Happy Birthday, America!

Have you wondered...

if you had a Revolutionary War Patriot or Soldier in your ancestry?  Dick Eastman posted on his newsletter a good article that may be of help. [Not mentioned was the 1840 U.S. Federal Census list those living in the household that are getting military pensions.  - JGW]

See his article at: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/07/how-to-find-a-revolutionary-war-patriot.html

Happy July 4th.!

From TSGS

- Graphic created by Steve Oberlin, copyright 2009 by the Indiana Society Sons of the American Revolution.

DNA News

From Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

FamilyTreeDNA has offered the following announcement:

With the end of the DNA Day promotion, we (Bennett and Max), considered how to continue offering the best prices, yet keep control in the lab to avoid delays from high volume. Since demand is directly related to prices, we decided to implement a temporary price rollback whenever lab capacity allows us to do so.

Despite an extremely successful sale, we believe that with our increased lab capacity, we are able to continue offering reduced prices on several tests. While the prices are not as low as they were for the DNA Day promotion, you will notice that these temporary reductions are extremely attractive, and should be a real incentive to anyone that did not take advantage of the sale to order now, while the prices are reduced. With this system in place, prices may go up on different tests at any time based on lab volume.

Additionally, on April 1st when we permanently reduced the price of the Y-DNA12 to $49, we mentioned that our R&D team was working towards a price reduction for the equivalent mtDNA basic test. Good news! Not only did we manage to achieve this goal, but we did it for the mtDNAPlus test that covers both HVR1 and HVR2. Therefore, we're discontinuing the HVR1-only test. Our basic mtDNA test will now be the mtDNAPlus (HVR1+2) at the $49 price point! We hope that with the basic Y-DNA and mtDNA tests very reasonably priced, a whole new group of people will be tempted to begin their own DNA experience and increase the size of your projects!
You are welcome to spread the news, and as always, we thank you for your continued support.

(signed)
Max Blankfeld
Bennett Greenspan
Family Tree DNA

You can learn more at http://www.familytreedna.com/. 

West, Texas Explosion

Last week was a very bad week in the United States.  The Boston bombings and the fertilizer plant explosions in West, Texas will long be in our memories as a nation prayed for the families of those who died or were injured.  My family has a connection to the town of West, Texas.

Thomas Marion West was born November 5th, 1834 in Christian County, Kentucky. After moving to Texas he fought in the civil war becoming a Captain in the 19th Texas Cavalry Regiment. After the war he married Martha Jame Adams Steele in McLennan County, Texas. He was a farmer and later became the Postmaster at the Bold Springs train depot. The train depot was built on land originally owned by Thomas West. Later the depot with Thomas West as postmaster became known as the West Depot and in 1892 the area was incorporated as the town of West. Thomas West died on January 27, 1912 and is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Ross, Texas, about 5 miles south of West.

Thomas West was born in Christian Co., KY, the son of William Ellis West and Narcissa Stroud.  William Ellis West was a brother to my 3rd. great grandfather Jesse West, their father Charles H. West is a common ancestor for Thomas M. West and myself.  My 2nd. great grandfather was named for Thomas' father, William Ellis West.  He and Thomas M. West were first cousins.

Another son of Charles H. West was Thomas Allen West who also went to Texas settling in Denton County.

- Compiled by JGWest  [some of the above info was obtained from a web site supplied by Sandra Abbott yesterday http://www.west-tx.c­om/genealogy/ThomasWe­st/ including the grave marker photo (photo taken 7/5/2008 by bvm)... no contact info was available.]

Social Security Database - New Links

This from the KYGENWEB List:

Happy Easter everyone! One of our coordinators emailed me yesterday about
an email she received from Rootsweb/Ancestry. Wesley Exon is a content
marketing manager for RW and is trying to reach coordinators who have their
sites on RW. The Social Security database link has changed and he wants yo
to be aware of it! If you get an email from him, please answer! For the
rest of the coordinators (no matter where your site is), if you have a link
on your site to the SSI Database, please make sure the link is correct. The
new link is:  http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3693


Thanks,
Suzanne Shephard
Assistant State Coordinator
KYGenWeb is part of the
USGenWeb Project

Just got this after posting the above!

