Arthur D. Weaver household, 1940, Lake County, Indiana

Located the 1940 census record of the Arthur D. Weaver household in Lake County, Indiana.  Arthur's wife, Olive, was my maternal 2nd cousin 5 times removed.  Our common ancestors were Alexander Crockett and Elizabeth Watkins. Olive's parents were William Perry Crockett and Sarah E. McCauley. Arthur's parents were Oran Weaver and Mahala Frame.

1940 U.S. census, Lake County, Indiana, population schedule, Ward 3, Hobart, enumeration district (ED) 45-18, SD 1, sheet 7B, 1104 Devonshire, household 181, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 February 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Arthur and his wife were living in Ward 3 of the city of Hobart.  The census states that Arthur owned his home and that the value was $5000 and it was not a farm.  Arthur was 76 years old and was born in New York.  His wife, Olive, was 67 years old and was born in Illinois.  In 1935, their residence was the same place.

According to my database, they were the parents of 7 children : Frederick, Lola, Jesse, Bessie, Edna, William and Coletta.  None of them were living in the household in the 1940 census.

The record shows that Arthur and Olive had both completed the 8th grade in education.  Neither of them had an occupation listed in the census.

If you have any additional information or are related to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

Forrest Chew household, 1940, Jay County, Indiana

Located the 1940 census record of the Forrest Chew household in Jay County, Indiana.  Forrest was my paternal 1st cousin 3 times removed.  Our common ancestors were Dr. Ezekiel Cooper Chew and Caroline Bishop Woolston.  In addition, he is my 4th cousin 4 times removed through Samuel Woolston & Cyllania Woolston.  Forrest's parents were Dr. William Anderson Chew and Emma Susan Straight.

1940 U.S. census, Jay County, Indiana, population schedule, Salamonia, enumeration district (ED) 38-7, SD 5, sheet 2B, household 38, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 January 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Forrest and his wife were living in Salamonia, Jay County, Indiana.  The census states that Forrest was renting his home for $6 per month and that it was not a farm.  Forrest was 46 years old and born in Ohio.  His wife, Lelia, was 41 years old and born in Indiana.  In 1935 their residence was the same place.

The record shows that Forrest had completed 3 years of high school and that Lelia had completed the 8th grade.  Forrest's occupation was listed as an Inspector at the Sheller Corp., while Lelia had no occupation listed.

Also living in the household were daughter Virginia, age 18, born in Indiana, who had completed 4 years of high school; and daughter Ardith, age 12, born in Indiana, who had completed the 8th grade.

If you have any additional information or are related to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

Earl O. Burdg household, 1940, Jay County, Indiana

Located the 1940 census record of the Earl O. Burdg household in Jay County, Indiana.  Earl's wife, Lois, was my paternal second cousin twice removed.  Our common ancestors were Johannes "John S." Wehrly and Barbara Petry.  Earl's parents were Joseph Franklin Burdg and Mattie Merchant.

1940 U.S. census, Jay County, Indiana, population schedule, Wayne Township, enumeration district (ED) 38-25, SD 5, sheet 6B, household 133, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 January 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Earl and his wife were living in Wayne Township.  The census states Earl owned his home, that it was a farm, and that the value was $6000.  Earl was 57 years old and born in Indiana.  His wife, Lois [listed as Louise B.], was 50 years old and born in Indiana.  Their residence in 1935 was the same place.

The record shows that Earl had completed 4 years of high school and that Lois had completed 2 years of college.  Earl's occupation was listed as a farmer, and Lois had no occupation listed.

Also living in the household was Earl's mother, Martha Manuel, widow, aged 78 and born in Indiana.  Her residence in 1935 was Linn, Randolph County, Indiana.

If you have any additional information or are related to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

Ishmal Wells household, 1940, Vanderburgh County, Indiana

Located the 1940 census record of the Ishmal Wells household in Vanderburgh County, Indiana.  Ishmal's wife, Rhoda, was Corinne's maternal great grandaunt.  Their common ancestors were Alpha Revis Chivlare and Clara Belle Followay.  

