Tuesday's Tips : Have You Heard the News* About William Howard Perkinson?

photo from The [Atlanta] Constitution, 15 March 1891

Sometimes we spend our research time trying to find everything possible about a specific ancestor by using a wide variety of resources. Sometimes, however, it pays to mine a specific resource to see what information you can find concerning any relative or ancestor. By mining, I mean searching within a specific resource for any information related to a specific surname, in my case I searched for "Perkinson" in newspapers. The mining approach has enabled me to find some interesting information about a number of Georgia relatives, thanks to issues of Atlanta newspapers available through fold3.com, Ancestry.com, the Digital Library of Georgia, and the Library of Congress Chronicling America collection of historical newspapers.

I was actually skimming through the 15 March 1891 issue of The [Atlanta] Constitution for information about another relative when seeing the drawing above made me stop and start reading the article on the page. After all, it isn't every day you find a picture of your Great Grandfather in an old newspaper.

The article was part of a multi-page section about Cherokee County, Georgia.(1) The articles highlighted the history, civic leaders, and industries of the towns of Canton and Woodstock, towns that were home to a lot of Perkinsons, and "a section possessing as many God-given attributes as any that distinguish the South".

Captain W H Perkinson, as he was called in the article, was listed among the leading merchants of the town of Woodstock. The article also made reference to his large brick home, built at a cost of $4000, one of the few brick homes in the town. 

Another part of the article provided more information about his business interests. The Alliance Company was founded after the fall of the firm of  Perkinson & Benson, a prior business owned by William Howard Perkinson and a Benson relative. My Great Grandfather was able to gather 100 area farmers together to form this new Alliance Company with over $100,000 in capital, quite a sum for 1891. The company, at the time of the article, had already purchased a barn and converted it into a cotton seed oil mill and a fertilizer factory.

An older issue of The Constitution provided a short article describing a fire in Woodstock that destroyed several buildings in the business area in 1886.(2) A storehouse and a frame building were both destroyed, including about $1000 of inventory stored in the buildings for businesses owned by my Great Grandfather. Fortunately, his primary inventory in another building was covered by his insurance.

In the spring of 1891, William Howard Perkinson was a delegate to a World's Fair assembly held in Atlanta.(3) The purpose of this assembly was to decide upon an exhibit for the state of Georgia to build for the 1893 Columbian Exposition to be held in Chicago. The group meeting together consisted of, in the words of Gov. Northern, "the best men in the state". The next year his wife, Louella Dean Perkinson, was named by the governor to serve on the Women's Work Committee in conjunction with planning for the women's exhibit at the Exposition.(4)

William Howard Perkinson, in addition to his business interests, was also extensively involved in farming. For a number of years, he served as a Vice President of the Georgia Agricultural Association, representing the ninth district.(5) 

Great Grandfather Perkinson was involved with the temperance movement. An article about the 1865 state convention of the International Organization of Good Templars related that W H Perkinson had been elected in its slate of officers for the next year.(6) He was also an active member of the Baptist Church, serving in 1883 as the first president of the Sunday School Association in the area.(7)

Capt Perkinson was also active politically in both state and congressional conventions.  In the 1880s, he was active in the Democratic Party, serving as the Cherokee County party chairman. He was also selected to be a representative to the 1882 state congressional convention of the Democratic Party.(8) However, by 1892, he had become involved in a third party movement which nominated him to run for the US Senate.(9) It was apparently an unsuccessful run as I unable to find anything further about the campaign or the ensuing election.

This mining approach to area newspapers yielded a wide variety of family information. Gathering this information involved looking at over 150 newspaper articles. But it was worth it to weed through society announcements, articles about unrelated Perkinsons, and numerous legal notices to gain a richer picture of William Howard Perkinson. Through the articles, I learned more about him as a person, his business interests, and his involvement in local politics. Besides some isolated facts that I recorded in Family Tree Maker, I also discovered other nuggets of Perkinson information that I will be sharing in future posts. 

Which family name shall I mine next?

* Have You Heard the News is a series of posts about family information gleaned from copies of Atlanta newspapers available through www.fold3.com, www.ancestry.com, the Digital Archives of Georgia, and the Library of Congress Chronicling America collection of historical newspapers.

(1) Blackworth, B M, "Cherokee County, the Heart of a Great Agricultural Section", The Constitution, Atlanta, 15 March 1891, p 4-5; accessed through www.fold3.com, content source Allen County Public Library.
(2) "Fire in Woodstock", The Constitution, Atlanta, 30 Dec 1886, p 2; accessed through www.fold3.com, content source Allen County Public Library.
(3) "For the World's Fair", The Constitution, Atlanta, 5 May 1891, p 7; accessed through www.fold3.com, content source Allen County Public Library.
(4) "The World's Fair", The Constitution, Atlanta, 22 Apr 1892, p 7; accessed through www.fold3.com, content source Allen County Public Library.
(5) "The Georgia Farmers, The Weekly Constitution, Atlanta, 19 Aug 1884, p 9; accessed through Digital Library of Georgia; content source Atlanta Historical Newspapers Collection.
(6) "Grand Lodge, I.O.G.T.", Sunny South, Atlanta, 16 Oct 1875, p 6; accessed through Digital Library of Georgia; content source Atlanta Historical Newspapers Collection.
(7) "The Sunday School Association", The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, 10 May 1883; accessed through www.ancestry.com.
(8) "The Popular Vote", The Constitution, Atlanta, 6 Jul 1882, p 1; accessed through www.fold3.com, content source Allen County Public Library.
(9) "Third Party Convention", The Constitution, Atlanta, 31 May 1892, p 1; accessed through www.fold3.com, content source Allen County Public Library.

