Giving Back: Indexing for FamilySearch

When I first learned about FamilySearch several years ago, I was ecstatic.  A FREE genealogy resource with records useful in my personal research?!  It seemed too good to be true.  Yet, it wasn't.  I found myself searching through all types of collections that weren't even available on Ancestry, including Massachusetts births, marriages, and deaths (these recently were added to Ancestry, however).  FamilySearch was a remarkable gold mine for me, giving me access to indexes and record images I couldn't find anywhere else on the internet, and it was all free.

Well, it was free for me.  In reality, FamilySearch is run by LDS, and the records are made available thanks to the efforts of thousands and thousands of volunteers worldwide, LDS and non-LDS, who index and arbitrate the records.  About three years ago, I decided to give back by indexing.  I only did a little bit at first, but as time went on, I found myself hooked.

For those who may not know, indexing is transcribing certain information from an image of the record so that it can become searchable.  Every record at FamilySearch is indexed by two separate individuals.  A third person, called an arbitrator, reviews the indexers' work to fix errors and resolve discrepancies.  Last year, after reaching certain indexing milestones, I became an arbitrator so that I could contribute more to FamilySearch.  Frankly, it's taking up most of my free time because I love doing it so much.  I work on interesting collections or ones that may prove useful to me when they eventually are published for the world to search for free.

FamilySearch has an astounding variety of American and international collections in the works.  I know Massachusetts Vital Records are in the works and move quickly, while New Brunswick Provincial Marriages are slower-going because there aren't as many volunteers working on them.  There are probably about 10 collections to index from Italy alone.

If you're stuck in your research, need a break, or are just looking for a way to help others pursue their own genealogy, I would highly recommend indexing.  It's difficult at first to learn all of the rules and adjust to different handwriting styles, but you will get the hang of it with practice.  There are also several unofficial Facebook groups that provide assistance if you need help, in addition to FamilySearch's official support team.

So, this is what's been taking up all of my time from blogging!  I'm hoping to pry myself away from indexing more frequently and get back here often!  There is plenty I'd like to share still.

Happy Independence Day!

A very happy 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans!  Things have been hectic around here, especially after I started working (albeit volunteer work).  So instead of the normal barbecue today, I traveled up to scenic Vermont for a relaxing day trip.

Reflecting on the American Revolution, I thought I'd share a minor discovery I made just in time for the holiday.  Last week I had the opportunity to search through some pages of the book, Les registres de Paspébiac : Notre Dame de la Purification, by Bona Arsenault.  The church records in this book for Paspébiac, located in the Gaspé region of Québec, go back slightly further in time than those in the Drouin collection.  They're also very well organized and indexed.  Using this book, I pushed my research back in my Cyr line to find another 5th great-grandfather, Jean-Baptiste Anglehart ("Migkelharte" in his marriage record).  According to his marriage record, he was from Germany (if his surname didn't give it away).  What does this have to do with the American Revolution?  Jean-Baptiste Anglehart married his wife, Anne Chapados, in Québec on July 13, 1787.  The British had hired many mercenaries from Germany during the American Revolution, bringing the Germans over to Québec.  Several thousand of these mercenaries stayed after the war.  A marriage in 1787 suggests that my German ancestor (I'm also German now?! That alone blew my mind.) may have very likely been around for the American Revolution and was himself a mercenary for the British.  In the coming weeks, I'd like to uncover a lot more information about him and his parents if possible.  Thankfully, if he was fighting, I don't think he would have met any of my colonial ancestors in battle, as I have several ancestors who fought against the British in the war.

Have a happy and safe July 4th!

Tombstone Tuesday - Asa Thorp

Asa Thorp (aka Thorpe or Tharp) is the father of last week's Tombstone Tuesday children, Roswell and Eunice Tharp.  He is buried with them in the Old Center Cemetery at North Haven, New Haven, Connecticut.  According to Ancient Families of New Haven, Asa was born about 1768 to Jacob and Eunice (Bishop) Thorpe and married Lydia Pardee.

Copyright 2010-2013.

In

Memory of

ASA THORP.

who died

Dec. 10 1849

AE 81.

Tombstone Tuesday - Roswell and Eunice Tharp

Stones like this one always both intrigue and sadden me.  It is the stone of two young siblings, Roswell and Eunice Thorpe (aka Thorp or Tharp), and is located in the Old Center Cemetery of North Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut.  According to Families of Ancient New Haven by Donald Lines Jacobus, they were the children of Asa Thorpe and Lydia Pardee.  Based on the information in that series, Asa Thorpe I believe was a first cousin to my 5th great-grandmother, Mabel (Thorpe) Alling.

Photograph Copyright 2010-2013

Roswell Tharp died Octo 13th

1794 In the 4th Year of his Age.

Eunice Tharp died March 23d

1794 In the 1st Year of her Age.

Children of Asa &

Lydia Tharp.

DNA Testing - Part 4

Happy National DNA Day!  A few months ago, my mother's AncestryDNA results came in after I finally convinced her to take the test.  As you may know, both my father and I had already taken it.  I wanted my mother's results to help determine what DNA matches came from her side of the family and to compare my ethnicity results to both of my parents'.  It's important to keep in mind, however, that my test results came in about six months before my mother's, so AncestryDNA's data and/or techniques may have changed in that time.

Ethnicity Mix-Match

My mother, a French Canadian of almost entirely Norman descent (with some Huron in there that shows rather strongly in my family members' physical appearances), was given results showing an unexpected ethnic mix.  I didn't anticipate results showing that her ancestors were from France, given that so many French Canadians who took the test wrote about having that exact issue.  Because many colonists of New France were from Normandy, test results often show British Isles as a major ethnicity.  My mother's results showed none.  Instead, she was identified as over 75% Scandinavian, with the remainder being Eastern European.  Huh?!  I suppose the Scandinavian comes from raids on the Norman shore, but I haven't the slightest idea where Eastern European made its way into her DNA.  If you knew my mother, you also would guess on appearances that she didn't have a drop of Scandinavian blood in her.

