A Cautionary Tale of Two Willies

  

      "Aunt Pet", as my grandmother's family called her, lived with my Great Grandparents David and Etta Daughrity for many years and then with several Daughrity family members until her death in 1960. 

"Aunt Pet"
Willie Etta Dunlap
(1887-1960)
©Cheri Hudson Passey

               When I asked Grandmom, Azile Juanita (Daughrity) Roberts Sullivan (1921-2009), who Aunt Pet was one day while going through family pictures, she told me that she was just a woman that her parents helped out. She explained that Aunt Pet had no family and was deaf, having had measles as a child.  Grandmom didn't even know her real name and was sure that she was "no relation to us." 

Searching one day in a cemetery for the grave site of my Grandmother's sister, Lila Lorine (Daughrity) Robinson (1915-1951) , I discovered not only Lorine's grave but right next to her was a headstone for "Aunt Pet" with her full name-Willie Etta Dunlap (1877-1960)!

 Dunlap is a collateral name in my Daughrity/McManus family so I suspected there may have been a connection after all.

Grave Marker
Willie Etta Dunlap
"Aunt Pet"
Wateree Baptist Church Cemetery
Camden, Kershaw, South Carolina

  I began looking for information on Willie Etta's life. I found that she had indeed lived with the Daughrity family beginning in 1920 when she is found on the Sumter County, South Carolina Census living with my Great Grandparents Manning David Daughrity (1889-1931) and Loretta "Etta"(McManus) Daughrity 1894-193

    She is found again in the 1930 census living in the same Daughrity household and then with the daughters of David and Etta in 1940. One of those daughters was my then 18 year old Grandmother, Azile. William Etta Dunlaps's death certificate indicates her home address was that of my Grandmother's sister Mildred Chrystanella (Daughrity) Jolly Finfrock ( 1914-1906).

   The story that she had lived with a member of the Daughrity family for many years was confirmed. Now to find out if there was a family connection.

      Willie Etta's death certificate and obituary mention that she had been married. No name was given for her spouse. Looking for her in the Sumter, South Carolina 1910 census I discovered William Etta had married-to a man named William F. Dunlap! Oh, my! Willie Etta married a William! Now this could get confusing!  Moving back in time, I find "Etta W." and "Willie",husband and wife in the 1900 Census. They have been married for 3 years. She is the mother of 1 but 0 living.

   Further research on William F. Dunlap (1877-before 1920) shows that he is the son of Henry J. Dunlap and Martha (Holland) Dunlap (1858-1921). This was exciting because his parents names were familiar to me.

  Their daughter, Emma Lizzie (Dunlap) McManus (1880-1934), was the wife of George W. Mcmanus (1878-1940). George was the brother of my Great Grandmother Loretta "Etta" (McManus) Daughrity!

  Turns out that William F. Dunlap and Emma Lizzie Dunlap  were brother and sister so- Etta was letting her sister-in-law live with her!  More research needs to be done on Willie Etta to see if she was a Dunlap who married a Dunlap.

While searching for information on William F. Dunlap I discovered someone who was researching this same family. A family tree had been uploaded and sources linked.  As I looked through the information on his tree it looked like we had most of the same information- until I saw a census record attached to William F. Dunlap with "after 1940" listed as his date of death. That was something I just had to look into. William, as far as I could tell, died sometime before 1920 as Willie Etta was living with the Daughrity family in the 1920 census.  Did he know something that I didn't?  A click on the link for the census immediately showed the problem.  He had confused the Willies.

  The census that this researcher was citing was the 1940 Sumter County Census -the one for Williams F. Dunlap's wife, Willie Etta, in the Daughrity household.He had mistakenly attatched it to her husbands information. How had this happened? Looking at he index page, I saw that Willie was listed as a male.  

Ancestry.com Index for Willie Dunlap in 1940 Sumter, SC Census

When looking at the actual online digital record, although it's off to the side, Willie is recorded as a Female.  Someone indexing the record looking at the name probably thought that the enumerator had made a mistake and "corrected" it. 

Year: 1940; Census Place: Sumter, Sumter, South Carolina; Roll:T627_3842; Page: 32A; Enumeration District: 43-27 Willie Dunlap

  Had this researcher taken the next step from the indexed record and looked at the actual census, he may have seen the mistake. It's so easy to just click and add to a family tree instead of really looking at the information those shaky leaves provide.

  

 This really struck home again the importance of looking at the original records or in this case the digital record. An index is just a tool to help get to the original.

And? I can understand the confusion. We have a Willie Etta, aka Willie, Williametta, and Etta W. married to a William F. aka Willie, W.F. and William.   

  I also realized from my second look at the census record that I had missed something. It was my Grandmother, Azile, who gave the information to the census worker, indicated by the symbol by her name. Grandmom knew that "Aunt Pet" was Willie Dunlap in 1940. She must have forgotten the name over time.

 A good example of the need to look at records again. You never know what you might have missed!

 Two Willies? Yes, and definitely part of the family.

Do you have an experience in not looking at the original? I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheri

I am first time blogger here!

I was very moved by the ceremonies and activities marking the centenary of the start of the Great War. My mother’s parents arrived in Canada from England in 1921. My grandfather had served during the war with the Essex Regiment. He had been severely wounded, well, maimed, actually, in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and medically discharged. That probably saved his life. So a few years ago I went to northern France to learn as much as I could about his experiences there. What follows is what I wrote shortly after I returned home.

