We had a McCrary which turned out to be a McCurry. This spelling thing has been a real problem and caused us to go down the wrong road for about 40 years! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ellie Dowling" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 10:08 PM Subject: Re: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration fromNH toPA in 1719 > Hi Linda, thanks for taking so much time to answer my, I don't know what > to > do comment. I should have let you know why I have a snag in the McCleary > family search. I have traced them back to North Carolina during the civil > war and even one tax list after, and then other census from then till now, > but my snag is I can't figure out how to go further back to tie the > McCleary > family elsewhere to the one in North Carolina. The North Carolina county > courthouse where the McCleary family lived was bombed during the civil war > and burnt down. all records lost, and then it burnt 3 more times... I can > not seem to find who the father of Jefferson McCleary, also spelled > McClorry, and MCClary on different census papers. Not doing such a hot > job > of figuring out who his wife is either. she must have been dead by the > time > the records that have survived were taken. I did read a bit of a history > book online that said a lot of Scotts that came to North Carolina > actually > came inland through Tennessee, but Jefferson lists he was born in North > Carolina. I have found records in other counties of McCleary or some > derivative thereof, but no one claims Jefferson on their family . I'm > stumped. I figured I would just suearch out every MCCleary etc I can find > from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and I might get lucky and find > something. Right now it is guesswork. The Dowling name means nothing as > far as ancestry goes... My husbands father and his twin sister, were > adopted > by the Dowlings. His dads adoptive mother made him promise to never look > for his genetic parents. Thankfully his wife finally talked him into > letting her look when he was 70 years old. We have been able to trace his > blood family, The Raffields, and the Morris family we are still working > on. > The Morris side was possibly Irish but I have more work to trace in > America > before I try that. The Raffields are probably English, but again I haven't > tried to do to much hunting that way yet. I use Ancestry.com, but have > only been working about 4 months. And that is on lots of different family > names. I have used family search on line, and genealogy.net for my side. > My tree is looking like a spider web. I have my tree to the point where > many ancestors have to be hunted for overseas. But I still have to try to > get to one of those ancestry help places that family search has. There is > one in our town, but their schedule and mine haven't fit together yet. > > I have noticed on ancestry.com that the family lists from other > peoples > trees don't have a lot of facts connected sometimes. Many have names and > dates all mixed up. But they have helped give me directional hints > though. > And most of the names panned out as being family, if not in the exact > order > I found them in. I am searching family in Lithuania, Germany/ Prussia and > Sweden, on my side. Have even tried writing some people living who have > my > family name and living in the same towns my family hailed from. Hoping > they > answer me. I have my Swedish side to where they came over to America, but > I > haven't invested the time or money yet to sign up to SVAR. That whole > directions entices but baffles me. I am signed up to a Swedish list, and > have Swedish word lists etc. But haven't worked up the courage to dive > in. > My tree is on Ancestry.com. It is the Auge,Vitz, Plinsky Thomander, Nyberg > etc tree. LOL. I have gotten some family to pitch in and share what they > know. Sometimes I think I'm nuts to have tried to go so many directions so > fast, but , I don't know how long I will have a subscription, so I am > hunting everybody for everybody. Tell ya what, the more I learn the > more > I realize I don't know enough.. I still have 2 McCleary ladies left in > their 80's, but they have actually tried to find out things years ago by > traveling to the towns where the McCleary's lived in North Carolina. but > they ran into the fire in the courthouse problem, and could go no farther. > Their father was dead and there was no one to ask. I have been able to > find > out that their dad Jordan Winfield McCleary was illegitimate . so I have > no > idea who his dad was. I figure it was somebody in the farming area where > his mother lived and worked in other peoples homes. Her name was Amanda > McCleary, and through the census records that list her, I was able to find > her siblings and her dads name. they lived in a place called MCCleary > swamp, but I can't find it on any map, in North Carolina, but I have the > counties they lived in. Before the last courthouse fire, when my husbands > mother and her sister went hunting, they found a certificate of bastardy > for > a McCleary boy child, they thought might have been for their