Tuesday's Tips: Looking Beyond Just BMD Records

It’s that old familiar story. A couple meets. They fell in love. They get married. They live happily ever after. The big three, Birth, Marriage, and Death Records (BMD), provide an outline of the story, but they just don’t give enough details.

Take, for example, the marriage of a Perkinson family cousin, Louie Dean Stephens, and her husband, Robert Lee Hays, Jr. Louie Dean was born and raised in Georgia, graduating from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia.(1) Robert, according to every census record, was born and raised in Oklahoma. How did these two meet?

Several years ago I was researching in several Georgia libraries. At the Marietta (GA) City Library, I found an obituary for Robert L Hays.(2) It gave me some clue as to how these two probably met. It turned out that Robert had been a student at the Georgia School of Technology in Atlanta, the university more commonly known as Georgia Tech. Louie Dean, meanwhile, had attended nearby Agnes Scott College. For many years, girls from the all-girls Agnes Scott College were invited to parties at then all-male Georgia Tech and vice versa.

Following their marriage in June of 1926, the couple, according to census records, city directories, and obituaries, lived in several different places. They resided in Memphis, TN, Richmond, VA, and later lived for over 30 years in New York City. Not what most would expect of a girl from the small town of Woodstock, Georgia, and a fellow from Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Looking back at the obituary from the Marietta Daily Journal, I also learned that Robert had been active in Civil Defense activities and was the director of Civil Defense for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.(2)

Last week I stumbled upon a great website for learning more about Georgia Tech, SMARTech. Most of the digitized materials are research and scholarly publications, but the website also has online copies of several Tech publications. Included were The Blue Print (yearbook) as well as past issues of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, the student newspaper, and campus humor magazines.

Through materials on SMARTech, I learned more about Robert L Hays, Jr. After looking online through several years of The Blue Print, I found Robert listed as a senior in the 1925 edition.(3) I downloaded the pdf file onto a jump drive and spend some time looking through the yearbook. Besides finding several pictures of Robert, I also learned something about his years at Georgia Tech.

Robert Lee Hays, Jr, class of 1925

The yearbook mentioned that he was from Oklahoma, a member of Beta Theta Phi fraternity, a member of Scabbard and Blade (military honor society) and a Mechanical Engineering graduate.  In the short, humorous biographical sketch, it also said that he “had the girl” as well as an impressive military record in Georgia Tech’s then mandatory ROTC program.

The highlight of browsing the yearbook was finding this picture of Robert and Louie Dean in the ROTC section.

ROTC Regimental Staff, Georgia School of Technology, 1925

Robert L Hays, Jr. was the highest ranking cadet officer of the ROTC regiment at Georgia Tech in 1925. Pictured next to Col. Hays was the regimental sponsor, Miss Louie Dean Stephens. A year after Robert’s graduation from Georgia Tech, the two married.

Searching through Georgia Tech Alumni Magazines available online through the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, I found more information concerning Robert. In the April 1953 issue, Robert was pictured along with information of his appointment as an assistant Vice President of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.(4) Later, there was a brief obituary for Robert in the Feb 1960 alumni magazine. The obituary noted that Robert had been in charge of building services for the Metropolitan Life Insurance offices in New York City and had been with the company since the late 1920s.(5)

Thanks to a college yearbook, I now had an idea as to how these college sweethearts met, and the two articles in an alumni magazine provided a closer look at Robert's career. I also appreciate my husband, himself a Tech graduate, for passing on to me so many details of Tech history, traditions, and lore. After all, it is things like this which provide those details about relatives that help us better know them as persons.

(1) Agnes Scott College, Silhouette, published 1922; accessed through www.Ancestry.com.

(2) "Ex-Mariettan's Husband, Dies", Marietta Daily Journal, Nov 25, 1959.

(3) Georgia School of Technology, The Blue Print 1925, published 1925; accessed through https://smartech.gatech.edu.

(4) “News of the Alumni by Classes”, Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, Mar/Apr 1953; accessed through www.issuu.com.

(5) "News of the Alumni", Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine, Feb 1960; accessed through www.issuu.com.

Tuesday's Tips: Norwegian Research Aids Coming to My Rescue

Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue
photo by Torvol at Norwegian (bokmål) Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons

As I continue knee-deep in the Norwegian Parish Registers, I've added two more "must haves" to my research toolbox.  Both have proved to be real lifesavers as I research my ancestors.

source: Family Tree Magazine

Because these parish records are written in Norwegian and in a variety of handwritings, the Germanic Alphabet Chartfrom Family Tree Magazine has proved so helpful in deciphering those written records.  The Fraktur style of writing is used in the printed column headings of a number of 19th century records while the old handwriting styles section of the chart helps in distinguishing between letters that strongly resemble each other.  I probably need to laminate my chart because it is already showing wear from being used so much.

