Cheryl, Wow, thanks for the ideas! This particular person was born in Missouri and later lived in Illinois. So, they had to have lived in Missouri during the Missouri Compromise. So, it could go either way. I have found absolutely NOTHING before the 1870 Illinois census. I only found that one by accident actually. By searching for my grandfather's father, I found him as a very young child of 9yrs in 1870. I think I'm going to put that one away for right now and really concentrate on my mother's family. By slowly chipping away. I got past the 1769 guy and am concentrating on his father. I put his information on the DAR board for a patriot lookup and got a hit. I'm sending for his DAR file. That could be a big one! I got a lot of stuff from DRT when I found two ancestors were Texas Patriots. It's amazing what I found...I just get so excited when I find something. Thank you again for your thoughtful ideas! Terrie "Terrie Milligan" <Terrie@cavibigoaks.com>

Good Morning Bob, I finally took your advice and bought: Genealogy Online by Crowe, Elizabeth Powell The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy, 2nd Edition By: Christine Rose, Kay Germain Ingalls Still awaiting their arrival though.. It's beginning to be an obsession almost. I think I'm going to need to go buy a file box to keep all this documentation in. Thank you Bob for all of your well seasoned and wise advice. I've been listening to you actually for years now and learning from you, even though you didn't know I've been out here listening. Terrie "Terrie Milligan" <Terrie@cavibigoaks.com>

> > Michael > > I personally prefer RootsMagic. But, I think only FTM will > automatically enroll the info into the database and I, too, to not > like the way FTM enters all the data. I prefer entering info my > way. Does anyone use GenSmarts? It is great in assisting in > deciding what info to pursue and where it might be found in the > sources accessed by GenSmarts. I lost the CD and have not reloaded > for some time but I miss it. > > SHARON Zingery <szingery@sbcglobal.net> Sharon, I believe I have mine. I just have to find it. Give me a few days... Your cuz, Mary "GenResearcher" <genresearcher@charter.net>

> I'm a new kid on the block and I need some help. Here is the problem: > > Following my father's line, I followed MY grandfather to his father, > Edward. Well, I found a 1870 census of Edward as a child being > raised by his mother M. E. alone. > > Now, how do I find out what "M. E." stands for, and what happened to > Edward's father? I was thinking I could go through civil war > pensions and see if he died during the war...but I don't know what > her name WAS! It's really starting to annoy me. > > I have another from my mother's branch that dates to 1769 North > Carolina. I'm not finding anything on Ancestry. Where else can I > search for information on this ancestor? > > Terrie Milligan It /might/ be easier to make suggestions if you had mentioned what state the 1870 census covered, or which state you think the man served from, but ... The Natinoal Park Service at http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/ has a list of Civil War soldiers and sailors. It's about as complete a list as you'll find, but there ARE people who aren't on it. Once you know the state from which he served -- and which side -- you can look for pensions; Confederates got state pensions and in my experience all pensions are filed by the soldier's name, not the widow; A Union soldier would have gotten a Federal pension. Did you find the parental unit in the 1880 or 1860? Did you find a marriage record for M E (almost guaranteed to give her name); Did you find a different copy of the 1870 (1870 being one of the years where there was an original and 2 hand-copies, the last of which generally reduced to initials!)? HTH Cheryl singhals <singhals@erols.com>

> [ For those who can't or don't want to follow those links, the > executive summary is that The Generations Network (the parent > company of Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com, publisher of FTM) > is not owned or related to the LDS Church. On the other hand, > TGN is based in Provo and pretty much inherently there's some > degree of interaction between TGN and the LDS Church. - Mod ] Dear Mod: A number of times I have read that one should not open/follow links. Your reference above causes me now to seek an answer to that troubling question: why not? What is inherently dangerous (to one's computer) in so doing? I am relatively new to computer usage. Thank you very much for replying to a serious question. Barbara Mac [ The short answer to your question runs like this: Depending upon how your Web browser is configured, it is possible to get a computer virus by visiting a malicious Web page. A fairly high percentage of spam deliberately tries to get you to go to Web pages that have such malicious content. On the other hand, most of the Web *is* safe. The main things to think about are where did the link come from and where does the link go. If the link came from GENMTD at RootsWeb.com and points to a normal Website (rather than "xprtxzzy.com.ru"), then it's prolly safe to open. If it came from "yourfriend@yahoo.cn" and leads to "xprtxzzy.com.ru", then you almost surely don't want to open it. ;) Of course, just never following e-mailed links is the safest thing to do! - Mod ]

