MIXED-BLOODS-L Archives

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Subject: [MIXED-BLOODS] database
Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 10:16:41 EDT

This collection of wills adds to the growing number of databases in the
Ellsberry Collection. The database was compiled by long-time researcher,
school teacher, and professional genealogist Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry.
These will records contain the names of people involved in Shenandoah
County wills between 1771 and 1791, and the dates of their proceedings. The
records also often include comments about family relationships.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. Shenandoah County, Virginia Wills, 1771-91
. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2001. Original data:
Ellsberry, Elizabeth Prather, comp. Will Records of Shenandoah County,
Virginia 1771-91. Chillicothe, MO: Elizabeth Prather Ellsberry, circa 1965.

<A HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/5625.htm">Search
this database.</A>

Fleming County, Kentucky Marriage Records, 1798-1851

This collection of marriages adds to the growing number of databases in
the "Ellsberry Collection." The database was compiled by long-time
researcher, school teacher, and professional genealogist Elizabeth
Ellsberry. Marriage records contain the names of both spouses and date of
marriage.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. Fleming County, Kentucky Marriage
Records, 1798-1851. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2001.
Original data: Ellsberry, Elizabeth Prather, comp. Marriage Records of
Fleming County, Kentucky 1798-1851. Chillicothe, MO: Elizabeth Prather
Ellsberry, circa 1965.

To search this database, go to: <A
HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/5626.htm">;
www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/5626.htm</A> <A
HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/5615.htm">; </A>
Otter River, Massachusetts Directory 1885

Located near the city of Baldwinville, the town of Otter River forms part
Worcester County. This database is a transcription of a directory
originally published in 1885. In addition to providing the residents'
names, it provides their addresses and occupational information. The
database includes more than 210 names, mostly heads of household.

Source Information: Ancestry.com. Otter River, Massachusetts Directory 1885
. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2001. Original data: Otter
River Citizens' Directory, 1885. West Gardiner, MA: L.B. Caswell, 1885.
<A HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/5627.htm">Search this
database. </A>
This database is also included in the <A
HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/census/1890sub/main.htm">1890
Census Reconstruction Project</A> and can be searched through its main page.

BBC Monitoring-Central Asia (London, England) Obituaries, 1999 (Update)

Source Information: Bell and Howell Information and Learning Company. BBC
Monitoring-Central Asia (London, England), Obituaries, 1999. [database
online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2001. Original electronic data: Electronic
newspaper newsfeed service of the Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Company.
<A HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/4539.htm">Search this
database.</A>

New U.S. Federal Census Images Online Added

This week, images of the 1910 U.S. Federal Census have been added for the
following states:

--- Illinois
--- Kansas
--- Michigan
--- Missouri
--- Montana
--- Nebraska
--- New Hampshire
--- North Carolina
--- Oklahoma
--- Pennsylvania
--- Virginia
--- Washington

To date, Ancestry.com has now released a total of over 6 million images
(over 280 million names) in the Census Images Online project for the years
1790, 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920. For a complete list of available images,
go to: <A HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/search/io/main.htm">;
www.ancestry.com/search/io/main.htm</A>.

For those with an Ancestry.com Census Subscription, these collections can
be browsed by state, county, and township and/or enumeration district.
Ancestry.com is creating head-of-household indexes that will eventually be
posted state by state as they become available.

The price for separate census subscriptions is scheduled to go up $10 on 15
June 2001. For more information, or to subscribe to Ancestry.com at the
current rates, <A
HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?Targetid=699&sourceid=940">click
here</A>.

Today's Featured Map


Today's featured map is:

Battle of Copenhagen, 1801

<A HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/rd/map.asp?ImageID=294">View this map. </A>

Daily News Desk

Visit the Daily News Desk to:

- Get printer-friendly versions of ADN articles past and present.
- E-mail an article to a friend.
- Submit feedback on something you have read.

Just go to the <A HREF="http://www.ancestry.com/dailynews">Daily News Desk
</A> and click on the appropriate icon in the beige sidebar.

"Abstracts, Transcripts, and Extracts," by Patricia Law Hatcher, CG, FASG

"How much of this should I type?" The speaker was at a nearby microfilm
reader at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. An experienced
researcher, she was struggling with the transition from lugging home pounds
of paper to recording information on a laptop computer.

It is an important question. Let's look at some options.
- Using a form
- Abstracting
- Transcribing
- Extracting

Using A Form

Many companies and software programs offer fill-in-the-blank forms for
common documents such as deeds and wills to help assure that the researcher
will not omit an important element of a document. These may be helpful
learning tools for beginners (although if the deed forms have slots for
"grantor" and "grantee," this may not be so helpful, since neither term
typically appears in a deed).

Professionals and long-time researchers often will not use forms. They know
that documents do not necessarily fit a standardized template. Furthermore,
the clues to difficult genealogical problems are often in words and phrases
that don't have an assigned spot on a form. The danger of omitting
important information by not using a form is overshadowed by the more real
possibility of missing an important lead by focusing on answering specific
questions.

Abstracting

Recording just "the important stuff" is known as "abstracting." So, what is
important? First of all, probably anything that is on a typical form
(above): full citation information, all names (including witnesses), all
dates (including the ones about recording and such that follow the main
document), and all places. So how is that different from a form, you ask?
The answer lies in how we record it. Some of us design mini-templates for
standard citation information, but we leave a large blank area for
everything else. In that area, we would record information in a way more
pertinent to the document.

For example, deed books have lots more than deeds in them. Somehow the
terms "grantor" and "grantee" don't seem to fit many of the documents. I
abstracted the Barren County, Kentucky, deed books through 1813 and found
such documents as agreements (six of them), apprenticeships (twenty-five),
bills of sale of nonreal property (thirty-two), bonds (six), contracts
(one), deeds of gift (seventeen), depositions (three), partitions (five),
leases (two), manumissions (one), mortgages or securities (eleven), patents
(two) [one for a still, one for a washing machine!], plats (eleven), powers
of attorney (forty-three), prenuptial agreements (two--yes, they had them
in 1805), quit claims (only two, surprisingly), and weather reports (two).

OK, admittedly weather reports aren't normally found in deed books, but the
point is that sometimes it is easier simply to state what a document says
than to try and fit it into a form. Each of those documents--on careful
reading--made it clear that it was not a "normal" deed, but we also see
normal deeds containing wording that isn't normal. How can we recognize the
abnormal if we don't know the normal? The answer lies in the third type of
recording--transcribing.

Transcribing

I am quite certain that an accident of timing had a great deal to do with
the formation of my genealogical skills. Back in 1984, I bought my first
personal computer. In order to gain practice in using my word processor
(one in which you had to embed commands to turn on bold and then turn it
back off), I transcribed the deeds and wills that I had been obtaining
through laboriously typed letters to county clerks. My boilerplate
computerized letters brought even more documents to my mailbox.

I found myself transcribing documents from the late 1800s, then the
mid-1800s, and then the early 1800s. It wasn't long before I had progressed
into the 1700s; eventually my research took me into the 1600s and earlier.
Two important things happened as I transcribed.

First, I learned that deeds and wills, like my letters to county clerks,
contained a number of standard (boilerplate) phrases. Admittedly, I was
blessed by a couple of clerks with beautiful, clear handwriting. But I
typed every word of every document, even though I could read the document
easily without the typed version.

Thus, when I had to read the handwriting of the clerk whose scrawl made my
forehead furrow, my eyes squint, and my mouth frown, it was not as
difficult as it might have been. When I came to "hereditaments," I knew
that the word was "heirs & assigns" (even with the long "s"). I may not
have figured it out immediately, but I got it eventually, requiring only a
brief pause before I continued typing with confidence.

I also became comfortable with the standard terminology. When phrases were
different, my genealogical antennae started quivering, and I knew that this
document might have more to tell me than I might first have suspected (for
example, the absence of "heirs and assigns forever" might be meaningful).

Secondly, because I began transcribing fairly early in my personal
research, I progressed backwards in time, learning to read the handwriting
as I went. I did not begin with documents of Puritan immigrants, but when I
got to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the forehead-furrowing, eye-squinting,
and mouth-frowning was considerably reduced.

For me, at least, proper names are still the most difficult to read. I
often don't have a clue in an early document what the clerk was writing.
However, because I can read "In the name of God Amen" and "of the County
and State aforesd," I can pattern-match the letters in the name to phrases
that I can recognize.

There are added advantages in transcribing all documents. You won't ever
have to read the handwritten copy again (unless some question arises about
your interpretation of a word). The text is ready at hand on your computer.
You won't have to leave your desk to find a piece of paper. If you use a
laptop on research trips to the library or a distant county, the rewards
are multiplied. When corresponding with other family researchers, you can
easily copy-and-paste the text into your word processor or e-mail from any
Windows or Macintosh program.

Extracting

This form of recording a document derives naturally from the experience of
transcribing. Basically, you begin at the beginning, transcribing the
document. When you arrive at text that you clearly recognize as
boilerplate, you dot-dot-dot it. That means you insert ellipses points
where the text would be.

These three dots (. . .), with a space between each, mean "something left
out here." If you aren't certain, or if the boilerplate phrase helps keep
the meaning of the extract flowing, type the words.

You may also wish to use editorial square brackets in places. For example,
"[detailed metes and bounds description]" or "[three pages of inventory
valued at $538.43]." If this is your ancestor's only piece of land or his
inventory, you might choose to include a full transcription of this
section, but for an unplaced person of the same surname, you just want a
reminder that there is more there so you can go back to it if it becomes
significant later.

"How much of this should I type?"

The answer depends to some extent on the reason for which you've read the
document (ancestral versus broad information gathering). But I would
suggest that transcribing all ancestral documents is a valuable educational
experience and that you will naturally progress to extracting documents as
your experience grows.

Patricia Law Hatcher, CG, FASG, is a technical writer, instructor, and
professional genealogist. She has written, edited, and produced numerous
publications and has written articles for The American Genealogist, The
Maine Genealogist, the New Hampshire Genealogical Record, The Virginia
Genealogist, and Ancestry Magazine. She is the author of <A
HREF="http://shops.ancestry.com/product.asp?productid=1024">Producing a
Quality Family History</A>.



May your Waters Flow Gently With Love Care and Concern <ga wa si > Little Hawk

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