What bothered me the most about my mother's DNA results is that, when comparing it to my own and my father's, it all doesn't add up.  Ancestry correctly identified both as being my parents, but at least one of us has errors in our ethnic make-up data.  Every person on the planet gets exactly 50% or 1/2 of their DNA from each parent.  No exceptions.  Yet, I had no Eastern European in my own results, and only 4% of my DNA was listed as uncertain.  Based on my mom's overwhelming Scandinavian, it therefore wouldn't be possible for me to only have 25% of my DNA be Scandinavian (which is what my results showed).  I also couldn't have over 70% of my DNA be British Isles if only my father has British Isles DNA (which is what the results also showed), because he only gave me 50% of my DNA.  It's impossible for all three of the results to be correct, and they tend to show a major error somewhere, since my results are off by a total of 20-30%.  This huge amount could be a result of all three tests being off by smaller amounts.  Also, I'm inclined to believe that the more recent tests are more accurate than mine, the first one we did, as AncestryDNA presumably improves and expands.

My "Matches"

What I love about having access to matches for not just myself, but both of my parents, is that I know on what side of the family I'm connected to another Ancestry member.  I can easily remove matches that aren't also matched to either of my parents ("Distant Cousin" relationships are only given an accuracy rating of "Moderate" by Ancestry).  When someone matches both me and a parent, I can immediately cut out the other parent's ancestors as the potential link between us.  This makes is much easier to determine how we're related, although getting back to the common ancestor is still a challenge.  I like being able to reach out to a distant cousin match and tell them that we're connected on either my Irish/English or French Canadian side (this is especially useful when they are unaware of any French Canadian ancestry in their own families).

Unfortunately, a lot of matches don't seem interested in communicating or working together to find our common connection.  I don't know if this is a marketing issue where people expect to easily uncover their family history by taking the test, if people just want ethnicity results and aren't interested in specific genealogy, or even my inability to properly communicate how I know we're related on one side of my family or the other.  It can be disappointing, especially since most of the matches are on my Irish/English side, which is where nearly everyone needs help to get further back (at least with Irish lines).  Luckily, the enthusiastic genealogists I get matched with are so incredibly pleasant and helpful that they make up for the people who disregard me.  Overall, I believe I can learn a lot from the matches who are interested in working together and sharing information.  It's just a matter of reaching out and finding more.

The Raw Numbers

Of my father's approximately 275 matches with at least moderate accuracy, I also was matched with about 90 of them.  Of my mother's approximately 145 matches with at least moderate accuracy, I was also matched with about 80 of them.  Just over 50 of my matches with at least moderate accuracy weren't matched with either of my parents.

Tackling the Québec Drouin Collection for English Speakers - Part 4

This is a continuation of a series of "how-to" for English speakers to more easily decipher the Québec Drouin Collection records (although it may help you in other French records as well).  Part 1 of the series can be read here.

Through this series of posts, I will cover determining the type of event, the dates of the events recorded (baptism, marriage burial), the dates of birth and death for baptism and burial records, the individual's name, the individual's marital status, the individual's spouse or parents' names, and where the event occurred, among other facts.

If you have any questions (in general or specific to your research), corrections, additions, or anything else, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or email me directly!

Marriage Records

Marriage date

Marriage records generally start with the date of marriage, written out.  Sometimes other dates will be listed in a paragraph of information after the marriage date and before the spouse names; these are dates that marriage banns were published, prior to the marriage date, and you can ignore them.  Stick with the date that starts off the record.

I'm going to skip over the information sometimes available directly after the marriage date in favor of what I consider more important information.  My French skills aren't good enough to determine what some of it is, and I assume the officiating Priest is the one whose signature is at the end of the record.  If you'd like more details, I suggest using an online translation tool.

Names of the couple, their parents, and/or most recent spouse

After recording the marriage date, I skim down to where I see the word "entre," in this case meaning "enters."  Immediately following "entre" are the groom's given and surnames.  A little bit after the groom's name will usually be either "fils majeur de," meaning "of age son of" or "fils mineur de," meaning "underage son of," followed immediately by the groom's father's given and surnames as well as the groom's mother given and maiden names.  In most cases, the groom's parents names are only included if this is the groom's first marriage.  Otherwise, after the groom's name the record will say "veuf de," or "widower of" (as there are no divorces in the Catholic Church), and the given and maiden names of the groom's most recent spouse.  Thus, if the record is for the groom's third marriage, only his second wife's name will be provided.

After the information about the groom and his parents, you should find "et," meaning "and," followed by the bride's given and maiden names.  Then the bride's age status is given by "fille majeure de," meaning "of age daughter of," or "fille mineure de," meaning "underage daughter of."  Like for the groom, these phrases lead to the bride's father's given and surnames then the bride's mother's given and maiden names, but usually only if this is the bride's first marriage.  If the bride was previously married, instead the record will most likely say "veuve de," or "widow of," followed by the given and surnames of the bride's last husband.

Ages and occupations

On occasion, the groom and bride's specific ages at the time of marriage will be included in the record.  Look for "à l'âge de [age in number of years, written out] ans," which means "at the age of [age] years."

The groom and his or his bride's father may have one word after their names describing their profession, such as "cultivateur," which means "farmer."  This is the profession I usually come across in my research, but others appear, too.  If you see a lone word immediately after a male's name, I suggest using Google search to determine its meaning because it is likely a profession.