1940 U.S. census, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, population schedule, Evansville, enumeration district (ED) 93-20, SD 8, sheet 8A, 313 Clark Street, household 190, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 January 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Ishmal was living in the city of Evansville.  The census states he was renting his home and that the rent was $8 per month.  Ishmal was 70 years old and was born in Kentucky.  His wife, Rhoda, was 42 years old and born in Indiana.  In 1935, their residence was the same place.

The record shows that Ishmal had completed no formal schooling and that Rhoda had completed the 8th grade.  Neither of them had an occupation listed.

If you have any additional information or are connected to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

MyHeritageDNA Matches

While at RootsTech last week, I was reminded that MyHeritageDNA was allowing people who had tested at other sites to upload their raw DNA data into their database for free.  I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to fish in another pond before that offer went away.  Yesterday, I received an email letting me know that the first of my DNA matches were in.


How to take a MyHeritage DNA test from MyHeritage on Vimeo.

MyHeritage was out in force at RootsTech and they have a big following, so I will be interested to see how their database develops as I obtain more matches.  Right now their test kits are on sale at a competitive price as well.

My top three matches were for ones who I already matched with at other sites, but the rest of the matches did not look familiar at all.  So I have a new set of relatives to reach out to.

It does seem as if more of these matches have the family trees than those found at 23andMe or Ancestry.

My Day at RootsTech - Saturday

Today was the final day of RootsTech, and once again another outstanding day full of good speakers and information about what is happening in the world of genealogy.

At the opening session, Tim Sullivan from Ancestry discussed a new feature coming over the next few months, Genetic Communities.  This looks like an interesting timeline of genetic clusters based on their ever-expanding database.  Will be interested to see what it shows about my genetic migration.  I still would like them to give us a chromosome browser.

Next up was CeCe Moore talking about her experiences helping solve DNA mysteries and speculating on what the future will hold with DNA genetics.  Things such as recreating the images of your ancestors based on DNA of their descendants and genetic memory might sound like science fiction today - but a lot of what we are doing with genetic genealogy now was not even imagined just a few years ago.  She shared a DNA story about her brother-in-laws discovery of his connection to Thomas Jefferson and Hemings family.  DNA research is blurring the color lines and also bringing healing and forgiveness as people find their biological relatives through DNA research.  CeCe is supposed to be coming to Fort Wayne in the next few months and I want to catch her talks.

The celebrity guest speaker today was the Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro.  I've enjoyed watching his shows on TLC and in person he is just as he appears on television.  He is an energetic speaker who told the story of his success, which has come through drive and hard work. He was inspired by his family and his Italian-American grandfathers and parents are true American stories.  Hearing him talk about how his father taught him the value of hard work and how Buddy started out cleaning toilets in the bakery explains why he is so driven and successful today.  I was a little surprised that they didn't have any family history finds for Buddy today.

After the opening session, I went into the Expo Hall and ran into Dear Myrtle and had to snap a selfie with her.  You meet so many nice people at these genealogy conferences and it's especially nice to meet someone whose blog you follow.

I did see the Cake Boss being interviewed as well at the media hub and managed to snap a couple of semi-close pictures of him.

My first session to attend today was to be Continuing Your Genealogy Education at Home, taught by Crista Cowan.  Unfortunately, I didn't make it early enough to get a good seat and the session was full!  Hopefully, I can catch it online.  That's one downside to these conferences, sometimes the classes fill up early.

I spent some more time in the Expo Hall, purchased a copy of RootsMagic for my son-in-law for his birthday and grabbed some lunch.  I ate the best darn plate of nachos I'd ever had.  Seriously.  They were so good I had to take a picture.

While having lunch, I struck up a couple of conversations with some nice folks from Idaho and a gentleman from Utah.  It's nice to be in a place where everyone there is interested in family history and sharing stories of our ancestors.  None of them had any ancestry from Indiana, though.

Because today was Saturday, it was the most packed day and there were a lot of families here with young children.  A couple of them stopped and asked to take a picture with me - they were completing a scavenger hunt for MyHeritage - must have been a contest.  So I'm out there on someone's phone.

After lunch, while charging my phone at one of the nice charging stations in the convention center, I was even asked to complete a survey by a nice young lady from BYU regarding the economic impact of the convention.  I hope my answers helped - I can say I definitely have enjoyed my time here.