Must have # two is a resource that stays open on my laptop whenever I am researching records from the Digital Archives of Norway.  This time Family Search has come to my rescue with its Calendar for Moveable Feast Days.  The Parish Registers are church documents, written by the minister or church clerk and frequently have a reference to a specific event of the liturgical year as the date for baptisms, marriages, or burials.  Before I stumbled upon this resources, I spent time googling to find the date for Trinity Sunday in 1803 then locating a calendar to determine the 7th Sunday past Trinity in that year.  Now I just select the year, ex. 1803, and scan down to find that the 7th Sunday past Trinity was 24 July 1803, easily read in English.  There are similar calendars available through the Family Search Wiki for other countries in addition to the calendar for Norway.

If you are researching records written in other languages, I hope that similar resources will help you, too.

Wk#1GenealogyDoOver : What I REALLY Need to Get Started

"The Road", uploaded by Geralt to pixabay

Following Thomas MacEntee's suggestions for week 1, it didn't take very long to take a quick look through the pile of papers next to my laptop.  I removed the few pertaining to my Norwegian research and put all the rest on the top shelf on a nearby bookcase.  Out of sight and (hopefully) out of mind, at least until a later time.

Now there are just a few things sitting on my desk, things I know I will use frequently:

• The privately published Overli-Belle-Siem family history booklet - This booklet contains so many names, places, and dates that I hesitate to put it away.  I want to quickly verify information from those family group sheets.
• "Norwegian Genealogical Word List" from FamilySearch.org - necessary for translating information when I'm looking at digitized Norwegian records
• "Norway Occupations" from FamilySearch.org - ditto
• "Parish Register Examples Norway" from FamilySearch.org - Just as US census records contain different information in different years, Norwegian parish registers changed the specific information recorded between 1814 and 1877.  Knowing which column has parents' names recorded makes it easier when I visually scan records.
• Folder containing maps of Norway, Oppland, and Lesje, the home of many of my Norwegian ancestors; printouts of farm names and numbers

As I was on FamilySearch.org getting the links for the resources listed above, I found myself being distracted by some of those "bright, shiny things" Thomas MacEntee spoke about.  In this case, I saw links to pictures of parish churches and family farms in Norway.  Talk about something bright and shiny!  I allowed myself a few seconds to quickly look at each group of photos, then made a note (with the two links) in my Genealogy-To-Do list so I can return to the photos for a closer look at a later date.

I've also started to clarify what I do hope to accomplish over the coming weeks.  The Overli-Belle-Siem family history booklet is filled with information, but there are very few sources for the information found on the family group sheets.  I want to focus my research on finding sources for birth, marriage, immigration, and death records for my direct ancestors.

Finally, in an effort to stay focused on my research, I plan to have the following open on my laptop whenever I sit down to work:

• Family Tree Maker with my Perkinson Family Tree open
• My Genealogy To-Do List on Google Drive
• My Research Log on Google Drive (see below) so I can easily see what resources I have used in searching for the same type of information for other relatives as well as noting where I've looked for my current ancestor
• Downloaded edition of Evidence Explained so I can correctly cite my sources
• StickyNote app so I know where I stopped last time and have a place to note where I'm ending things in the current session

I think I'm about ready to get started.

Tuesday's Tips : A New Way to Search For Records

My usual way to research a branch of my family tree is to follow one individual at a time as long as I can.  The "Until I Reach a Brick Wall" approach.  Reading some of Randy Seaver's recent posts had led me to consider using a different approach.  In his Genea-Musings blog Randy wrote of "mining" a specific database for family members.

I had been writing about the Camp family for some months, and I was now ready to revisit the Myren branch of my family.  Time to leave the South, Tidewater Virginia, and the Civil War and head to North Dakota and the life of Norwegian immigrants.  Trouble was, I wasn't sure just where or with whom I wanted to start.  I decided to follow Randy's advice and to try focusing on one specific database for Myren family information.

Previously I had used FindAGrave to record burial information for some of the Myren family members buried at Hillsboro Cemetery #1 in Hillsboro, North Dakota.  My search for Myrens listed 11 people buried at that cemetery.

Myrens buried in Hillsboro Cemetery #1, Hillsboro, ND
source:  FindAGrave.com

I recognized the listings for my GreatGrandparents Carrie (Kari) S Myren and Peter Peterson Myren and my  2Great Uncle Anders Myren.   Also listed were my Great Uncles Adolph, Carl P, and Paul S Myren as well as my Great Aunts Anna and Julia Myren.  

Seeing this listing, I made sure that I had recorded the birth and death dates from grave markers as well as cemetery information for each of these family members.  Citing each fact that I recorded in Family Tree Maker went quickly because I could make a copy of the citation for the first family member, then just edit in the correct data for the next family member.  I could copy the FindAGrave information for Adolph Myren then edit the name and dates in my citation for his sister Julia Myren's FindAGrave record.

Source Citations screen shot, Family Tree Maker 2014

Missing, however, were several family members who I thought would have be buried at this cemetery, my Great Aunts Pauline and Olga.  Also, I knew very little about Annie Myren and nothing about William Myren. 

