go to http://199.8.200.90:591/ibioverview.html to search the index.
Thanks to The Live Oak, East Bay Genealogical Society, PO Box 20417, Oakland, CA 94620-0417.

Kentucky cemetery records now on-line!
Kentucky cemetery records are being put on-line by the Kentucky Historical Society. As of January 2002, records have been entered for the following Kentucky counties: Adair, Anderson, Ballard, Barren, Bath, Boone, Bourbon, Boyd, Boyle, Bracken, Breathitt, Breckinridge, Bullitt, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Campbell, Carlisle, Carroll, Casey, Christian, Clark, Clay, Crittenden, Davies, Edmonson, Elliott, Estill, Fayette, Fleming, Floyd, Franklin, Gallatin, Garrard, Grant, Graves, Grayson, Green, Greeup, Handcock, Hardin, Harlan, Harrison, Hart, Henderson, Lee, Magoffin, Owen, Spencer, Taylor, and Whitley.
Counties not listed above will be added to the database in the Future. Go to:
http://catalog.kyhistory.org/help/Cemetery_Database.htm
Thanks to The Live Oak, East Bay Genealogical Society, PO Box 20417, Oakland, CA 94620-0417.

The Maine Historical Society now has Internet presence
The Maine Historical Society's web site describes the traditional resources available from the society's research library. This collection includes 125,000 books, newspapers, and other printed items, as well as 2 million manuscripts, 3,500 maps and atlases, 70,000 photographs, and 100,000 architectural and engineering drawings. The web site also has links to the recently launched Maine Memory Network, a statewide database of historical source documents contributed by Maine's historical organizations including the Maine Historical Society, the Fogler Library, the North East Historical Film, the Maine Humanities Council, the Maine State Archives, the Maine State Library, the Maine State Museum and the Osher Map Library. The site also contains an active Genealogy Discussion Forum which is divided into separate sections, one for Maine Surname Queries and others for Maine Locality Queries.
Go to http://www.mainehistory.org.
Thanks to The Live Oak, East Bay Genealogical Society, PO Box 20417, Oakland, CA 94620-0417.

The Minnesota Historical Society presents death certificates on-line
the Minnesota Historical Society has posted an in-line index to death certificates for the years 1908-46. The index provides the name of the deceased, certificate number, date of death, and county of death. There are also fields available for date of birth, place of birth, and mother's maiden name. Once an entry is located, you can order a copy of the death certificate by just clicking on "Add to order." A printable copy of the order form will be created which includes the entry (or entries) that you have selected. The customized order form can be sent, with a check for the requested amount ($8 per certificate), to the historical society. Go to http://people.mnhs.org/dci/
Thanks to The Live Oak, East Bay Genealogical Society, PO Box 20417, Oakland, CA 94620-0417.

Researching Missouri?
The Missouri State Archives includes documents relating to French and Spanish colonial rule, the New Madrid Earthquakes, Supreme Court case files, the Civil War, Frank and Jesse James, and Harry S. Truman. A new database of WWI Service Cards has been placed on-line and is easily searchable. Check it out at http://www.sos.state.mo.us/archives.
Thanks to The Live Oak, East Bay Genealogical Society, PO Box 20417, Oakland, CA 94620-0417.

The New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association and the NHSG post cemetery locations on-line
The New Hampshire Old Graveyard Association and the New Hampshire Society of Genealogist have posted the location of New Hampshire's cemeteries with USGS maps and the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates. Researchers can identify the cemeteries by name or by location. With a click they can instantly see the location of the cemetery on a USGS topographical map. Currently this database contains only the location and other basic information about the various cemeteries and grave yards. The plan is to all the names and dates of the person buried at each site.
Check it out at http://nhsog/nhoga/sites.
Thanks to The Live Oak, East Bay Genealogical Society, PO Box 20417, Oakland, CA 94620-0417.

The Hayes Presidential Center and Networld On-line of Fremonthave offer search engine
In Ohio, the Hayes Presidential Center and Networld On-line of Fremont have partnered to offer an advanced search engine to the center's on-line obituary index. The genealogical resource is an index to published obituary notices for more than 215,00 individuals with connections to Sandusky, Erie and Seneca counties. You can find this site at http://www.rbhayes.org/index.
Thanks to The Live Oak, East Bay Genealogical Society, PO Box 20417, Oakland, CA 94620-0417.

This article is from Eastman's On-line Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2002 by Richard W. Eastman. It is republished here with the permission of the author.

