It was a busy weekend here with the delete key. I deleted over 3000 names of the Barwick and extended family. It felt very wrong in the beginning to be deleting names, but finally discovering that one far-distant DEKLE cousin married a BARWICK, which is what, apparently, originally sent me on my Barwick family research..... way far removed. Not connected. And Zero sources throughout.
I'm still at 23,000 names (a good portion of that huge number is the Royal Family), which is a lot to maintain and start "cleaning" in a whole new way. I considered reducing the Royal Family. But because I have two connections, Cy's family has one connection found so far... it is a handy thing to have. At least I don't have to do further research into the Royal's, if another connection were to be found.
So, 23,000 names. I'll say 13,000 are my families. Which is a lot. A whole lot. Lots to clean up. Lots to further research.
Which is awesome. Now that it's a more manageable number, I can actually get to work on improving the Quality of my database. This is the exciting part!
Took about 12hrs, cumulatively, to delete the 3,000 names. 4 months to put in, 12 hours to delete. Yeah, it's a little scary.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Cleaning of the Database (pt1)
Tonight starts my database clean. This is a project on my To Do list for some time (aka, years), but now that I'm finding a bit of a stand-still in my research, I can focus on hitting that delete key.
Back in the day, as previously mentioned, I was a young researcher. It was all about adding people to the database. And I have a few thousand BARWICK's that are of no relation to me. It was simply an easy name to research at that time.
Now, they're being deleted.
I'm a bit torn about this. It feels wrong to simply delete names. These were humans that existed and have histories and stories. But because I have none of that information, nor do I have any sources for their information, it seems wrong to be one perpetuating an unsourced databased, for the sake of Numbers in my database. It's not about quantity, it's about quality. I know this now.
So, I'm sorry to you Barwick family. If I got your information from the net, good chance is, someone else has it out there for you. My information wasn't really that helpful anyway.
Off to cleaning! I'll keep you posted on how it's going!
Back in the day, as previously mentioned, I was a young researcher. It was all about adding people to the database. And I have a few thousand BARWICK's that are of no relation to me. It was simply an easy name to research at that time.
Now, they're being deleted.
I'm a bit torn about this. It feels wrong to simply delete names. These were humans that existed and have histories and stories. But because I have none of that information, nor do I have any sources for their information, it seems wrong to be one perpetuating an unsourced databased, for the sake of Numbers in my database. It's not about quantity, it's about quality. I know this now.
So, I'm sorry to you Barwick family. If I got your information from the net, good chance is, someone else has it out there for you. My information wasn't really that helpful anyway.
Off to cleaning! I'll keep you posted on how it's going!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wordless Wednesday - Remer Dekle Family 1903
This is such a fascinating picture of the Remer Dekle Family (includes Silas Bowen all the way to the left). It has circulated to me a few times through email, and I came across an "original" in a box at my Father's which had the description on the back.
Oh what happy looking people! (yikes!) -
Click on the picture to make it bigger.
Oh what happy looking people! (yikes!) -
Click on the picture to make it bigger.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Monday Madness - a few of them Morgans
This is an excerpt from a letter, referring to the children of George William Morgan (1844-1892) that I've stumbled upon. A generation where TWO of the boys ended up in an "Insane Asylum". How interesting! What was going on with this family?
Happy Monday Madness!
Hannah Sophia Parks
by Audrey Bissett Swift 4/1998
My grandmother, Hannah Sophia Parks was born in 1848 at Grand Lake, New Brunswick. In 1872 she married George Morgan, a butcher, in Saint John. During her married life she lived on King Street, Guilford Street, and St. James Street: all in West Saint John.
She had six sons and two daughters. William, the oldest, was born in 1873 and Emma, the youngest was born in 1889. Emma died as an infant and so Hannah was left with 7 children who lived into adulthood. My mother [Harriet] was blamed for Emma’s death for she had taken Emma up into the hay loft and then she dropped Emma who landed on her head after falling to ground level. Emma died a few months later.
A turning point in Hannah’s life and the lives of her children was when her husband died of TB in the fall of 1892.
...Hannah was troubled with rheumatism during the period that I knew her. Her father also suffered from this affection. She spent most of her time sitting in a rocking chair and when she walked, she would use a cane and shuffle along.
When her husband died the oldest son, William (Willie) was 19 years old. He took over all the decision making responsibilities for the family. My mother [Harriet] was 8 or 9 years old at this time. She was taken out of school and placed in a sewing factory where she learned to become a seamstress. When we were young she made all our clothes right down to the underwear. When she was 14, Charles Bissett age 23, asked her to marry him. She refused and he went to her brother William and he gave permission. He informed Hattie that the family would no longer support her. Hattie relented and was married shortly after.