My next session was entitled What is Your Revolutionary War Ancestor's Story by Ken Nelson of FamilySearch.  This talk gave me a lot of good sources to look into more of my Revolutionary War ancestry.  Helping mom work up a DAR line this past year, I have discovered that we have quite a few different lines that could be researched and proven for her, as well as for me through the SAR. One piece of advise that stuck with me was that we should check local court records for pension application information, as those records had to start at the local level.  Ken's handout will be one that I'm sure I refer back to again and again.

My final session was Helping Your Grandparents Share their Story by Janet Hovorka and Amy Slade.  Their presentation focused on some interesting ways that they have leveraged social media applications to get their family members collaborating and creating family history content.  Their handout highlighted ten apps that could be used - many that were familiar to me, but a few that I hadn't utilized.  Though they had a couple of technical issues due to internet connectivity in the room, they gave everyone some good options for bringing the generations together and preserving their memories.  The bottom line is that we all need to begin to save and share the memories before they are gone.

After that session, I decided to head back to the hotel without staying for the closing ceremony.  On the way out, cake was being served from the cake decorating contest that was held earlier in the day.  How can you go wrong with an event that ends with cake ?

My Day at RootsTech - Friday

Today was another outstanding day at RootsTech, from the opening sessions to the breakout sessions, I've had a wonderful experience.

The opening session today was focused on the African-American experience and their struggles. The Friday morning panel featured Nkoyo Lyamba, Kenyetta Berry, Sherri Camp, and Melvin Collier.

As the celebrity speaker, LeVar Burton, of Star Trek and Roots fame, told the stories of his family, including the stories of the help that his mother had provided to make sure his dreams were possible.  As he spoke about the vision Gene Roddenberry had for the future and how seeing Nichelle Nichols on the screen affected his life, he gave a though provoking speech about our human journey.  As he stated, we all stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before.  

In an emotionally moment, Thom King from FamilySearch presented LeVar with a copy of the marriage certificate of his grandparents and information about his great-grandparents, which he hadn't known previously.  He became so emotional and asked the crowd "So this is what you'all do all day?"  He was obviously touched by the gesture.

The crowd was treated to a spiritually uplifting performance by the Calvary Baptist Church choir as well before the session ended.

As the session ended, I reached out via text to my distant cousin from Canada, Yvonne Demoskoff, who I'd previously been in touch with through genealogy blogging.  Our ancestors haven't been together since 1704, when her 8th-great grandmother was captured in an Indiana raid in Deerfield, Masasschusetts.  It was so nice to meet Yvonne and her husband, Mike.  It's nice that a genealogy conference was able to bring us together.

I spent some time in the early morning hours in the Expo Hall, checking out all of the various booths and signing up for more information.  

I purchased at DNA test from LivingDNA and can't wait to see the results - that will be another blog post, I'm sure.  I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take another test, and the fact that this test can pinpoint where in the U.K. my British ancestry might come from really sounded interesting to me.  Will let you know what I find out.

I was able to visit with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective, and have her give her expert opinion on an old photograph.  Thanks to Dropbox, I was able to pull up a copy of the photo on my phone.  The person who had given it to me thought it was my 2nd-great grandmother.  Utilizing the hairstyle and dress, Maureen theorized that it was likely taken in the mid-1870s, which would make it too old to be my 2nd-great grandmother, but could likely be my 3rd-great grandmother.  Though I don't have a positive identification, I at least know a likely time period, and will pursue other evidence to make sure it was my 3rd-great grandmother. I also picked up one of her books on identifying photos.

I stopped by FamilySearch's Discovery Center and pulled up these interesting infographics on my maternal and paternal grandfathers:

It was interesting to see that there are only 256 individuals with the name Ord in the United States, though it didn't look like they had Indiana marked.

According to FamilySearch, there are 20,328 people in the United States with the last name of LeMaster:

For my first break-out session, I attended Preparing For Research Trips to Your Ancestral Homes by Dirk Weissleder.  He gave an excellent talk on how to plan a visit to Germany by first preparing here at home. 