First get some books on genealogy and researching your family history form your library system and read them. Include a couple of recent books on internet genealogy. Terrie Milligan wrote: > I'm a new kid on the block and I need some help. Here is the > problem: > > Following my father's line, I followed my grandfather to his father, > Edward. Well, I found a 1870 census of Edward as a child being > raised by his mother M. E. alone. Look in the 1860 Census at all the families in that county with the same surname, You may be able to find them quickly if Edward was born before 1860 You should find a family with the wife given names starting with M and possibly with a middle name beginning with E; like Mary Elizabeth or Mary Ellen. > Now, how do I find out what "M. E." stands for, and what happened to > Edward's father? I was thinking I could go through civil war > pensions and see if he died during the war...but I don't know what > her name WAS! It's really starting to annoy me. > > I have another from my mother's branch that dates to 1769 North > Carolina. I'm not finding anything on Ancestry. Where else can I > search for information on this ancestor? You have not given enough information to give you a good answer. See the suggestions for writing a good query I sent to you off list. bob gillis bob gillis <robertgillis@verizon.net>

I'm a new kid on the block and I need some help. Here is the problem: Following my father's line, I followed MY grandfather to his father, Edward. Well, I found a 1870 census of Edward as a child being raised by his mother M. E. alone. Now, how do I find out what "M. E." stands for, and what happened to Edward's father? I was thinking I could go through civil war pensions and see if he died during the war...but I don't know what her name WAS! It's really starting to annoy me. I have another from my mother's branch that dates to 1769 North Carolina. I'm not finding anything on Ancestry. Where else can I search for information on this ancestor? I can use any suggestion you can think of! Thank you so much in advance, Terrie Milligan Acton, California "Terrie Milligan" <Terrie@cavibigoaks.com>

L.L. Scott wrote: > > From all I have seen, FTM and > > Ancestry.com are made for one another as they are owned my > > the same company, that of the LDS Church. > > http://tgn.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=111 > > http://www.spectrumequity.com/investments/index.html > > > [ For those who can't or don't want to follow those links, the > executive summary is that The Generations Network (the parent > company of Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com, publisher of FTM) > is not owned or related to the LDS Church. On the other hand, > TGN is based in Provo and pretty much inherently there's some > degree of interaction between TGN and the LDS Church. - Mod ] (G) The bakery just off the Pont Neuf is owned by a Catholic, not the Catholic Church. ;) I'm not sure "parent" is the right word -- I'd've said it the other way round, since Ancestry.com bought genealogy.com and they then formed TGN. Cheryl singhals <singhals@erols.com>

> I have just purchased Legacy 7. I have been adding the information > that I know and have an account on Ancestry.com. I guess the first > bit of help I need is how to pull in the sources and citations from > Ancestry.com to Legacy 7. I had tried Family Tree Maker and it seems > that was no problem at all. Does anyone have any suggestions? > > Michael Michael, join the LEGACY list on RootsWeb and ask there. I understand that Legacy has made source templates for *all* of the examples in Evidence Explained. I do not know but doubt that they match the source templates as used by Ancestry. bob gillis bob gillis <robertgillis@verizon.net>

singhals wrote: > Maybe I've misunderstood the situation, but it has been MY > understanding that divorces in the 17th century under British/ > English rule were devilishly hard to obtain, either in England or > the Colonies. Legal divorces, yes. It was easier for a man to obtain one than a woman if he had the money. > ...if there's no divorce and nobody died, how'd both halves of the > couple manage to remarry? With a "poor man's divorce" <G> The couple simply split up and remarried, often in another parish where they weren't known. It would have been trickier if the couple stayed in the same parish but where there's a will, there's a way and there's a way to do anything if one has the will to find it :)) Charani <SGBNOSPAM@ mail2genes.invalid>