During this time, William ran the business of supplying meat to butchers in West Saint John and Saint John. ....
The next son was Albert (Allie) who worked for the Postal Service, was unmarried and always lived with Nana. He was very odd and in hind sight I cannot understand how he held a job. He never talked and his room was off limits. He had a parrot that would scream ‘get out’ when the door was opened. As children we would sneak into his room when he was not home. The walls were covered with stuffed animal heads. At one time Allie had a live monkey and we were scared to death of it. Finally the monkey learned to open the door and Allie had to keep the door locked. One day he forgot to lock the door and the monkey got out room and then out of the house. Allie never found his monkey. Allie lived in the house after Nana died. One night there was a fire in his room and he died. All the neighbors knew that he kept his money buried on the property, and when the family got to the house the yard was dug over. Days later there were a few new cars in the neighborhood.
Walter was the next son and he moved to the Pennsylvania. He married and had three children. He was a carpenter. Later he moved to Malden, MA and his two daughters lived in Melrose, MA and where known to their cousins. His son, Harold Morgan, lived in Hawaii.
Next came Mitchel. As a young man, he found work in Toledo, Ohio. He never married. He had some mental problem in Ohio and my mother was contacted. As he was Canadian, he couldn’t be hospitalized in the States. She arranged for him to come from Ohio to Massachusetts on the train and he stayed with us for a while. One day while in Malden center, he took off all his clothes and was brought home by the police. My mother then took him to Saint John were he was institutionalized at the Fairville Insane Asylum. Every once in a while Nana would bring Mitchel home and he would end up smashing the plate glass window in the store. After the second time, she never brought him home again. He spent his whole life in Fairville. When we would visit, Mitchel would always say that he didn’t belong there with mental patients and he wasn’t like them.
The next to the youngest son was Fred. He left home at an early age and went to Montreal. There he married a French woman with children. After Allie died in the fire, Fred came home and took over the house. He raised angora rabbits for fur and meat. After the death of his wife, her sister lived with him. Later when Fred died, she stayed on and lived alone in the upper floor of the house....
Ernest was the youngest son. He left home at an early age to go out to western Canada with the harvesters. He had a mental breakdown while with the harvesters and was returned to Saint John. His condition must have been worse than Mitchel’s, as he was never brought home. He spent his entire life in Fairville Insane Asylum. When we would visit him he would just sit there and never say anything. Ernest never married.
Happy Monday Madness!
Hannah Sophia Parks
by Audrey Bissett Swift 4/1998
My grandmother, Hannah Sophia Parks was born in 1848 at Grand Lake, New Brunswick. In 1872 she married George Morgan, a butcher, in Saint John. During her married life she lived on King Street, Guilford Street, and St. James Street: all in West Saint John.
She had six sons and two daughters. William, the oldest, was born in 1873 and Emma, the youngest was born in 1889. Emma died as an infant and so Hannah was left with 7 children who lived into adulthood. My mother [Harriet] was blamed for Emma’s death for she had taken Emma up into the hay loft and then she dropped Emma who landed on her head after falling to ground level. Emma died a few months later.
A turning point in Hannah’s life and the lives of her children was when her husband died of TB in the fall of 1892.
...Hannah was troubled with rheumatism during the period that I knew her. Her father also suffered from this affection. She spent most of her time sitting in a rocking chair and when she walked, she would use a cane and shuffle along.
When her husband died the oldest son, William (Willie) was 19 years old. He took over all the decision making responsibilities for the family. My mother [Harriet] was 8 or 9 years old at this time. She was taken out of school and placed in a sewing factory where she learned to become a seamstress. When we were young she made all our clothes right down to the underwear. When she was 14, Charles Bissett age 23, asked her to marry him. She refused and he went to her brother William and he gave permission. He informed Hattie that the family would no longer support her. Hattie relented and was married shortly after.
During this time, William ran the business of supplying meat to butchers in West Saint John and Saint John. ....
The next son was Albert (Allie) who worked for the Postal Service, was unmarried and always lived with Nana. He was very odd and in hind sight I cannot understand how he held a job. He never talked and his room was off limits. He had a parrot that would scream ‘get out’ when the door was opened. As children we would sneak into his room when he was not home. The walls were covered with stuffed animal heads. At one time Allie had a live monkey and we were scared to death of it. Finally the monkey learned to open the door and Allie had to keep the door locked. One day he forgot to lock the door and the monkey got out room and then out of the house. Allie never found his monkey. Allie lived in the house after Nana died. One night there was a fire in his room and he died. All the neighbors knew that he kept his money buried on the property, and when the family got to the house the yard was dug over. Days later there were a few new cars in the neighborhood.