father. They > have long since lost it. I am enjoying the hunt too, but I can't imagine > doing this for a living. the time involved is enormous. Anyway, thanks > for writing, sorry I didn't make a clearer comment on what you wrote... I > really do appreciate your taking the time to write me that long letter. > and you have mentioned paths to take that I have yet to follow but plan > to. > If I could only find that connection in the McCleary family from Jefferson > on back. I found a Thomas Jefferson McCleary age 26 on an 1830 Maryland > census... but my Jefferson was born in 1814, as per the 1860 census that > lists him as age 46. It calls him McClorry on that one, but it's him. The > batches of first names in the family tie together the various census > misspellings of the last name. I even found people that may have been his > brothers or cousins, but haven't found them back further either, yet. I > was hoping if I couldn't follow his trail, I could hit on it with extended > family from the same area and census. The area I found them in was Cool > Springs, Washington County, NorthCarolina, Post office Mackeys Ferry, and > also Harrington County Div.2. dist. 1 N.C., and the northern district > 1850 > Census Rockeartto, County, N.C. or something like that, can't read it very > good. If you have any idea how to look back farther I'm all ears....or in > this case eyes since we are writing, not talking. LOL. > > There are some colonial ancestors on my husbands side as well, but none on > mine.. the hardest part of waiting so long to start hunting is I forget > what > I've found and where I found it so quickly... I am trying to document it > all > as I go along... but I have gone so many directions in such a short time I > have well nigh driven myself crazy!!!! In your business do you only hunt > Scotch Irish, or do you hunt other countries too??? Well thanks > again... > Ellie > From: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 10:00 AM > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration from > NH toPA in 1719 > >> Hi Ellen, It's hard to give you specific advice because we don't know >> what >> info you got! >> >> At this point you want to post : "Okay, I know my great grandpa Scott was >> living in Pohokan, Nebraska in 1884 and his daughter said they came from >> ....." >> >> That's important stuff to document. Right now, before anyone else passes >> on to the great beyond. My great uncle Ralph is now gone and we don't >> know >> the source of his story that one ancestress of ours had a twin brother >> who >> set off for the gold rush in 1849 and was never hard from. Family >> believed >> he was murdered at a tavern. Digging up the area for a street car line, >> the town found skeletons. Good story? BAD story so far. Ie ancestress was >> supposedly born in Scotland but there is no baptism for her -- and none >> for a twin brother. No twin brother named in any wills or deeds. Could be >> another ancester and the story got attached to the wrong person. Or Uncle >> Ralph is right. Donno.....we'll have to channel him if we want to know. I >> wonder if that works? >> >> I'm jumping ahead. It's like a murder investigation. You got to collect >> all the clues and info, but then you need to realize these are not facts. >> These are clues. Some clues are misleading. Some clues, even if >> misleading, can lead you to the murderer anyway. Or a different crime >> scene altogether. >> >> So then you ask 'How do I know great grandpa Scott was living in Pohokan? >> You check the censuses. >> You migh think this is a two minute no-brainer, what with the indexes at >> Ancestry.com. No. often you can't find them either due to bad indexing, >> bad census taking, inaccurate information, inexperienced searching (on >> your part). So when this happens (and it will) don't get depressed and >> don't give up. >> >> As you gather evidence, you must learn all about records: what exists, >> where to find them, how to interpret them. Knowing how to find this >> information is not genetic. We are not bees who are born, eh, hatched, >> knowing what they need to know to accomplish bee-tasks. So if you haven't >> received training in this stuff, you don't know how to do it, even if >> your >> Cousin Alma knew and she told you. That's because things are changing >> fast. If you try to do genealogy like Cousin Alma, you won't get very >> far. >> That's why she didn't and left you all those dead ends. You live in the >> electronic age and you can literally accomplish more in one afternoon >> than >> she could in her whole life of writing letters to courthouses and distant >> cousins. >> >> So you need to get educated. This isn't a grim as it sounds. There is >> lots >> of free information at www.rootsweb.com and www.familysearch.org, >> www.ancestry.com, and lots of information you should get, even if you >> have >> to pay for it. You should take some classes, visit your local family >> history center, and absorb new information -- every day. You can >> subscribe >> to free enews letters over the INternet and every day get a couple with >> short, digestible articles. You can learn to use your local library