1940 Census Project Indexing - Now 75% Complete

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[The following was on Dick Eastman's newsletter today http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/06/1940-census-project-indexing-is-now-75-percent-complete.html]:


A report Friday by Dennis Brimhall, CEO of Family Search, said the volunteers indexing the 1940 U S Federal Census are well ahead of schedule. More than 137,000 volunteers are creating the indexes, with that number growing by nearly 1,000 indexers a day.

At last report:

• 105,522,592 names have been indexed and arbitrated.
• 29 states have searchable indexes on FamilySearch.org. These states include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
• 2 additional states are 100% indexed and arbitrated and are in the final stage of preparation for posting.
• 6 additional states are 75% or more indexed and arbitrated. To see the status of each state visit the 1940 US Census state-by-state progress map on the FamilySearch website.
• The 1940 US Census is 75% indexed and arbitrated.
• 143,086 indexers have signed up to index the 1940 US Census.

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Using the FamilySearch.org indexed search engine for Indiana, I quickly found my parents and Dad's mother & sister, as well as, my future step-grandfather... I could not find them before.

Household:	Gender	/Age/	Birth
Head	Viola West	F	41	KY
Son	Gaither G West	M	21	KY
Daughter-in-law	Bernadine West	F	18	IN
Daughter	Doris V West	F	17	KY
Roomer	Edgar Lee Gilkey	M	43	KY

Father's Day - 2011

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Happy Father's Day to all genealogists!

My Dad's photo as a young man taken about the time of my birth in March of 1947. This photo or one just like it was taken in downtown Evansville on one of those little booths that give you about 4 photos for a nominal fee... it was nice to get the photos in a short time. The photo was used on a leaflet at Bucyrus Erie to organize a Union for the Employees. Dad along with ten other men had their photo & name posted on the leaflet as members of the organizing committee.
Lots of controversy arose from the Union movement of this time and the company wanted no part of employees having bargaining powers. It ended up being a nasty strike with the Indiana National Guard being called out to restore order! Dad was among many men & women of the time who stood up for uniform work policies; safe work environment; a 40-hour work week; time off with pay for holidays, vacation & sick days; and other benefits that all of us take for granted today. Not everyone will agree that the organized labor movement was a good thing, but I am very proud of my father's role during this historical period of the American Industrial Revolution.

Proud of my father on this Father's Day 2011... may you rest in peace, Dad!

Gaither Glennis West, I 1918-1973

Husband of Bernadine Long ~ Father of Glen, Greg, Tina & Don

- Submitted by JGWest

Tombstone Thursday - Mom, Dad & Sgt. Martin

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Each Memorial Day, Becky & I decorate the graves of family members who have gone before us. We always place a U.S. flag on the graves of those in the family that served in the military. Below is a photo of my parents grave in Alexander Memorial Cemetery in Evansville. Earlier I had a small flag for Dad that would touch soil if I pushed the flag pole in the ground, so I had to put it with the flowers in the vase... it did not show well and it distracted the pastel colors that Mom always liked in the flowers that I chose for her. So, I got a larger flag with a longer pole and brought ti to replace that short one as seen below.

We parked at the curb as we always do to get to Mom & Dad's graves. I noticed the grave of Zerah Martin with his marker right next to the curb. I have never seen any flowers on his grave or even an American flag that he served under during World War II... so, I decided this Memorial Day, I would remember Sgt. Martin. I placed the flag I had exchanged from Dad's grave on this soldier's grave & placed a few flowers by his marker to say thanks for serving our country when we needed him!
- Photos taken by JGWest

[Tombstone Thursday is dedicated in memory of Donald G. West 1952-2000]

"Race Horses or Tracks of Land"

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On 20 Sep 2010, I had some fun with listing a number of tracks of land that belonged to the Wheatley family that sounded like names of race horses!
http://tsgsblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/race-horses-or.html

Today I found some more of these land tracks that could be good race horse names. These came from Robert West of Harford County, Maryland between about 1700 thru 1770. In 1704, he patented 78 acres of "Poor Man's Beginning." Then 500 acres called "Westwood" and 400 acres of "Maiden Mount" that was later called "Bald Friar." I like "Daniel's Neglect" (75 acres) & "Dear Bought and Nothing Got!" Then there was "Paradise" & "West's Addition." He sold "Gash's Purchase" to Thomas Gash in 1740... was it named after it was sold?

Son, Robert West, Jr. continued the tradition with "West's Beginning" and "New Westwood." Later, "West's Long Acre" and "West's Double Cost."

