DOCK at the LIBRARY - TSGS Meetings/Events

Tonight will be another monthly meeting of the Tri-State Genealogical Society held at the Willard Library. The meeting starts at 7:30 PM. We will have a brief discussion about a large microfilm collection of county court records being offered to the library and/or TSGS at a great price per roll. These records include the Draper Manuscripts, Kentucky & Virginia County records (deeds, wills, etc.). Many of the Virginia Counties, such as; Bedford, Culpepper, Loudon, Louisa, Prince William & Caroline - are counties where many of our ancestors that migrated to the tri-state area from. Willard Library has very little in printed books for these counties since few exist. These rolls of microfilm will be a great addition to the genealogical collection at Willard. The entire collection of research material purchased by TSGS over the last 37 years are included within Willard's collection and free for everyone to use.

Yesterday, the TSGS Board approved a recommendation for the membership to authorize the Book Acquisition Committee to purchase up to $5,000 of these rolls of microfilm. This recommendation will be voted upon by those present (and members) at the meeting. By the way, anyone may attend our meetings... you do not need to be a dues paying member, except to vote.

The Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) will give a progress report. The Special Interest Groups (SIG's) Committee will have a survey to pass out during the meeting.

As reported yesterday here, the 6:30 PM HELP Session will meet in the Bayard room of Willard Library featuring TSGS Board Director Mary Lou Bevers presenting an interesting program "Falsified Legal Records and Other Pitfalls." This session is free to the public. Come early to be sure you get a seat!

The regular meeting program will be conducted by the Browning Family & Associates with updates and new features of the Online Browning Genealogical Database. I use this almost daily and continue to be amazed at how much it helps me with my personal genealogy and when someone asks me for information on a family! This is worth the time to come out and see. Again this is free to the public.

John G. West, TSGS President

From the FIRST MATE's PHOTO ALBUM...

"The New Look of

Evansville's Mesker Park Zoo"

[click on images to enlarge]

With the addition of the new Amazonia Exhibit, the zoo has created an all new entrance with a cafeteria & gift shop. The new entrance is on Mesker Park Drive across from the site of the old Amusement Park that was the home of the World's third largest Merry-go-Round.


J.G. West is standing in front of the new cafeteria, the Rainforest Grill. Good Food!

Becky West is on the top deck that overlooks the waterfall inside the Amazonia Exhibit. This is just a "teaser" photo... you need to go in person to see just how advanced Evansville's Zoo has become!

For those of you that have not been to Mesker Park Zoo for a number of years, you no doubt remember the old Monkey Ship. It was learned that the monkeys could not maintain good health on the ship, so they were moved to a more suitable environment. Unfortunately, the ship was abandoned and fell to disrepair and serious decay. BUT... it has now been restored for use for kiddie bumper boat rides.

Evansville is very lucky to have a zoo! It is not big and there are some animals we all would like to see that are not there; however, what is there is a real treat to see for young and old alike. - Photos taken by John & Becky West

Don Counts just made a comment to this article with a link to an article about the Evansville Mesker Park Zoo and its history: http://www.evansville.net/user/boneyard/hight01.htm with an old post card of the Monkey Ship with monkeys on it!

Just for fun... how many photos show an image of Becky West in the five photos above? Post in a comment, how many photos and which one(s). Number photos one through five from top to bottom. Do not get me in trouble by counting the monkey figurehead at the bow of the Monkey Ship!

THE CAPTAIN'S LOG –TSGS News

Another poll is over. Interesting results: 42.8% thought it was the ClustrMap Counter that was the new item on the TSGS Web Site; 28.6% said the new thing was the Meeting Schedule on the main page; two choices attracted 28.6% total for photo album update & other. I would say that all choices (except other) would be valid picks with the Meeting Schedule being the newest of all. This poll was developed to encourage everyone to actually look at our web site to see what is on it and to point out all the new things on our TSGS Web Site. The meeting schedule for the current month on the main page is a significant change and should be very helpful to get a quick look at who will present what at our up-coming meeting. I will take it down within a few days after each meeting to put up the next meeting. The ClustrMap is a cool new counter showing where our visitors live and it has shown me that 8 countries outside the USA has visited our site. We have had 5 hits from a person or persons from Ireland. It would be neat to hear from some of these visitors from other countries, of course, it may be genealogists on vacation or military personnel. -by JGWest