Residence

Where a bride, groom, or parents live at the time of marriage is often recorded.  If it is, it will almost immediately follow the individual or parents' name(s) and will begin with "de," meaning "of."  Most commonly, the bride and/or the groom will be married in the parish in which he or she resides.  The phrase "de cette paroisse" after a name means "of this parish."  It indicates the aforementioned individual or couple (if parents) reside in the parish in which the record is kept.  If an individual or parents live elsewhere, however, you may see "de la paroisse St(e)-[insert parish name here]" or simply "de [parish name]" to indicate their residence.  

Many smaller communities in Québec have the same name as the church or parish name because there was only one church at the time.  In larger cities, such as the capital of Québec, there are multiple churches, and the parish will provide a good indication of what area of the city people listed in the record lived in.

Witnesses

Towards the end of some marriage records, witnesses' names and familial relationships to the couple are listed after the phrase, "en présence de," or "in the presence of."  A witness's relationship to the bride or groom follows the witness's name and is phrased like "uncle of the wife."  In French, "l'époux" means "the husband," and "l'épouse" means "the wife."

Some key points to note:

• Marriage banns, or "trois banns de mariage" as they are referred to in the church records, are a series of three announcements of an upcoming marriage required in the Catholic Church before a marriage can take place.  They provide notice of the marriage in the parish as a way to allow anyone with information that would prevent the marriage from being solemnized to come forward with that information.
• On rare occasion, the marriage record may include both the names of a previous spouse and of the individual's parents.  This is highly unusual though, so you will need to locate any previous marriage records using deceased spouse names until you find the individual's first marriage in order to learn (or confirm) his/her parents' names.
• If you see "defunct" or "feu" preceding a parent or prior spouse's name, this simply means "deceased."  It can be excluded from prior spouses' names because "veuf" or "veuve" already indicates the most recent spouse is deceased (not to mention the plain fact that there is another marriage).  However, noting this for a bride or groom's parent will help you narrow down possible death years for the parent.
• Residence or parish information can provide good leads for locating baptism and burial records.  A bride or groom's residence at the time of marriage is often the same parish he/she was baptized in if the record is of his/her first marriage.  If this is not the first marriage, then it is sometimes the same parish his/her previous spouse was buried in.  If a bride or groom's parent is deceased, the listed parish for that parent couple will often be the one where the deceased parent (or parents if both have passed) was buried.
• At times, marriage records will say "aussi de cette paroisse" when stating residence.  "Aussi" means "too" or "also," so be careful to interpret previous individuals' parishes appropriately.

Tackling the Québec Drouin Collection for English Speakers - Part 3

This is a continuation of a series of "how-to" for English speakers to more easily decipher the Québec Drouin Collection records (although it may help you in other French records as well).  Part 1 of the series can be read here.

Through this series of posts, I will cover determining the type of event, the dates of the events recorded (baptism, marriage burial), the dates of birth and death for baptism and burial records, the individual's name, the individual's marital status, the individual's spouse or parents' names, and where the event occurred, among other facts.

If you have any questions (in general or specific to your research), corrections, additions, or anything else, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or email me directly!

Baptism Records

First, you will see the baptism date written out, as described in the previous posts.  Let me just reiterate a key note: the date starting off the record is not necessarily the date of birth.  This is a baptism record, so the date that begins the record will be the date of baptism.  You will have to read further to determine date of birth.  Slight tangent - This is especially important if you're using an Ancestry family tree and input both a baptism and birth date.  The online baptism records don't seem to attach to the birth fact on Ancestry.com (they make you create a baptism fact), although you can manually attach the proper record using Family Tree Maker 2011.

Second, you should find the words "été baptisé" followed by the child's given name, middle name(s) if any, and surname.  This is the name that's also in the page margin, so occasionally all or part of the name may be omitted to avoid repetition.  Generally this is all part of a larger phrase meaning "On [date] we baptized [child's name]..."

The date of birth often comes immediately after the child's name.  Reading through the record, you should look for the word "née," which means "born" and is followed by a reference to the birth date.  The birth date will not be written out like the baptism date was at the beginning of the record.  Instead, you will usually find one of the following:

•  "ce jour" or "le même jour" - "this day" or "the same day," in which case the baptism date and birth date are identical
• "hier" or "la veille" - "yesterday" or "the day before," meaning the the birth date is one day before the baptism date
• "l'avant-veille" - I believe this means "the day before yesterday," so the birth date is two days before the listed baptism date
• "[number in French] du [sometimes de ce instead of du] mois" - the [number] of this month; essentially the birth date is the number date listed in this spot in the same month as the baptism date

Next, either after or before the "née" section, will be the child's parents' names.  They come immediately after the phrase "du légitime mariage de."  The father's given name and surname will come first, followed by "et de" or another form of "and of," and then the mother's given name and maiden surname are second.  Sometimes there is a word or two between the father's name and the "et de."  This word or phrase indicates the father's profession.

Often the parents' names are followed by a phrase indicating what parish the parents belong to, or where they live.  Sometimes a child will be baptized in one parish, but the parents will live in/attend another.  After the parents' names, look for the word "de" meaning "of."  Usually, it will say something similar to "de cette paroisse" to indicate that the parents live in that parish area.  Sometimes, however, "de" will be followed by the name of another parish.  While my method may not be accurate all of the time, I generally assume that the child was born where the parents reside, since births usually occurred at home in earlier time periods.

The final piece of the baptism record lists the child's godparents, who are likely to be related by blood or marriage to the child.  Occasionally the relationship to the child will even be given (although, like anything else, I have seen mistakes here).  "Le parrain a été," meaning "The godfather was," is followed by the godfather's given name and surname, then "et la marraine," meaning "and the godmother," is followed by the godmother's full maiden name.