to >> check expensive standard works. On and on! Learnng can be fun. The >> genealogy industry also holds conferences -- local ones, regional, >> national, >> etc, which are great places to learn fast. Get invovled in the local >> genealogy societies too. >> >> There are people who try to do this for a living, though few actually >> make >> a decent living at it. The rest expect these guys to produce results FAST >> so they tend to be better educated. The number of people who can afford >> to >> hire someone else to do their family history is quite small. Other than >> poverty, the one thing professionals have in common and that separates >> them from the 'family historian' is that pros keep learning. On the pros >> lists, they are constantly looking for conferences, cheap copies of >> lectures, magazines, books, etc, because every day they learn even though >> they may be recognized leaders in their field. On the other hand, family >> historians often think they already know it all and get quite huffy if >> you >> suggest they don't. NO one knows it all. >> >> So what's important now for you is to start collecting what info you do >> have in the family. Oral history dies with the person unless you collect >> it. Collect it and source it (Aunt Mary Hart....) and if you can ask the >> person how they know it, it might lead to more discovery. Then you model >> it in genealogy software. You can get several free. I like Legacy >> (www.legacyfamilytree.com). Then you can print out a zillion updated, >> correct family group sheets for the family reunion, send people PDF >> reports, gedcom your data to people -- it's easy. A lot easier than in >> Cousin Alma's day. I do genealogy professionally...what sucks (among >> other >> things) is to get a pile of papers in the mail (sources! I think). Wrong. >> Family group sheets -- and they are all different. What's the most up to >> date version? WHo knows! The client doesn't know either. My inherited >> family group sheets are a mess too. MINE I print out and they have a date >> on them <grin>!!! Voila. I or a grand neice can arrange them >> chronologically. Hopefully the later ones are righter than the earlier. >> >> Every genealogy 'problem' has standard ways to resolve it. These are >> taught at conferences, in books, in free webpages and courses, etc. >> Usually you have to check standard sources. Most of the time clients who >> employ me either haven't checked those sources or if they did, didn't >> document that they did. So they basically haven't done the job and, >> having >> done it, failed to document the findings. Even a negative result is >> important. It says something. If you try to find an ancestor in the book >> that documents British aliens living in the USA in 1812 it means >> something: he wasn't here or he wasn't an alien. (The book could be wrong >> or he could have been hiding out as well). This is important info to >> know. >> Can you prove he wasn't here? Was he in the army? Can you find him back >> home? Was he old enough to be documented or could his father be this man >> who lived in your area and who is documented?? So you found him or rather >> his father, but didn't realize it? >> >> You need to understand the standard sources to check for things. The >> Family history library's free guides can help or you can pay $$$ to buy >> some books to learn these. Legacy (paid verson) also will tell you what >> to >> check and where they are. I cheat a lot and use it<grin>!! >> >> If you have colonial (or near colonial) ancestors, you will most likely >> never find a document that says where precisely they came from ("Ireland" >> on an early naturalization don't count: you can get that from the >> census). >> That's because no one ever made those documents. You can search for 100 >> years for a document that never existed -- and oddly, never find it. Only >> the naive are impressed when you sound off at a family reunion" "I have >> searched for immigration information for sixty years now". Smarter to >> search for 5 minutes at Ancestry and then moving on to really locating >> the >> family origins in a productive manner. >> >> The way we locate the place of origin is to use clues. If you don't have >> any because you didn't collect any or you don't know which are correct >> and >> which appear fabricated -- you don't get too far. It's episode2 of the >> season. The rest of the episodes you spend interviewing and >> re-interviewing and staring at charts and driving around following up on >> 'aha's. We know that. We watch TV. >> >> A good book is Rising's "A Family Tree Problem Solver" -- it shows how >> you >> use indirect evidence to figure out where they came from. She uses I >> think >> it is Missouri records to trace people back to Tennessee and Virginia. >> The >> technique is much the same for hopping over the pond. >> >> You can't explain this all in an email. And you can't learn it all in a >> day either! It takes years and years of practice and learning, so the >> answers are not here. One good place to start and then revisit often are >> the free courses at www.genealogical.com/university.html . I still visit >> these...when? When