> I went off to an on-line database, created and maintained by a state's own > government. I scoured it for a fairly uncommon surname, and copied the > results into the database I created from a 1980s book on the family. > > I gotta tell you, there are some SERIOUS discrepancies between Marriage > Record A and Marriage Record B! > > SOME of it is probably due to some data-entry-er (me or them, doesn't > matter) picking up the date of the license rather than the date of the > actual marriage -- I figure up to a 30 day difference is that. SOME of the > discrepancies cannot be explained away. > > F'instance, I have a newspaper account of a marriage that occurred in a > different state altogether; this account is complete with the name of the > minister and the specific church in that other town. Yet -- same marriage > appears in these on-line records as having happened in THIS state. > > F'instance, I've seen a marriage certificate that says the wedding occurred > on 11 Oct 1869; state records say 29 Nov 1868. Now that's just _backwards!_ > > F'instance, woman still living says her name is Axxxx middlename; her > marriage record gives her as Ayyyy differentmiddlename. Good thing her > husband had a HIGHLY recognizable name or I'd never have found them! > > F'instance, woman is illegitimate and NEVER used her stepfather's surname -- > except on this marriage record. > > Then there's the one where every detail of bride and groom match the > database -- birthdates & places -- except that the marriage date makes him > 11 months old at the time. I /don't/ think so. > > So, all the info is in the NOTES and discrepancies are marked. Let someone > who doesn't know the participants figure it out. > > Cheryl Singhals <singhals@erols.com> I found with checking for my paternal grandmothers birth record that no one in the family knew her legal first and middle name. At some point in time, she changed it per information she gave (not a court change)! The birth record shows Maria Anna. She was known as and all other legal documents show Mary Elizabeth. I know it was her in birth records ( 1889) per THE PARENTS names. "Donna \(History Buff\) M. St. Felix" <dstfelix@erinet.com>

> I have just purchased Legacy 7. I have been adding the information > that I know and have an account on Ancestry.com. I guess the first > bit of help I need is how to pull in the sources and citations from > Ancestry.com to Legacy 7. I had tried Family Tree Maker and it > seems that was no problem at all. Does anyone have any suggestions? > > Michael I personally prefer RootsMagic. But, I think only FTM will automatically enroll the info into the database and I, too, to not like the way FTM enters all the data. I prefer entering info my way. Does anyone use GenSmarts? It is great in assisting in deciding what info to pursue and where it might be found in the sources accessed by GenSmarts. I lost the CD and have not reloaded for some time but I miss it. SHARON Zingery <szingery@sbcglobal.net>

Maybe I've misunderstood the situation, but it has been MY understanding that divorces in the 17th century under British/ English rule were devilishly hard to obtain, either in England or the Colonies. OTOH, maybe I'm overlooking something important. (g) He marries She. They have 13 kids. He then marries She-2; no issue. He now marries She-3; no issue. She marries (2nd) He-2 who DSPs and She marries (3rd) He-3. The dates do not permit the warm embrace of the notion that there are 3 men of the same name and three women of the same name. And, I suppose, since my interest is in one of the early ones of the 13, it doesn't actually /matter/ to the lineage I'm looking at, but still ... ...if there's no divorce and nobody died, how'd both halves of the couple manage to remarry? It's a puzzlement, as this week's Sunday crossword suggests. Cheryl singhals <singhals@erols.com>

> I have just purchased Legacy 7. I have been adding the information > that I know and have an account on Ancestry.com. I guess the first > bit of help I need is how to pull in the sources and citations from > Ancestry.com to Legacy 7. I had tried Family Tree Maker and it > seems that was no problem at all. Does anyone have any suggestions? > > Michael Sorry, I don't use either Legacy or FTM that much. Generally speaking, from past experience with FTM, what it pulls in isn't the most useful source-citation I've ever used or created. Doesn't the HELP file in Legacy discuss how-to-do-this? Did you try the Legacy forum, or even soc.genealogy.computing ? Cheryl (who still prefers PAF 2.31 but has some warm-fuzzies for AQ these days) singhals <singhals@erols.com>