Some family relationship terms that may be used to describe a parent's or godparent's relationship with the child:

• père - father
• mère - mother
• frère - brother
• soeur - sister
• oncle - uncle
• tante - aunt
• grand-père - grandfather
• grand-mère - grandmother

Tackling the Québec Drouin Collection for English Speakers - Part 2

This is a continuation of a series of "how-to" for English speakers to more easily decipher the Québec Drouin Collection records (although it may help you in other French records as well).  Part 1 of the series can be read here.

Through this series of posts, I will cover determining the type of event, the dates of the events recorded (baptism, marriage burial), the dates of birth and death for baptism and burial records, the individual's name, the individual's marital status, the individual's spouse or parents' names, and where the event occurred, among other facts.

If you have any questions (in general or specific to your research), corrections, additions, or anything else, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or email me directly!

Determining the Type of Record

There are three types of records in the Québec Drouin Collection -- baptisms, marriages, and burials.  From the baptism and burial records, you can usually determine the individuals' birth and death dates, but not always.  What type of other information is available in a record will also depend on the type of record it is.

The left-hand margin on a church record in the Drouin collection, or an underlined title,  will usually indicate the type of record you're looking at, abbreviated, followed by the individual's (or individuals') name(s).  B. indicates a baptism record, M. indicates a marriage record (also, the names of two people, the bride and groom, will be in the margin), and S. indicates a burial record.  "B. François Gosselin" tells you, for example, that you're looking at François Gosselin's baptism record.

The record itself will have some key words or phrases after the date that starts the record and before the name of the person whose record it is.  If, after the starting date, you read "a été baptisé" (meaning baptised) followed by a name, this is a baptism record for that named individual.  If you find "inhumé" (meaning buried) and "le corps de" (the body of) followed by a name, you are reading a burial record.

Marriage records tend to be much longer than baptism or burial records in length, sometimes taking up a full page.  I honestly don't know what most of the information immediately after the date says; in general there tend to be other dates on which the couple gave each of their marriage banns (a practice in the Catholic Church where an announcement of the upcoming marriage is published three times).  If you scan for key phrases or words and find "après la publication de trois bans de mariage," then later "entre" followed by a male's name, you're reading a marriage record.

New Year, New Genealogy

Happy New Year! (Better late than never?) The holidays afforded me a great opportunity to catch up on some genealogy work, think about the kinds of things I want to do this coming year, and find entirely new paths to explore.  So here is my genealogy "To Do" list for this winter:

• Visit the Connecticut State Archives (again).  I never got around to visiting them last fall, but I did just after the new year.  Unfortunately, it was incredibly busy, and I was fumbling around with the microfilm a bit.  The last time I ever used any was probably when I was about 10 years old.  Now I have a much better sense of what kinds of records are of present use to me in the library, how to find them, and how to best navigate (and print) them.  I'd very much like to go again, this time more prepared.
• Research Hurons and their records.  Growing up, I was told there is Huron ancestry on my Québec side.  Just a few weeks ago, I uncovered a source that I believe documents an ancestor's membership in the Huron community near Charlesbourg.  I'd like to look into this further so that I fully understand the meaning of the records and try to find more.
• Read more history books relevant to what my ancestors may have lived through. I'm still working on the book The American Invasion of Canada: The War of 1812's First Year, and after I finish it, I would like to continue on to Pierre Berton's other book, Flames Across the Border: 1813-1814.  I'm still hoping to find information on the battle of Fort George in particular, in which one of my ancestors fought for the British.
• Communicate with more people researching common ancestors.  I started reaching out to individuals lately who are researching common ancestors, particularly those who seem to reach different conclusions than me.  I think it's important to do this using family trees, and not just DNA.  It's really enlightening to exchange thought processes with others looking at the same information you have; sometimes someone has a great idea you didn't think of!  Also, it's a great way to get help in your research while hopefully helping others along the way.
• Trace one ancestor back in Europe.  I believe my third great-grandmother's marriage certificate for her second husband is on its way to me from England.  Also, I am talking to someone with a common (but unknown) ancestor in Ireland, and I have an extensive resource book from the New England Historic Genealogical Society called Tracing Your Irish Ancestors (4th Ed.) by John Grenham that should help me find at least one relative back in Ireland.  This will probably be my most difficult task for the spring, but I think it's doable.

Additionally, I plan to get back to blogging regularly now that the holidays are past.  Keep looking for updates on some of my "series" posts in particular!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season!!

I know Santa brought my family some very wonderful genealogy gifts including Tracing Your Irish Ancestors by John Grenham (an incredible book of resources on Irish history and records for those of us with our research still stuck in America) and a gorgeous daggerreotype to complement the ambrotype I received last year.  I don't actually know the difference between the two yet, but I can sense a new "To Do" for 2013!

Let's not forget the true meaning of this season, though - family, friends, and giving.  No matter what holiday you celebrate, if any, reach out to someone you haven't talked to in a while.  Tell someone you appreciate them.  Or, to keep up with the theme of this blog, just help a stranger with their genealogy any way you can.  It'll only cost you a few minutes.

Tackling the Québec Drouin Collection for English Speakers - Part 1

Working with a large database of records written in a foreign language can be daunting, even if you have some prior experience with that language.  I took French throughout middle and high school, but I am by no means fluent, especially after years of not practicing.  So, at first I struggled to properly understand and use the records in the Québec Drouin Collection, which contains centuries of church baptism, marriage, and burial records.  Eventually I got the hang of it, but I know how difficult it can be.  I've prepared this series of "how-to" for English speakers to more easily decipher the Québec Drouin Collection records (although it may help you in other French records as well).

Through this series of posts, I will cover determining the type of event, the dates of the events recorded (baptism, marriage burial), the dates of birth and death for baptism and burial records, the individual's name, the individual's marital status, the individual's spouse or parents' names, and where the event occurred, among other facts.  I will try to go in the order the information appears in the records.