And that was when I lost it. Completely. That was when I started to bawl my eyes out.

I was sitting on a stone bench on the roadside of highway D929, a perfectly straight old Roman road between the villages of La Boiselle and Bapaume, in northern France, at the British War Cemetery at Warlincourt, at about 10:30 on the morning of 27 May, 2010. It had been an emotional few days.

My grandfather was Leonard Samuel Gray, a private with the 9^th Battalion of the Essex Regiment during World War 1. He had been severely injured at the Battle of the Somme on 4 August, 1916. My first objective had been to discover where Pop had been when he was shot, but this proved impossible. My substitute objective for being in France at all was to learn as much as I could about what he had experienced.

I’m an enthusiastic amateur genealogist, and a natural born researcher. I had a copy of Major and Mrs. Holt’s Battle Map of the Somme and their Guide to the Battle, and maps of the Allied and German trenches. I had studied books about the Battle. I had read that the Allied bombardment was expected to decimate the German lines, but that it had failed. I had read that the German Army had just come up out of its deep concrete reinforced bunkers once the bombardment ended and had slaughtered the Allies on the first day of the Battle on 1 July, 1916. It had been complete carnage. One guide told me that without any discussion between these enemies, the Germans did not fire when the Allies moved out between the lines to recover the bodies of their fallen soldiers, not after that first day, nor after the second day. Even the enemy knew it had been a slaughter and paid silent respect to the bravery of the Allied soldiers by not firing on recovery teams.

On the advice of Ian Hook, the very helpful Archivist of the Essex Regiment Museum and Archives in Chelmsford, Essex, I had visited the English National Archives at Kew, west of London, where I had located and copied the War Diary of the Commander of the 9^th Essex Battalion, and the Intelligence Summary prepared for the period a month earlier than when Pop was injured, when the 9^th had been ordered “over the top.”

I had learned that the A, B, C, and D Companies of the 9^th had been brought up from the village of Albert, where they had been sheltering from German artillery, late on 1 July, 1916. The Battalion had been ordered to the trenches close to Ovillers, and was ordered to attack the village the morning of the second day of the Battle. I had read the Commander’s disappointment that his Battalion had been ordered to attack at 3 a.m. on 2 July, in complete darkness, without the Command having been given time to become familiar with the territory the Battalion would be ordered to fight in. I knew that the Battalion was to support the Suffolk and Berkshire Regiments, which were to lead the attack. I knew that the Commander had recorded that not one objective of the attack had been successful, and that all contact with the lead Regiments had been lost. One Company had gone off in the wrong direction in the darkness, and attacked another village called La Boiselle, close by, and returned to everyone’s astonishment with 170 German prisoners. I had read the statistics reported by the Intelligence Summary: that of about 625 men in the Battalion, twelve officers and 386 men, or about 64% of the force, were reported as casualties from that first attack.

But nothing had prepared me for the shock of standing at the edge of the British War Cemetery outside the village of Ovillers, looking over to the village of La Boiselle just across the farmer’s field, and realizing from my guides that what looks like a small quarry visible beside the road is what remains of the old German lines. The lines were only about 800 yards apart when Pop was ordered over the top!!! The Battalion was behind the front lines on the first day of the Battle on July first. The young men would have seen the thousands of bloody bodies being shipped back for burial or medical care. They would have known that No Man’s Land was a slaughterhouse. They had never been in battle before. Pop was a nineteen year old kid! They all were. How did he, no, how did they manage to follow their orders, to make that attack across unfamiliar territory, in complete darkness, when they were almost certain to be killed or badly wounded? How did they do it? My God, every one of them was a hero.

And later that day I drove up into the hills to the Thiepval Memorial, high over the Somme valley. It is a huge, impressive memorial, which you approach on a footpath behind it. As you walk closer and closer you begin to discern carving on the memorial walls. And your guidebook tells you that the names of over 72,000 British soldiers with no known grave are carved onto its walls. Your breath leaves you as you gape.

But I had one more pilgrimage to make. My late husband Edwin had lost contact with his birth father’s family after his parents divorced during WW2, and he came to Canada with his mother after the war. Very late in his life, having made family contact again, Ed learned that he had had an Uncle Edwin, who had been a member of the South African Brigade, and who had been killed during the Battle of the Somme. Ed had become convinced that he had been named for that man, and he was probably right. I had located the Commonwealth war Graves Commission record of Uncle Edwin’s grave at Warlincourt, and drove to the British Cemetery there on my last day in France.

I had picked lovely white and yellow wildflowers for Uncle Edwin’s grave. I stopped at a Canadian Memorial on my way, just to pay my respects, and on impulse picked a few small purple flowers from the Memorial to add to my bouquet. I probably shouldn’t have done that, I know, but it seemed to be important, somehow, at the time.

And, having arrived at Uncle Edwin’s grave, and having laid my flowers, it occurred to me how odd a situation this was. Here I was, the widow of a nephew of Uncle Edwin who he never knew, as my Ed was born 20 years after his own death in 1916, a Canadian woman laying flowers on the grave of a man who never knew he would have any connection to this country, 94 years after his death.