FYI: RW's (Ancestry.com's) Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is no
longer free.  It was moved over to their subscriber's side many
months ago.  I believe they sited privacy concerns, if you can
believe that.  I changed my link to the SSDI at FamilySearch.org (
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1202535 ).  The main thing
that I miss is being able to search by exact birth or death dates;
with FamilySearch's SSDI database you can only specify by year or a
range of years.  There are a few other free SSDI databases out there,
but I found this one to be the most reliable and easy to use.

Brian K. Caudill
Malabar, FL

Special Memorial for Easter

A very special child who loved to swing and sing her favorite song "Jesus Loves Me."

Samantha Ann McDonald

Located in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville KY is the most beautiful monument for a sweet little child who loved Jesus.  Photos come from a great blog "Save A Grave" http://saveagrave.net/sami 

Go to Save A Grave for more and also visit

Find-A-Grave http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16477414

 The stone portion of this monument was designed by Terry Joy of Joy Monuments out of Louisville, KY. Tom White of Bethel, Maine was the sculptor of the bronze parts of the monument.

 "Sami"

 Visit Sam's Rock to learn about Sami and the work of her family to help others... http://www.samsrock.net/

The LORD is my ROCK - 2 Samuel 22:2

 Sami and Jesus

 A beautiful, innocent child swings with joy with Jesus!

 "This is a monument of Jesus holding the rope of a 3 year old Sami McDonald, who is swinging in a swing. They both have a smile and look like they are having a great time. Words to her favorite song “Jesus Loves Me” are etched into the granite rock. Along side her hand print are the hand prints of her Brother Jacob and her sister Becca."

"Jesus loves me, this I know... Let His little child come in... For the Bible tells me so!"

- Indiana Bones and the Tri-State Genealogical Society wishes everyone a very Happy Easter!

Genealogy on Your Kindle Fire!

Using the Kindle Fire for Genealogy – GedFamilies

Just found a link to this article on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN) points to an easy way to carry your genealogy with you without having a computer.  Use your Kindle or other electronic devices.  

Here is part of the short article that has several links for more information:  GenBlog by 

Julie Cahill Tarr, Genealogist

"A few months ago, the company that developed Families [designed to work with the software Legacy Family Tree] released GedFamilies (Android, iOS, $7.99).  From what I can tell (based on the product description, screenshots, and the “test drive” I took on Amazon) it is nearly identical to Families.  The big difference between the two apps is that Families only works with Legacy Family Tree databases, while GedFamilies works with a GEDCOM file.  That basically means that if you use ANY genealogy database software that can generate a GEDCOM 5.5.1 file, you can use the GedFamilies app and have your family tree on your Kindle Fire.  Just like the Families app, you will need to download and install a syncing program on your computer."

TSGS Web Site

It has been some time since I mentioned our TSGS web site here on the blog.  On 14 Dec 2008, we began using a new counter with a cool world map that maintained some interesting facts about where many of our visitors to the site were checking us out.  The counter is named ClustrMaps.  Since we began its use, we have gotten 13,926 hits from all over the world.  In addition to the United States, we have been visited by at least one person from 46 countries with Germany leading the way, 42 hits; next is Canada with 31 visits; 25 from Taiwan; United Kingdom (GB) had 19; and Ireland finished the top 5 with 10 hits!

Over the last three years, we have had a total of 9,953 hits around the world, of these the United States had 9,731 with Indiana getting a huge bulk of these visits (4,192).  The other two states in the Tri-State area were Illinois with 598 hits and Kentucky had 572.  These were the top 3 and the following are the remainder of the top 10: California 492, Texas 312, Michigan 310, Florida 256, Ohio 248, Missouri 209, and Tennessee with 171.

When you go to our web site - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~intsgs/index.html 
scroll to the bottom center and click on the map to see graphically on a world map where our visits are located and a list of states and countries with their totals.