If you have any questions (in general or specific to your research), corrections, additions, or anything else, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or email me directly!

Records Start with Dates

The first and most important thing to remember is that the date at the very beginning of the record is NOT necessarily the one you want.  Almost every record starts off with a date.  Keep in mind that these include baptisms and burials, NOT births and deaths.  The starting date in a baptism or burial record may be the birth or death date, but oftentimes it is not.  You must keep reading the record for a hint of the actual birth or death date, which many times is noted separately.  In a later post you'll find some key words to look for to help you determine the birth or death date.  Simply copying the date at the start of the record is a common and easily fixable mistake in online family trees, so I thought I should note it upfront.  I used to make this mistake when I started using the Drouin Collection.

Every record starts with the date of the event - baptism, marriage, or burial - usually written out completely.  The order will be day, month, then year.

Numbers in French:

• One through ten, in order:
• un
• deux
• trois
• quatre
• cinq
• six
• sept
• huit
• neuf
• dix 
• Eleven through nineteen, in order:
• onze
• douze
• treize
• quatorze
• quinze
• seize
• dix-sept (notice this is just the words for ten and seven combined, as if you're adding)
• dix-huit
• dix-neuf
• Twenty through sixty-nine are written like "twenty and one" for 21, 31, 41, 51, and 61.  The rest are written like in English, "twenty-two," "twenty-three," and so on.  For example, "vingt" means "twenty" in French.  "Et" means "and."  To write "twenty-one," you would write "vingt-et-un."  Thirty-one would be "Trente-et-un."  Sometimes the "et" and/or the hyphens are left out in records.  Thirty-two would just be "trente-deux" - no "et."  Twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty, in order:
• vingt
• vingt-et-un
• vingt-deux
• vingt-trois
• etc.
• trente
• quarante
• cinquante
• soixante
• Seventy is written in French as "sixty ten" (kind of like you're doing some more math).  You follow the same procedures as the lower numbers but add eleven through nineteen to sixty in order to get seventy-one through seventy-nine.  Seventy through seventy-nine, in order:
• soixante-dix
• soixante-et-onze
• soixante-douze
• soixante-treize
• soixante-quatorze
• soixante-quinze
• soixante-seize
• soixante-dix-sept
• soixante-dix-huit
• soixante-dix-neuf
• Eighty is written in French as "four twenty" (since four multiplied by twenty equals eighty). Eighty through eighty-nine are treated just like the numbers twenty through sixty-nine.  For example, eighty-three is written in French as "quatre-vingt-trois."
• Ninety is written in French using the word for eighty, the same way seventy is written using the word for sixty.  Therefore, "ninety" is "quatre-vingt-dix," and ninety-one is "quatre-vingt-onze," and so on.
• "Hundred" is "cent."  If you see "cent" alone, it means "one hundred."  If there is a number below ten in front of it, it means it is that number of hundreds.  For example, "sept cent" means "seven hundred," "huit cent" means "eight hundred," etc.
• "Thousand" is "mil."  It works the same way as "cent."  In years, you will only encounter "mil" standing alone, since the records will be after the year 1000 A.D. but before the year 2000.

Months in French:

• janvier - January
• février - February
• mars - March
• avril - April
• mai - May
• juin - June
• juillet - July
• août - August
• septembre - September
• octobre - Octobre
• novembre - November
• décembre - December

Some key points to note:

• The date may often be written in the format of "The twentieth day of April..."  Therefore, the number day wouldn't be the exact French equivalent of "twenty."  Often, to express the "nd," "rd," or "th" (as in second, third, or fourth), the number, when written out, will end in "ieme," which is more or less the French equivalent.  For example, "Le trentieme" can appear in a record to indicate the day is thirty (or the thirtieth).  One exception is for the first of the month, in which case the record will read "The first day..."  In French this is written as "Le premier jour," with "jour" being the French word for "day."
• The year will almost always be written out in the Drouin Collection in words.  So, 1878 will be written out as "one thousand eight hundred seventy-eight."  This is where you will need to know how to read numbers in French higher than thirty-one.  In the Drouin Collection, you will see 1878 as (something very close to if not identical to) "mil huit cent soixante dix-huit."  Remember to break each piece apart to read the year.
• Twice I've seen "improper" French used when it comes to numbers.  It may have been a local dialect, but I had never before seen these words, and you probably won't either.  I give them to you just in case.  I once saw "septante," which I realized was being used for seventy instead of "soixante-dix."  Another time I saw "neuvante," which totally threw me for a loop until I figured out it was meant as ninety instead of "quatre-vingt-dix."
• At times, the writer may begin a record with something like "Ce jour" or "Le même jour" instead of writing out a date.  In that case, you must go up to the previous record to determine the date.  "Ce" means "this," and "Le même" means "the same."  The records are written top to bottom, left page to right, in order that they occur, so the previous entry should have the date if yours says it`s the same day.

As an example of a full baptism date, I will use my third great-grandmother, Angèle Corriveau (1807-1847).  The entry begins, "Le quatorze aout mil huit cent sept..."  Notice the French is imperfect and there are no breaks here.  We can ignore "Le," which means "the."  It's superfluous.  "Quatorze" means "fourteen," so this is the day Angèle was baptised (but NOT the day she was born). "Aout" is missing the accent mark but clearly is intended to mean August.  The actual text is a little unclear and can be mistaken for April, but the line through the last letter tells me it's a "t" not an "l" and therefore is August.  "Mil huit cent sept" means "one thousand, eight hundred, seven" (put the commas in mentally or physically if it helps you separate the parts), in other words 1807, the year of her baptism.