And that was when I lost it. I bawled for the terror Pop and all those young men must have felt, I bawled for the deaths of all those young men, I bawled for the lost graves of all those heroes, and I bawled with the realization that history’s wars can mean so little to you, but when you study your ancestors experiences during those wars they can mean so much more.

Worldwide Genealogists Are Getting Ready For RootsTech/FGS 2015!

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I am pretty excited to be attending RootsTech/FGS 2015 which starts next week in Salt Lake City. It appears that the weather is going to surprise all of us and we will have pleasant temperatures and no chance of snow. I have been to Salt Lake City three times in the late January time-frame and although we had cold temperatures and snow, the City does an amazing job of clearing sidewalks. No matter the weather, it is a beautiful and clean city to walk, shop and visit mecca (the Family History Library).

I am an FGS Ambassador so I have posted on my personal blog for the past few Sundays about preparing for the conference. Over the weekend I worked on my packing list, made a shopping list for the few things I needed to pick up, and worked on some handouts to use with my session “Who Does That? An Introduction to One-Name (surname) Studies.” I think we will have a good time on Friday, February 13^th (thank goodness I am not superstitious!) at 1:00 pm and if you have any interest in learning a bit about surname research or one-name studies, please join me! 

I am a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies and am quite excited to finally meet several other Guild members – Jill Ball, Julie Goucher, Paul Howes, Drew Smith, Helen Smith, Darris Williams, Russ Worthington – to name a few. It will also be nice to finally meet up with several of my genealogy friends (although I “know” them online, we haven’t met in person) Jen Baldwin, Linda McCauley, Caroline Pointer, Pat Richley-Erickson, Cheri Hudson Passey, and Thomas MacEntee.

So this morning I sat down and played with both the online and the mobile versions of the schedule/agenda for the conference. It is a bit overwhelming and if you are going to RootsTech/FGS you will definitely want to spend some time reviewing all your choices. Here are a few tips that might help you go through the process. 

1. Be sure to have your transportation and accommodation information on both your smartphone/tablet and printed out (you just know Murphy’s Law will wreak havoc otherwise). Are there any special things you need to think about – like checking in with the airlines, confirming your hotel reservation, determining if you will have excess luggage charges, contacting your credit card companies to let them know you will be traveling (and charging in a distant place), having cash (you remember cash) for the taxis, porters, or last minute minor purchases.
2. Put together a rough draft of your schedule. I use a page a day while I am playing around and I list the days and time to check in (and register) with RootsTech and/or FGS. Do you know where you are going at the Salt Palace and what you need to pick up your registration packet (hint – photo identification). Get that “stuff” early so you can go through it at your leisure and “lighten your load.” Have a highlighter or pen handy for making notes on the conference guide and marking the booths at the Exhibit Hall that you don’t want to miss. You can also do this on the mobile apps – so whether you are old school (paper and pen) or new school (mobile apps) or a combination of both, take the time to note the “must see” and “must do” booths and sessions.
3.  What is on my page a day sheets right now?
• The general session (and whether I plan to attend)
• The sessions I am interested in by session number, title, time and location (and if there are alternates, I make a note of both – something may change, a session might be full, or I might not decide until the last minute – bring a coin to toss!)
• My plans for lunch – whether a planned lunch or an idea of a walk and a place nearby to try
• The late afternoon or evening social or program (and whether I registered and have my ticket or confirmation)
• My plans for dinner – I will be meeting up with Jill Ball and the Aussie contingent on Tuesday and attending the “after party” at Dear Myrtle’s home on Saturday. In both cases I have responded to the invitation, checked the location, signed up for transportation if need be, and put the information on my sheet.
4. Looking at the page a day sheets shows how much of my time I have pre-scheduled and will be helpful when I decide to print out the syllabus for my final selections – and know there will be print kiosks at RootsTech so why not take advantage of getting your printing done on-site once you have made your selections.
5. I am not going to schedule my sessions back to back to back for the four day conference (I am attending both FGS and RootsTech). Wednesday will be a busy day as it is Society Day and I have lots to learn for the genealogy societies and groups that I belong to, but I will still limit it to four sessions because you start to burn out and stop enjoying and learning if you get too tired. I did check to see which sessions were being recorded and that will help me narrow down my “in person” choices. Thursday is a four session day and Friday and Saturday are both three session days. I certainly want a mix of attending sessions, visiting booths at the exhibit hall, visiting with genealogists at lunches, evening socials and just that sit down and chat time (preferably with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine – depending on the time of day).
6. I intend to focus on sessions that are new to me and will raise the bar a bit (mostly intermediate and advanced sessions OR sessions on topics I am not familiar with and haven’t had in my personal family history). Right now I am leaning toward 21^st Century Italian Genealogy, Native American Research, African American Research, Railroad Records Research, Manuscripts & More, and School Records – to name a few. Hopefully these new ethnic and record type courses will provide some “aha” moments with my own research or add to my knowledge base.
7. Together with three Guild members, I plan to work the FGS Society Showcase on behalf of the Guild on Saturday morning – probably from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. If you have questions about surname research, one-name studies, researching record sets in various parts of the world – or you simply want to pick up our Guild flyer and chat about how to find out more about your particular surnames, please stop by. I think the FGS Society Showcase will be amazing with flyers from genealogical and historical organizations and societies. It promises to be one of the highlights of the Exhibit Hall with many FGS member groups represented (flyers are available whenever the Exhibit Hall is open so definitely put the FGS Society Showcase on your “must visit” list). 
8. My conference pie (love pie!) is divided into sessions, exhibit hall, meals, research at the FHL, volunteer time, and a little bit of walking to clear my head and get that exercise in. 

How is your conference pie being sliced and what have I left out? Let me know in the comments and please add me to your list of friends in the mobile app (the next project on my to-do list) and let’s meet up, if only to say hi and exchange genealogy cards. This time next week I will be through with my Society Day sessions and ready for the Behind the Scenes FGS Opening Social – hope to see you in Salt Lake City in a week. 

Catch up on your sleep this week and have a safe journey. 

Researching an ancestral village

Many of us have a special attachment to a place where we once lived or our ancestors once lived. Making that place the subject of a one-place study can be so rewarding, not only in uncovering fascinating snippets of information but also in helping others to piece together information about their ancestors who lived and worked there.

Nine years ago I started a One-Place Study of Kingston in the Isle of Purbeck. In this blog, I’ll tell you a little more about the village and about some of the people who helped shape its destiny.

Kingston

Kingston is a great example of a small estate village, the extent and layout of which has remained relatively unchanged over the last century. It is renowned for its Romanesque ‘Cathedral of Purbeck’, designed by G. E. Street, which remained a private family chapel for over 40 years. Originally a chapelry of Corfe Castle, Kingston became an ecclesiastical parish in its own right in 1877, but still forms part of Corfe Castle parish for local government purposes. Almost all buildings are built from stone quarried locally and most are now listed. Kingston is of particular interest to me being home to my ancestral family for more than a century.

 

The cottages where my 4 x great grandfather was living in 1845

Movers and shapers

Key: 1. William Morton Pitt 2. John Scott, First Earl of Eldon

3. John Scott, Third Earl of Eldon 4. Rev. Spencer-Smith

William Morton Pitt M.P. (1754-1836)

When philanthropist Pitt [1] became lord of the manor towards the end of the 18th century the villagers were in considerable poverty and were reliant on smuggling and wrecking (deliberately causing ships to run aground in nearby Chapman’s Pool). He put an end to this by rebuilding the village just west of its former location and providing employment for men, women and children in a new sailcloth and rope manufactory. He established a school (supported by subscription), a Sunday school and a poor house (without any windows overlooking the street!). Unfortunately his investment in the village almost made him bankrupt and he was forced to sell the Estate in 1807.

John Scott, First Earl of Eldon (1751-1838)

The next owner was John Scott [2], the son of a Newcastle coal-merchant who had eloped to Scotland to marry the daughter of a Newcastle banker against his father’s wishes. He was a great friend of George III and the confidant of many members of the King’s family. He was the longest-ever serving Lord Chancellor, holding the role in two stints totalling over twenty-five years. He became very fond of Encombe, travelling down from London as often as possible although the journey took three days each way. When the Earl retired from Parliament in 1827 he gave a tea for 200 villagers.

In 1833 he replaced the decaying chapel-of-ease with a new church [5]. Around this time my 4 x great grandfather, a carpenter and Sunday School teacher arrived in the village with his young family. The status of workmen with a skilled trade was recognised and on Sundays they were allowed to wear a frock coat, striped trousers and a top hat. At Christmas the Earl or his agent visited every aged villager to ensure they were provided for, and every employee received a ton of coal, enough to last the year.

John Scott, Third Earl of Eldon (1845-1926) 

The Third Earl [3] was great-grandson of the First Earl and inherited his title in 1854 at the age of just 8. He was extremely popular with the Estate workers and tenants, always having time for a chat and wanting to learn of any difficulties they faced, which he did his utmost to help overcome. He contributed 2d in the shilling to the village clothing club and 1d in the shilling to the coal club.

The villagers led a hard but happy life. There would be concerts in the winter and open-air dancing in the summer. At Christmas time the Earl and Countess would entertain guests at Encombe, and on the following evening would give a party for his staff. In the cellars there were seven 150 gallon casks of beer! In 1897 he gave tea for Estate employees and families to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

Picturesque

Although busy, the village always looked lovely. The Third Earl supplied rose-trees to every householder to grow around their diamond-paned windows. The woodwork of their cottages had to be painted in the estate colours of stone and purple-brown. The streets were always tidy being brushed regularly. Only the shepherds and cowmen were allowed to keep a dog as they were trained not to foul the pavements! The village was much admired and drew visitors by carriage and char-a-banc from Swanage.

There was a new school [10] and master’s house, erected in 1856 in memory of the Third Earl’s parents. There were two communal bake-houses. The blacksmith’s shop had three forges going all the time. There was a farriers and a carpenters’ yard. The village pub, the Eldon Arms, was let to a tenant who undertook to supply the village with milk. Beer was brewed on the premises. The doctor came on horseback from Corfe Castle. Sunday was kept as Sunday otherwise his Lordship would want to know why!

 

Key: 5. Old Church built 1833 6. Old Vicarage

7. New Vicarage 8. New Church built 1880

 

Infatuation

Unfortunately, the Third Earl became infatuated with the wife of a minister, constantly visiting her at the vicarage [6] or inviting the minister and his wife to Encombe. He then built a very substantial new vicarage [7] on the edge of the village so that he could visit more often away from the prying eyes of villagers. However, word of this reached the Bishop who arranged for the Earl to be disbarred from the House of Lords. The Earl petitioned Queen Victoria who instructed that he should be readmitted. The Bishop then did the sensible thing and moved the minister to another living. Not only this, he persuaded the Earl that he should build a very ornate private chapel as a public show of remorse.

Cathedral of Purbeck

The architect for both the new vicarage and new chapel [8] was George Edmund Street, with work on the latter starting in 1874. When the new church was completed in 1880, the Earl gave the Estate employees a holiday on Good Friday, on the strict understanding they attended the morning service! The new church remained a private family chapel for over 40 years and the estate workers spring-cleaned it every year before Easter.

Rev. Spencer Compton Spencer-Smith (1842-1911) [4] provided great stability, serving Kingston for almost 40 years, first as Curate and then as its first Vicar. My 2 x great-grandfather was his coachman and lived in the stable block attached to the new vicarage.

Sportsman

The Third Earl was a keen sportsman and a good shot. A small pack of hounds was kept and the local gentry brought their horses and grooms to Encombe two or three times a week during the hunting season. The Earl had one cricket team and the Rev. Spencer-Smith, having been a Cambridge Blue, had another.

Fastest vicar in the world

While on the subject of sport, the Vicar of Kingston from 1932 to 1938 was Revd. F. S. Horan, known to his family and friends as Seymour. While studying for his theological degree at Cambridge in 1895, his name hit the world headlines. He had taken up running, and he was “by far the best runner at all distances that ever went up to the ‘Varsity games. Indeed, no Oxford or Cambridge man ever ran the three miles inside of 15:00, yet Mr. Horan had on half a dozen different occasions beaten those figures, as well as reeling off the mile well inside 4:23.” Picture [9] below shows him winning the three mile race in 1895 and setting the then world record. Seymour was a man of charming character, earnest and highly esteemed, especially in Royal circles having taught two future Kings at Osborne: Edward VIII (who abdicated) and George VI.

A new beginning

The turn of the century brought new hopes and new-fangled machinery! In 1903 a gas engine was installed to generate electricity for Encombe House. It ran two days a week and stored a week’s worth of electricity in accumulators. Mains electric didn’t arrive until the mid-thirties! In 1910 a traction engine, “The Earl of Eldon”, was acquired and used for various Estate purposes, including powering the saw mill. In 1914 a new Reading Room was provided. 

War

When war came in August 1914 the Third Earl gave orders that every man entering the services would have their job back when they returned from service. Sadly thirteen men connected with the village did not return and they are commemorated on a memorial plaque in the new church.

After the war an ex-servicemen’s club was founded, along with a football club and slate club. Social evenings and whist drives were held. 

In 1921 the Third Earl finally conveyed the new church to the Church Commissioners – it had remained as a private chapel for over 40 years. The Third Earl died in 1926 and the Estate passed to his son, Sir Ernest Scott. 

In the mid 1930’s Rev. Horan persuaded Sir Ernest to allow a Church Fête and Flower Show to be held at Encombe House. It was a great success and repeated for many years. Rev. Horan also secured permission to turn the old church into a village hall and a number of plays were broadcast on BBC radio from there. Rev. Horan and his wife also started up Scouts, Cubs and Brownie groups and a Women’s Institute which flourished for many years. 

WW2

In 1939, 94 children and their teachers were evacuated from London to Kingston and 25 children were evacuated from Southampton the following year. One evacuee is still in contact today. Twenty men from Kingston formed the Home Guard armed initially only with sticks. All iron work and railings were removed from the estate to help the war effort. Three men connected with Kingston were killed.

Key: 9. F.S. Horan setting the world record 10. School built 1856

11. Schoolchildren 1896 12. Scott Arms (formerly Eldon arms)

Kingston today

The village retains its pub, now called the Scott Arms [12], but the school closed over 50 years ago and the post office over a decade ago. The Scott Family ended its 186 year ownership of the Encombe Estate back in 1994 and it is now in the hands of airline tycoon James Gaggero.

The old church, for a while used as the village hall, is now a private residence. Neither the old or new vicarages are home to any clergy as Kingston now falls within a combined benefice of three parishes with a Priest-in-charge based at Langton Matravers.

The reading room now provides office accommodation for letting agents, architects and an Estate administrator.

By 2004 the population had fallen to 100 and has since fallen further as Estate cottages have been privately purchased and let as holiday homes. 

Village website

The village website is continually evolving and includes a wealth of genealogical information, census records, parish register transcriptions, probate records etc. along with features on families, photographs, old postcard views, local history etc. There is a facebook group with over 100 members which continually yields more information about Kingston of yesteryear.

Kingston is just one of over 1,800 places on the free Register of One-Place Studies.

 

Maz

Geneavlogging

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Please watch the video clip below.

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It's a New Year!

January 30th came around faster than I anticipated.  I've commited to a number of projects this next year and I've decided that this blog would be a good place to record my experiences, my progress and my stumbling blocks along the way.  I only have six blogs to write here on the Worldwide Genealogy Project and lots of plans and goals for the year so hopefully, writing every two months will be enough to track my progress on this journey through 2015.