Every time I think about finding kings and queens in the family tree, I create a mental image of the would-be social climbers of years ago who researched family trees in hopes of proving themselves to be "better" than the average person. How little they knew. It seems that the "average person" also has royal ancestry. In fact, there is nothing more than a few blue-bloods in the family tree.

Lisa Oberg and George Anderson both sent e-mails this week telling me about a fascinating article in the May 2002 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. That issue contains an article by Steve Olson, call "The Royal We: The mathematical study of genealogy indicates that everyone in the world descended from Nefertiti and Confucious, and everyone of European ancestry is descended from Muhammad and Charlemagne."

In the article, Olsen describes his own search for his Irish ancestors. He goes on to detail what he learned from Mark Humphrys, a computer scientist at Dublin City University, as well as from some recent research done by Joseph Chang, a statistician at Yale University. In short, everyone of European descent had royal ancestry.

Chang's mathematical model makes the case for the number of ancestors that each of us has: "The mathematics of our ancestry is exceedingly complex, because the numbers of our ancestors increases exponentially, not linearly. These numbers are manageable in the first few generations - two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, sixteen great-great-grandparents - but they quickly spiral out of control. Go back forty generations, or about a thousand years, and each of us theoretically has more than a trillion direct ancestors - a figure that far exceeds the total number of human beings who have ever lived."

The article goes on at some length to explain the realities of migration patterns and intermarriage within small communities. Olsen writes, "The number of ancestors common to all Europeans today increases, until, about a thousand years ago, a peculiar situation prevailed: 20 percent of the adult Europeans alive in 1000 would turn out to be the ancestors of no one living today (that is, they had no children or all their descendants eventually died childless); each of the remaining 80 percent would turn out to be a direct ancestor of every European living today."

Another preconceived idea that needs to shattered is that royalty only married royalty, and therefore, commoners would not likely have royal blood in their veins. Humphrys says, "Here we have a sir, so this woman is the daughter of a knight. Maybe this woman will marry nobility, so eventually someone here is going to marry someone who's just wealthy. The one of their children could marry someone who doesn't have that much money. In ten generations you can easily get from princess to peasant."

Steve Olson's article in The Atlantic is very interesting, and I would suggest that every genealogist should read it in its entirety at: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/05/olson.htm. Professor Joseph Chang's paper is a bit more difficult for non-mathematicians to read. It is available at: http://www.stat.yale.edu/~jtc5/pubs/Ancestors.pdf.

The best quote of all came from Mark Humphrys: "You can ask whether everyone in the Western world is descended from Charlemagne, and the answer is yes, we're all descended from Charlemagne. But can you prove it? That's the game of genealogy."

Let's go site seeing
Dora Hildebrand
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has expanded the General Land Office Records web site at www.glorecords.blm.gov. Information is available on first purchases of land (patents) from all 30 public land states (those not included in the original 13 colonies and Texas and Hawaii: these are termed "State Land States"). There's a searchable database and some images of original documents are available. When not available, you are told how to obtain them off line. My ancestors were not listed, so I searched for Larimer County pioneers and found listings for Auntie Stone, Harris Stratton and others. The Bureau plans to complete this phase of the project over the nest three years. It's been a long time since I've done on-line research, and it's amazing how things change. When I visited www.rootsweb.com I found information about counties where my Householder and Sherman ancestors lived that wasn't there two years ago. So, if you haven't found what your looking for, it may be worthwhile to revisit some of your previous sources.

To calculate what a dollar was worth years ago, visit
http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc. This site provides the formula and inflation rates from 1800 to 2002.

You can download the 1930 census form from www.ancestry.com/save/charts/census.htm.
Thanks to the Larimer County Genealogical Society Newsletter, PO Box 9502, Fort Collins, CO 80525.

Our favorite eccentricity
The Earl of Cawdor who refused to ride the train considering it an unnecessary risk. I'm pretty sure that was before the engineer named Botch designed a trestle that immediately collapsed under the weight of a train - hence the term" botched job."
Great Signs - "Poachers Retreat" - get off my land, and "Unsuitable for Coaches" - don't park your bus here.
Thanks to Grip Fast, Newsletter of the Clan Leslie Society, PO Box 845, Jackson, NJ 08527.

The Walworth County Genealogical Society will host a Genealogy fair in October
On October 19, 2002 in Elkhorn, Wisconsin the Walworth County (WI) Genealogical Society will host a Family History Month Genealogical Fair.
For more information contact Peggy Gleich at pgleich@ticon.net, or write to the Walworth County Genealogical Society, PO Box 159, Delavan , WI 53115-0159.

Edgar McDonald seminar in Richmond, Virginia set for October
On October 19, 2002 in Richmond, Virginia , Edgar McDonald is presenting an all-day genealogical seminar for Friends of the Virginia State Library. For further information contact Edgar McDonald : eemcdona@hsc.vcu.edu.