One of the interesting things he mentioned was that the smaller the town in Germany, the deeper the ancestry will go as there was little immigration from Germany prior to the 1800-1850 time period.  So if your ancestors were from a smaller town, as opposed to say Berlin, they likely were living there for several generations and would have many decades of records.  He stated you should never underestimate the importance of small archives and museums in helping you discover more about your ancestral home.  You should find out as much as you can before going overseas and take time for the trip - in both an emotional as well as detailed preparation.  Time will be the most valuable thing during your trip.

My next session was entitled The Ethical Genealogist with Judy Russell.  Judy gave an outstanding lecture on some of the ethical debates and dilemmas that genealogists face.  She suggested we all check out and abide by the standards set out on the National Genealogical Society's website. DNA testing has also given rise to a whole new set of issues, but ethical dilemmas are nothing new to the genealogy world.  To be an ethical genealogist you have to tell the truth; you don't want to hurt someone unnecessarily, and you don't want to take something that isn't yours.  After hearing her speak, I can see why her lectures are always so popular, just as her blog is.

The final session I attended was Discovering Your Ancestor's War Story by Anne Mitchell.  She gave an overview of the various types of records that were created during America's wars and suggested methods and sources for finding the records.  I did like her method of creating a spreadsheet timeline of an ancestors life to chart out all the facts.  She also suggested that when you find a source to be sure to check out the other facts that it might lead to - for example, people aren't buried in a family cemetery by accident.  While I was pretty familiar with the sources she mentioned, I felt that the talk was informative and encouraged researchers to cite their sources and explore everything found before just attaching the record to a family tree.

Overall, this was another good day of discovery and I'm fired up to do more research with some of the tools and methods I've learned so far here at RootsTech.

My Day At RootsTech - Thursday

Today was my first full day at RootsTech2017 and even though I'm wiped out, it has been a good experience.  From the opening sessions to the break-outs to the exhibitors - this conference has lived up to its billing.  The fact that the weather has been unusually warm for Salt Lake has been a bonus as well.

The opening session focused on Family Traditions and featured Steve Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch International.  He put us in the mood to share our stories of family and shared an example from his own family of how a food tradition memory has been passed down from one generation to the next in his family.  At one point, he even had the audience participating in this memory sharing by getting us to turn to one another and share a favorite food memory of our grandmothers.  This was all tied into FamilySearch's push to get people to share their memories and recipes on the site so they will be preserved forever - as well as the family trees.

The Scott Brothers, hosts of HGTV's Property Brothers, were the featured celebrity speakers and they didn't fail to keep the crowd entertained with their stories of their family background.  They really knew quite a bit about their Scottish heritage, and I enjoyed hearing about and seeing the photos from their trips as kids to Scotland to visit castles and other sites associated with their families.  They seemed to have a good understanding of their family history, knowing about certain ancestors and how they lived - which the brothers then tried to associate as to why they each acted and lived the way they do.

I didn't have too bad of a seat to see them, but I didn't get a really good picture of them.  My wife and I enjoy watching their show and now I can say I was in the same zip code with them.  During the opening session, I sat next to an attorney from Wisconsin who had friends in Kokomo, Indiana - so we had a bit to talk about, as well as fellow blogger, Genealogy Jen on my other side.  It was nice to meet new friends.

After the opening session, I followed the crowd over to the Expo Hall to see where all the exhibitors were - all I can say is "wow" - there were quite a few of them.  I wandered around briefly, and caught a glimpse of some Geneablogger royalty at the media row.

Right after this, I caught another glimpse of the Property Brothers, right after they had been interviewed.  These are my best 'celebrity stalking' photos - you can almost make out who they are.

Shortly after these photos, I headed over to the first break out session at 11 a.m.  I chose to attend Kitty Cooper's talk - How to use DNA Triangulation to Confirm Ancestors.  I enjoy reading her blog and since I'm working with my DNA matches at the various sites, this was a good choice for me.  Kitty did not disappoint.  She gave a good talk and pointed the class to how to tell when you have triangulation.  She promised to have her slides available to look at, and I will be referring to them in the future.  She was excited about the Double Match Triangulation Tool that is one of the Innovator Showdown finalists as well.  The class assumed that those in attendance had already done DNA testing and knew the basics.