I just realized that this naming of tracks of land, just may be a family thing. Like Mom's Wheatley's & Dad's West families they named the 7.5 acre track of land we lived on when I was growing up in north eastern Warrick County, Indiana. Dad used part of his middle name, Glennis, and the last part of Mom's name, Bernadine, to make the name "Glenadine Acres!"

- Compiled by JGWest

"Using Family Names For Computers!"

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The backyard Garage is finally torn down!

With all of the rain this year (plus not feeling well & a sundry of other excuses), it has taken me almost the whole year to finally tear it down. But, yesterday, a friend & his boys helped me. Busy from 6AM until the friend got here, I was tired, cold and really out of the mood to go through with it. But, with others to motivate me, we were done in about three hours. I still need to haul the debris to the dump, but the garage is down.

This is why I did not have time to post anything yesterday, nor for today. However, I was reading Facebook posts and one of my friends is Bill West (no known relation to me) who puts out a very nice genealogy related blog of his own... had an interesting topic about naming computers. Bill named his computers after TV show characters. One of the comments came from a Diane who said she named her computers for family members citing her two aunts. I got the idea that it would be cool to name my computers after my ancestors. So, I added the following comment to Bill's Facebook entry: "Diane, that is a neat idea... naming computers after family! Ignatius West was born in 1750 in Granville Co., NC and is the brother of my direct ancestor Thomas West, Jr. Thus, Iggy (my nickname for him) is an Uncle many "greats" back. So, I, hereby name my computer "Iggy"!"

We all have some cool names in our ancestry that are interesting, neat, special or highly unusual like my direct ancestor Littleberry Woodis. I could name a computer "Littleberry" or even "Woodis"! I could name one "Cincinnati" after my Great, Great Grandmother Cincinnati O. [Williams] West (I still do not know what the "O" stands for and it was used many times in records). My father, brother & nephew were all named "Gaither Glennis West" with either of the given names would make great names for a computer. Mom's name was Bernadine... not a bad computer name. Powerful names like James Tobias Long or Mary Bright Rogers. Another one John Barton Haynes. My favorite is Arthur Sylvester Mays husband of Susan Apalone Lewis. The name Ap(p)olone was used a lot in my Mattingly family.

We could name all sorts of items for our ancestors. Since we travel a lot to Ohio to see the grandkids in the Cincinnati area... I think I will name the car in honor of my GGGrandmother "Cincinnati!" My cell phone "Littleberry!" (Well, they have "Blackberry" phones, don't they?) Davy Crockett named his long rifle "Old Bess" - so, why not name important items we use? I wonder what is showing on "Tobias" today?

Oh, if I still had a garage, I could have named it "Woodis!"

- Written by JGWest

"It Can't Be This Easy!"

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As a kid of about 12...

I started asking relatives about our family. Who were they, where did they live, where did they come from, what did they do in their lives? Dad knew his great grandfather William Ellis West and Cincinnati, his wife - plus several of William's brothers. This would prove very helpful many years later. It was well known that the courthouse in Christian County, Kentucky was burnt down during the Civil War. He assumed all of the records were lost forever. A few years after Dad died his Aunt Eva died intestate (without a will) in Christian Co., KY. A legal problem surfaced concerning the estate that led me to an attorney in Hopkinsville for advice. As I left his office across the street was the courthouse with a large Historical Plaque. I decided to read it. The courthouse was burnt down during the Civil War, but the townspeople knew in advance... all records were saved back to the forming of the county in 1797 and still intact today! I checked records for William Ellis West using the index. In the first book he was listed with all of his siblings (several I knew from Dad) as heirs of their deceased father's interest in his father's share of the estate of his father! So, this one document stated that William Ellis West (with wife Cincinnati & his siblings and spouses) were the children of Jesse West, their father, who was the son of Charles H. West (Jesse's father) whose share of his father's (Thomas West) estate was the subject of this document. I thought this can not be this easy! I told the clerk of my discovery. A lady overheard me and told me about Shirley West Cain - a Christian County WEST expert! I called Shirley and gave my descent from William Ellis West to my grandfather Warner West. She asked that since Warner only had one son, Gaither, which of his kids was I... Glen, John or Don? She confirmed my whole line back to Thomas West and that I was qualified for Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)!