The wide spread of these hits explains why we have so many TSGS members scattered all over the U.S.A.

- Compiled by JGWest

Old Unknown Cemetery Found

An old cemetery has been discovered on the grounds of the State Hospital... this is not the first discovery of unmarked, forgotten graves on these grounds.  The Evansville Courier is reporting the discovery: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jan/14/no-headline---pedestrian_bridge/

Read the article and let us know what you think about the story and what you remember of past stories similar to this one.

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

                                           

                                             *************

 

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

ENGINEER'S REPORT – Tech Info

 

This morning, as I do each morning, I checked my email and the many newsletters and other formats of info that comes in my email inbox hourly.  I found this very interesting new advancement in "electronic genealogy."  It has been called "Digitising the Deceased!"  This comes from Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter EOGN

 

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/09/digitising-the-deceased.html

"Radio4 in the UK has an interesting report about placing QR Codes on tombstones. (See the picture to the right for a typical QR code.) Edward Stourton of the Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme, recently interviewed Steven Nimmo, a funeral director from Dorset, to find out how digital 'quick response' codes are being placed on gravestones. Scanning the code with a smart phone directs people to a webpage where they can find a wealth of information about the deceased.

You can listen to the audio from the radio programme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00z02tn."

 

This audio link is worth about 2.42 minutes of listening... it is a really cool way to remember love ones.  It is similar to the "Memorial Madallions" we heard about in the last few years.  Technology and genealogy marches on!

 

- Compiled by Indiana Bones

From the Firdt Mate's Photo Album - Willard Library

Very Large Portrait

of George Washington

with Horse

Hangs midway on the stairs to the second floor.

 

This photo and excerpts below are from the Willard Library website: Washington's Portrait. [Click on the link to the left for this photo and story.]

This copy of Gilbert Stuart’s “George Washington at Dorcester Heights” (which hangs at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts) is believed to have been painted by William Edward West.

The painting has been with Willard Library since its opening, but how it came to the Library was a mystery until 1954.

At that time, Julia Evans Stephens Shea, a resident of Hollywood, California, and descendent of General Robert M. Evans, was visiting Evansville. During her stay, she read a newspaper article by Bish Thompson on the cleanup and minor restoration of the painting.

Shea was the only living heir to the painting in 1954, and she determined it should be left on display at Willard Library. It hangs there today.

Willard Library Director Greg Hager told me an interesting story about this painting that maybe I will be able to get him to share on this blog!  My middle son, JJ, who just turned 37 lives in Cincinnati and asked me about this painting that he remembers as an 8 or 9 year old.

Photographs of Willard Library, 1948

• Click to view enlarged image.

J. Paul Wurtz is the photographer of these Willard Library images, taken in 1948.

Reading Table and Bench

• Click to view enlarged image.

The reading table and bench from Columbia school were a gift from Mrs. Sam Warren.

Willard Library and Other Notable Buildings of Evansville

• Click to view enlarged image.

The depictions of Willard Library and other notable buildings of Evansville are from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, October 12, 1889.

- Compiled by JGWest

Link Changes to Evansville City Cemeteries

I go to the City Cemeteries (Oak Hill & Locust Hill) almost every day to search for a grave.  Last night, I could not get to these great genealogical databases... I got instead a re-direct to a login page.  I went to the Oak Hill Cemetery Face Book site and asked what was happening.  The City/County web sites just recently went through some revising which included some changes in the URL's to the various governmental departments.  For some unknown reason the old links bring you to the login page instead of a re-direct to the new URL address or simply inform you that the sites have been revised with new Uniform Resource Locator (URL) addresses.  Oak Hill management quickly provided all that I needed just a few minutes after 8 AM... special thanks to Chris & his staff!