I've been working to complete my families genealogy since around 2005.  Initially, I had the tremendous good fortune to make contact with two cousins through the message boards at Ancestry.com.  My fathers father was one of three brothers who immigrated to the United States from Germany in the early 1900's.  Each married and had children although their relationships with one another were not close.  Between myself and the two women I connected with, we were able to connect back to each one of these three men.  Learning about their grandfathers and putting that knowledge together with what I knew about my grandfather started my genealogical pursuit.  At this point, I am deep into my mothers heritage.  I've learned that the more children in a family, the easier it is to trace.  My mother and her mother before her were only children and left fewer clues, fewer records, fewer photos, etc.  In an effort to put our story down in print and make it "come alive", I've joined the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Project put forth by Amy Johnson Crow at http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/announcing-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-2015-edition/ -  which is pushing me to study one specific ancestor at a time, recording dates, events and tales of family lore.  I must say that while daunting to write about one ancestor each week, doing so puts a more human face on them and helps me to understand more about their lives in context.

Another commitment that just had to be made was to the "Genealogy Do-Over",  https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogydoover/    a challenge put forth by Thomas MacEntee.  After several years, I have stacks of notes and timeline information just laying around.  I need to organize my office, the stacks I've mentioned and my data files in particular.

I also enjoyed writing brief commentary for the 2015 FGS Ambassadors -  https://www.facebook.com/groups/230809487114846/  

 As I had spent a week in Salt Lake City last summer at the wonderful LDS Family History Library, I felt able to contribute some information as to where to go, where to eat, what to see, pack, etc.  That particular writing obligation ends this month with the start of the FGS Conference.

I do have a habit of biting off more than I can chew and I am going to try to limit this years activities to those aforementioned.  Fulfilling my obligations as a contributor is a joyous but time consuming task but I also want to reserve the time to read the work of others as well as to continue my own research.  So, I'm done for this month.  I share this time slot with a wonderful German researcher, Ursula Krause, who you will be hearing from next month on this date.  I look forward to reading her blog entry as well as all of yours.  I hope you've enjoyed my effort and I'll look forward to greeting you once more in March!

Growing up in America -- 1950’s and 1960's--2015, the Highlights

Hello World Wide Genealogy Blog readers-- I am a new author, Helen Spear Youngblood Holshouser.  As a means of introducing myself to you, I’d like to share my own story of growing up in America--especially coming of age in the 1960’s. As you well know, the 1960’s in America was a volatile time in history. I turned 11 years old in 1960, and 20 in 1969! What teenage years I had!

I grew up in a home in Richmond, Virginia, USA, with a live-in paternal grandmother in residence; she died when I was 15. There were also my Mom and Dad, and four of us children, older sister born 1942, older brother born 1947, myself in 1949, and my younger brother in 1955!  We generally gathered for dinner every night, seven around a table it was my job to set, and my sister’s and my job to clean up afterwards.

Sharing a room with my older sister, meant being exposed to some cultural things as a child I might not have been otherwise…like music, religious discussions, and long talks into the night about high school and boys!  I was in love with Elvis by the time I was 10! LOL

Events which I remember as being very important to me in my lifetime can be shown on this time line:

1949--born, (of course I don’t remember!) second girl, baby boomer, after WWII in which my father fought. Mom worked full time, unusual for the 1950’s. Mom and Dad and Grandmother had experienced the war and the depression, both affected their perceptions of life greatly.

1950-1975--the Vietnam War was ever present and a living topic in our home. Dad worked for the Federal Government in logistics and supply. He railed against communism all of our lives.

1952--President Dwight Eisenhower was elected the 34^th President of the US, and serves for eight years, my ages 3-11. He was a large influence on my life. He was often the topic of conversation at home, and I had the opportunity to see him speak in Richmond, Virginia, while he was President.

1954--Hurricane Hazel hit taking down trees, and killing 95 people in the US.  I remember it hitting our neighborhood! We lost power for a week, cooked over the fire, and trees were blown down all over the place, cars and houses were destroyed, people killed!

1954--Landmark Supreme Court case, “Brown vs. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas” requires public schools in the US to be integrated-- declares segregation of black and white citizens illegal. Nonetheless, I continue in all white schools throughout my school career.

1955--My little brother was born, a huge event in my life!

1955--I started public Elementary School in first grade and rode a school bus with my two older siblings. I continued in public schools of Virginia through 12^th grade.

1959--January, Alaska becomes the 49^th state in the US, and then in August, Hawaii becomes the 50^th state! I remember the celebrations--fireworks and parades!  

1960, John F. Kennedy is elected as President of the USA, so young, so dynamic. I idolized him.

1961--“Freedom Riders” travel through-out the southern USA protesting segregated buses, schools, restaurants, etc.--I was 12 years old, and it got my attention!

1962--There was the Cuban Missile Crisis, where we children all thought we would be blown off the face of the earth by nuclear missiles any minute!  Fallout shelters became very popular, and our basement was sealed and well-stocked for survival! Cold war with the Soviet Union was a topic of frequent discussion in my home.