Right away, I had a new To-Do List: (1) locate information related to the burials of Pauline and Olga and (2) learn more about Annie and William.  By focusing on these four names (Pauline, Olga, Annie, and William Myren), I was able to learn more about each of them in a relatively short time.  This time I used some of my usual search strategies - Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.com, Mocavo, and Genealogy Search Engine - as well as looking at census records and local histories available online.

In a little over an hour, I had found the following information about these relatives:

• Pauline Myren, as an adult, preferred to spell her surname as Myron, a fact that had slipped my mind when initially searching for her burial location.  She too is buried in the same cemetery, Hillsboro Cemetery #1, as her parents and brothers.  Searching for information on Pauline was what lead me to find her request for a pen pal, the letter written by Pauline in 1911.
• Olga Myren had married Adolph Rognlie.  Her FindAGrave memorial page lists her just as Olga Rognlie with no mention of Myren.  Olga Myren Rognlie is buried in Hillsboro Cemetery #1 but her husband Adolph Rognlie's burial place was listed as "unknown" while his place of death was noted as being Washington state.  Looking further into this is will probably be added to my To-Do List.
• Annie Myren, identified through various census records, was the second wife of Anders Peterson Myren.  Anders' first wife, Oline Jorgensdatter Ateigen, was listed as buried in the Elmwood Cemetery of Hillsboro, ND.  By using both United States and North Dakota state census records found on Ancestry.com, I was able to follow Annie Myren as she continued to live in Hillsboro, ND until her death in 1949. 
• William C Myren was one of the four children born to Anders Myren and his second wife Annie.

I also decided to pass on some information to others researching the Myren family by requesting that the FindAGrave memorial pages for my GreatGrandparents, Peter Myren and Kari Siem Myren, include the links to the FindAGrave information of their children.  Some of my editing requests were done within a few days.  Others of my requests are still waiting to be posted.

Lessons learned:  Thanks to Randy Seavers' suggestion, I plan to search within one database or type or record as part of my research strategies with a family.  This experience with FindAGrave showed me how it provided a family overview and then showed some areas where I needed to look for new or additional information.

Tuesday’s Tips --- Where Is It? Organizing My Laptop Files

Flickr Puzzle 2 By Willi Heidelbach
via Wikimedia Commons

About once a year, I take a serious look at the organization of my genealogy files on my laptop computer.  I’m usually spurred on to this task because I’m looking for something, something I know is there but just can’t find.  That is where I found myself last week.

Looking closely at my laptop, I found genealogy files everywhere.   In Pictures, Downloads, and Word documents.   In Excel spreadsheets, PDF files, My Scans, e-mails, and more.  I needed to have this wide variety of files in one central file. 

Previously I had a Genealogy File in my saved Word Documents and a Genealogy File in my Pictures Library.  That had been enough for several years.  Now that I have been saving more and more genealogy things to my laptop, these files were growing.  In addition, I had also gotten into the habit of saving downloads and imported materials with the name suggested from the original source.  It was time for some changes. 

The Organized Genealogist Group on facebook has an ongoing discussion of tips for digital file organization.  Some of them I had even downloaded.  The ongoing thread of the discussions stresses two simple points:

• Use consistency in file names
• Organize in the way that fits with how you think.

Over the weekend, I was able to go from files scattered across my computer to having things organized in one place.  Here are the steps I followed using the Windows 7 structure of my laptop.

Step 1:  Set up a Library titled “Genealogy Laptop”.  This is now my one place to save anything related to genealogy - photos, copies of records, maps, e-mails, anything.

Step 2:  Establish a consistent format for labeling my files.

• For a file related to a person: 
• Last name, First name – descriptor (ie, grave marker, photo, 1860 census, WWI Draft Registration Card, etc.  If I have more than one photo, they are numbered photo 1, photo 2, etc.)  .
• Files which covered multiple family members such as family group photos, copies of a family tree, etc, are labeled with just the family name, ex: Camp Family – photo 1
• Since some records for married women (such as a pension application) contain only a women’s married name, I labeled these files with her maiden Last name, First name, MARRIED NAME in caps
• For a file not related to a person: 
• Type of file – descriptor.  For example: Template – Research Log  or  Book – Title of book
• Geographical files are labeled by name of the state:  example:  Georgia – Counties, Towns, and History

Step 3:  Label every genealogy related file I came across in looking through the file structure of my computer.   Admittedly it took looking back over the trees in Family Tree Maker to know how to correctly label the files for a number of married women.  After labeling all the files found in one section, I moved them to the Genealogy Laptop Library (GLL).  For e-mails and a few miscellaneous files, I ended up having to make a copy to move the file to the GLL.  Within a few hours I had hundreds of labeled files arranged in one alphabetical list in the GLL.  I was surprised to see the number of files (mainly photos) which were duplicates.  Some deleting trimmed my number of files

 

Labeled files after move into the Genealogy Laptop Library

   

Step 4:  Using Family Tree Maker, I generated a Bow Tie Family Tree.  This quickly provided me with the names of my 16 2^nd Great Grandparents.  In the GLL I created a folder for each of these 16 families.  I followed this same step to create folders for each of my husband’s 16 2GGs.

Family and Topic folders for my labeled files

Step 5:  Since I had previously labeled all people files last name first, it was a simple task to cut and past all people files into the corresponding family folder.  Once inside the family folder, I could see all files for a specific family member and know immediately if it were a photo, a census record, or other document.