After her talk, I grabbed a quick sandwich in the Expo Hall and continued to browse and shop with the various vendors.  I skimmed through a lot of them, expecting to go back later for further details.  There was literally something for everyone there - all the major DNA testing companies, software vendors, new tools for scanning and preserving your research, tools for displaying your research, genealogical societies, etc. - you name it, they were there.  When I stopped at the RootsMagic booth, I met a gentleman with the last name of Mendenhall, and I had to ask if he was related to the Quaker Mendenhall line.  Turns out he was, and I gave him my contact card and told him I'd like to share information with him on that line.

My first afternoon session was Dr. Thomas Jones' talk on Writing About and Documenting DNA Test Results.  This was an informative talk that really applied to any written research report. One of the key take-aways for me on this topic was that when he said that writing genealogically means that you must document everything.  That made me think about some of what I'm putting together on this blog and how I need to better cite my sources.

My next afternoon session was with Jen Baldwin on Digging for Details : Getting the Full Story.  I had seen Jen speak before at the Indiana Genealogical Society Conference in Ft. Wayne, and like there, she didn't disappoint with this topic.  She has some interesting family stories and evidence to examine. The main take-away from her talk was that we should treat each document we examine as if it is the only piece of evidence we have on an ancestor - and to really look at every detail to see what other avenues of research that could lead to for a fuller picture.  She also encouraged us to utilize sources such as PERSI and JSTOR, which I definitely need to utilize more. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of Jen while she was speaking.

After that, I decided I would head over to the Family History Library and spend a little time there.  I enjoyed the Discovery Center there, and downloaded some information on family trees through FamilySearch that they said connected me to several famous people, some Presidents and others with the LDS church.  Some of the family lines looked correct, while others might need to be tweaked just a bit.

I browsed upstairs through some of the county books, though I didn't have a real research plan for a trip to the Family History Center.  When I do this again, I will make sure that I have scheduled more time in Salt Lake City so I can research at the library and have an orderly plan of attack.

Overall, I think I learned something from each session, which is the goal of furthering my genealogy education.  In addition, I met a lot of great people today and introduced myself to them, handing them my contact cards and encouraging them to check out my blog and see if we are related.  At the end of the day, I'm tired but excited to further my research and feel that today has energized me and given me some good tips and tools to succeed.

Obituary : Gerald Walker LeMaster, Portland Commercial-Review, March 20, 1987

Obituary of Gerald W. LeMaster
Portland, Indiana Commercial-Review
March 20, 1987

FORMER COMMISSIONER GERALD LeMASTER DIES

Gerald W. LeMaster, 91, RR 6, Portland, died Thursday afternoon in Hometown Nursing Home, Celina, following an extended illness.

Born Jan. 15, 1896 in Madison Township, Jay County, he was the son of Luman Cooper and Barbara (Wehrly) LeMaster.  He first married Mabel Kantner. She died on Jan. 3, 1927.  He then married Pearl Smith on Nov. 24, 1929 and she died on March 9, 1984.

LeMaster was a retired farmer and served as a Jay County Commissioner for one term in the 1960s.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Salamonia.  He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War I, where he served in the Calvary {sic}.

LeMaster was a member of the American Legion Post 211 and the Disabled American Veterans, Portland.

Surviving are one son, Robert J. LeMaster, Lorain, Ohio; three daughters, Mary M. Matthews, Emporia, Va., Mrs. Hugh (Roberta) Lenox, Alanson, Mich., and Mrs. Nadine Perry, Portland; one sister, Mary Olive Taylor, Akron, Ohio; one brother, Elvin C. LeMaster, Columbus, Ohio; 13 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; and five great-great grandchildren.

Services are set for 10:30 a.m. Monday in the Portland Chapel of the Williamson and Spencer Funeral Home. Rev. Francis Bock will officiate and burial will follow in the Salamonia Cemetery.  American Legion Post 211 will be in charge of military rites at the cemetery. 

Friends may call at the funeral home from 4 to 9 p.m. on Sunday and prior to services on Monday.

----
Gerald was my paternal granduncle, the older brother of my grandfather, Ord Wehrly LeMaster.

If you are related to this family or have any additional information, I'd love to hear from you.

At My First RootsTech

My wonderful wife bought me tickets to Rootstech2017 for my birthday last fall, and today I boarded the flights to make it to Salt Lake City.  I'm looking forward to meeting new people, picking up some research tips and visiting the Family History Library here this week.