The Florida Pioneer Index now on-line at the FSBS
The Florida Pioneer Index lists all recipients of a Florida Pioneer Certificate from 1979-2001. Each Florida pioneer who has been verified is listed by name along with the name of the descendant who got the certificate, the year awarded, the certificate number, and the FHL (Family History Library in Salt Lake) film number. Check it out at http://www.rootsweb.com/~flsgs/pioneer/2001index.html.
Thanks to the West Florida Genealogical Society Newsletter, PO Box 947, Pensacola, FL 32591-0947.

The Florida Memory Project has Spanish Land Grants on-line!
The Florida Memory Project has begun putting on-line their collection of confirmed Spanish land grants at http://www.floridamemory.com/Collections/SpanishLandGrants/. This is nowhere near complete - only letters A and B are done. (The front page of the site says that Acosta, Domingo through Bayley, David are available.
Thanks to the West Florida Genealogical Society Newsletter, PO Box 947, Pensacola, FL 32591-0947.

You can now find Florida cattle brands on the Internet!
There is information about transfer of ownership, which is another problem for researchers. Check out this informative site at http://www.law.utexas.edu/dawson/brands/FL_BRANDS.HTM.

The Florida State Genealogical Society, Inc. sets 26th annual conference for St. Pete
On November 15-16, 2002 in St. Petersburg, Florida the Florida State Genealogical Society, Inc. is having its 26th annual conference. It will be held at the Hilton St. Petersburg Hotel at 333 First Street South. The featured guest speaker will be Linda Woodward Geiger. Mrs. Geiger is a well known genealogical researcher, teacher, speaker and published author. The special banquet speaker will be Elizabeth Neily a living historian and storyteller. There will be many classes for all levels of expertise.
For more information contact: C. A. Staley, PO Box 441364, Jacksonville, FL 32222 or email at: astaley@fdn.com, or see the web site at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~flsgs.

The Tennessee Confederate Pension applications are ready for you!
The Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications for Soldiers and Widow is now on line at http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/pubsvs/pension.htm. This index includes the soldier's name and pension number. If the widow is filing, her name, then pension number and county. If soldier, his unit is given. The details on how to order the application from the Tennessee State Library are also included.
Thanks to The Clarke-Oconee Genealogical Quarterly, PO Box 6403, Athens, Ga 30604.

Mistakes
If a barber makes a mistake, it's a new style.
If a driver makes a mistake, it's an accident.
If a doctor makes a mistake, it's an operation.
If a engineer makes a mistake, it's a new venture.
If parents make a mistake, it's a new generation.
If a politician makes a mistake, it's a new law.
If a scientist makes a mistake, it's a new invention.
If a tailor makes a mistake, it's a new fashion.
If a teacher makes a mistake, it's a new theory.
If an employee makes a mistake, it's a "MISTAKE".
Thanks to The Heritage Newsletter, Linn Genealogical Society, PO Box 1222, Albany, OR 97321-0537.

The International Association of Clan McInnes has awarded three scholarships
The International Association of Clan McInnes was pleased this year to ward three scholarships.
A piping scholarship of $250 was awarded to Ian Nugent of Washington. Ian is the grandson of Marti McInnis of California. He entertained the clansfolk at dinner last year playing on his chanter. Ian now has his first set of pipes and is hoping to be at the Games again next year.
A piping scholarship of $250 was awarded to Tristan Route of North Carolina. Tristan was attending the piping school held annually at Valle Crucis and came to the Annual General Meeting. He entertained the group with selections on the bagpipes. He played excerpts from selections prepared for his competition at Grandfather Mountain.
We are pleased to announce that Tristan took two second in his competition and was named Best Piper in his Grade on Sunday....quite an honor at Grandfather were the competition is fierce.
A general scholarship of $100 was presented to a group of students at Dalbrae Academy in Nova Scotia. These students, all members of the Gaelic choir, are planning a trip to Scotland in 2003 to further their studies in Gaelic and to learn more of Scottish heritage and traditions.
We wish them success in their endeavor. MacInnes is one of these clans from whom these students descend.
Applications for clan scholarships must be made each year. All applications must be received before June 1st. For more information contact The Thistle and the Bee, 8232 Kay Court, Annandale, VA 22003-2201.

This headline appeared in the Weekly Scotsman on 24 July 2002. This article, written by John Ross, was as follows:
"An Estate in historic Glen Coe is back in the hands of a MacDonald after being bought by a local crofter. The last remaining lands of the late Lord Strathcona's Glen Coe Estate have been bought in an 11th hour bid by Alistair MacDonald for an undisclosed sum, thought to be around 100,000 pounds. Last year, the sale of the 300-acre estate caused a dispute between two rival community groups, which both wanted to buy it. Ballachulish Community Council and the Friends of Glencoe both prepared bids after efforts to bring them together failed. However, both lost when the Scottish Land Fund decided to reject the applications. Mr. MacDonald was not a member of either group, but yesterday it was announced that his last-minute bid was successful after he secured financial help from friends and family from as far away as Australia. The purchase includes a stretch of the River Coe and a half-share of Eilean Munda, a traditional burial place of the MacDonalds of Glen Coe, and where his aunt, Christian MacDonald Sharpe, was the last person to be buried. In addition, there are crofters' common grazing, various woodlands, fishing and netting rights on Loch Leven and three days a week fishing on Loch Tractan.

The purchase includes part of the old Glen Coe Estate, which was owned by a succession MacDonald chiefs, including Alistair MacDonald (MacIain) who was killed in the massacre of 1692. The new owner has pledged to ensure that the land remains unspoiled and has founded the Glen Coe Heritage Trust Ltd., to protect wildlife, culture and heritage. He said: "The land is of great importance to clansmen worldwide associated with Glen Coe." Two years ago, Mr. MacDonald was part of a local action group involved in a dispute with the National Trust for Scotland over plans for a new visitor centre in Glen Coe. The group claimed that the centre, which has now opened, would harm trade in the village and was to be built on the site where the first killings in the massacre took place."
Thanks to the Weekly Scotsman via The Thistle and the Bee, 8232 Kay Court, Annandale, VA 22003-2201.

Looking for Seminole information?
Check out these museums for more information on the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Mini Museum, Seminole Tribe of Florida, 5845 South State Road 7, (aka US 441), near Stirling Road, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314, phone 954-792-0745.
Seminole Okalee Indian Village & Museum, 5845 South State Road 7, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314, phone 954-792-1213, Ext 1423 (Anthropology & Genealogy Department; Dr. Patricia Wickman, for lectures), or see http://www.seminoletribe.com.
Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum, Naples, Florida. Big Cypress Reservation (The Village) Telephone: 941-902-1113 or 863-902-1113 or http://www.sunny.org/multicultural.htm.
A museum whose purpose is to preserve and interpret the culture and languages of the Seminoles of Florida. Located on the Hollywood Seminole Reservation. Visit exhibits, view videos on Seminole history and culture. Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 9 - 4 PM.
Thanks to The Florida Genealogist, the Florida State Genealogical Society, Inc., PO Box 10249, Tallahassee, FL 32302-2249.

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is the one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
Henry Ward Beecher

Your family coat of arms?
Be sure it's yours!
Coats of arms are so colorful, decorative, and dignified that thousands of people have adopted them without permission or a clear understanding of their significance. The practice of stealing or creating one's own coat of arms dates back to the 12th century and still riles heraldic organization and others who govern their uses. In some countries, such as Scotland, the bearing of false arms is equivalent to signing a fraudulent signature and is punishable by law.

The term "coat of arms" originates from the display of a knight's heraldic symbol on his surcoat. Just as knight's were allowed to adopt their own coat of arms without interference from heralds or rulers, in most countries today an individual can create and display his own arms (providing they don't infringe on trademark). Only in Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain and South Africa is registration of coats of arms required.

Most people, however, do not have any legal right to bear arms. Unscrupulous vendors who offer "family coats of arms" taken from computer databases cannot know a person's "family coat of arms" without an extensive knowledge of the individual's family tree.

Coats of arms are granted to specific individuals and their direct descendants, not to all persons sharing a surname. Displaying arms purchased from such vendors is not only misleading but potentially insulting to one's ancestors. For permission to utilize what he believes to be his family coat of arms, a person must prove he is descended from a recognized holder of the arms.

Obtaining official recognition is usually costly and time consuming. People are often eager to know the significance of their coat of arms and others are equally eager to tell them the meanings of each feature.
This analysis, though, can be no more precise than a psychoanalyst's interpretation of a dream. There is simply no way to know what meaning the symbols on a shield had to the person who designed the coat of arms. They may be strictly decorative with no significance at all.

Thanks to Mesa Dwellers, Mesa County Genealogical Society, PO Box 1506, Grand Junction, CO 81502.

Speeding fines are not a new thing!
A law for speeding was enacted in the 17th century Boston with a fine of three shillings 4 pence on anyone who galloped a horse in the streets of the town.
Thanks to The Not-Quite Puritans via the Lake Elsinore Genealogical Newsletter, PO Box 807, Lake Elsinore, CA 92531-0807.