-Submitted by JGWest

"Brief Look at the Former Selvin High School"

Selvin High School Class of 1959

Celebrate Their 50th. Anniversary Reunion

Larry Oxley acts as class representative to welcome all Selvin School students to the reunion and remembers those Selvin students who passed away in the last year. Selvin School began in the 1880's and closed completely in 1963. The high school was closed as part of a large statewide consolidation of schools in 1962. I was a freshman at Selvin that year in 1962... they sent me to Dale High School in Spencer County for my Sophomore year. Then in 1963 the state closed Selvin Grade School and my sister Bettina (Tina) West was a member of the last Eighth Grade to graduate from Selvin Grade School. That year they closed Tennyson High School south of Selvin on Indiana Highway 161, sending those students to Boonville High School (Warrick County) and they decided to reduce out of county tuition payments to Spencer County by transporting me with the Tennyson kids to Boonville to attend my Junior year of school. I lived in one house and attended 3 high schools in 3 years. I graduated at Boonville High School in 1965, while the 15 freshmen students from Selvin in 1962 when they closed our school ended up, without moving from their homes, graduating from 5 different schools: Lynnville, Boonville, Dale, Holland & Jasper high schools. My younger brother, Donald West, entered Selvin Grade School as a first grader in 1959... so, for one year all four of us were in school at Selvin: Glen, me, Tina & Don.

Above is the Class of 1959 from Selvin High School in Selvin, Indiana (located in northeastern Warrick County). L-R: Roger King, Joyce Moesner, Larry Oxley, Ronald Dowdell, Jim Osborne, Gaither Glennis West(II), Larry Powell. [NOTE: Lanny Ingram was unable to attend. Only one of the graduates of this class has died - Carmen Surkamp (about 1990).]

-Photos taken & submitted by JGWest

"Happy Mother's Day!"

Happy Mother's Day to everyone! I can not go visit Mom, but I can remember her today in a special way:

Bernadine Long

11 Jul 1921 - 01 Oct 1997

My favorite photo of Mom

One of my very first photos that I took as a kid was of Mom in our house in the country (Warrick County, Indiana)

She was the mother of four children: Glen, me, Tina & Don.

She told us story after story about her family that always fascinated me and kindled my life-long love of genealogy. Mom did not like country living and times were kind of tough for work for Dad as a construction worker during the two economic recessions of the 1950's. After I graduated from high school, we moved back to Evansville: Mom's beloved city and home. Every year, without fail, Mom went out to decorate all of the local family grave sites in all of the various cemeteries with flowers... it was a very important responsibility on Memorial Day to remember family members who had died. Don, took her around each year after Dad died with me taking her around every two or three years. Now that Mom is gone and younger brother, Don, passed away in 2000, the responsibility, actually duty, is for me to decorate the family graves. I try to make Mom's the first & most special grave to decorate & remember. I miss you, Mom!

While Mom was the first woman in my life, this is the second woman... the mother of my three sons! Becky McIntyre [adopted name... birth name Meredith] with our first son, Phillip G. West (the other two sons are JJ & James). Happy Mother's Day, Becky!

- Submitted by JGWest

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

Not what most would call a plaque, but it is a testament to rural America.

This license plate was sold by my class in the very early 1960's for the Selvin (Indiana) High School Wildcats basketball team. Our school was basically too small to have a football or baseball team, but we had enough to just barely field a varsity and reserve basketball teams. The grade school had teams, too. I started in the fifth grade and was on the reserve team as a Freshman. I was not a good player and I was not very tall and I was chubby, too. but, I could get off the bench and serve as the fifth man on the floor when we had no one else to play! My class was the last Freshman class at Selvin when the High School was closed in the spring of 1962. We would have been Selvin's Class of 1965. The school was closed due to "consolidation" of the smaller rural schools for efficiency and economics. There were 15 in that freshman class, we have lost 2 classmates. We have a class reunion each year on Memorial Day weekend that began in 2000. We have had 12 of the 13 to attend one year or another, usually with about 10 showing up each year.

My older brother, Glen, graduated in 1959 from Selvin and proudly drives around with his Selvin Wildcats License plate in Charleston, South Carolina.