Tombstone Tuesday - A McTiernan Family

In October, I took a trip to Saint Bernard's Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.  It's a very old cemetery that contains, among other types, many late 19th century headstones for Irish families.  What's so special about these Irish headstones?  Many if not most of them include both the county and parish of birth back in Ireland of at least one of the family members.  Sadly, the cemetery is also suffering from severe vandalism, and this wealth of information may be lost in a matter of several more decades.

While at Saint Bernard's I took the following photographs of a McTiernan family from Drumreilly, county Leitrim, Ireland.  They are not my ancestors, but I do have McTiernan ancestry from either Leitrim or Roscommon that settled in New Haven.  Therefore, I may share common ancestry with this family.  Sometimes it's important to look at collateral relatives or potential cousins to connect the dots and find your own past.

My camera was malfunctioning, so I was unable to get a photograph of the bottom portion of the back side of the obelisk, which contains information on Margaret McTiernan, most likely the wife of Patrick Brady.

Main face of the McTiernan stone.
Photograph Copyright 2012.

Photograph Copyright 2012.

 In memory of

JOHN McTIERNAN

WHO DIED

Oct. 3, 1866.

AE 51.

He was born in 

Ballanaglaragh,

Parish of

Drumreilly,

Co. Leitrim, Ireland

May he rest in peace

amen.

ERECTED BY

his affectionate Sister

ROSE.

Right side of the stone. Presumably John's sister.
Photograph Copyright 2012.

Photograph Copyright 2012.

 IN MEMORY OF

ROSE McTIERNAN

WIFE OF

PATRICK DOLAN

DIED

NOV. 14, 1880[?].

AE. 72.

BORN IN THE PARISH

OF DRUMREILLY,

CO. LEITRIM, IRELAND

MAY SHE REST IN

PEACE.

IN MEMORY OF

MARK NEARY

Born Aug 10, 1865

Died April 20, 1889

May his soul rest in

peace, Amen.

Back side of the headstone.
Photograph Copyright 2012.

In Memory of

PATRICK E. BRADY

Born.

Jan. 13, 1844

Died.

March 29, 1882

MARGARET McTIERNAN

[...]

DNA Testing - Part 3

My father recently took and received the results back from his own AncestryDNA test.  We were really interested in seeing how our results differed and how our matches would compare after I took my own test a few months ago.  There were a few surprises!

While I won't go into detail about my father's results, I will say that he had no Scandinavian in his results.  This was a big surprise to me because of my mother's French Canadian background.  I've traced many of her lines back a few hundred years through Québec to France, with only a hint of English to be found.  Yet my results indicated that 25% of my DNA is Scandinavian.  Could half of the DNA my mother passed onto me really be Scandinavian?  Her side of my family not only genealogically, but also physically, favors French ancestry.  Perhaps the 25% was an overestimation on the part of AncestryDNA?

I've also been able to compare my father's DNA matches with my own.  I should have matches that he doesn't since half of my DNA is from my mother, but I was surprised that (not looking further than "moderate confidence" distant cousins) he has about 100 matches that I don't.  Three of those matches are in the 4th-6th cousin range with 95% or higher confidence.  I suppose I just didn't get the DNA that matches so closely with these individuals.

Comparing my and my father's results and matches is certainly interesting, and I look forward to taking a closer look at our matches.  I still haven't identified any of my matches as actual relatives; most with public trees don't have any individuals or even surnames in common with my family tree.

If you've taken the test, have you had troubles making relative matches?  Have you and a relative taken the test and compared results?  Please feel free to share your experiences with DNA testing for genealogy!

Motivation Monday - Genealogy Odds & Ends

Over the past few weeks I've been neglecting my blog in order to work on parts of my fall genealogy to-do list and then some.  I'm happy to say that my work in the often over-looked "little things" is progressing along nicely.

First off, I updated my main family tree.  In order to keep myself better organized, I separated branches of my ancestry into a series of smaller trees.  It is these smaller trees that I make public and work on.  By separating my tree, I can compartmentalize the families and surnames to better remember who is related to who.  The problem with this strategy, however, is that my all-encompassing tree can quickly become outdated.   I recently used Family Tree Maker 2012 to update it by first copying my smaller trees' files, then merging these copies into my large tree.  Because a lot of individuals don't have much detail, there were many duplicates I had to go through and delete, so the process took a number of hours.  It was worth it though, because I use my main tree to identify distant cousins through Ancestry DNA.

Secondly, I purchased a book for my Kindle by Pierre Berton called The American Invasion of Canada: The War of 1812's First Year.  Although I'm not too far into it yet, it's a funny and exciting read, and it's not at all like a history book.  I'm looking forward to reading about Fort George in particular, because I know an ancestor of mine who served in the British military there and then remained in Québec with his family.

Of course I've been furthering my genealogy research as well, delving into families I had not researched at all.  My family tree is growing quite nicely, and I'm getting to know more about my direct ancestors.  Once I have "enough" (realistically, that would mean when I hit all the brick walls I can find), I'll branch out to siblings and cousins in order to help better connect with other distant relatives and gain a broader picture of my ancestors' lives.  (This is part of a larger plan that's still in the works of looking more carefully at my DNA matches and cleaning out my "shoebox.")

Finally, I purchased my first smartphone and immediately downloaded the Ancestry app.  I'm able to view my family trees, individuals' events, and records connected to those events.  Recently there was an update to the app, but I haven't had the chance or need to explore it further.  I thought the app could help me if I venture to another cemetery or make it to the state archives.

With a lot of odds and ends out of the way, I should be back to regular blogging!

New Haven Dead Rises...Literally

Just before Halloween, and as a result of Frankenstorm Sandy, an old skeleton was discovered on the New Haven, Connecticut town green after partially "rising."

Probably thousands of remains are buried under the New Haven Green, which was used as a cemetery until the early 19th century.  The headstones were all relocated to New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery, but the bodies were not.  Sandy's strong winds apparently caused an old oak tree to fall over on the green, revealing  parts of a skeleton that the tree had been planted over.