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Researchers are familiar with Willard Library's Cox Collection, which contains a great deal of information on Posey County families, but some may not know that this collection contains a number of photographs of individuals and tombstones. Work is underway to photocopy all photographs and file them in alphabetical order. Among the family photographs are those for the following: Allison, Calvin, Carroll, Cox, Endicott, Fletchall, Knowles, Marvel, Montgomery and Odell-Camp. These photographs will be of great value to researchers and we'll keep you informed of the progress of this work. - Submitted by Brenda Jerome

THE CAPTAIN'S LOG -TSGS News

Another Survey/Poll has closed. We have a new record of 15 participants. The question was:
When was your favorite Christmas time?
As a kid ...................... 8 (53%)
As a young parent ...... 5 (33%)
As an older parent ...... 2 (14%)
As a Grandparent ....... 0 (00%)

I was not sure how well this poll would be for our visitors, but as we had an increase in visitors the number voting increased. I thought "Christmas as a kid" would be the majority choice, but I thought "as a young parent" or "as a grandparent" would be the race for second place. I am a grandparent and, although, I had many great Christmases as a kid, I voted for being a young parent. With three sons, I really enjoyed playing Santa each year until the last one stopped believing in Santa. So, I guess of our non-scientific poll with a small sampling, that Christmas is best enjoyed as we are young and younger the better. Thanks to all who took time to make a selection. Some time today, I will try to create a new survey. I could use some ideas if you want to send me some... we want to try to have something related to genealogy or history with exceptions being around some of the holidays or other special events. Check back later today to see if I came up with something. And, as always, if you did not have a chance to vote on this poll, you may make a comment to this article telling us how you would have voted - you can also make the comment anonymously.

The TSGS regular Web Site has really jumped in people visiting the site since we added a guestbook and a link to this new TSGS Cruiser Blog. We generally got about 20-30 visits a month at the most - this was to check what the next meeting program was going to be. On Nov. 21, I happened to be the 52000th. visitor since the first visitor in 1996 (counter near bottom of page). This morning we are at 54361 - in about 40 days we have had 2,361 visits. That is not 2,361 different people, but the number of times people have looked at the main page. Every time you exit the page and then re-visit, the counter registers another hit (as long as there has been a short lapse between visits). On that web site, I have added a new gadget that counts what is known as "unique visits" located at the top of the page. It might look like an advertisement with a world map on it. A colorful square logo, that says "Visitors Locations" - it is from ClustrMaps and you can click this to get a new page with a large map with red dots from wherever anyone visits our page. And it tells how many have made a visit to this site and where from! Now, "unique visits" mean that for each of us, this counter only will register only one of our visits per a 24 hour period... you can visit 20 times and the lower counter will rack up another 20 "hits" but only one will be added to the count on the map counter. This is neat to check often as it shows where we live (as to the address of the Internet Server Provider [ISP] where you live). We have had visits from 7 countries outside of the USA and since Dec. 14 the web site has had 221 unique visits. Location of 219 are known as to address and plotted on the map (2 visits were from servers that did not have an address known). You can visit the regular TSGS Web Site by clicking on the TSGS Cruiser Blog graphic of the blue boat in the right-hand column... there are several links on the right that says "Visit the TSGS Web Site." - by JGWest

THE CAPTAIN'S LOG -TSGS News

Our poll asking who would we pick for an ancestor from the 7 choices provided is closed and the votes are in. We had 13 to make a choice. I was a little surprised that Abraham Lincoln was the choice of 46 % of our participants. I knew that our 16th. U.S. President would do well since we are located in Lincoln land. TSGS covers the 3 states that Lincoln claimed as home: Illinois, Indiana & Kentucky. Ol' Honest Abe got 6 of 13 votes! Cleopatra got no votes... probably one of the most powerful of all listed. Certainly one of the great Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. I placed Santa in the mix for fun... he got one vote as did Martin Luther King and Glenn Miller (great big band leader). Lucille Ball & J.D. Rockefeller got two votes each for a total of 13. Abraham Lincoln is special to me, since I grew up near where he was raised near Gentryville, Indiana. I have learned that my ancestors who lived near the Lincoln family in Hardin Co., Kentucky include a line of the Hanks family believed to be related to Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks. - by John G. West

Taken from - God's Little Devotional Book by Honor Books, Inc., P.O. Box 55388, Tulas, OK 74155, copyright 1997, pp. 8 & 9.
When God measures a man, He puts the tape around the heart instead of the head. "...the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."--- I Samuel 16:7

