Saturday, December 29, 2012

Nicholas Helmick's Estate

Reading through estate records are always interesting. You never know what you may come across; wills, heirs, court battles among relatives over a gun, receipts against the estate, and so much more.  In reading through Nicholas Helmick's 1844 Estate from Hancock County, Ohio I found all of the above.  Including a not so normal receipt.  A 6 ft long coffin, Nicholas must have been on the  tall side, and of course 5 pounds and 1/3  of cheese, I mean who doesn't buy cheese from a coffin maker?

Kelly



Ohio, Hancock County Probate, Nicholas Helmick; "Ohio, Probate Records, 1789-1996," digital images, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org: accessed 22 December 2012); Probate Records, 1842-1852, No. 118-215, image No. 530-571.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Postmortem Photography

On December 13, 2012, the NGS Blog posted about Postmortem Photography.  You can check out their post at the link below.  Have you found any postmortem photos while researching?  I have bunches of actual cemetery photos, heck even that photo of my Great Grandparents standing next to their shiny new tombstone, but in all of the photos I have gone through I have only found one postmortem photo.  This photo was found, unlabeled among John Robert Roger's personal photos.  There was a whole slew of family and friends that sent John photos.  John lived in West Virginia most of his life. These young women and the baby could be related or not; no one has been sure.

Kelly



http://upfront.ngsgenealogy.org/2012/12/postmortem-photography-at-turn-of-20th.html


Saturday, August 25, 2012

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun ~ Ancestor Roulette

http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/08/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-ancestor.html

From Randy Seaver: "Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) What year was one of your great-grandfathers born?  Divide this number by 50 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel"). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?

3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook status or a Google Stream post, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick a great-grandmother, a grandparent, a parent, a favorite aunt or cousin, yourself, or even your children!"

Here's mine:
1. I choose to play with my Great Grandpa Oliver O. Hopkins (1899 - 1978), 1899 divided by 50 = 37.98, rounded up is 39.

2. #39 is my 3rd Great Grandmother, Margaret Gardner (Gaertner), she is the daughter of Jean Michel Gaertner & Elisabeth Nouvier born 12 May 1843 in Ohio.

3. Margaret married George Whitman about 1862 in Wayne County, Ohio.  Together they had 11 children.  From her will we learn that she left each of her children $1.00, she could not sign her name, was catholic and she must have enjoyed quilting as she left a crazy quilt and a red Irish chain quilt to family.

4. and here is my blog post! :)

Kelly

Monday, August 6, 2012

Monday Memorials ~ Howard M. Stine

It is always fun to flesh our the bones of our ancestors.  This weekend I had a chance to do that.  My Mom and I traveled down to Monroe County, Ohio.  On Sunday we met Don and Alvin Thompson and their families for lunch in Woodsfield.   (I think by the end of the meal we figured we were related in someway to most all the patrons!)   Don, his wife and Alvin are related to us thru the Stine and Hayes branches of our families.  They have also been neighbors to many of my ancestors including Oliver & Rose Stine Hopkins, which provided us a lot to talk about.  Among those things were family stories, of course.  My favorite one of the weekend was about my Great Uncle Howard Stine.  According to Don, Howard worked as a janitor at the Laings Church of Christ and rang the church bell on Sundays or as needed.  He always sat in the left front pew all the way to the left and his brother George sat in the right front pew all the way to the right!  The best part about Howard was his nickname, Booger!  How many of you can say you had an Uncle Booger?

Kelly



Howard M. Stine was born 16 Apr 1906 in Monroe County, Ohio to John C. Stine and Ina Dye, the 7th of 10 children.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Jury List for 1813 Bullit County, Kentucky

Ever had the joy of playing in old court cases? You are missing out if you haven't! Nathan Miles Jr. and Peter Smith as well as the below men, assembled at 10 o'clock in the morning at Dogans Schoolhouse in Bulliltt County to settle the controversy of a debt. Below is a list of Jurors in the court case, Nathan Miles vs. Peter Smith on 14 August 1813 in Bullitt County, Kentucky:

Saml Hornbeck
Charles Langston
Richard Shanklin
Robert Shanklin
James Rowland
John Langston
Solomon Wornbeck
David Rowland
David Brooks
Samuel Graham
John Whittedge
James Shannon
John Hornbeck

Oh and in case you were wondering the boys had their suit dismissed and Nathan paid 2/3 of the court fees while Peter paid 1/3 of the rest of the fees.
Bullitt County, Kentucky, Circuit Court, Ordinary/Common Law Case Files, 1813-1817, Box #26 of 140, Bundles 153-158, bundle 155; Nathan Miles vs. Peter Smith 1813; Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky; microfilm .