I had a pretty uneventful flight, though the layover in Chicago and then the flight out to Salt Lake left me drained.  I arrived at my hotel, checked in and walked over to the Salt Palace in time to register and attend a Wednesday evening session on tracing your Civil War ancestors.

There are a lot of people here - I've seen figures that state 30,000 people will be here - and they are from all over the place.  I've seen folks from Wiesbaden, Germany to Ohio to Colorado and of course Utah.  

I'm chilling at my hotel right now, eating a bite and then perhaps heading down to the pool.  I might be more of a social butterfly tomorrow if I meet up with some new friends.

This event has been one of my goals to attend - and I'm excited to learn and see what all the fun is about!

Cora Bitzer household, 1940, Huntington County, Indiana

Located the 1940 census record of the Cora Bitzer household in Huntington County, Indiana.  Cora was Eileen's maternal first cousin three times removed.  Their common ancestors were Daniel L. Duffey and Susanna Freeze.  Cora's parents were Daniel F. Duffey and Susannah Leedy.

1940 U.S. census, Huntington County, Indiana, population schedule, Andrews, enumeration district (ED) 35-2, SD 5, sheet 5B, Main Street, household 123, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 January 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Cora was living in the town of Andrews.  The census states that Cora was renting her home for $10 per month.  Cora was 69 years old and born in Indiana.  She was widowed.  Her residence in 1935 was listed as the same place.

The record shows that Cora had completed the 7th grade.  Cora had no occupation listed.

Also living in the household was her son Lawrence, age 26, born in Indiana, the owner of a filling station.

If you have any additional information or are connected to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

Chester D. Bitzer household, 1940, Wabash County, Indiana

Located the 1940 census of the Chester D. Bitzer household in Wabash County, Indiana. Chester was Eileen's second cousin twice removed.  Their common ancestors were Daniel L. Duffey and Susanna Freeze.  Chester's parents were William Henry Bitzer and Cora Etta Duffey.

1940 U.S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, population schedule, Lagro Township, enumeration district (ED) 85-6, SD 5, sheet 2A, household 24, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 January 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Chester and his wife were living in Lagro Township. The census states Chester was renting his home for $20 per month and that it was a farm.  Carlos was 33 years old and born in Indiana.  His wife, Velma, was 30 years old and born in Indiana.  Their residence in 1935 was listed as rural Huntington County, Indiana.

The record shows that Chester had completed 1 year of high school and that Velma had completed 4 years of high school.  Chester's occupation was listed as a farmer, and Velma had no occupation listed.

Also living in the household were son John, age 10, born in Indiana who had completed the 4th grade; daughter Lena, age 7, born in Indiana who had completed the 1st grade; son Robert, age 6, born in Indiana; and son George, age 1, born in Indiana.

If you have any additional information or are connected to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

Charles Butler household, 1940, San Diego County, California

Located the 1940 census record of the Charles Butler household in San Diego County, California.  Charles was my paternal 3rd cousin twice removed.  Our common ancestors were Jacobs Lemasters and Hannah ________.  Charles' parents were Frank Carlos Butler and Clara LeMasters.

1940 U.S. census, San Diego County, California, population schedule, San Diego, enumeration district (ED) 62-107, SD 20, sheet 4A, 3083 Island, household 74, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 January 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Charles and his wife were living in the city of San Diego.  The census states that Charles owned his home, its value was $1000 and was not a farm.  Charles was 55 years old and born in Missouri.  His wife, Linda, was 50 years old and born in Canada.  In 1935, their residence was the same place.

The record shows that both Charles and Linda had completed the 8th grade.  Charles' occupation was listed as a janitor in a public school, while Linda had no occupation listed.

Also living in the household was their son Frank, age 26, born in California, working as a tire retreader; and mother-in-law Mary Hoag, age 64, widow, born in England with no occupation.

If you have any additional information or are connected to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

Carlton Chew household, 1940, Gloucester County, New Jersey

Located the 1940 census record of the Carlton Chew household in Gloucester County, New Jersey.  Carlton was my paternal 7th cousin 3 times removed.  Our common ancestors were Richard Chew and Frances Woodward.  Carlton's parents were William Tatem Chew and Lucretta Van Dexter.

1940 U.S. census, Gloucester County, New Jersey, population schedule, Washington Township, enumeration district (ED) 8-49, SD 1, sheet 2A, Hurffville Road, household 23, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 January 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Carlton and his wife were living in Washington Township.  The census states that Carlton owned his home and that it was valued at $1200 and he lived on a farm.  Chester was 33 years old and born in New Jersey.  His wife, Gladys, was also 33 years old and born in New Jersey.  In 1935, their residence was the same place.

The record shows that Carlos had completed the 4th grade and that his wife had completed the 8th grade.  Carlos' occupation was listed as a moulder in a foundry, while Gladys had no occupation listed.

Also living in the household were son Carlton, age 14, born in New Jersey who had completed the 7th grade; son Clifford, age 9, born in New Jersey who had completed the 2nd grade; daughter Shirley, age 7, born in New Jersey who had completed the 1st grade; daughter Eleanor, age 5, born in New Jersey; and daughter Helen, age 4, born in New Jersey.

If you have any additional information or are connected to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

Reaching out to Ruby's matches at FamilyTreeDNA

Have spent some time this week reaching out to my maternal great-aunt Ruby's DNA matches at FamilyTreeDNA.  It has been awhile since I've worked on this line.  There have been quite a few new matches show up recently, and this week I've made sure that I've reached out to as many as possible.  So far, I'm up to the top 90 matches there.

I've been including links to my tree at Ancestry as well as providing a ten generation box chart that RootsMagic generated for Ruby's ancestors.  I have a GEDCOM attached to Ruby's profile at FamilyTreeDNA so folks can search the tree there as well.

I have had some success in making connections through Ruby's Quaker ancestry which stretches back pretty far into colonial America.

Ruby's maternal grandfather is unknown and has been the main reason that I wanted to DNA test in the first place - hoping that it could provide clues to solving that mystery.

Ruby's results are also uploaded to GEDMatch, and her kit number is T166359.

While watching the Super Bowl I will probably be continuing my slog of working through the matches to send out more emails.

Carlos J. Boyer household, 1940, Warrick County, Indiana

Located the 1940 census record of the Carlos J. Boyer household in Warrick County, Indiana.  Carlos was Corinne's maternal 3rd great-granduncle, the son of Christopher C. Boyer and Nancy Ann McCool.

1940 U.S. census, Warrick County, Indiana, population schedule, Anderson Township, enumeration district (ED) 87-1, SD 8, sheet 9A, household 152, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 January 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Carlos and his wife were living in Anderson Township.  The census states that Carlos was renting his home for $8 per month, and that it was not on a farm.  Carlos was 73 years old and born in Indiana.  His wife, Corda V., was 64 years old and born in Indiana.  Their residence in 1935 was the same place.

The record shows that Carlos and Corda had both completed the 5th grade.  Carlos's occupation was listed as a laborer on a farm, and Corda had no occupation listed.

If you have any additional information or are connected to this family, I'd love to hear from you.

Bernard Chew household, 1940, Jay County, Indiana

Located the 1940 census record of the Bernard Chew household in Jay County, Indiana.  Bernard was my paternal first cousin 3 times removed through Ezekiel Cooper Chew and Caroline Bishop Woolston.  He was also my fourth cousin 4 times removed through Samuel Woolston and Cyllania Woolston.  Bernard's first name was Orville, and his parents were William Anderson Chew and Emma Susan Straight.

1940 U.S. census, Jay County, Indiana, population schedule, Salamonia, enumeration district (ED) 38-7, SD 5, sheet 2B, household 37, ; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 January 2017); National Archives, Washington, D.C..

At the time of the enumeration, Bernard and his wife were living in the town of Salamonia.  The census states that Bernard owned his home, its value was $800, and was not a farm.  Bernard was 43 years old and born in Indiana.  His wife, Adda, was 38 years old and also born in Indiana.  In 1935, their residence was the same place.

The record shows that Bernard had completed 1 year of high school and Adda had completed the 8th grade.  Bernard's occupation was listed as a pressman for the Sheller Corp. and Adda had no occupation listed.

Also living in the household was daughter Barbara Nell, aged 7, born in Indiana.

If you have any additional information or are connected to this family, I'd love to hear from you.