I'm stuck! Being stuck means you need to go learn some >> more. Sometimes something you overlooked the first 10 times will be your >> savior. So it's circular, like an English mystery where the detective is >> always driving past the same fields as he returns to interview the >> witnesses, again and again. >> >> The long version will be put into a book someday. If you don't buy books >> you won't know how to do it. I have (meanly) said at times that my plan >> is >> to the part of my family history that I discovered in a journal -- and >> thereby hide it from all the family as they don't read genealogy journals >> or know about the index to them (PERSI). Hehehe..... And send all my >> notes >> to the Family History Library who will microfilm it and put it in their >> catalog but my family never visits the first place you should always go >> for family history -- the family history library (largest collection of >> genealogy on the planet -- why wouldn't you go, esp. since 'going' means >> visiting >> www.familysearch.org ?). Hehehehehe....oh, I'm a mean one, I am <grin>! >> >> Tell me about the Dowlings. There are English Dowlings and there are >> Irish. The Irish are in Ulster and I got one. In Ireland the name is >> believed to be a variant of "Doran", an Irish name, but without >> investigation who knows. All I know is the marriage of my ancestress to >> Robert Norris about 1820 in Derry, that produced "Dowling Norris". He was >> killed in the American Civil War. Don't know who her people were, yet. >> >> Linda Merle >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Ellie Dowling" <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 12:58:55 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern >> Subject: Re: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration >> from >> NH toPA in 1719 >> >> Hi, I haven't heard of this, but have just begun to hunt relatives, and >> had >> no idea where to begin. I had originally thought the family of McCleary >> had >> come over much later, but now I think they may have come from >> Pennsylvania... Thanks for sharing this hint.... Now to try to figure out >> how to follow up on it... should be interesting. Ellie >> >> -------------------------------------------------- >> From: "Ruth McLaughlin" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2010 9:52 PM >> To: <[email protected]> >> Subject: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration from NH >> toPA in 1719 >> >>> Below is an excerpt about the 1718 arrival of "the 5 ships" to give >>> the context. The bit of the excerpt that catches my attention is the >>> last sentence beginning "The majority of the Scotts-Irish could not >>> wait any longer...." Here's the paragraph: >>> >>> Elmer Roy Collier begins his book, Weir, Wear, and Ware, by saying, >>> "The... families petitioned in 1718 to the Governor of New England to >>> come to America...they arrived in Boston Harbor in 4 August 1718 but >>> were forbidden to land by the intolerant Puritans. ...Sixteen families >>> sailed to Casco Bay to claim a tract of land there but were frozen in >>> the Bay by early winter weather…When the ice broke in the Spring they >>> journeyed to Haverhill, Mass., where they heard of a fine tract of >>> land about 15 miles northeast called Nutfield…James Gregg and Robert >>> Weir sent a request to the Governor and Court, assembled at >>> Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for a township ten miles square. The >>> majority of the Scotts-Irish could not wait any longer and traveled >>> overland to the Scotts-Irish settlement at the Forks of the Delaware >>> (Northampton County, Pennsylvania)." >>> >>> Is anyone familiar with this 1719 movement of families from New >>> Hampshire to PA, after the terrible winter in Casco Bay, ME? Who were >>> they, why there in particular, how did they get there? I am familiar >>> with the families who stayed and settled in Nutfield/Londonderry, NH >>> and environs. The idea makes sense that others, perhaps within the >>> same families, couldn't wait for the decision of Governor and Court, >>> not wanting to endure another tough winter as yet unsettled, and moved >>> on to PA, thus losing contact with siblings, cousins etc. in NH. But I >>> am out of my depth on PA! So any insights or help would be much >>> appreciated. >>> >>> Ruth >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >>> the >>> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. 