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Guess Your Ancestor's 1940 Census Data ~The morning after...

From Randy Seaver’s Blog:
Hey genea-census-holics... it's Saturday Night, time for more Genealogy Fun!!
Your mission, should you decide to accept it (come on, you know that you want to!), is to:
1)  Pick one of the persons from your ancestry who should be in the 1940 United States Census.

2)  Using the column headings below (from 1940 United States Census Questions), predict what the entries will be in each column.

3)  Share your predictions on your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook status or a Google Plus post.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/03/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-guess-your.html
copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver



So here is my pick!  I shall use my Great Great Great Grandma Samantha Elzay Littrick.  Here are my predicted column entries:

*  State:  Ohio
*  Populated Place: Akron
*  Ward of City:  ???
*  County:  Summit
*  Township or other division of county:  Portage?
*  Block Nos.:  ???
*  Enumeration District:  89-35
1.  Location - street, avenue or road:  Day Street
2.  Location - house number:  643
3.  Number of household:  3
4.  Home owned or rented:  O

5.  Value of home (if owned) or monthly rental (if rented):  ??
6.  Does this household live on a farm?  No
7.  Name of person:  Samantha Littrick
8.  Relationship of this person to head of household:  Head
9.  Sex:  F[emale]
10.  Color or Race:  W[hite]
11.  Age at last birthday:  76
12.  Marital Status:  W[idowed]
13.  Attended school or college any time since March 1, 1940:  No
14.  Highest grade of school completed:  ?
15.  Place of birth:  Ohio
16.  Citizenship of foreign born: [blank]
17.  Residence on 1 April, 1935 - City or town:  Same place
18.  Residence on 1 April, 1935 - County: [blank]
19.  Residence on 1 April, 1935 - State or foreign country: [blank]
20.  On a farm?  No
21.  Was this person AT WORK for pay or profit in private or nonemergency Gov't. work during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No): No
22:  If not, was he at work on, or assigned to, public EMERGENCY WORK (WPA, NYA, CCC, etc.) during week of March 24-30? (Yes or No): No
23. If neither at work nor assigned to public emergency work. ("No" in Cols. 21 and 22), Was this person SEEKING WORK (Yes or No):  No
24. If not seeking work, did he HAVE A JOB, business, etc.? (Yes or No):  No
25. Indicate whether engaged in home house-work (H), in school (S), unable to work (U), or other (Ot): H
26. Number of hours worked during week of March 24-30, 1940: 0
27. If seeking work or assigned to public emergency work. ("Yes" in Col. 22 or 23); Duration of unemployment up to March 30, 1940 - in weeks:  0
28.  Occupation: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work, as frame spinner, salesman, rivet heater ,music teacher:  [blank]
29. Industry: Industry or business, as cotton mill, retail grocery, farm, shipyard, public school: [blank]
30. Class of worker: [blank]
31. Number of weeks worked in 1939 (Equivalent full-time weeks): 0
32.  Income in 1939 (12 months ended December 31, 1939): Amount of money wages or salary received (including commissions):  0
33. Did this person receive income of $50 or more from sources other than money wages or salary (Yes or No): No
34.  Number of farm schedule: [blank]

35. Has this woman been married more than once: No

36.Age at first marriage:21

37. Number of children ever born (do not include stillbirths: 11



Do you know where your Ancestors were in 1940?  Enjoy the hunt!

http://1940census.archives.gov/

Kelly

Saturday, March 24, 2012

New Website for Sunny Ancestry!

HI Everyone,
I now have a new website that will also serve as my new blog!
Check it out:   Sunny Ancestry
Kelly

Saturday, March 17, 2012