You can read more about the finding (as well as see photos!) and the New Haven Green's history at the following sites:

1. http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/new_haven_cty/sandy-stirs-up-skeleton-in-new-haven
2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/31/skeleton-new-haven-tree-hurricane-sandy_n_2049768.html
3. http://articles.courant.com/2012-10-30/community/hc-sandy-skeleton-1031-20121030_1_burial-ground-oak-tree-human-skeleton

Happy Halloween!!

Trying Out FamilySearch's New Family Tree

Thanks to an incredibly helpful blogpost at Genealogy's Star, I learned how to gain access to FamilySearch's new Family Tree feature.  Eager to see what all the fuss is about, I immediately began exploring the how-to videos and then the feature itself.

My personal family tree

FamilySearch Family Tree allows you to build up your own personal family tree, much like Ancestry at first glance.  I'm not comfortable using this though, because it seems like the privacy offered by Ancestry is lacking here.  Although you cannot search for an individual who is marked as living on the Family Tree site, you can navigate to them and at the very least see their full name, date of birth, and birthplace if you search for and find a deceased relative of theirs.  So, if you enter this information into your own tree, it is not actually private.

Searching the new FamilySearch Family Tree

The search feature is what I'm most interested in because right now, I pay to see researched family trees that include my older French Canadian ancestors and help me piece together families.  While I intend to find the church records myself, it's nice to occasionally reference a guide in order to verify my findings or see if there are any facts I should double-check.  On my "American" side, I hope this tree can help me get past brick walls and fill my families in more fully.

I started by testing the information available via search.  I searched for Jean Bouffard and included his spouse, Marguerite Leportier, in the query.  They are my 8th great-grandparents.  I haven't yet looked into them because I believe they lived in Rouen, Normandy, France, which is where their son, Jacques, was born about 1655.  I got 6 "strong" hits back that appear to match, and a series of not-so-strong results, some of which also may match, but with mis- or alternate-spellings of Marguerite's last name.  The results for each match were as follows:

• Born 1613. Married 1638. Two sons listed: Jacques and Martin, whose genders listed as unknown. No source citations.
• Dates make sense, but I don't know where they come from.
• Born about 1613 in Rouen. Baptised about 1615. Died and buried after 1655 in St. Martin, Rouen. Married first to Marie Laferriere about 1635 in St. Martin and had Jacques and Martin with her. Married Marguerite Leportier in 1639 in St. Martin. No source citations.
• I have never come across this supposed first marriage before and found in my own research that Jacques and Martin are Marguerite Leportier's children. The dates and locations fit, but again, the reliability is in question.
• Two other hits list no details about Jean other than he was married to Marguerite and had Jacques as a son. No source citations.
• Martin is missing as a child.
• One other hit lists no details about Jean other than he was married to Marguerite and had Martin as a son. No source citations.
• Jacques is missing as a child.
• The final "strong" hit lists no details about Jean and no children. No source citations.

As for the not-so-strong search results that seem to match:

• Born about 1630 in Saint-Pierre, Île-d'Orléans, Québec. Married Marguerite Le Poithier about 1654 in Saint-Paul, Île-d'Orléans. Listed Jacques as a son. No source citations.
• Jacques was actually married in Saint-Pierre, which is why I think this mistake was made. Jacques, however, I believe was born in Rouen. Therefore, his father wouldn't have been born in the New World. I also don't know where the information for birth and marriage years and the marriage location came from.  Marguerite's last name appears to be mispelled. Martin is missing as well.
• Born about 1638 in Rouen. Married Marguerite Leperbier about 1658 in Rouen. No source citations. No children listed.
• This may be another misspelling of Marguerite's last name.  Again, where are these years coming from? And where are the kids? Rouen would probably be correct.

For the sake of comparison, I then tried searching for my ancestors on my Irish/English side of the family. Despite trying numerous ancestors, I was unable to find a match until I searched for my 3rd great-grandmother's second husband's sister.  There were fewer duplicates, but otherwise the problems appeared consistent with those listed above.  Overall, there was a serious lack of information available, which can probably be attributed to a much smaller pool of descendants, and thus a smaller number of individuals researching those ancestors of mine.

Fixing the family tree

I first wanted to correct the gender of Jacques and Martin in one family listing.  They're males and should be listed as such.  Doing this was easy enough.  All I had to do was edit the gender through the child's individual page.  Note that FamilySearch won't allow you to do this if the person whose gender is incorrect is in a relationship indicating that the gender is correct (I guess it's taking into account the lack of same-sex marriages back in the day).

Next, I decided to examine the possibility of merges.  I had 8 matches for my ancester, Jean Bouffard.  Based on the listed relatives, locations, years, and my knowledge/the nature of French Canadian genealogy, I know these Jean Bouffards are the same person.  I clicked the first Jean that came up in my search results to see what I could do with him.  On the right-hand side of his detail page, I clicked "Possible Duplicates."  Only 3 out of my additional matches appear, so these are the only records I have the option of merging with my first match.  Because I have so little information on these particular ancestors, I opted NOT to merge them.  The process seems simple enough, with a "Review Merge" button for each potential match that brought me to a side-by-side comparison of the two entries with accept/reject fact options, similar to the side-by-side comparisons on Ancestry when you're adding a new source to a person on your Ancestry tree. I may play around with this feature later, as you can undo merges.

Conclusions

I've read on other blogs that duplicate people seem to be a problem on FamilySearch's new Family Tree.  Based on my search for Jean Bouffard and Marguerite Leportier, this would seem to be very true.  I think it would take an incredible amount of time and effort to eliminate the duplicates.