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Hope you are finding them now. Isn't it exciting to be the one to find the real name and people! Sure does get confusing. Ellie -------------------------------------------------- From: "John Erwin" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 10:06 AM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration fromNHtoPA in 1719 > We had a McCrary which turned out to be a McCurry. This spelling thing has > been a real problem and caused us to go down the wrong road for about 40 > years! > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ellie Dowling" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 10:08 PM > Subject: Re: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration > fromNH > toPA in 1719 > > >> Hi Linda, thanks for taking so much time to answer my, I don't know what >> to >> do comment. I should have let you know why I have a snag in the McCleary >> family search. I have traced them back to North Carolina during the >> civil >> war and even one tax list after, and then other census from then till >> now, >> but my snag is I can't figure out how to go further back to tie the >> McCleary >> family elsewhere to the one in North Carolina. The North Carolina county >> courthouse where the McCleary family lived was bombed during the civil >> war >> and burnt down. all records lost, and then it burnt 3 more times... I >> can >> not seem to find who the father of Jefferson McCleary, also spelled >> McClorry, and MCClary on different census papers. Not doing such a hot >> job >> of figuring out who his wife is either. she must have been dead by the >> time >> the records that have survived were taken. I did read a bit of a history >> book online that said a lot of Scotts that came to North Carolina >> actually >> came inland through Tennessee, but Jefferson lists he was born in North >> Carolina. I have found records in other counties of McCleary or some >> derivative thereof, but no one claims Jefferson on their family . I'm >> stumped. I figured I would just suearch out every MCCleary etc I can >> find >> from Pennsylvania to North Carolina and I might get lucky and find >> something. Right now it is guesswork. The Dowling name means nothing >> as >> far as ancestry goes... My husbands father and his twin sister, were >> adopted >> by the Dowlings. His dads adoptive mother made him promise to never look >> for his genetic parents. Thankfully his wife finally talked him into >> letting her look when he was 70 years old. We have been able to trace >> his >> blood family, The Raffields, and the Morris family we are still working >> on. >> The Morris side was possibly Irish but I have more work to trace in >> America >> before I try that. The Raffields are probably English, but again I >> haven't >> tried to do to much hunting that way yet. I use Ancestry.com, but have >> only been working about 4 months. And that is on lots of different family >> names. I have used family search on line, and genealogy.net for my side. >> My tree is looking like a spider web. I have my tree to the point where >> many ancestors have to be hunted for overseas. But I still have to try >> to >> get to one of those ancestry help places that family search has. There >> is >> one in our town, but their schedule and mine haven't fit together yet. >> >> I have noticed on ancestry.com that the family lists from other >> peoples >> trees don't have a lot of facts connected sometimes. Many have names and >> dates all mixed up. But they have helped give me directional hints >> though. >> And most of the names panned out as being family, if not in the exact >> order >> I found them in. I am searching family in Lithuania, Germany/ Prussia >> and >> Sweden, on my side. Have even tried writing some people living who have >> my >> family name and living in the same towns my family hailed from. Hoping >> they >> answer me. I have my Swedish side to where they came over to America, >> but >> I >> haven't invested the time or money yet to sign up to SVAR. That whole >> directions entices but baffles me. I am signed up to a Swedish list, and >> have Swedish word lists etc. But haven't worked up the courage to dive >> in. >> My tree is on Ancestry.com. It is the Auge,Vitz, Plinsky Thomander, >> Nyberg >> etc tree. LOL. I have gotten some family to pitch in and share what they >> know. Sometimes I think I'm nuts to have tried to go so many directions >> so >> fast, but , I don't know how long I will have a subscription, so I am >> hunting everybody for everybody. Tell ya what, the more I learn the >> more >> I realize I don't know enough.. I still have 2 McCleary ladies left in >> their 80's, but they have actually tried to find out things years ago by >> traveling to the towns where the McCleary's lived in North Carolina. >> but >> they ran into the fire in the courthouse problem, and could go no >> farther. >> Their father was dead and there was no one to ask. I have been able to >> find >> out that their dad Jordan Winfield McCleary was illegitimate . so I have >> no >> idea who his dad was. I figure it was somebody in the farming area where >> his mother lived and worked in other peoples homes. Her name was Amanda >> McCleary, and through the census records that list her, I was able to >> find >> her siblings and her dads name. they lived in a place called MCCleary >> swamp, but I can't find it on any map, in North Carolina, but I have the >> counties they lived in. Before the last courthouse fire, when my >> husbands >> mother and her sister went hunting, they found a certificate of bastardy >> for >> a McCleary boy child, they thought might have been for their father. >> They >> have long since lost it. I am enjoying the hunt too, but I can't imagine >> doing this for a living. the time involved is enormous. Anyway, thanks >> for