More Than Just "Face Value"

President Lincoln had the ability to laugh at himself, especially his own physical appearance. When Stephen A. Douglas once called him a "two-faced man," Lincoln responded, "I leave it to my audience. If I had another face, do you think I would wear this one?" Another time he told about meeting a woman riding horseback in the wood. She "looked at me intently, and said, 'I do believe you are the ugliest man I ever saw.' Said I, 'Madam, you are probably right, but I can't help it.' 'No,' said she, 'you can't help it, but you might stay at home.'" Although his likeness is widely recognized, Lincoln is not known primarily for his appearance, but for his courageous stance for restoration of the Union and the abolition of slavery. He is an example of remarkable patience, dedication, compassion, and thoughtfulness. These inner qualities are what mark Lincoln as one of America's greatest presidents. So much is made in our culture today toward appearance and material possessions. We do well to remember that it is our virtuous inner qualities that create a lasting reputation.

Make your selection on the new poll: "When was your favorite Christmas time? - JGW

THE CAPTAIN'S LOG –TSGS News

Our poll “Why Do You Do Genealogy?” attracted eleven participants. Many said their reason was to learn more about their ancestors (54%) or 6 of the 11 while 27% (3 voters) said that they wanted to “know who I am.” The poll was modified from the one Brenda Jerome sent me. You can still vote even though the poll has closed by simply clicking on the comments at bottom of this blog and posting your choice: honor ancestors, know who I am, like puzzles, learn about ancestors or other. Check out the latest poll (in the right-hand column) - of the listed who would you pick as your favorite ancestor!

Hey, the Packet (our members' quarterly journal) came in the mail yesterday... everyone will get theirs tomorrow if not in today's mail. Another nice looking Packet put together by our Editor, Brenda Legate. Good job by Brenda and all who submitted articles to publish. The next deadline for submissions for the March issue of the Tri-State Packet is January 15. See what the cover of our quarterly looks like – scroll down the right-hand column to the yellow copy of the Packet. You can also send something to be published in this blog.

A new feature for our regular Web Site is near the top of the index page. It is called ClustrMaps that shows visitors locations on a world map. You need to click on it for a larger version of the map that shows where our visitors accessed our sites (probably where they live or work). This morning we had 50 visitors since 14 December. Out of the 50, there were 17 outside the tri-state area including one from Ireland and one from Canada. I will report the results on the blog from time to time, but you can check it out yourself by going to our site (we have a link to our site under the graphic of our TSGS Cruiser in the right column). - by John G. West

ENGINEER'S REPORT –Tech Info

“What's the Scoop on This Blog?”

In the right-hand column of this blog I composed a welcome message to visitors wherein I state that “I have no idea of what I am doing!” Well, that has changed just enough to make me dangerous. I have looked at other blogs to see what they are doing and I have done a lot of experimenting with this blog. First, why the term “Blog?” It is short for “Web Log.” And the idea behind a log is to just publish a daily, weekly or other regular interval journal or diary of events, stories, information or thoughts. Well that is ok, but what is all of this nautical nonsense? Our members' quarterly journal is named the Tri-State Packet after the Ohio River packet line that delivered cargo along the river. The society meets at Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana on the Ohio River. The quarterly has a sketch of one of those old cargo packet line boats (see the yellow cover of our journal in the right column). The quarterly has regular features such as “The Ship's Log” (President's column), “News From the Deck” (Willard Library & TSGS news), “The Pilot House” (from the Editor), etc. So, I have used some nautical terms for features for this blog and updated the name from the old Packet boat to a cruiser. I found a neat graphic of a “cruiser” to represent the TSGS Cruiser Blog. Tell me what you think about it?