This is one of the biggest problems with the Internet that after you find a great site... you bookmark it and then that bookmark becomes a bad link because the site changed servers or simply just changed the URL within the site. I have worked 16 years on the Internet and have figured out ways to find these elusive new addresses for the sites I want to visit.  Fortunately, I found a way to get to the cemetery databases late last night when I wanted to get a little info about a Gus Mattingly that had drowned trying to save others!  His grave marker was featured on a "Tombstone Thursday" on this TSGS Cruiser Blog (check the labels to the right for a link to that blog -"Gus Mattingly").

Anyway, I got a quick response this morning from that Cemetery Face Book page which I appreciate very much!  They gave me the new URL's to use on the links for the Tri-State Genealogical Society's web site for those who visit our site.  They have been updated on our site.

If you would want to bookmark the new URL's, here is the two cemetery databases and the Evansville City Cemeteries' home page

Locust Hill Cemetery Database Search http://www.evansvillegis.com/cemeteries/locusthill.aspx

Oak Hill Cemetery Database Search  http://www.evansvillegis.com/cemeteries/oakhill.aspx

Evansville City Cemeteries Home Page  http://www.evansville.in.gov/index.aspx?page=1334

Now, that fall is upon us, you might want to visit the city cemeteries, especially Oak Hill, to see all of the beautiful trees as they change colors.  I have spent hours photographing the breath taking beauty of this cemetery!

- Compiled by JGWest

Labor Day 1908

 

From the

National Museum of American History

 

Here's what Labor Day looked like back in 1908. These anthracite coal miners parade with their simple float and one very large chunk of coal.

Our blog digs up the making of Labor Day in the United States: http://s.si.edu/dnyd1
- submitted by Don Counts

From the First Mate's Photo Album - Counts

TSGS President Don Counts sent this photo for our blog.  John Counts is my Grandpa and served on the Evansville Traffic Squad.  I saw the following article "Evansville Police Department 150th Anniversary"

http://westside.14news.com/news/news/61534-epd-seeking-old-photos-memorabilia and called Brad Hill.  He came by and borrowed the picture.  He couldn't find a scanner big enough then found a person with a hand held scanner that worked.

[Click on photo for a larger image.]

From Left to Right: Gilbert Underdown, John Counts, Norman Clark, Chris Humphreys, George Gamble, William Hudson, John Hamrush, William Schulte, Walter Fisher, Charles Ohning, Clyde Roebling, Ralph Plummer and William S Perrett

My Grandpa is the 2nd from the left on his motor cycle.  My Dad was born in 1920 and he was a policeman when Dad was little so this is probably in the 1920s.

Brad and the police department were impressed and they are going to make this a wallpaper to go in the entrance to the police department.

- Photo submitted by Don Counts.

Correcting Indexing Errors 1940 Census

The following is from the Ancestry.com blog ~

How Can I Improve the 1940 U.S. Census?

Posted by Nick Cifuentes on August 15, 2012 in Ancestry.com Site

 

Changing a name or other indexed details
First thing to do when you discover an error in an indexed name or other detail on the 1940 census or any collection on ancestry.com, is fix it. By adding your own corrections or alternative names – even a nickname if you know your family member regularly went by one – you’ll help other people searching for the same individual find him or her even faster. And your later searches for that same individual will produce results with the name you’ve added, too.
There are two places you can add your own corrections and alternatives: from the index page or while viewing the actual census image.
From the index page
Select View/Add Alternate Information from the Page Tools box on the left. Then follow the instructions to update the information about the individual with your changes.

While viewing the census image
Hover over the specific entry, or box, you’d like to change in the index at the bottom of the screen and a pencil icon will appear. Select the box and follow the instructions to update the information.

You’ll find step-by-step instructions for making changes here.
Reporting a problem with the image itself
On occasion, the census image itself may be causing the problem. In these instances, contact our Member Services team at 1-800-ANCESTRY to report the problem.
Why it matters
Submitting an alternative or a correction to an index adds that information to the index itself. Within a few weeks, the information you’ve provided becomes publicly searchable as well making it easier for other people to find answers, too. Alternatively, reporting an image problem to our Member Services team alerts us to review the image so we can attempt to correct it.
What to do when you can’t find your family member in the indexed 1940 U.S. Census
On occasion, an index discrepancy may make it difficult to find your family member in the 1940 U.S. Census. In that instance, you may want to search for your family member by “browsing” images instead. Our Free downloadable guide will show you the steps to discovering your family by browsing.