writing, sorry I didn't make a clearer comment on what you wrote... I >> really do appreciate your taking the time to write me that long letter. >> and you have mentioned paths to take that I have yet to follow but plan >> to. >> If I could only find that connection in the McCleary family from >> Jefferson >> on back. I found a Thomas Jefferson McCleary age 26 on an 1830 Maryland >> census... but my Jefferson was born in 1814, as per the 1860 census that >> lists him as age 46. It calls him McClorry on that one, but it's him. >> The >> batches of first names in the family tie together the various census >> misspellings of the last name. I even found people that may have been >> his >> brothers or cousins, but haven't found them back further either, yet. I >> was hoping if I couldn't follow his trail, I could hit on it with >> extended >> family from the same area and census. The area I found them in was Cool >> Springs, Washington County, NorthCarolina, Post office Mackeys Ferry, and >> also Harrington County Div.2. dist. 1 N.C., and the northern district >> 1850 >> Census Rockeartto, County, N.C. or something like that, can't read it >> very >> good. If you have any idea how to look back farther I'm all ears....or >> in >> this case eyes since we are writing, not talking. LOL. >> >> There are some colonial ancestors on my husbands side as well, but none >> on >> mine.. the hardest part of waiting so long to start hunting is I forget >> what >> I've found and where I found it so quickly... I am trying to document it >> all >> as I go along... but I have gone so many directions in such a short time >> I >> have well nigh driven myself crazy!!!! In your business do you only hunt >> Scotch Irish, or do you hunt other countries too??? Well thanks >> again... >> Ellie >> From: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 10:00 AM >> To: <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration >> from >> NH toPA in 1719 >> >>> Hi Ellen, It's hard to give you specific advice because we don't know >>> what >>> info you got! >>> >>> At this point you want to post : "Okay, I know my great grandpa Scott >>> was >>> living in Pohokan, Nebraska in 1884 and his daughter said they came from >>> ....." >>> >>> That's important stuff to document. Right now, before anyone else passes >>> on to the great beyond. My great uncle Ralph is now gone and we don't >>> know >>> the source of his story that one ancestress of ours had a twin brother >>> who >>> set off for the gold rush in 1849 and was never hard from. Family >>> believed >>> he was murdered at a tavern. Digging up the area for a street car line, >>> the town found skeletons. Good story? BAD story so far. Ie ancestress >>> was >>> supposedly born in Scotland but there is no baptism for her -- and none >>> for a twin brother. No twin brother named in any wills or deeds. Could >>> be >>> another ancester and the story got attached to the wrong person. Or >>> Uncle >>> Ralph is right. Donno.....we'll have to channel him if we want to know. >>> I >>> wonder if that works? >>> >>> I'm jumping ahead. It's like a murder investigation. You got to collect >>> all the clues and info, but then you need to realize these are not >>> facts. >>> These are clues. Some clues are misleading. Some clues, even if >>> misleading, can lead you to the murderer anyway. Or a different crime >>> scene altogether. >>> >>> So then you ask 'How do I know great grandpa Scott was living in >>> Pohokan? >>> You check the censuses. >>> You migh think this is a two minute no-brainer, what with the indexes at >>> Ancestry.com. No. often you can't find them either due to bad indexing, >>> bad census taking, inaccurate information, inexperienced searching (on >>> your part). So when this happens (and it will) don't get depressed and >>> don't give up. >>> >>> As you gather evidence, you must learn all about records: what exists, >>> where to find them, how to interpret them. Knowing how to find this >>> information is not genetic. We are not bees who are born, eh, hatched, >>> knowing what they need to know to accomplish bee-tasks. So if you >>> haven't >>> received training in this stuff, you don't know how to do it, even if >>> your >>> Cousin Alma knew and she told you. That's because things are changing >>> fast. If you try to do genealogy like Cousin Alma, you won't get very >>> far. >>> That's why she didn't and left you all those dead ends. You live in the >>> electronic age and you can literally accomplish more in one afternoon >>> than >>> she could in her whole life of writing letters to courthouses and >>> distant >>> cousins. >>> >>> So you need to get educated. This isn't a grim as it sounds. There is >>> lots >>> of free information at www.rootsweb.com and www.familysearch.org, >>> www.ancestry.com, and lots of information you should get, even if you >>> have >>> to pay for it. You should take some classes, visit your local family >>> history center, and absorb new information -- every day. You can >>> subscribe >>> to free enews letters over the INternet and every day get a couple with >>> short, digestible articles. You can learn to use your local library to >>> check expensive standard works. On and on! Learnng can be fun. The >>> genealogy industry also holds conferences -- local ones, regional, >>> national, >>> etc, which are great places to learn fast. Get invovled in the local >>> genealogy societies too. >>> >>> There are people who try to do this for a living, though few actually >>> make >>> a decent living at it. The rest expect these guys to produce results >>> FAST >>> so they tend to be better educated. The number of people who can afford >>> to >>> hire someone else to do their family history is quite small. Other than >>> poverty, the one thing professionals have in common and that separates >>> them from the 'family historian' is that pros keep learning. On the pros >>> lists, they are constantly looking for conferences, cheap copies of >>> lectures, magazines, books, etc, because every day they learn even >>> though >>> they may be recognized leaders in their field. On the other hand, family >>> historians often think they already know it all and get quite huffy if >>> you >>> suggest they don't. NO one knows it all. >>> >>> So what's important now for you is to start collecting what info you do >>> have in the family. Oral history dies with the person unless you collect >>> it. Collect it and source it (Aunt Mary Hart....) and if you can ask the >>> person how they know it, it might lead to more discovery. Then you model >>> it in genealogy software. You can get several free. I like Legacy >>> (www.legacyfamilytree.com). Then you can print out a zillion updated, >>> correct family group sheets for the family reunion, send people PDF >>> reports, gedcom your data to people -- it's easy. A lot easier than in >>> Cousin Alma's day. I do genealogy professionally...what sucks (among >>> other >>> things) is to get a pile of papers in the mail (sources! I think). >>> Wrong. >>> Family group sheets -- and they are all different. What's the most up to >>> date version? WHo knows! The client doesn't know either. My inherited >>> family group sheets are a mess too. MINE I print out and they have a >>> date >>> on them <grin>!!! Voila. I or a grand neice can arrange them >>> chronologically. Hopefully the later ones are righter than the earlier. >>> >>> Every genealogy 'problem' has standard ways to resolve it. These are >>> taught at conferences, in books, in free webpages and courses, etc. >>> Usually you have to check standard sources. Most of the time clients who >>> employ me either haven't checked those sources or if they did, didn't >>> document that they did. So they basically haven't done the job and, >>> having >>> done it, failed to document the findings. Even a negative result is >>> important. It says something. If you try to find an ancestor in the book >>> that documents British aliens living in the USA in 1812 it means >>> something: he wasn't here or he wasn't an alien. (The book could be >>> wrong >>> or he could have been hiding out as well). This is important info to >>> know. >>> Can you prove he wasn't here? Was he in the army? Can you find him back >>> home? Was he old enough to be documented or could his father be this man >>> who lived in your area and who is documented?? So you found him or >>> rather >>> his father, but didn't realize it? >>> >>> You need to understand the standard sources to check for things. The >>> Family history library's free guides can help or you can pay $$$ to buy >>> some books to learn these. Legacy (paid verson) also will tell you what >>> to >>> check and where they are. I cheat a lot and use it<grin>!! >>> >>> If you have colonial (or near colonial) ancestors, you will most likely >>> never find a document that says where precisely they came from >>> ("Ireland" >>> on an early naturalization don't count: you can get that from the >>> census). >>> That's because no one ever made those documents. You can search for 100 >>> years for a document that never existed -- and oddly, never find it. >>> Only >>> the naive are impressed when you sound off at a family reunion" "I have >>> searched for immigration information for sixty years now". Smarter to >>> search for 5 minutes at Ancestry and then moving on to really locating >>> the >>> family origins in a productive manner. >>> >>> The way we locate the place of origin is to use clues. If you don't have >>> any because you didn't collect any or you don't know which are correct >>> and >>> which appear fabricated -- you don't get too far. It's episode2 of the >>> season. The rest of the episodes you spend interviewing and >>> re-interviewing and staring at charts and driving around following up on >>> 'aha's. We know that. We watch TV. >>> >>> A good book is Rising's "A Family Tree Problem Solver" -- it shows how >>> you >>> use indirect evidence to figure out where they came from. She uses I >>> think >>> it is Missouri records to trace people back to Tennessee and Virginia. >>> The >>> technique is much the same for hopping over the pond. >>> >>> You can't explain this all in an email. And you can't learn it all in a >>> day either! It takes years and years of practice and learning, so the >>> answers are not here. One good place