SNGF : My Ancestral Number

Randy over at Genea-Musings has posted another Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Challenge : determining your ancestral number.  The challenge asks you to take a hard look at your ahnentafel and determine how complete your family tree really is.  The challenge was based on a post by Christa Cowen entitled Family History All Done : What's Your Number?

The number of ancestors doubles each generation, and by 10 generations you have 1023 ancestors.  By going back through the generations and counting how many ancestors have been identified in each generation you can get an idea of the completeness of your family tree.

After 25 years of amateur research, my number is 40.96%.  I do really well until the 5th generation, where I have an illegitimacy.  I hold my own for another generation at 93.75 percent, but start to fall off in the 7th and 8th generations.

Pedigree collapse becomes apparent by the 9th and 10th generation, particularly on my paternal side.

All in all, a fun exercise to see just how much more there is to research.

Click on the chart below to enlarge.

SNGF : The Date You Were Born

Randy Seaver at Genealogy Musings has issued another one of his Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenges:

1) What day of the week were you born? Tell us how you found out.

2) What has happened in recorded history on your birth date (day and month)? Tell us how you found out, and list five events.

3)  What famous people have been born on your birth date?  Tell us how you found out, and list five of them.

4)  Put your responses in your own blog post, in a comment on this blog post, or in a status or comment on Facebook.

1. I was born on a Tuesday, November 5th.  I found out it was a Tuesday because my mother told me so, and I've since verified it.


2.  I was born the day that Richard Milhous Nixon (7th cousin 3 times removed) became the 37th President of the United States.  He defeated Vice President Humphrey and George Wallace.


Also on this date, pitcher Denny McLain became the American League MVP after posting a 31-6 record.


It was pretty much downhill for both McLain and Nixon after this point....


3. Famous people who share a birthday with me include:

Birthdays
• 1963 Tatum O'Neal (actress)
• 1959 Bryan Adams (singer, songwriter)
• 1958 Jon-Erik Hexum (actor)
• 1947 Peter 'Herman' Noone (singer, musician)
• 1946 Gram Parsons (Cecil Connor) (singer, songwriter)
• 1943 Sam Shepard (Sam Shepard Rogers) (actor, playwright)
• 1942 Elke Sommer (Schletz) (actress)
• 1941 Art Garfunkel (songwriter, singer, musician)
• 1941 Barry Sadler (songwriter, singer)
• 1936 Billy Sherrill (songwriter, musician)
• 1931 Ike Turner (musician, singer)
• 1913 John McGiver (actor)
• 1913 Vivien Leigh (Hartley) (actress)
• 1912 Natalie Schafer (actress)
• 1912 Roy Rogers (Leonard Slye) (actor)
• 1905 Joel McCrea (actor)
• 1893 Raymond Loewy (inventor, engineer, industrial designing)
• 1885 Will Durant (author)

SNGF: A Genealogy Clerihew

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has issued another fun challenge.  Tonight's challenge is to write a genealogy Clerihew.  Jim Smith's post here explains that a clerihew is an four-line poem that follows an AABB rhyme scheme.


Here's mine:


Looking up the family tree
I thought I caught a glimpse of me
Soon my present will be past
For I will not forever last.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Who Is Your MRUA?

Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings has issued another Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge: Who is your MRUA - your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor?  Have you looked at your research files recently for this unknown person?  What offline or online sources might you search to help you identify your MRUA?

Here's mine:

Number 15 on my Anhnentafel is June Kirk DAVIS.  I do not know who her father was, but I do know that her mother was Ida DAVIS. Here is a brief outline of what I do know about her parents:

June was born June 11, 1898 in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana.  Her birth certificate lists here parents as Atkinson and Ida Davis.  I have found no record of an Atkinson Davis.  I had been told by my grandmother that her mother (June) was an orphan.  June was orphaned when her mother, Ida died August 2, 1900 in Clay Township, Owen County, Indiana.  June was raised by her maternal grandmother and step-grandfather, Mary (SWAFFORD) GILLILAND and her second husband Robert F. GILLILAND.  Both June and her sister took the GILLILAND surname.  June was using the GILLILAND surname when she married Clemon Beals LAMBERTSON on June 28, 1917 in Monroe County, Indiana.  June and Clemon raised their family in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana, where June died on March 20, 1951.  

Speculation in the family has been that June was illegitimate.  At the time of June's birth, Ida was divorced from her husband, Samuel G. HANCOCK, whom she had married in 1892.  I have found a record in the 1900 census for Ida D. HANCOCK, living at the "Door of Hope", apparently a shelter, in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana.  June had an older sister, Pansy, who was born December 11, 1894.  I do not know if Pansy and June shared the same father.

June's mother, Ida, remarried on July 19, 1900 in Monroe County, Indiana to Carrie A. MORRIS.  Ida died on August 2, 1900 in Clay Township, Owen County, Indiana of tuberculosis.

A collection of photographs given to me by a cousin showed a mysterious Frank Fletcher, who may be June's father.  The image does bare a resemblance to some of my great-uncles.  I have previously found records of Frank Fletcher in nearby Green County, Indiana in the 1900-1920 census.  Frank Fletcher is mentioned as Pansy's father in her obituary, which states that Pansy was born in Monroe County, Indiana.


I have previously written a post about June Davis here.  I have been unable to locate her in the 1900 census, but did locate her sister Pansy, living with her grandparents in Clay Township, Owen County, Indiana.


If any has any research ideas, I would love to hear them!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: A Nice Thing

Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings host Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, a blogging topic each week and he invites everyone to play along. Tonight's topic was "A Nice Thing" and our question is: "What is the nicest thing a genealogist did for you, or to you, in the last week or so?"

The genealogy community is made up of so many skilled researchers with different backgrounds, but they always seem ready to lend a hand. There have been so many good things happening with my research lately, but here are just a few:

1. My new found cousin at the Jay County Health Department not only offered to send me a write up of a family genealogy that her mother had, she also made several phone calls to help me locate information about the death location of my great-grandmother. Because of that, I now have paperwork in hand to request her death certificate.

2. Several fellow genealogists on Twitter have offered encouragement and compliments through RT or ##ff - including @geneabloggers, @toniasroots, @familystories, @baysideresearch, @tapgenie, @kidmiff, @matfam42, @footnotemaven - hope I didn't forget anyone!

3. I've made a connection through Ancestry.com with a distant cousin who has offered to share research on the JACOBS and HEATON families in Ohio.

Genealogists are some of the nicest people and I appreciate all of their help.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Most Unusual Ancestral Name

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has given us another Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge: What is the most unique, strangest or funniest combination of a given name and last name in your ancestry?

I didn't have to search too long to find my paternal 5th-great grandmother : AVIS HURLBUT. Avis is an ancestor that I don't know much about, but I'm thankful that a little bit of her is in my genes.

Avis was born November 11, 1762 in Woodbury, Connecticut, the daughter of Israel and Jerusha (________) HURLBUT. Avis was the oldest of four known children of Israel & Jerusha.

Avis was married on July 24, 1781 in Castleton, Rutland County, Vermont to John MOULTON. John was born December 27, 1755 in Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut, the son of Samuel and Phoebe (________) MOULTON.

Avis and John had 14 children! My ancestor, Selah MOULTON, was the seventh child.

I do not know when and where Avis died, although it was probably in Vermont. I have much to learn about Avis and the rest of the HURLBUT family.