[See the beginning of this article here: http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2012/08/15/how-can-i-improve-the-1940-u-s-census/]

1833 Eagle Map of the USA

'
This is a really cool map that can be viewed by zooming-in on it!

Accessible Archives

The Eagle Map of the United States engraved for Rudiments of National Knowledge by Isaac W. Moore c1833.  Relief shown pictorially. Shows the image of an eagle superimposed on the United States.  Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1832 by J. Churchman in the Clerk's Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  Explore the full map at http://zoom.it/bQKe

NOTE: the link to Accessible Archives takes you to their Face Book Timeline site that has many, many interesting photos to enjoy & share.  They provide full-text searchable access to vast quantities of archived early American historical publications for an annual fee.

"Gene Toons" by Wendell Washer

And we do "Brake for Cemeteries!

http://www.genetoons.com/

- Link sent in by Don Counts

Interesting Revolutionary War Timeline!

Cool Timeline!

http://www.americanrevolutioncenter.org/collection

- From Mark Kreps.

Plaque/Marker/Monument Monday

'

Mesker Park Zoo and Beetles...

 [Click on photos to get a larger image to read plaque above.]

Collection of M.C. Berry of Evansville, Indiana

The Entomology Collection is in the Discovery Center at Mesker Park Zoo.

- Photos taken and submitted by JGWest.

"Digging Up Info About Premature Burials"

'

Recently,

my friend Mark Kreps

posted a photo of a neat little child's coffin from the Ft. Vallonia, Indiana Museum with a small wooden top that slid to one side and you could view the child thru a glass cover. I pointed out that besides the viewing that it might also provide evidence if the child had not actually died because the inside of the glass would fog over if the little one was still alive, even with the faintest of breathing. This would be similar to using a mirror to see if it would fog-up from someone that was believed to have died.

Before embalming became the norm, there existed enormous fear by some people of premature burials or being buried alive... this fear is known as taphephobia. The fear was increased by the tales of people being found in coffins that were clawed on the inside and splinters from the wooden coffin under the “victims” finger nails! Those with this fear went to great expense to have a safety coffin made that would help against a premature burial. Many of these coffins would involve a string tied to their hand and would be attached to a bell or to a spring loaded flag that could be activated by the “deceased” if they should awaken after burial. Some would be designed to signal others before burial.

I had said in my comments to Mark's photo that this was where the phrase “grave shift” came from. With my recent “digging up” of some facts about all of this, I learned that my statement might not be true, even-though it clearly stands to reason that if you had a safety coffin, that you would have secured people to watch and listen for your signal. The “graveyard shift” originated, as some believe, to refer to the work shift between the hours of Midnight and 8AM when there was more chance of accidents, etc. I had heard many years ago that the shift was so named because it was harder on people to work those hours or that they would not get as much rest as the more “normal” hours would provide and thus could send you to an early grave. Since, I have pointed out the possible incorrect origin for “graveyard shift,” I feel like I have the obligation to point out 2 other myths. “Dead Ringer” is believed to not have anything to do with a safety coffin or a premature burial. Instead it has to do with horse racers where a substitute or “ringer” was put in that looked very similar to another horse to fool the horse betting bookies... “dead” was added like in “dead on” and people would say things like “Bob is a dead ringer for his Uncle Ralph!” The second myth is “saved by the bell” which came from boxing, not someone from the grave ringing to be saved! The boxer was about to get knocked completely out but the bell was rung for the end of the round just in time!

Here are a few links to some sites that I got information for this blog or has interesting stories:
10 Horrifying Premature Burials

Just Dying to Get Out - Snopes.com

Premature Burial – Wikipedia

Wake Ceremony – Wikipedia

Funeral Customs – Contents (chapters)

Funeral Customs – Chapter IV “Wakes, etc.”

- Written and compiled by JGWest.