to start and then revisit often are >>> the free courses at www.genealogical.com/university.html . I still visit >>> these...when? When I'm stuck! Being stuck means you need to go learn >>> some >>> more. Sometimes something you overlooked the first 10 times will be your >>> savior. So it's circular, like an English mystery where the detective is >>> always driving past the same fields as he returns to interview the >>> witnesses, again and again. >>> >>> The long version will be put into a book someday. If you don't buy books >>> you won't know how to do it. I have (meanly) said at times that my plan >>> is >>> to the part of my family history that I discovered in a journal -- and >>> thereby hide it from all the family as they don't read genealogy >>> journals >>> or know about the index to them (PERSI). Hehehe..... And send all my >>> notes >>> to the Family History Library who will microfilm it and put it in their >>> catalog but my family never visits the first place you should always go >>> for family history -- the family history library (largest collection of >>> genealogy on the planet -- why wouldn't you go, esp. since 'going' means >>> visiting >>> www.familysearch.org ?). Hehehehehe....oh, I'm a mean one, I am <grin>! >>> >>> Tell me about the Dowlings. There are English Dowlings and there are >>> Irish. The Irish are in Ulster and I got one. In Ireland the name is >>> believed to be a variant of "Doran", an Irish name, but without >>> investigation who knows. All I know is the marriage of my ancestress to >>> Robert Norris about 1820 in Derry, that produced "Dowling Norris". He >>> was >>> killed in the American Civil War. Don't know who her people were, yet. >>> >>> Linda Merle >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "Ellie Dowling" <[email protected]> >>> To: [email protected] >>> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 12:58:55 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern >>> Subject: Re: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration >>> from >>> NH toPA in 1719 >>> >>> Hi, I haven't heard of this, but have just begun to hunt relatives, and >>> had >>> no idea where to begin. I had originally thought the family of McCleary >>> had >>> come over much later, but now I think they may have come from >>> Pennsylvania... Thanks for sharing this hint.... Now to try to figure >>> out >>> how to follow up on it... should be interesting. Ellie >>> >>> -------------------------------------------------- >>> From: "Ruth McLaughlin" <[email protected]> >>> Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2010 9:52 PM >>> To: <[email protected]> >>> Subject: [S-I] a question about a possible Scotch-Irish migration from >>> NH >>> toPA in 1719 >>> >>>> Below is an excerpt about the 1718 arrival of "the 5 ships" to give >>>> the context. The bit of the excerpt that catches my attention is the >>>> last sentence beginning "The majority of the Scotts-Irish could not >>>> wait any longer...." Here's the paragraph: >>>> >>>> Elmer Roy Collier begins his book, Weir, Wear, and Ware, by saying, >>>> "The... families petitioned in 1718 to the Governor of New England to >>>> come to America...they arrived in Boston Harbor in 4 August 1718 but >>>> were forbidden to land by the intolerant Puritans. ...Sixteen families >>>> sailed to Casco Bay to claim a tract of land there but were frozen in >>>> the Bay by early winter weather…When the ice broke in the Spring they >>>> journeyed to Haverhill, Mass., where they heard of a fine tract of >>>> land about 15 miles northeast called Nutfield…James Gregg and Robert >>>> Weir sent a request to the Governor and Court, assembled at >>>> Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for a township ten miles square. The >>>> majority of the Scotts-Irish could not wait any longer and traveled >>>> overland to the Scotts-Irish settlement at the Forks of the Delaware >>>> (Northampton County, Pennsylvania)." >>>> >>>> Is anyone familiar with this 1719 movement of families from New >>>> Hampshire to PA, after the terrible winter in Casco Bay, ME? Who were >>>> they, why there in particular, how did they get there? I am familiar >>>> with the families who stayed and settled in Nutfield/Londonderry, NH >>>> and environs. The idea makes sense that others, perhaps within the >>>> same families, couldn't wait for the decision of Governor and Court, >>>> not wanting to endure another tough winter as yet unsettled, and moved >>>> on to PA, thus losing contact with siblings, cousins etc. in NH. But I >>>> am out of my depth on PA! So any insights or help would be much >>>> appreciated. >>>> >>>> Ruth >>>> >>>> >>>> ------------------------------- >>>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>>> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >>>> the >>>> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >>> the >>> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >>> the >>> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 9.0.791 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2777 - Release Date: 03/29/10 > 01:32:00 > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message