The Map I Wish I’d Had

Some months back, I found the birth certificate for my second great grandmother, Emily Jane Melton Davis Olive, on footnote.com.  I knew the day would come when I would make the trek to find her gravestone at Itasca Cemetery in Itasca, Texas.

My first stop for grave markers now is findagrave.com.  From there, I found information that I already had plus a plot number – D3.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a cemetery map, so the D3 didn’t hold a lot of promise for me.

I came prepared with my camera and a folder with a) a list of photo requests from findagrave.com for gravesites in Itasca Cemetery, and b) a list of all Davises and Olives in the cemetery in case I found any relatives.

When I arrived, I noticed that the crossroads within the cemetery were marked with numbers.  I was hoping that the 3 of D3 referred to the crossroad.  After wandering for a while, I found a group of Davises from my list.  I took the pictures, then noticed that they were listed at B3.  Eventually I got my orientation and later found the grave I was looking for.  Score!  The search took about an hour.

An interesting discovery was that the cemetery land is actually two cemeteries side by side:  Itasca Cemetery and Luke Tipton Cemetery.

The next day, while I was uploading photographs to findagrave.com, I decided to check out the Luke Tipton Cemetery.  Wouldn’t you know it?  There was the cemetery map I had needed the night before.

July 4th through 18th Century Eyes

I was a good student in school, but I can’t say that I had a particular talent or interest in history. My research into my family tree – my family history – has made me think about American history in a new way and given me a new interest.

I am not a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), but it looks like I could be if I took the time to button up a few connections. I apparently have at least 3 Revolutionary War veterans in my family tree, possibly more.

In honor of Independence Day, I bring to you the account of Nathaniel Maxwell, American Revolutionary War soldier and 4^th great grandfather of Grammy’s Daughter, as recorded in his pension application files.

Here [Chester County, Pennsylvania] I grew to manhood, and was living, when the war of the revolution commenced. I am too old to recollect dates with exactness; but according to my personal recollection, the summer after the tea was destroyed at Boston, I was called out to perform a two months tour of duty as a militia man. I was mustered into service under Captain Witheroe in a Regiment commanded by Colonel Matthew Boyd and was stationed at Princeton where I was discharged.

The second year afterwards I was again called out on a similar tour and served two months under Capt. Moore, but cannot recollect any Regiment to which he was attached. The company was marched to White Marsh and stationed there. General Mifflin commanded and General Washington was there sometimes. The battle of Trenton took place while they were on the march.

My next tour of service was not long before the cessation of hostilities. At this time I was called out for a third tour of service of two months under Captain Elkton. At the close of this service peace was declared and I was discharged, my whole service being six months.

Often I think that we don’t realize that history is happening while we are living it. The historical significance of some events, such as the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001, are obvious. Others, not so much. I have often wondered whether events such as the Boston Tea Party where recognized at the time as historically significant. Apparently Nathaniel Maxwell recalled that event and remembered it years later, even though he was living in Pennsylvania at the time.

Nathaniel Maxwell’s pension application files, and those of many other Revolutionary War veterans, are available online at http://www.ancestry.com/ (Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900).

Argh! Vinyl

As I’ve mentioned before, I have received boxes of binders of genealogical information from Grammy. For the most part, she organized her artifacts and research into binders. I’m sure she spent a fortune on page protectors!

Recently I came across a page protector in one of the binders that contained 3 pages, all copies. All items were related to the military service of Carlos C. Collins in the US Army in World War I.

I had a few of goals with regards to these documents:

• Glean the genealogical facts from the 3 documents
• Scan the originals so that I could attach the digital image to my genealogy database
• Split the documents into separate page protectors so that they could all be seen without having to handle them

When I started to remove the certificate of Honorable Discharge from The United States Army from the page protector for scanning, I found it hopelessly stuck. That’s when I realized that this was an old page protector made of vinyl. I've learned from dealing with photographs from the 1970s that vinyl photo pages or sheet protectors were bad news. This was hard evidence to that fact! Fortunately, it’s only a photocopy, but it’s my only copy nevertheless.

At first I tried to force the sheet out of the protector but realized that I was damaging it irreparably. “Stop! Don’t do anything that can’t be undone,” I told myself. I ended up putting the document, page protector and all, on the scanner while I thought about my next steps. I was able to extract the other two pages with minimal damage, but was still left with the stuck Honorable Discharge certificate.

After placing the Enlistment Record in a fresh (safe) page protector and the certificate of promotion to Sergeant in a separate one, I trimmed the edges and back off of the vinyl page protector containing the Honorable Discharge certificate and placed the certificate, along with the remaining vinyl inside a new safe page protector. Now, at least only the one page is affected by the vinyl.

If anyone has an idea on a better solution to the problem, please comment.

My New Binder

I’m one of those people who just has to change my organization method every few years. If something’s not perfect, I decide to try something new.

When I took over family history research from Grammy, most of her information was organized into binders by surname. Does that sound like the 1990s to anyone?

In each binder was a combination of primary and secondary source material as well as research notes. That just wasn’t working for me. I decided that I wanted easy access to the primary and secondary source materials across all surnames. After all, that’s the starting point for my research.

I created a single new binder (only one for now) and added dividers for each surname. My intent is to slowly “move in” to my new binder.

What better place to start than with current records?

It dawned on me that someday my descendants will want copies of my original documents that are currently safely stored in my safety deposit box.

First up, my marriage certificate. I made a copy for my new binder, scanned an image, and added it as a source for my marriage in my family tree software. Sure, I knew most of that information, but it reminded me just how much information was there that could easily get lost. For instance, at the time we married, I was living in Denton County, the license was issued in Collin County, and we were actually married in Dallas County, Texas. How confusing that could be in 100 years!

Now is also a good time to scan your birth certificate, your children’s birth certificates, and your children’s religious certificates such as baptism and confirmation. Include those bits of information in your genealogy database now.

Introduction to Channeling Grammy

My children call her Grammy, my nieces call her Grandmommy, but I just call her Mom.

My mother has been the keeper of the family history for many years. I’m not sure what got her started, but I’m glad she did.

Recently I received from her four bankers boxes filled with her genealogical research. It is now my honor and privilege to continue her legacy and make more connections on our family tree. Most of her research was done in the pre-Internet days, so there’s much left for me to contribute.

In this blog I will share the new things I learn along the my journey into family history. Sometimes it may be techniques; other times it may be newly discovered facts. Still other times I may just share things that have inspired me and may inspire you.

Surnames: Appling, Barrett, Childers, Collins, Davis, Edmonds, Green, Harper, Habich, Knight, McKinnon, Melton, Murrah, Parker, Perryman, Prince, Rippetoe, Standley, Stokes, Swinney, and more.

Locations: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia