Found Another Cousin!

Discovered another cousin...

 

a double cousin. It is always a pleasure to find cousins, especially ones interested in family history. This one is kind of special because he is also interested in SAR; in fact, he is a member of the Ohio Valley SAR Chapter as one of our very newest members. After Bart Burke was inducted as a new member at our recent chapter meeting, we were causually talking and he mentioned that he had some West ancestors from Christian Co., KY. Note that there are a whole lot of West families that are almost everywhere... many, many are not related as proven by y-DNA results. We have learned that Bart is a direct descendant of Thomas West, Jr. (my SAR patriot), but he also is a decendant of Joseph Phipps and Margaret Woodis, his wife... I am descended from them, as well.

 

JGWest

Interesting Thanksgiving Chart

 

 

I found this chart on the Internet, but I forgot to save where it came from.  It is a very graphic view of the tragic lives of these first settlers in America in just a year or two.  They must have been remarkable people to be thankful after so many that had died.  We often take our good fortune to live in today's world for granted. The photo was a little blurred, but click on it to get a larger image.

 - Posted by Indiana Bones

Happy Thanksgiving!

Been very happily busy these last few weeks... having fun doing genealogy related things.  Just today before enjoying a Thanksgiving feast (so glad when Becky does not have to work on this day at the nursing home!), I judged 3 great essays as one of the judges for the Capt. Jacob Warrick DAR Chapter for Good Citizenship Award.  Then right after dinner, I was surprised by a Skype video call from my 2 nephews who are working in Germany.  The call was for my great niece to read me her winning essay concerning what she would ask our Founding Father's if she got a chance... she won $500 and moves up to the next level.  The contest is sponsored by the VFW.  For an 11 year old, I was impressed with her reading of the essay almost as much as the content.  The essay was superb... after judging essays by older 4-H kids for over 25 years, I was really impressed with hers!  Actually, I was also impressed to be able to talk & see the two families all the way in Germany.  They called about 1:30PM Evansville time, it was 8:30 PM their time!  Congratulations Lydia West!!!

I hope all of the genealogists, historians, family and friends are having a great Thanksgiving day and a wonderful weekend!

John G. West, TSGS Vice-President

TSGS Program Reported

"Traveling at 33 RPM in an IPad World"

Retired USI Professor and TSGS Board Member Larry Goss gave a very informative and interesting program entitled "Traveling at 33 RPM in an IPad World".   He presented an interactive program designed to inform about what we need to do to move into the world of technology.   He showed various methods of storage that has been used in the past and currently.   Several members told what other societies are doing.   One example was about going to a seminar and at registration was given a thumb drive with the option of getting printed information for $40.00 which was thick and heavy. A problem that many of us was wondering... how to implement our membership and keep control of our Packet publication?   It seemed to all come together.   We could require all members to have an email address with membership beginning with our next year and the Packet could be emailed each quarter.  This could be announced in the June edition of the Packet and offer for an additional fee to send them a thumb drive with all 30 years of the Packet preloaded, there is a company that can load this for us economically.   With this thumb drive when each edition of the Packet comes out the membership could download it to their thumb drive keeping it current.

- Reported by Don Counts, TSGS President

Field Trip... What's New?

Yesterday, I decided to make a field trip to Hopkinsville (about 1.5 hours drive from my home) to check on some deed records in the courthouse.  I have made a lot of advances in my genealogical research knowledge about my family since the days that I spent hours and days at the Christian County Courthouse going through indexes and deed books.  I had been recently pairing up deeds... as in, when someone acquired property and then finally when it was passed on to someone else.  I noticed that I was missing one end of that equation or the other on far too many pieces of land for my family!  Thus the reason for the trip.  As I was going through the index books, I discovered some family connections that I did not know before.

While Wills & Probate Records are great for showing relationships, deeds often do the same, in fact, in some cases, deeds are another form of an estate settlement (Will) before the person dies!  Legal abstracts of land ownership are essential to ensure that property is free and clear of any legal rights of others.  The Christian County Clerks Office has the newer deed transactions computerized that you can track back seeing this abstract of previous ownership.  It can map out a wonderful picture of the history of that particular parcel of land and how it might have been sub-divided and merged together over time to the beginning of the county (1797 for this county).  Unfortunately, most do not go back more than about the 1940's for now, but it can help you work your way back on the computer and then through the deeds on your way back to when the person you are interested in acquired the land (and from whom).  Using this approach you will learn the facts behind an acquisition and disposal of the property in connection to the party you are researching.  It can provide you with a history surrounding the land and can provide relationships of the owners over time.

I began this quest in search of "Why is the West Cemetery deep in the middle of the woods, abandoned and mostly forgotten?"  I suspect the cemetery is on the property of the family of some of those buried there.  Who owned the land that this cemetery is located?  Why is access to the cemetery no longer in existence?  The cemetery seems to be only of West family members, perhaps 20 or less graves... it does have seven grave markers in reasonable shape with burials on the markers from 1875 to as late as 1934.  These dates are not all that old as cemeteries go.  Being exclusively family members, it suggests that this was not a church or even a community cemetery. This cemetery is not even on the topographic maps. I have lots of questions with no answers... yet!  Perhaps some of our readers can make a few suggestions to help me discover the story about this cemetery.

But this was not what I intended to share with everyone.  After the courthouse closed, I stopped by the public library a few blocks away.  I have not been here for a while - nice library!  They have some great new resources and records.  I only had about one hour before they closed, too.  I discovered a great, very large, wall-mounted, 1878 Farm Plat Map of the property owners of all of Christian County.  With my brand new Droid Razor cell phone camera, I took many photos of the map in the area of Wilson Precinct around Ovil, Kentucky where this cemetery and several others that my family are buried is located.  By the way, I took many photos at the courthouse of the deed records... a quick, inexpensive way to copy printed data.  The library now has most of the county's marriage records and lots of the deed records, wills & county court order books.  The library is open all day on Saturdays!  The courthouse is only open during the business week: Mon - Thurs 8AM-4PM, Fri 8AM-4:30PM.  Look for me in Hopkinsville at the library on Saturdays and in the courthouse on a few Mondays or Fridays (my days off from work).

A tip for all researchers, especially those of us that have been at this family history stuff for a while, is to go back to the places you have not been to for a number of years and see what is new.  More records are available & accessible than ever before, plus changes have been made due to advances in technology.  Plan for a field trip in the near future before it gets too cold or there are too many threats of snow or icy roads.

- Compiled by Indiana Bones

Cyndi's List Has Been Copied for Profit

Article by the lady that created and maintains Cyndi's List ~

I've spent the last two days documenting and laying the foundation for a lawsuit because my entire web site was copied and put on another person's for-profit site. This has been gut-wrenching and heart-breaking. I'm exhausted and upset. And in the end it hurts all of you too because I didn't get any other work done on Cyndi's List during this time.

This makes me wonder if people really understand what it is that i do. I spend 12 to 14 hours a day working on maintaining the site. By myself. I've had some help here and there over the past 16 years. But this site was literally built by hand, by me. I visit each web site, determine a title, description and categorization. I attempt to keep up on new trends. I do what I can to fix broken links. And last year I spent $40,000 of my own money to upgrade the site in order to make it easier to maintain and easier to use. The site is free for all of you to use. And thanks to you very generous people who donated money, 39% of my expense has been made up. I'm still working to pay off that bill.

I am a single mother. This is my sole source of income and I am not rich. I keep the site free for you to use, but earn the money on advertisements and commissions. I can't afford to spend a lot to maintain the site or to fight big legal battles. When I found that this person had just TAKEN 16 years worth of my blood, sweat, and tears I was absolutely stunned. I still am.

Thanks for taking the time to read my venting. I'm going to go create a new category now...  - Cyndi Howells       Like Cyndi's List on Facebook

                                           

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Dick Eastman reported on his online newsletter:

Cyndi's List versus the Rip-off Artist

A sad event is unfolding on the popular Cyndi's List web site. As Cyndi Howells has written, "Be sure to read the blog article on copyright below. I've spent the last two days documenting and laying the foundation for a lawsuit because my entire web site was copied and put on another person's for-profit site. This has been gut-wrenching and heart-breaking. I'm exhausted and upset. And in the end it hurts all of you too because I didn't get any other work done on Cyndi's List during this time."

Some people are ignorant of copyright laws. Others simply don't care as these freeloaders will do anything to make a buck off someone else's hard work. I am not sure which excuse is appropriate here but, either way, it is no excuse. - Eastman's EOGN

I have been using Cyndi's List since just a few months after she started in 1996.  Several of my genealogical sites and Becky's Adoption Page were submitted to her list in 1996.  All of my KYGenWeb sites were linked on her site... the same with the TSGS and SAR web site.  It is not the links that are copyrighted - it is the collecting, organizing, listing and presentation that can be protected under law. Same with publications of public records in books or on Internet sites like Ancestry.com or Heritage Quest... the records can not be copyrighted, but the compilation and work to present them can be protected by law. One could argue, "well my work looks like theirs because I copied the same public records from the same public source." However, many compilers insert a few obvious mistakes that are usually copied in total from their work proving that the material was not copied from the records or collected other than from the hard work of the compiler. Stealing is stealing! It is immoral and illegal!! - JGWest

Just in Time for Halloween!

This is an interesting story in The Washington Post from the news about superstorm Sandy:

Skeleton believed from Colonial times found when Sandy uproots historic tree in Conn.

Police spokesman David Hartman says a woman who was with other bystanders looking at a fallen oak tree called police Tuesday after she saw bones in the upturned roots.  Hartman says the tree was planted on the green in 1909 on the 100th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth. He says the remains likely belong to one of thousands of people buried there in Colonial times. The remains will be evaluated by the state medical examiner.

Read more here.