Wordless Wednesday: Bill & Vicki (Walsh) Seamans

Bill & Vicki (Walsh) Seamans, 1976

Wordless Wednesday – a great way to share your old family photos! Create a post with the main focus being a photograph or image. Some posters also include attribute information as to the source of the image (date, location, owner, etc.). Wordless Wednesday is one of the longest running “memes” in the blogosphere and is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Tombstone Tuesday: Imo Chew

Source: Salamonia Cemetery (Jay County, Indiana), Imo Chew marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 26 March 2009.

Imo C. CHEW is buried in the Salamonia Cemetery, Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana.  Imo was my paternal 1st cousin 3 times removed.


Imo was born November 20, 1902 in Jay County, Indiana, the daughter of William Anderson and Emma Susan (STRAIGHT) CHEW.


Imo never married and was a school teacher in Jay County.  She died in 1971, but I do not yet have the exact date.


Tombstone Tuesday – To participate in Tombstone Tuesday simply create a post which includes an image of a gravestone of one or more ancestors and it may also include a brief description of the image or the ancestor. This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Building My 2011 Research Template

It's that time of year when people begin to reflect on the past year and make resolutions for improvement in the year to come.  I've decided that in order to make my blog and my genealogy research better, I need to come up with a systematic plan to document my ancestors' lives.

I've decided that I will start by focusing on my great-grandparents, both maternal and paternal, as well as their children.  I will use this blog to document the records as well as gaps that need further research. I will highlight and document the facts and information I have discovered, using the following template:

Documentation of GGF and children:

1. Vital Records (birth, marriage, death)

     1.1. Birth certificate

            1.1.1 Birth notice in newspaper

            1.1.2 Bible record

            1.1.3 Baptismal record

            1.1.4 Adoption record

     1.2 Marriage license

            1.2.1 Marriage notice in newspaper

            1.2.2 Anniversary notice

            1.2.3 Divorce decree

     1.3 Death certificate

            1.3.1 Obituary in newspaper

            1.3.2 Funeral home record

            1.3.3 Tombstone photograph

2. Census Records

     2.1 Federal Census Records

            2.1.1 1930 Federal Census

            2.1.2 1920 Federal Census

            2.1.3 1910 Federal Census

            2.1.4 1900 Federal Census

            2.1.5 1880 Federal Census

            2.1.6 1870 Federal Census

     2.2 State Census Records

     2.3 Agricultural / Mortality Census Records

3. Military Records

     3.1 Draft registration

     3.2 Pension records

     3.3 Service records

4. Land Records

     4.1 Deed records

     4.2 Plat map / county map

5. Supplemental records

     5.1 Social Security records

     5.2 Church membership records

     5.3 City directories

     5.4 Court records

My goal is to start with my great-grandparents, completing this template for them and each of their children (my grandaunts and uncles) and then eventually to continue backwards each successive generation.  If I can progress slowly and methodically, I hope to become a better researcher and create a more thorough documented record of my ancestors lives.

I will also endeavor to document my sources consistently, so that others may see how I arrived at my conclusions.

What are your thoughts?  I would appreciate any comments regarding this plan.