Walter was the next son and he moved to the Pennsylvania. He married and had three children. He was a carpenter. Later he moved to Malden, MA and his two daughters lived in Melrose, MA and where known to their cousins. His son, Harold Morgan, lived in Hawaii.
Next came Mitchel. As a young man, he found work in Toledo, Ohio. He never married. He had some mental problem in Ohio and my mother was contacted. As he was Canadian, he couldn’t be hospitalized in the States. She arranged for him to come from Ohio to Massachusetts on the train and he stayed with us for a while. One day while in Malden center, he took off all his clothes and was brought home by the police. My mother then took him to Saint John were he was institutionalized at the Fairville Insane Asylum. Every once in a while Nana would bring Mitchel home and he would end up smashing the plate glass window in the store. After the second time, she never brought him home again. He spent his whole life in Fairville. When we would visit, Mitchel would always say that he didn’t belong there with mental patients and he wasn’t like them.
The next to the youngest son was Fred. He left home at an early age and went to Montreal. There he married a French woman with children. After Allie died in the fire, Fred came home and took over the house. He raised angora rabbits for fur and meat. After the death of his wife, her sister lived with him. Later when Fred died, she stayed on and lived alone in the upper floor of the house....
Ernest was the youngest son. He left home at an early age to go out to western Canada with the harvesters. He had a mental breakdown while with the harvesters and was returned to Saint John. His condition must have been worse than Mitchel’s, as he was never brought home. He spent his entire life in Fairville Insane Asylum. When we would visit him he would just sit there and never say anything. Ernest never married.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Rookie Mistakes - dealing with the LIVING
There are SO many mistakes to be made, when you're a newbie genealogy researcher.
For me, combine youth (in my early 20s, when I first really started compiling), crazy enthusiasm, and the onset of the Internet - And Rootsweb.
Plus, a boring job.
Bad Combo.
There wasn't much more than Rootsweb and the beginning of the Genweb available online, and I had a job that literally paid me for, like 5 months, to do genealogy. It was accepted by my boss. I needed to "be available" when work came up, and the rest of the time, as long as it wasn't Horrible Internet searching (yikes!) or gaming, I could do what I wanted.
So I filled in the entire Royal Family.
Did I need that in my database? NO.
Do I need it now, taking up space? NO.
But... it's there. And I suppose it's fun when I find more and more lines connected to the Royal Family - I don't have to do all the leg work behind it. Still, I wish I'd taken more time to actually LEARN the history, instead of just copy/paste from others on the Web.
This was before flash drives. Even before burning CD's was a norm. I was working for a computer software company that was still DOS-based, and sent out on floppys. Not the BIG floppys, but still.
So, moving from home to work wasn't easy. I had to back up my database and restore each time.
And somewhere in my export.... I exported with "replace LIVING for all living persons". Oh My God.
Something like 4000 names suddenly became LIVING instead of their real information.
I didn't realize, of course, until after a month or so of updating this database at work.... the call was, deal with the LIVING, or lose everything I'd done recently. I chose the first option.
And for 14years, I've had pages upon pages of LIVING in my database. No idea who these people are. Some of them first cousins and resources and family bible stuff - Real Bonafide Living information that I wish I had. And it's all gone.
Tonight, after months of when I get a down moment, which isn't so often, I'd delete these LIVING. 50 or so each time.
And tonight, I am proud to say that I have deleted all the LIVING from my database. Yeesh. I have no idea what I deleted, because it wasn't information to begin with - generations of... 8 children LIVING and marriages of LIVING and so on and so forth.
At least now they're not in there taking up space.
Hindsight.... really... if I'd only known then what I know now.
CHECK YOUR EXPORT PREFERENCES!!!!!
For me, combine youth (in my early 20s, when I first really started compiling), crazy enthusiasm, and the onset of the Internet - And Rootsweb.
Plus, a boring job.
Bad Combo.
There wasn't much more than Rootsweb and the beginning of the Genweb available online, and I had a job that literally paid me for, like 5 months, to do genealogy. It was accepted by my boss. I needed to "be available" when work came up, and the rest of the time, as long as it wasn't Horrible Internet searching (yikes!) or gaming, I could do what I wanted.
So I filled in the entire Royal Family.
Did I need that in my database? NO.
Do I need it now, taking up space? NO.
But... it's there. And I suppose it's fun when I find more and more lines connected to the Royal Family - I don't have to do all the leg work behind it. Still, I wish I'd taken more time to actually LEARN the history, instead of just copy/paste from others on the Web.
This was before flash drives. Even before burning CD's was a norm. I was working for a computer software company that was still DOS-based, and sent out on floppys. Not the BIG floppys, but still.
So, moving from home to work wasn't easy. I had to back up my database and restore each time.