-Submitted by JGWest

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

This plaque is in Alexander Memorial Park Cemetery, Evansville, Indiana. Garden of Christus is the area that my mother and father are buried. My father is the Gaither G. West second to bottom on the right column. I am not sure, but this is the only section in the cemetery to have this type of Family Memorial. I will have to confirm that. Photo taken & submitted by JGWest

Tombstone Thursday – Bernadine & Gaither G. West

Alexander Memorial Cemetery, Evansville, Indiana
Bernadine Long (1921-1997) & Gaither Glennis West (1918-1973)
Married 09 Dec 1939

Mom was born and died in Evansville, Vanderburgh Co., IN and Dad was born in Ovil, Christian Co., KY and died in Evansville. They had three sons and a daughter, eight grandsons and, now, great grandchildren. Thanks Mom & Dad for all that you gave me. Although you are gone, you will always be in my memory and my heart. You were good parents and I pray I was a good child. Photo taken in Miami, FL at the home of my Grandma Gilkey in the 1950's (may be 1957). Notice the tall cactus next to Mom.
Photo submitted by John G. West

[Tombstone Thursday is dedicated in memory of Donald G. West 1952-2000]

Don was my little brother and Mom & Dad's youngest kid.

“A Tribute to a Friend”

J. Jeff Hays

1929 - 2008

I want to remember a friend who's funeral is today (27 Dec 2008). In order to make this more genealogically related, I need to first tell you a story about names in my WEST family line (which is connected with my friend).

John William West had 3 daughters and six sons, all of them but one made it to full adulthood. Gaither was only 15 when he died of appendicitis. My grandfather Warner West named my father after his younger brother, Gaither, with the full name of Gaither Glennis West. Dad named my older brother Gaither Glennis West, II who named his first born son, my nephew, Gaither Glennis West, III. I was given the name of John from my great grandfather John William West. I got my middle name from the actor, Gregory Peck. When we had our first son, I did not want him to be tagged as “Junior” - so, I gave him the name Phillip Gregory West. Then came son #2 (I gave him my first name of John) and later son #3 was not named after me... so, we named him after everyone else in the family with 3 given names – James William Warner West. Warner was my grandfather's name (Dad's father).

Now, I can tell you about my friend. J. Jeff Hays passed away on Monday 22 Dec 2008 and will be laid to rest today. Jeff was 78, he had lived a good life serving for about 24 years as an Indiana State Representative. In 1975 Jeff ran for Mayor of Evansville and asked me to serve on his campaign committee along with some very impressive people... I was deeply honored and thought that if he were elected that he would have been a very good mayor. It seemed like everything we saw or wrote around our house was “Hays for Mayor.” My oldest son, Phillip was Autistic and could not, at age 4, speak and did not write, but he ended up using toy blocks to spell out “Hays for Mayor!” That, of course, pleased Jeff and his wife, Mary Lou, to no end! When Jeff ran for office he always used the name “J. Jeff Hays” - most of us wondered what could the initial “J” stand for: Jacob, Jeremiah, Jedidiah, Junior or other unpopular names. None of us had the nerve to ask. But 1975 was the year for us to learn his first name. My #2 son was born that year shortly before the fall election. I had given Phillip my middle name, so I would have to give #2 my first name “John,” but what name shall we give him for a middle name? I really liked the name of John Gaither West, except for two reasons. 1) my brother seemed to be “stuck” with the name as he often said and had named his son, my nephew, the same name. Maybe using the name in my line might be like trying to take it away from his line. 2) Jeff's opponent was the current Evansville Mayor and his City Controller just happened to be named John Gaither (Gaither was his last name instead of a given name). I felt as if using the name Gaither would cast a question of loyalty in my dedication to Jeff's campaign, as was also advised by several on Jeff's committee. I did not want “John” to be a “Junior” so we thought about using his initials like the "Good Times" TV show that had a “JJ” character that often said “Dynamite!” If we had used the Gaither name, he would have been “JG” to avoid the “Junior” designation. We thought a lot about his name... I finally decided to name him after one of my favorite Presidents, Thomas Jefferson. I really liked the sound of “John Thomas West” or “John Jefferson West.” We could call him “JT” or “JJ”... we liked “JJ” the best. Therefore, #2 became John Jefferson West. But, guess what – the “J” in Jeff's name stood for John and Jeff was short for Jefferson. I had accidentally named him for Jeff... who was very, very pleased. My associates thought I was trying to win a high position in the Mayor's appointments if he were elected. Jeff did not win election, but I finally found the courage to tell Jeff the truth about how we named JJ. I wished I had not told him, because he was so sad with the true account of his “namesake!” Jeff continued as a State Representative and was very well regarded in the state, as well as, in the Evansville area. I was always pleased that my #2 son had the name of such a great public servant as John Jefferson Hays.

See Jeff's obituary here:
http://obits.courierpress.com/CourierPress/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=121811007