Labeled files in the Camp Family folder

Step 6:  Back-up the Genealogy Laptop Library.  I didn’t want to lose all of my work!

Lessons Learned:  Now that my system is in place, in the future it will be easy to label a file correctly when I save it.  Then I will save it in the appropriate folder.  As a friend says, “easy-peasy”.  It turned out to be a simple project to complete, and definitely worth the time.  Plus, when I do my monthly backup of my family tree software, it is easy to also backup the entire Genealogy Laptop Library.

Tuesday's Tips: Saving Up For a Rainy Day with Google Drive

"Rainy Day in Henry, Illinois"
photo by Magnus Manske via Wikimedia Commons

The more time I spend researching my family's history, the more resources I learn of that I want to use later or which may take me a while to locate.  Google Drive has proved to be invaluable in helping me keep track of what I want to use, where it is located, and why I need that specific resource.

On Google Drive I have a number of Genealogy related spreadsheets.  When I come across a resource to use or track down at a later date, I add it to the the appropriate spreadsheet.  Then, when the opportunity arises, I can access Google Drive on my smart phone, tablet, laptop, or public computer, whatever is convenient at the time.

My basic Google Sheets (spreadsheets) are formatted in the same way so that items can be moved or copied from one Sheet to another.  A few things I even have listed on two different Sheets. This format includes:

• Date
• Family / Person
• Task
• Resource
• Notes - helpful when I have searched only part of a book, certain years in a group of records, etc.

Currently, these are the Sheets I use most frequently.

The Newspaper Articles and Interlibrary Loan Google Sheets helped to keep me focused during a rainy day visit to a local university library.  I went there specifically to look for a book from my Interlibrary Loan / World Cat list which was available for "in library use only".  While there, I also checked my list of newspaper and magazine articles and discovered that I could view a number of them on the university's microfilm collection.  I located about a dozen articles, saving them to my flash drive to later read at home.

For a rainy day, it turned out to be a pretty good day.  Genealogy wise, it was a very productive afternoon all because lists of things I needed to use were organized and accessible on Google Drive.  And Google Drive definitely beats trying to keep up with paper lists and post-it notes.

One caveat about using Google Drive on an iPhone.  The Google Drive app is read only.  I had to download a second app, Google Sheets, in order to be able to edit any sheet I have on Google Drive.

Tuesday's Tip - The Genealogist's Declaration of Rights

At various genealogy conferences this summer, attendees will have the opportunity to sign The Genealogist's Declaration of Rights.  This document developed by the National Genealogy Society "is a statement advocating open access to federal, state, and local public records", a concept important to all of us who search for our family's stories. 

A recent DearMYRTLE blog post includes the official press release concerning the document and reasons for its development.  The press release also contains a link to the online document so that anyone can read the Declaration and sign the document online.  Attendance at a genealogy conference is not mandatory in order to support the Declaration.

Think of how meager our research would be if we did not have access to these records, from the Social Security Death Index to state land lottery information or local probate records.  I hope you will read the document and consider signing it.  I did.

Links:
National Genealogy Society Press Release:  http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2014/06/genealogists-declaration-of-rights.html
Online Declaration for signature:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1XzLu1rt-jMHKb74PRjgV-M-rKyB_RsDfma63Gp_ODNI/viewform

Tuesday's Tip: Transcribing Letters

Several years ago I visited the Manuscript and Rare Book Library at Emory University, Decatur, Georgia.  My purpose was to study the Camp Family Papers in their collection and, hopefully, to learn more about my 2nd GreatGrandfather Thomas Lumpkin Camp.

The documents were written by a variety of people and in different handwritings.  I was grateful that the staff at MRBL permitted users to photograph the photocopies in the files available for public research.

After I downloaded the photos to my laptop, I was anxious to transcribe them.  I first tried opening a letter photo in my laptop's photo viewer with the plan to transcribe each letter as a Word document.  I tried using both horizontal and vertical split screens to view the photo and my Word document at the time; I even tried using a second monitor with my laptop.  All of these methods were rather cumbersome, especially with all the "extras" at the top of the Word screen.  Frankly, it seemed to take a long time to transcribe a single letter, and I abandoned the transcription project after a few weeks.

Recently I came across an easy to use freeware program, Transcript, version 2.4.  Transcript 2.4 is just like the web site claims, it really "makes transcribing easier".  With it, I've finally been able to transcribe a number of the Camp letters and have found several interesting stories which I plan to share in future posts.

The screen shot above shows Transcript's clean, uncluttered work surface.  In the light blue box at the top of the screen is the document I plan to transcribe.  The white box below is my transcription area.  The center bar dividing the two boxes can be adjusted to divide the screen just as you want it.

Beneath the "File Edit Format ... " menu row is one ribbon of icons, primarily pertaining to the document you are planning to transcribe.  A box in the middle of the ribbon lists the title or image number of the document you are transcribing.  The small green arrow buttons (circled in green) let you move back and forth through a series of images.  This feature has been particularly helpful when I have had four or five images to cover one letter.

Another nice feature (circled in red) is the ability to zoom in or out of a document.  The brightness of your document can also be adjusted using the buttons circled in yellow.  Sometimes just a change in perspective helps clarify a word.