And somewhere in my export.... I exported with "replace LIVING for all living persons". Oh My God.
Something like 4000 names suddenly became LIVING instead of their real information.
I didn't realize, of course, until after a month or so of updating this database at work.... the call was, deal with the LIVING, or lose everything I'd done recently. I chose the first option.
And for 14years, I've had pages upon pages of LIVING in my database. No idea who these people are. Some of them first cousins and resources and family bible stuff - Real Bonafide Living information that I wish I had. And it's all gone.
Tonight, after months of when I get a down moment, which isn't so often, I'd delete these LIVING. 50 or so each time.
And tonight, I am proud to say that I have deleted all the LIVING from my database. Yeesh. I have no idea what I deleted, because it wasn't information to begin with - generations of... 8 children LIVING and marriages of LIVING and so on and so forth.
At least now they're not in there taking up space.
Hindsight.... really... if I'd only known then what I know now.
CHECK YOUR EXPORT PREFERENCES!!!!!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Hunting for Loops (pt1)
Loops is my last name, which makes it the one I always "run searches" on. I'm only 3rd generation American from Germany, where the name originates as LUEPS. Apparently the family LUEPS, now assumed to be Helmuth and Caroline, two sons (and possibly two or more children) ventured to America in the 1850s when the boys were about 5 & 8. And all but the two boys died on the voyage.
Upon entering Ellis Island, they say "lueps", it is heard "Loops", and there is our name. When the boys reconnected in adult hood - they were separated after arrival and sent to different work camps - they both knew that Loops was incorrect and "made-up", but didn't know what their original name was. We only discovered the LUEPS connection about 10years ago - and I don't even have the source on it, simply an email that came from another researcher.
So.... my family is tiny. Frederick who landed in North Carolina (my gggGrandfather) and the family of Charles who was sent to Wisconsin. The midwest Loops are considerably larger than our teeny strain.
There is also a Loops family group in New York, also from Prussia, who came later - about 1890s. They are not related, or not that we're aware of. Because there are both LOOPS and LUEPS in Germany, Loops is not truly made-up (just for my family!).
My new thing is putting together where other Loops in the U.S. came from. Because I have no documents on the LUEPS connection -- I don't dispute this researcher, but still -- I'm left with very little options to choose. If I can find out where other Loops are from, maybe I can find a connection.
There is also a company in Wisconsin that was owned by a Lueps and a Schuett (my 4gGrandmother's name). Which isn't an impossible coincidence, but hey.... let's check it out.
Am I wasting my time by filling up with my database with other potentially 'non-related' Loops and Lueps from the U.S.?
Maybe.
But so far, it's only like 40 people. So.... it's at least giving me something fun to explore this weekend! I'll keep you posted if I come across anything fun :-)
Upon entering Ellis Island, they say "lueps", it is heard "Loops", and there is our name. When the boys reconnected in adult hood - they were separated after arrival and sent to different work camps - they both knew that Loops was incorrect and "made-up", but didn't know what their original name was. We only discovered the LUEPS connection about 10years ago - and I don't even have the source on it, simply an email that came from another researcher.
So.... my family is tiny. Frederick who landed in North Carolina (my gggGrandfather) and the family of Charles who was sent to Wisconsin. The midwest Loops are considerably larger than our teeny strain.
There is also a Loops family group in New York, also from Prussia, who came later - about 1890s. They are not related, or not that we're aware of. Because there are both LOOPS and LUEPS in Germany, Loops is not truly made-up (just for my family!).
My new thing is putting together where other Loops in the U.S. came from. Because I have no documents on the LUEPS connection -- I don't dispute this researcher, but still -- I'm left with very little options to choose. If I can find out where other Loops are from, maybe I can find a connection.
There is also a company in Wisconsin that was owned by a Lueps and a Schuett (my 4gGrandmother's name). Which isn't an impossible coincidence, but hey.... let's check it out.
Am I wasting my time by filling up with my database with other potentially 'non-related' Loops and Lueps from the U.S.?
Maybe.
But so far, it's only like 40 people. So.... it's at least giving me something fun to explore this weekend! I'll keep you posted if I come across anything fun :-)
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Google Books (Dean)
Tonight has been another adventure into the world of Google Books.
Again, my amazement that I had not discovered this wealthy resource before!
Tonight I found this book: The Ministry of Taunton (that being, Taunton, Massachusetts of way ago New England). And included in there is the history of the settlement, including two brothers, Walter and John Dean (son of John Deane being the first white child born in the Taunton settlement)! Hooray! It also includes three generations of genealogy for both brothers. A great resource for anyone stemming from Taunton, Mass!
I've been a little typing monster for the past two hours, beefing up my resources and jotting notes for further research. The Dean family is my son's direct line - how exciting is this!
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