1963, August-- Martin Luther King delivers his “I Have A Dream” Speech which galvanizes the Civil Rights Movement already strongly active.

1963, Nov. 22--President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas, I was in ninth grade. I remember clearly our principal informing all of us, and silence falling as the impact was felt and many began to weep.

1964, February 9th, The Beatles appear on TV in America for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show, and like so many of my 15 year old friends, I fell in screaming love!

1964, June, I travel to the World’s Fair with my Girl Scout Troop after a year’s fund-raising effort! We are exposed to many international events and understandings we’d have never experienced otherwise. We also sang and danced to the Beatles’ music all the way up and back on the train from Virginia to New York City, New York.

1964, July 2--President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act. The Vietnam War is raging; many young men were dying for a war many did not believe in.

1965--Civil Rights riots are taking place all over the US with many people killed. Students join the protest marches in great numbers.

1966--I join a southern branch of “Up With People” called “Sing Out South”--a touring, singing group that I saw as optimistic and pro people of all races and creeds. 

1967--I graduate high school, Huguenot High School in Richmond, Virginia, and go on to attend a small private Methodist college in Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro College.

1968--Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. In April, and Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles, California in June! These events scare me and make me feel unsafe in our world.

1969--Richard Nixon is inaugurated as the 37^th President of the USA.  Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr. become the first men to land on the moon, July 20.

1970--Four college students are shot to death by National Guardsmen during an antiwar protest at Kent state University, May 1.  As a college student, I was stunned!  Instead of deterring me from social activism, it encouraged me to speak and act in their names!

1970-- Fall--I meet my husband to be, and we start dating in September.

-- I join a protest rally, several in fact, in support of Civil Rights and against the Vietnam War. I supported my many friends who were soldiers in the war, I just wanted them to come home alive, and I didn’t think the war was worth their lives. Once while I stood in solidarity with my friends-- as we stood arms linked around the perimeter of the campus, the North Carolina National Guard formed a ring around us. They had rifles and were four feet in front of us, also shoulder to shoulder. We sang, “We shall overcome one day” and “All we are asking, is give peace a chance” over and over. I have to say, I thought I might be shot and die that day.

1971--April--the schools in Richmond, Virginia where I was reared, were finally ordered desegregated by the courts!  My younger brother was bused across town to a traditionally all black high school. My parents, strong believers in public education, refused to move or to send him to private schools as most of his friends did. He rode a half empty neighborhood school bus to his new school at age 16. He was big and tall, but gentle, and everyday he was challenged to a fight, everyday he was assaulted in the bathroom! School became hell for him, and he dropped out. He began cutting school unbeknown to my parents until he’d missed two months and the school sent a letter finally!  He had a gifted level IQ, so he made up his schooling and attended college, but was impacted for life by this experience as were many youths, both black and white during this volatile time!

1971, June--I graduated from college! Went back to Richmond, Virginia, served as a lifeguard for my 7^th summer, and then started teaching Emotionally Disturbed Children in September.

1971, December--I married Max Holshouser, a mechanical designer, woodworker, and teacher and had two children over the next eight years.  In 1978 I went to graduate school to earn a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology. I moved from Richmond, Virginia, to Raleigh, North Carolina and moved from being a teacher of Emotionally Disturbed Children to being a family therapist and staff psychologist for a private practice and for public mental health. My social activism continued in a much milder way, volunteerism among other things.  

1999--age 50, I had a heart attack, preceded by weeks of unexplained fainting and coughing spells. Experimental open- heart surgery revealed a serious, non-bypassable, stage four heart condition that took me out of my life as I knew it, and made me a chronically ill person, living on disability, having to sell my house to survive financially, and one who was expected to die within five years! However, I am approaching my 16^th year of this illness and have three delightful grandchildren as gifts of this life I never expected to have!

2001, Sept. 11--Terrorist attack the World Trade Center in New York and our world becomes dominated by the war on terrorism as well as the war on drugs. I got so upset about it, so mesmerized by it, that I ended up having another heart attack and spent a week in the hospital.

2011--I discovered ancestry.com, and my new hobby and life interest began!  It started as a way to give a gift of a small family tree to my last remaining aunt, and ended up as a passion for the rest of my life! 

2012-- I started blogging as I had always loved to write, but it wasn’t until February 2014, that I began to write about genealogy exclusively! So I am approaching my first anniversary of genealogical blogging which has opened a whole new world to me , including this present community in which I am just becoming involved, thank you very much! The title of my blog is Heart of a Southern Woman, and there you can find the list of surnames I am researching.

 

Notice what a melting pot American I am with ancestors from:  Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Scotland, and Wales, among others. My ancestry DNA says this is my ethnic DNA make-up:

 Europe 99%

·                     Europe West 51%

·                     Great Britain18%

·                     Ireland15%

·                     Trace Regions15%

·                     Iberian Peninsula6%

·                     Italy/Greece5%

·                     Scandinavia3%

·                     Finland/Northwest Russia< 1%

West Asia< 1%

·                     Trace Regions< 1%

·                     Caucasus< 1%

 

Well, now you know who I am, and I hope you enjoyed glimpse into one family in the American South.  I’m looking forward to getting to know many of you and your genealogical discoveries. I’d love to know what you experienced in the 1960’s as well: what did you think of the Kent State shooting? What did you experience of the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement, and the Vietnam War? I’d really like to hear of your own memories.