> From all I have seen, FTM and > Ancestry.com are made for one another as they are owned my > the same company, that of the LDS Church. http://tgn.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=111 http://www.spectrumequity.com/investments/index.html [ For those who can't or don't want to follow those links, the executive summary is that The Generations Network (the parent company of Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com, publisher of FTM) is not owned or related to the LDS Church. On the other hand, TGN is based in Provo and pretty much inherently there's some degree of interaction between TGN and the LDS Church. - Mod ] "L.L. Scott" <llscott2000@bellsouth.net>

> I have just purchased Legacy 7. I have been adding the information > that I know and have an account on Ancestry.com. I guess the first > bit of help I need is how to pull in the sources and citations from > Ancestry.com to Legacy 7. I had tried Family Tree Maker and it > seems that was no problem at all. Does anyone have any suggestions? > > "Michael" <genealogy6@verizon.net> You might try subscribing to the Legacy email list http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp and posting your question there. I used to use Legacy, but don't anymore, so I don't know if what you want to do is possible with Legacy. HTH, Carol Carol V <norfolkterrierlover@gmail.com>

> I have just purchased Legacy 7. I have been adding the information > that I know and have an account on Ancestry.com. I guess the first > bit of help I need is how to pull in the sources and citations from > Ancestry.com to Legacy 7. I had tried Family Tree Maker and it > seems that was no problem at all. Does anyone have any suggestions? > > "Michael" <genealogy6@verizon.net> While I cannot speak volumes about using either FTM or Legacy 7 --- I am using Reunion on a Mac. From all I have seen, FTM and Ancestry.com are made for one another as they are owned my the same company, that of the LDS Church. Other (non LDS) applications do not pull in such data automatically, and thus, must be handled manually. For that matter, your Legacy manual will tell you how to enter such sources in batch mode --- it just will not be automatic. I shall add that Ancestry.com should be used ONLY as a starting point when searching for new data as much of their information leaves a lot to be desired IMHO. Besides, I have a basic aversion to spending large amounts of $$$ for information that can be found and obtained for little or no cost elsewhere! In that regard, you have made the first step toward independence from Ancestry.com by joining this group. Step two is to explore the rootsweb.com mail lists for surnames, places, and other topics of interest. (I belong to nearly 30 such lists and have found far more data for free via these lists than any other way!) HTH, Regards, Arnold <><><><><><><><><><><> Arrowhead Images <surveyor999 AT a-znet.com> <><><><><><><><><><><> And on the eighth day God said: "Ok, Murphy, take over!" AE Palmer <surveyor999@a-znet.com>

I have just purchased Legacy 7. I have been adding the information that I know and have an account on Ancestry.com. I guess the first bit of help I need is how to pull in the sources and citations from Ancestry.com to Legacy 7. I had tried Family Tree Maker and it seems that was no problem at all. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks Michael "Michael" <genealogy6@verizon.net>

> "Cheryl Freeman" wrote: > > > [...] Mom had never used her middle name and wasn't sure what it was. > > [...] > > At least she knew she had one. > > My firm in England was working on a computer project with an > Italian firm. One of the Italians, after a workshop meeting in the > UK, told his mother of his surprise at meeting a culture in which > it was normal to have two given names. She took the opportunity > to tell him that he himself had a second given name, and what it > was. > > myths@ic24.net (cecilia) What a great story :) When I first started doing research, I puzzled over my inability to find one of my great-grandmothers in any record prior to the census in the year of her death, despite knowing that her given name was Lena. It was only later when I got a copy of her death certificate and saw her name entered as "Mary Maggie Magdaline Young" that I realized that the records I'd found for a young "Mary", "Maggie" and "Lena" were all hers. She had rather more nicknames than I'd expected. Learning about German naming patterns has helped me as I work my way back through her ancestors. "Cheryl Freeman" <cheryl@genattic.com>

"Cheryl Freeman" wrote: > [...] Mom had never used her middle name and wasn't sure > what it was. [...] At least she knew she had one. My firm in England was working on a computer project with an Italian firm. One of the Italians, after a workshop meeting in the UK, told his mother of his surprise at meeting a culture in which it was normal to have two given names. She took the opportunity to tell him that he himself had a second given name, and what it was. myths@ic24.net (cecilia)