Our earliest American ancestors were not buried in coffins
Our earliest American ancestors were buried without coffins. They were wrapped in shrouds made of cerecloth (linen dipped in wax, or wool soaked, when possible, in alum or pitch. All were rectangular with drawstrings at the top. The custom of funeral black is ancient, harking back to the times when it was believed that spirits, some ill-willed, hovered about the corpse. Black was worn to make the living less conspicuous and less apt to be troubled by evil spirits.
Thanks to the Lake Elsinore Genealogical Newsletter, PO Box 807, Lake Elsinore, CA 92531-0807.

What can you learn from the 1930 census?
The 1930 Federal Census form called for:
1. Street, avenue, road, house number.
2. Number of dwelling house in order of visitation.
3. Number of family in order of visitation
4. Name of each person whose place of abode on 01 April 1930 was in this family.
5. Relationship of this person to the head of the family.
6. Home owned or rented, value of home, if owned or monthly rent, if rented.
7. Radio set.
8. Does this family live on a farm?
9. Sex; color or race.
10. Age at last birthday.
11. Marital condition.
12. Age at first marriage.
13. Attended school or college at any time since 1 September 1929.
14. Whether able to read or write.
15. Place of birth-person, place of birth-father, place of birth mother.
16. Language spoken in home before coming to the United States.
17. Year of immigration into the United States.
18. Naturalization.
19. Whether able to speak English.
20. Trade, profession, or particular kind of work done.
21. Industry of business, class of worker.
22. Whether actually at work yesterday, if not, line on unemployment schedule.
23. Whether a veteran of U.S. Military or naval force, yes or no, what war expedition.
24. Number of farm schedule (Note: The Farm schedules have not survived.).
Thanks to Snipes Hunter, PO Box 1742, Roswell, NM 88202.

Broward Co. African-American Research Center is set to open in October
Broward County's much anticipated African-American Research Library and Cultural Center opens on October 26, 2002, culminating with week long events starting on October 19. This cultural Mecca will serve as a research library and cultural center for scholars, students and the general public and provide a full range of general library services to the immediate community. The 60,000 square foot African-American Research Library and Cultural Center is located at the southeast corner of Northwest 27 Avenue and Sistrunk Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. It will be the third of its kind in the United States, joining the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York and the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta.

You can now take microfilm home on CD from the LDS Library
Some said that at the Salt Lake City LDS Library you could now sit at a PC for 30 minutes, press the "save" key, and burn images from microfilm (church records and such) to the CD, for only the $2 cost of the CD. A staff person at FHS said, yes, it's a new service and gave this information: The Family History Library has a CD burner/film reader/computer on the second floor (U.S./Canada films). Because of the high demand, patrons are limited to 30 minutes on the equipment. FHS sells high quality CD-RWs and preformated them for patrons. At the end of his/her time, the patron can leave the CD-RW open so that more images can be added in a later session, or close it off so that the CD is immediately readable in any CD-ROM drive. Our most frequent problem is patrons wanting to leave it open so that they can later add more images, but then never closing it. When they get home, they can't read the CD since it was never "closed," the process that makes it possible to be read on regular CD-ROM drives. Equipment is on order to offer this service on each floor of the Library. Until that time, patrons can bring films from any floor to the 2nd floor for burning to CD-RW. This is not intended for copying large sections for later review, but for burning selected images from microfilm.
Thanks to Heritage, PO Box 162905, Miami, FL 33116-2905, GSGM@lycos.com,
http://www.rootsweb.com/~flgsgm.

The GENTECH2003 conference will be held in Phoenix, Arizona
The GENTECH2003 conference will be held in sunny Phoenix, Arizona, January 17-18, 2003. The theme will be "Digital Technology - The Ancestral Frontier." This conference always features outstanding speakers in a variety of fields relating to the union of genealogy and modern technology. In the exhibit hall, dozens of companies and organizations from the genealogical community will present their best and latest wares.

Following in the tradition of the last several GENTECH conferences, there will also be a special Library Day on Thursday, January 16, the day before the conference proper. (Primarily - but not only - for professional librarians, Library Day focuses on issues of providing meaningful and relevant genealogical services at libraries of all sorts.)

The local host for the conference is the Arizona Genealogical Computer Interest Group (AGCIG), for details of the conference visit http://www.agcig.org/gt03.
Thanks to Heritage, PO Box 162905, Miami, FL 33116-2905, GSGM@lycos.com, http://www.rootsweb.com/~flgsgm.