The TSGS Cruiser Blog is for anyone interested in genealogy and in particular the Tri-State Genealogical Society (TSGS). Anyone can send me ideas or articles to publish in this blog, click on one of the “submit ideas” links to send me an email. You can also make a comment about an article. Click on the word “Comments” at bottom of each article to make a comment about that article and your thoughts will become part of the interaction that a blog can generate. So far, this blog does not have a large following and has only a few comments. These comments provide feedback as to what interests our visitors and stimulates discussions about various topics and ideas. Please make a comment when you read these articles. Hopefully, you will come back on a regular basis to read the blogs that have been posted on this site, which is a daily log of various types of messages. The articles will always be in the left-hand column. Just below where you can post comments is a list of labels for the article which represents the subjects that label what the article is about. Anyone that contributes an article will get a “by-line” plus their name will be one of the labels. A long list of labels can be found in the right-hand column and number of articles for each label. Click on the label name and all of the articles with that label will appear in the left column. Above the labels is a list (archive) of each article's title that you can click on for it to appear on the left side. The archives is open for the current month's articles. Each month has a small pointer that you can click on to open the list of articles or close it (same for each year). Click on the name of the month and it will load all of the blogs for that month in the left side. In parentheses is the number of articles for that month or year. At the bottom of the left-hand column there is a link for “Newer Posts” “Home” “Older Posts” that will take you through all of the posts from the first to the last one. At the top of the right-hand column is our survey/poll that runs for about a week. You can only vote once, but each time you visit you can check the current vote results. I create the question and choices for it... I need visitors to give me some ideas or a complete poll. I will report the final results of each poll under the heading of “The Captain's Log – TSGS News.” After the poll closes voting is stopped, but you can click on comments later to post how you would have voted.

I would like to encourage everyone to become a follower of the TSGS Cruiser and to make comments, vote in our polls, send in an article or an idea for an article. Help us make this a great interactive site for TSGS members and other genealogical friends and visitors. We hope to make this a great communications tool to keep our members informed and a tool for our members to keep the rest of us “in the know.” Lets have some fun, learn some things and interact with one another. -by John G. West

THE CAPTAIN'S LOG –TSGS News

The results are in for the below survey/poll:

Which is possibly the least accurate date of a person's birth?
Marriage Application (2)
Certified Birth Certificate
Certified Death Certificate
Grave Marker/Tombstone (11)

Total 13 voters

This poll was created to evaluate evidence. All four choices can and are sometimes incorrect due to human error. However, some are more likely to be incorrect than others. Recordings of events closer to the time of the event tend to be more reliable than those that are provided much later. A birth record certified by an attending physician is considered to be correct and can be used in court as evidence of the date of birth. The marriage record would be the next closest to the event of birth. Legally, each must give information including birth to the clerk to fill out in the application and sign the form that all information is true and accurate. Usually, a certified copy of the birth record is requested to prove date of birth for each. This would make the marriage application the second most likely accurate record of birth. This choice got 2 votes that it might be more prone to error than all of the others. What about the certified death record... it is certified by the attending physician like the birth record? Here it is the date of death that is certified. Date of birth, parents names and other “facts” come from an informant that is listed on the death record. How well does the informant know the deceased, was that person a witness to the birth? How reliable is the informant? Death is the last event in a person's life making it the furtherest record from birth. Thus, it is the third best choice of the four. Well, you might say, what about the tombstone the date of birth & death are carved in stone! As far as strength of evidence goes, this choice would be the least likely accurate date of birth (and maybe death). You would think that something as expensive as a grave marker would generally be correct. Why do I and 11 of 13 say it is not always accurate. First, the dates of birth & death are often recorded on the marker after death, thus making it even further from birth than even the date of death. How long after death did anyone order a marker made? Who had the marker made and how knowledgeable & reliable were they of the facts for the deceased? Did the engraver carve out the correct dates? Did anyone check? A grave marker or tombstone would more likely be the least accurate date of a person's birth. Evaluating your evidence is very important. The more documents that you have that are in agreement, the more likely that it is correct. However, the strength of the evidence should be based on whether the person providing the information was a witness of the event and how long after the event was it recorded.

The current survey/poll can be found in the top right-hand column... “Why Do You Do Genealogy?” There are no right or wrong answers to this one, just your reason for researching your family history. Select your reason and click on the vote button.

THE CAPTAIN'S LOG - TSGS News

The Thanksgiving Favorite Pie survey has completed. Our first survey only attracted 12 voters. We ended with a tie between Pecan Pie & Pumpkin Pie with 5 votes each. The only other of the total six pies to get votes was the Mincemeat Pie with 2 votes. For me give me a slice of good ol' pumpkin pie with lite whipped cream or a hot slice of pecan pie with vanilla ice cream or... Ok! I like them all. Truthfully there are only two pies I like... hot or cold!

Try our latest survey. Which of the choices might be the least reliable in your opinion?

John G. West, TSGS President