Furthermore, I'm concerned about the privacy issues related to living people added to the Family Tree.  I like being able to block any information about living people from being visible to the public.  The privacy of living (and recently deceased) persons is  incredibly important in this day and age.  If people want to put their own information online, then no one can stop them, but I worry about people who also put all of their living relatives on to build their tree.

I've worked so hard on my family trees on Ancestry that I feel like I don't want to redo it all through edits of the FamilySearch Family Tree.  My Ancestry trees are generally well-sourced; people just don't necessarily pay attention to them and will copy wrong information that's copied on ten other trees rather than look at my information and my sources.  While I want to share my information, I'm not sure that I want to put more work into it than I already am, especially if someone can just come along and undo what I've done.  Because this new Family Tree is completely edit-friendly, anyone can add to, change, or delete the information you put into it.  I'm more than willing to work things out with other researchers, but I'm afraid others may not be so willing.  I suppose that's more of a lack of faith in other people than in the site itself.

I think the new Family Tree needs a lot of work to fix the errors and duplicates.  Maybe the solution is to set aside an hour or two a week to working on FamilySearch so that I can contribute without feeling like I'm wasting time that could be spent finding more ancestors.  I think over time it will improve with everyone's contributions.   For now though, I don't think it's of much use because of all of the errors that need to be worked out.

For a detailed guide of how to use the FamilySearch Family Tree, see FamilySearch's official guide here.

(Belated) Tombstone Tuesday - Charles Cody & Bridget Hennessy

I know it's a few days late, but this headstone photo could not wait until next week!

On Sunday, I took a trip with my father to Saint Lawrence Cemetery in West Haven, New Haven county, Connecticut.  I found it interesting how sections of the cemetery were clearly segregated into Italian and Irish family names.  The cemetery was actually quite "busy" with people, but we were able to locate my great-great grandparents' headstone.  My dad had seen it a very long time ago and vaguely remembered its location in the vast cemetery, so it didn't take too long to find.  Also, the cemetery office is closed Sundays, so we would've been out of luck if we needed directions to the headstone.  I was really impressed by the size and style of the headstone.  Hopefully it will stick around for many more years to come.

Photograph Copyright 2012.

CODY

Charles Cody

1867 - 1953

Bridget M. Hennessy

His Wife

1868 - 1936

Both Charles John Cody and Bridget Mary Hennessy (sometimes spelled Hennessey) were born in Ireland.  They came to Connecticut and spent most of their lives in New Haven.  Various records indicate Charles arrived in 1885 or 1890, while Bridget arrived in 1886 or 1892.  They had 5 children together of whom I'm aware, 4 daughters and 1 son, all born in New Haven I suspect.  I have photos of their son in WWI attire and one of a daughter in high school.  I've been told by family that the symbol between Charles' birth and death years is the symbol of the company where he worked for many years.  I haven't done as much research into this family branch as I intended yet because the relatively recent immigration from Ireland feels like an early brick wall, but seeing this stone was just the inspiration I needed.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Genealogy Posters

I'm home for a change on a Saturday night so decided to participate in Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge at GeneaMusings!  Using www.memegenerator.net, I created the following poster, because we all know at least one genealogist who will copy hundreds of people from other family trees without citing sources or verifying the facts, and I love Lord of the Rings:

Canadian Citizenship - Part 1

Even if you never lived in a particular country, you could be a citizen under that nation's laws.  In April 2009, changes to Canada's Citizenship Act automatically granted citizenship to many individuals, including but not limited to, those who were born outside of Canada to a Canadian parent.  The changes also limited citizenship to only the first generation born outside of Canada to a Canadian parent.  Citizenship and Immigration Canada advertised this change in a cute Youtube video (also available in French).  As a result of the legal changes, on April 17, 2009, I "[woke] up Canadian."

I was born in the United States and have lived here my entire life.  My mother, however, grew up in Canada and was still a Canadian citizen at the time of my birth.  The changes in Canada's Citizenship Act therefore granted me Canadian citizenship.  Canada has since not only been my ancestors' country, but one of mine as well.  Knowing that I am a citizen gave me fresh meaning to my family history research.  I have a deeper connection to the research because I don't feel like so much of an outsider.  Any actual history I learn is MY history, not just my ancestors'.

The one snag in my new dual nationality status as both an American and Canadian citizen is my complete lack of PROOF of Canadian citizenship.  As far as border guards are concerned, I am an American only.  Citizenship and Immigration Canada provides all Canadian citizens with the opportunity to apply for a Citizenship Certificate, which serves as proof of your Canadian citizenship.  In August, I finally got around to gathering up all of the evidence I need to prove my Canadian citizenship and mailing it in to obtain a certificate.  Today, I finally received a letter from the CIC acknowledging receipt of my application.

If you or any of your relatives have close family ties to a country you weren't born in, look into that country's citizenship laws.  You may be a citizen and not even know it!

For information regarding Canada's citizenship laws and the Certificate of Citizenship, visit the CIC website.

Tombstone Tuesday - Odile Lessard

Photograph Copyright 2012.

Widow ODILE LESSARD

Died March 15, 1954

at the age of 78 years

A. L'HEUREUX

Odile Lessard was the sister-in-law of my second great-grandfather, Théophile L'Heureux, and the mother of Rosario L'Heureux from my earlier Tombstone Tuesday post.  She was born about 1876 to Louis Octave Lessard and Marie Odile Bilodeau, probably in Saint-Ferréol, Québec, Canada.  On November 3, 1896, she married Alfred L'Heureux (1867-1936), whose name appears on the bottom of this stone.  They had about 15 children together, but only about 5 of those children tops lived to reach 2 years of age.  The first to not die in his infancy was Rosario, who was their sixth child to my knowledge.  Odile Lessard, according to this headstone, died on March 15, 1954, probably in Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, where she is buried.