The actual transcription is done without any of those spelling errors or punctuation reminders that are part of using Word.  I like this because I'm trying to transcribe the actual spelling, punctuation, and capitalization used in each document.  No wiggly red or green lines, no auto correct to get in the way of an accurate transcription.

Each transcription is saved as a Rich Text File.  The RTF, in turn, can be opened in Word for formatting, spell check, or any other type of correction you may wish to make to your document.

Transcript is free for noncommercial use.  If you plan to use it for any transcriptions for which you will receive pay, a pro version is available, costing $15 Euros, about $21 US dollars.  Jacob Boerema, the programmer, will also accept donations from users of the program.  If you have handwritten documents to transcribe, Transcript will certainly make the job much easier.  Visit the Transcript web site  to download your copy.

Tuesday's Tips : My Top 10

source:  RobbWolf.com

The other day a member of The Organized Genealogist Group on facebook raised an interesting question.  "What is on your list of things you 'wish you would have know' about getting and staying organized" with your family research?"  The question generated a number of great comments.  I also found myself mulling over the question and comments, so much so that I finally have come up with my list of tips.  Included with some of the tips are links to some of my previous posts on that subject.

Top 10 Things I Wish I Had Known ...

1. Cite your sources.  If you start from the very beginning to indicate where you find your information, your genealogical quests will be so much easier.  Imagine having no photocopies of pages from unknown books, no "facts" in your family tree from an unknown source, no questions as to where you actually found information.  More about citations.
2. Talk with family while you have the opportunity.  How I wish I had listened more to the stories my father told about his family!  I'm glad I had actually started paying attention and taking some notes as my mother would reminisce in her later years.  These family stories and names can be the starting place for much of our research.  This can guide you to more places, names, events that can lead you to information about your relatives.
3. Get information, record, and file.  This is still the hardest thing for me, but I'm working on it.  When I find some useful information online, or at the library, or in communication with another, I am trying to enter the information into my software, Family Tree Maker.  Next, I file any paper document in my files or attach to the appropriate folder on my laptop.  The pile of paper beside my laptop is actually shrinking!
4. Read the WHOLE document.  Taking the time to read the entire document, even transcribing it when necessary, lets us get all the tidbits of information.  Looking at one entire line of a census record, for example, can provide a variety of  information about one relative.  Look at several pages before and after, and you may meet other family members or someone's future spouse.  Military pension applications are filled with names, dates, events -- history through the eyes of one person.  A draft registration card can tell us more about a man's work history and often includes a good physical description of him.  After all, we're not just collecting dates, we're seeking to learn about individuals and their lives.  More on reading documents
5. Label photos and maps.  This is something to do now with my own photos.  This means labeling my digital photos with names, dates, locations.  The same goes for print photos.  This will help us avoid those "who in the world are these people" moments.  More about labeling photos.
6. Trust but verify.  Shaking leaves on Ancestry, family stories, or our recollections can be accurate; sometimes they aren't.  It behooves us to look for factual support in our research.  None of us want to reach a point where we realize that we have been following Alice down the Rabbit Hole, working with faulty logic.  More about verifying data.
7. Keep a research log.  Keeping a record of where we have looked for information can help us use our time much more efficiently.  It can be a notebook where we list where we've looked and for what.  It can be kept through an online program such as Evernote or Dropbox.  Mine stays in a spreadsheet on Google Drive.  Along the same line, I keep a Research To-Do List.  When I'm off to Georgia, I know some things I can look for during that visit.  I can keep a list of resources I need to locate and what I hope to find there.  More about using Google Drive.
8. Record names and dates in a standard, consistent manner.  I follow the practice of recording all people as last name, first name, middle name.  A woman are recorded by her maiden name.  I list dates in the DD/MM/YYYY format, 3 June 1876.  This way I know if a person is Smith Nelson or Nelson Smith.  It helps to clarify that the date recorded is June 3, not March 6.  More about recording names.
9. Have a filing system.  There are many ways to do this, and it comes down to what you are most comfortable with.  If you want paper in front of you, fine; just invest in file folders and storage containers so each document you want to keep has a home.  If you prefer digital storage, fine; just develop a file system on your computer or through online storage.  Regardless of the type of structure you use, if you file with names in a standard format and use a consistent file structure, you should be able to file and find information whenever the need arises.  More about filing.
10. Develop a research toolbox.  A research toolbox contains links to resources you use frequently in your research.  When I first started researching my family, I bookmarked a number of websites on my laptop.  As my number of bookmarks grew, I organized my 200+ bookmarks into topic folders, i.e. Georgia resources, military records, immigration, etc.  Today I have these topic folders saved on one "Genealogy" folder which I can access after logging into Google Chrome on any computer.  Finally, I added a "Research Toolbox" to this blog to list those web sites cited or referred to in my posts.  I'm all for not spinning my wheels trying to find that great web site I last used two months ago.  More about my Research Toolbox.

That's my Top 10 list.  What's yours?

Tuesday's Tips: Flip-Pal Tips

I was really excited to receive a Flip-Pal scanner for Christmas.  (Thanks, Santa!)  I had already started using it to scan some old family photos I had at the house.  Now it was time to take it along with me and see what it worked out in other situations.