 

 

Keep Clicking

When I first started blogging, I didn't give much thought to the type of blog I would create. Questions like am I a story teller or teacher didn't even enter my mind. As I started reading other blogs, I began to think I should provide tips and tricks. I'm computer literate. I've been designing business-to-business websites for as long as they've existed and understand the limits of databases and how to pull out the information contained in them. I also manage a research team and we know our way around government rules and regulations.

So I wrote a post about using census records in your research and taking full advantage of every bit of information contained in them. And I was one of the worst posts I've ever written and to this day I go back and forth when I think about deleting it. That experience taught me I am not a teacher. So I stuck with what I knew best -- telling stories.

But then I realized my stories sometimes contained research case studies -- not tutorials on how to do something in the abstract sense but rather how I did something to solve a specific research problem, using a tip or technique I learned from someone else. So today I'd like to present a case study, using a lesson gleaned from Hilary Gadsby's great post, Killing Them Off -- It Can Help Knock Down Those Brick Walls.

I have begun reviewing the beginning of my tree -- me -- working backwards and reviewing my research and what gaps I would like to fill in about each person (not quite a genealogy do-over, but sort of). As I got to the siblings of my paternal grandfather, I realized I did not have a death date for my grand uncle, Leo James Jennings. So that was my goal: to kill off Leo.

Effie Davis (Beard) Jennings; Leo James
Jennings' mother, who died in 1906; photograph
courtesy of Janie Darby

The first thing I did was write down what I already knew, how I knew it, and transcribed all the records I did have.

• He was born on 29 October 1898 and that his parents were Charles Edward Jennings and Effie Davis Beard. I could surmise he was born in Roanoke, Virginia, as his parents were living there during the year of his birth.
• In 1900 he was living with his parents, four half siblings and his older sister in Roanoke.
• His mother died in 1906 when he was eight years old.
• In 1910 he was living with his widowed father and three living siblings.
• His father sent him to live with his half sister in Erwin, Tennessee by 1911, when his younger brother (my grandfather) was placed in an orphanage.
• He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1916 at Big Gap, Virginia.
• His father died in 1917.
• He was discharged from the Army in 1919 and had served as a Sargent with the 104th Supply Train
• He married Bonnie Sue Wolfe sometime before 1920.
• In 1920 he and Bonnie Sue were living in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and he worked as a mechanic at a tobacco factory
• In 1922 he and Bonnie Sue were still living in Winston-Salem but he was now working as a machinist at South Royal.
• In 1924 he and Bonnie Sue had a son they named James Wolfe Jennings; the son was born in Appalachia, Virginia.
• On 10 August 1932 he was admitted to the U.S. Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Sawtelle, California, and suffered from myocardial degeneration, cardiac hypertrophy, conjunctivitis, and deviated nasal septum. His marital status was listed as divorced.

Sawtelle Veterans Home; photograph courtesy of the California
Historical Society Digital Collection

Frankly, I thought he was near death then, but couldn't find a death or burial record of any type for that general timeframe. So, I started researching his ex-wife, Bonnie Sue. I learned:

• In 1930 Bonnie Sue was divorced and living in Appalachia, Virginia, and was the proprietor of a grocery store.
• In 1940 Bonnie Sue was widowed and living with her father in Orlando, Florida.
• Bonnie Sue died in 1969.

The 1940 federal census and 1940 Orlando city directory entries for Bonnie Sue seemed to confirm Leo's demise. Why no death record? After broadening my search and not concentrating on his death, I discovered a 1940 census record for Leo. He was alive!

• In 1938 he was living in Los Angeles, California, and was working as an engineer for Econolite Corporation.
• In 1940 he was living in Calabasas, California, working as a supervising inspector of traffic signals, and he was married to Kathleen G. Jennings, who worked as a secretary at a law office. They owned their own home and had a live-in housekeeper.

So I started trying to kill off Leo again with a different date for his possible death. I finally got a hit from Find a Grave worth pursuing. A Leo J. Jennings was buried at Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. However, the date of birth and the date of death were listed as "unknown."

Rats!

I clicked the cemetery link and discovered the cemetery had a website. So I clicked through to the cemetery site. On their home page, I discovered a burial search. I used it and lo and behold there was Leo's death date: 8 October 1973.  He certainly lived longer than I would have suspected with all the heart and respiratory issues he had in 1932.

Further research, included finding Leo's funeral notice in the Los Angeles Times, dated 5 October, which indicated he was buried on 8 October. His Department of Veterans' Affairs BILRS Death File listed his death date as 3 October 1973.

Screen shot of the burial search results for Green Hill Memorial Park,
Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Confusing with so many possible death dates, but I was successful in killing him off. The beautiful thing about this case study is that once I entered his death date in my Ancestry.com tree, I started getting lots of hints about his second wife, Kathleen, who likely would have been a brick wall since I did not know her maiden name at the time.

So Hilary was right, killing them off can help break through those brick walls in your tree, but be sure  you explore each record and source thoroughly. Keep clicking your way through the information.

I'm signing off now to resume killing some more of my pesky brick wall ancestors.

_______________
The Irish Wife
Newly Discovered Photographs
The Mother Nobody Knew
A Lover Not a Fighter