I had to swing by our local public library to return some materials, so I decided this would be a great time to scan some materials in the Tennessee Room, our library's genealogy collection.  This way I wouldn't have to take books elsewhere in the library to use a coin-op copy machine.  I was also anxious to compare scanning pages with just taking page photos with my smartphone.

In the new materials section of the Tennessee Room was a book about researching your ancestors from Ireland.  The first chapter had a lot of basic information on various free websites that were good starting places for this type of research, pages I decided to scan.

Tip 1: Make your first scan information about the following series of scanned images.

Tip 1:  Rather than doing 3 or 4 scans just to have the cover and title page of the book, I wrote this information on an index card and made this my first scan.  This eliminated a few scans, plus I now had all the information, even the call number of the book, should I need to write a citation for this book.(1)  I also noted the starting and later the ending scan numbers done from that book on the index card.  Having the numbers made it simple to separate this book's scans from the magazine pages I also scanned.

I really found the scan numbers helpful as I was selecting scans to stitch and print.  I could see each scan's number as I opened it on my computer's photo viewer.  Then, I would check the number against my list, and I could be sure not a skip any of the scans.  Once I have a page printed, a website mentioned now bookmarked on my computer, or data recorded in my genealogy software, I can delete the scans and toss the card when I have finished with that group of scans.

That initial scan note card could also be helpful when scanning photos away from home.  It would be a quick way to note "15 family photos in Aunt Sue's house".  There would also be room to quickly note the names of the people in the photos for future reference.

Comparing the Flip-Pal with taking smartphone photos, the Flip-Pal was definitely the winner for me.  The weight of the Flip-Pal on the book kept the page open, so much easier than trying to hold a book open with one hand or another book, all while taking a picture with my phone.  I could also stay seated to use the Flip-Pal rather than having to stand up.  Trying to have good lighting on the page was also no longer an issue as the Flip-Pal provides its own light.  The nod, for me, definitely goes to the Flip-Pal.

Tip 2: A carrying case is helpful.

Tip 2:  My Flip-Pal did not have a carrying case, so I decided to make one.  I used a piece of upholstery fabric and quilted it to a polished cotton backing.  I decided to add a zippered pocket to my case.  Inside the pocket I have a lens cleaning cloth and have added a few blank index cards for future scanning sessions.  The Flip-Pal can now be carried safely in my genealogy tote bag.

I'll pass on future tips as I play around and learn more about using my Flip-Pal.

(1)  Grenham, John Tracing Your Irish Ancestors: the Complete Guide. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, c2012.

Tuesday's Tip: Follow That Trail of Crumbs

Atlanta Constitution, 19 Jun 1899
source: fold3.com

It all started the other day when I treated myself to a year's subscription to fold3.com.  I immediately was searching for information about the Perkinson family when I discovered there were also a number of nonmilitary documents available through fold3.com.  Expecting to find only service records, I found this announcement of the upcoming wedding of my aunt, Leila Perkinson, the sister of my grandfather, Oscar Dean Perkinson, Sr.

I had to print the article and read every word because it was full of family information.  For starters, Leila's wedding took place just a month before Leila and Oscar's widowed mother married Willis A McAfee.  There she was, planning her daughter's wedding and probably thinking of her own upcoming nuptials at the same time.  It was interesting to also see the connections mentioned to noted Baptist ministers, specifically my 2GGrandfather, William Hiram Dean.  It also mentioned the Rev. Sam Dean, a name I continue to run across but have not yet found the definite connection to other Deans in my family tree.  Now clarifying that connection with Sam Dean has been added to my To-Do-List

The announcement of wedding plans also provided some background information on the young couple.   Leila had graduated from Shorter Female College, today known as Shorter University, my alma mater.  Although her husband had died before I was born, I had always heard that he worked on the railroad.  Now I know that Uncle Ed Stephens was with the Atlanta, Knoxville and Northern Railroad.

The names of the wedding party were also included in the article, several of whom were familiar names.  I recognized an uncle, Howard Perkinson, as well as my grandfather Oscar Perkinson.  The maid of honor, however was someone new to me, Miss Emma Nichols of Edgewood, a cousin.  She would also have been a cousin of my grandfather and a relative of mine, so I wanted to know who she was.

My first step was looking at my family tree in Family Tree Maker.  Cousin Emma would have to have been a sister either of Leila's mother (Luella Dean) or Leila's father (William Howard Perkinson), a sister who had married a Mr. Nichols.  I have been focusing on the Perkinson family long enough to initially eliminate the possibility that Emma came from that side of the family.  Looking closer at the Dean side, I saw that Luella Dean's mother was Emma Lee Benson, possibly the source of Emma's name.  When I scrolled through information on Emma Lee Benson's family, I saw that she had two sisters, Sarah Anne Benson, and Abby Jane Benson. Perhaps Sarah or Abby could be the mother of "Miss Emma Nichols of Edgewood".

But where was Edgewood?  Placesnamed.com showed an Edgewood, Georgia, just east of Atlanta.  Other Edgewoods were further away from Woodstock, Georgia and might not be Emma's home.

Since Leila's wedding took place in 1899, I looked at the 1900 census for Edgewood, De Kalb, Georgia, in hopes that Emma might be single and still living at home with her parents.  Some days, things actually fall into place.  I searched for any Nichols living in Edgewood, De Kalb, Georgia, with a child named Emma and quickly found a census record for Emma and her family, first try.(1)  Emma's mother was listed as Sallie Nickols and her father as David Nickols.  I have come across enough Sarah / Sally / Sallie names for the same individual that I felt this might be the family of Cousin Emma.  A check of the 1880 census for this same family listed them as David and Sarah A Nichols along with the names of daughters Emma and Minnie and son William.(2)

My next stop was the Georgia Virtual Vault to look for marriage and death records pertaining to this family.  My general search for records on David Nichols lead to a death certificate for a Minnie Nichols and another piece of the puzzle.  There was Minnie of an age corresponding to ages found in the 1880 and 1900 census records (check mark).  Minnie's father was listed on the certificate as David Nichols (check mark) and her mother as Sara Benson (fireworks, please).  The information on the death certificate was provided by William M Nichols, the brother listed in the 1880 census (check mark).  I wasn't as successful in locating a marriage record at the Virtual Vault for David Nichols and Sara Benson.  Another task on my To-Do-List.  At least my other efforts have lead to establishing the probable family for cousin "Emma Nichols of Edgewood".

Death Certificate, Minnie Nichols
source: Georgia Virtual Vault

All in all, the wedding plans article turned out to be worthwhile to study in detail because it lead me to new information about my family.  I learned the employer of my uncle Ed.  I got another push to learn more about the Rev. Sam Dean.  And, I have the probable family for Cousin Emma Nichols, my first cousin, three times removed.  Not bad for a few hours of following the tidbits mentioned in an unexpected newspaper article.

(1) Georgia, De Kalb County, Edgewood, 1900 U.S. Census, population schedule. Digital Images. Ancestry.com. http://ancestry.com : 2013.

(2) Georgia, Paulding County, Old Twentieth,1880 US Census, population schedule. Digital Images. Ancestry.com.

Tuesday Tips - Family Tree Magazine 101 Best Websites

It is one of my favorite times of the year - that day in August when Family Tree Magazine posts its yearly list of "101 Best Websites".  Here is the link to this year's great list.

I especially appreciate the way these best genealogy websites are organized by geographic areas as well as by topic.  Included are the best sites are researching southern, northern, midwestern, and western states in the US.  Some of the sites listed are familiar ones while others are new resources to me.  I'm also going to be looking at some of the sites listed under the photo and mapping topic, especially those sites that provide access to historical maps.

It is definitely worth looking at this annual list from Family Tree Magazine.  You'll probably decide to bookmark this list for future reference.  I know I have.

Tuesday's Tip : Check Out The Hathi Trust Digital Library

When researching your family history, one can never have too many trusted places to look for information.  If you haven't visited this site before, I urge you to visit the HathiTrust Digital Library at www.hathitrust.org.  It just may become one of your favorite sites.

For starters, as the website indicates on the opening screen, "HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world."  The partnership has digitized over 10.7 million volumes, many of which are available for viewing in their entirety online  The partnership itself is impressive - major universities, The Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, and others of similar stature.(1)

I became a fan of HathiTrust while looking for the complete Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, all five volumes, when I was researching my Second Great Grand Uncle Samuel Howard Dean.  Some sources had parts of a few pages from specific volumes, but I wanted to find all five volumes so that I could refer to it for a number of my relatives as well as my husband's.  All five volumes were digitized and available to download or else to read online through HathiTrust.  I was surprised to see so many other genealogy / historical resources available considering the academic nature of the library's partnerships.

Since then, I have found myself returning to HathiTrust and finding other digital resources from an out-of-print genealogy of a 2GGrandparent (The Genealogy of the Benson--Latimer ... Families by Mary Benson Maxwell) to a listing of lumber yards in Manitoba which showed my grandfather as a purchasing agent for one of them.  Both of these were available in full view online with digital images of the original pages and even the covers.  The "search within" box helped me quickly find my information, even in a lengthy book.  For resources with limited, search-only view, you have the opportunity to migrate to OCLC World Cat to see which libraries have that resource available.  This makes it easy to consider using an interlibrary loan or to plan a visit to specific library to use that resource.

I'm using HathiTrust enough that I have established a free, "friend account".  A friend account brings with it the ability to create personal collections of digital resources.  My collection currently holds the five volumes of the Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia as well as Mary Benson Maxwell's Genealogy of the Benson--Latimer ... Families, resources I know I will be using in the future.  One special benefit of setting up a collection is the ability to search within my entire collection for a name, location, or event.  This has been particularly helpful in searching for names in the thousands of pages of the Roster of ... Soldiers volumes.  Even without the friend account, I could still have this searching ability, just one volume as a time. 

Screen capture of my Genealogy Resources collection
www.hathitrust.org

There are a number of great sites for digitized print resources including Google Books, HeritageQuest, and Internet Archive, but HathiTrust is my new favorite.  It has a large number of full view resources, ease in searching for information within a specific work, the ability to sync with World Cat to locate print copies of a resource, and a user friendly collections feature.  It all combines to make HathiTrust a prime resource for me.

(1)  HathiTrust. "Home Page." Database and images. HathiTrust. http://www.hathitrust.org : 2013.