Online Genealogy Lessons #1-5

We are in the midst of a global health crisis. Beginning in late December of 2019 there was an outbreak of coronavirus, or COVID-19, in Wuhan, China. This world health issue has resulted in a nearly complete and utter halt to our lives as we knew them to be. 100% on non-essential employees in New York State have been ordered by the Governor to work from home if possible.

We are living through history. Unfortunately though, the pandemic still has an increasing death toll, mostly on those with underlying health conditions like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and otherwise compromised immune systems.

In an effort to provide some my Facebook friends with some distraction and activity to fill their new found time at home, I have been offering Genealogy Lessons online.

For those of you who would like to follow along here are the first 5 lessons to get you started:

Genealogy Lesson #1 (posted on Facebook on Sat. March 21, 2020):

Anyone really bored? I'm thinking of teaching a genealogy research class to anyone who is interested. First step. Fill out this form with everything you *think* you know your direct ancestors; parents, grandparents, great grandparents... You go on line #1, Dad on line #2, Mom on line number #3. Men are the even #s, Women are the odd numbers. Keep women with their maiden names. Surnames in all caps. Let me know if you are working along with my posts.

Genealogy Lesson #2 (posted on Facebook on Sun. March 22, 2020): 

If you missed it, yesterday I posted Lesson #1 which required filling out the attached pedigree chart. http://misbach.org/download/pedigree_chart.pdf

In genealogy research, just like on that pedigree chart, you start with yourself and move back through history. Think about it, your birth certificate is really your very first piece of genealogical documentation. It shows the connection between you and your parents.

Today's assignment is to look through and gather all the documents you already have that has genealogical value. One example, I already gave you, is your birth certificate. What other genealogical documentation do you have? Let's build a list of what we have that has info about our family on it. Go - - -

Genealogy Lesson #3 (posted on Facebook on Mon. March 23, 2020): 

The next few lessons focus on Living Resources.

I know you're wondering when we will get to really searching online for documents. Trust me. This is research. You want to collect all the family info you can before you start searching documents.

The pedigree chart you filled out in Lesson #1 is not documentation. It is a form genealogists use to organize the information they are collecting. Today I introduce you to a Family Group Sheet (FGS).

A pedigree chart does not allow you to record the names and vital dates of siblings, aunts/uncles, or cousins. An FGS does.

Fill out the FGS using your parents as the husband & wife. You and your siblings will be the children on the form. Save the file to your computer. http://misbach.org/download/FamilyGroupRecord.pdf

Genealogy Lesson #4 (posted on Facebook on Wed. March 25, 2020): 

You living relatives are a good source of information for your genealogy research. Now is an ideal time to reach out to a cousin to see what information they might have before you dig into your research online.

Call a cousin!

While talking with them try filling in another FGS, this time with your share grandparents as the couple at the top and your aunts and uncles as the children on the form.

Be sure to ask questions about names and vital dates they might know, locations where family members lived, causes of death, fond memories, and recollections of family events. I always start with questions like, "Tell me about grandpa/grandma."

Have fun. Enjoy talking with a relative.

Genealogy Lesson #5 (posted on Facebook on Fri. March 27, 2020): 

Now that you have gathered up all the info that you and your family members know, including info you have lying around your house, it is time to start searching in your online resources.

Today, I just want you to find out how you can access Ancestry for free or set-up a FamilySearch account.

Ancestry.com provides a free two week subscription. Many public libraries subscribe to the Ancestry Library Edition which one would need to use for free at their public library. However, during this health crisis, Ancestry has permitted many public libraries to make Ancestry Library Edition accessible to their patrons from their homes. Check your public library’s website for more details.

Regardless of your access to Ancestry, you can all subscribe to FamilySearch.org for FREE. Go to FamilySearch.org today to create a free account.

Tomorrow’s lessons will begin to focus on the U.S. Federal Census, it’s history, and how to search for your family in the records. Stay tuned.

Mrs. Henry Takes in Foundlings

In recent email exchanges with Cousin Timmy, he expressed an interest in learning more about his great grandmother, my great-great grandma, Annette Hinch-Henry. I have been posting a lot about her lately; well, mostly about her husband, Victor Henry, and the murder-suicide he committed. But I have quite a bit I have learned about her through my research as well.

In a recent post I stated that my paternal lineage shows a history of generation after generation taking in wayward cousins, down trodden in-law, and/or generally lost souls. One of these caretakers was Annette, or as she is more often called, Anna.

After her husband's death in 1908, Anna had to find someway to financially support herself and her three children; Charles (my great-grandfather), Jane, and Victor. When I met with some Hinch family cousins last summer they shared with me and my grandmother a story I had never heard about how Anna had to put her children into an orphanage for a brief time. Where ever this home for children was, it was located near a beach. They told me that Charles, being the oldest, saw that his siblings weren't getting enough food to eat in this facility and so he would hid the fruit from his lunch in his pockets, take it out to bury on the beach, and later on his siblings would retrieve the food so they would have something to eat. Anna learned of this and immediately brought her children home. She took on odd jobs, mostly cleaning for people. At one point she worked at Aquaduct Raceway in Queens cleaning at what is a pretty well know horse racing track. She also took in foster children which I am sure came with some money from the state as it still does today.

In several census records I saw children other than her own living with Anna.

In the 1915 NY State Census, Anna has 6 children living with her; the three that we know are her biological children and Joseph (age 3), Frank (age 1), and Antonio (age 1) all listed as with the surname Henry.

In the 1920 U.S. Census she had three "foundlings" in her care; George Hula age 4, and twin girls age 2, Marah and Mary Gericie.

In 1930, Victor is the only one of Anna's children still living with her but they also had an 8 year-old "boarder" named Edward Reed.

One time I asked my Great Uncle Bobby, Cousin Timmy's dad, if he had any recollection of Edward. He told me Edward died of appendicitis while in Anna's care. Great Uncle Bobby said his grandma took Eddie to the doctor's office with terrible stomach pain and the doctor dismissed his ailment as an act on Eddie's part in order to get out of going to school. Bobby said he recalled that Anna was devastated with grief at Eddie's death.

I was able to find that Edward Reed died on December 7, 1937 at the age of 16. According to his death certificate which I observed on microfilm at the New York City Municipal Archives back in November of 2011, Edward died at Jamaica Hospital and is buried at St. John's Cemetery in Queens, NY. The cause of death is listed as gangrene following an appendectomy conducted on November 19, 1937. Anna signed his death certificate as his guardian.

Edward, George, Marah, Mary, Joseph, Frank, and Antonio are just the 7 foster children I know of but I image there were many others.

Although I did not know my Great-Great Grandmother, I know she must have been a strong woman with a gentle heart who shared and showered her kindness on the unfortunate. That's a nice legacy to leave behind, don't ya think? 

Poking through her census records that I she is linked to on Ancestry.com yesterday revealed some new Irish records about the Hinch family which I will blog about soon. Stay tuned...

Norris Point - The Loss of the "Reddie" from Gadds Harbour Island

The third destination on our trip around Newfoundland was the town of Norris Point. Nestled in the National Park, Gros Morne, Norris Point is where my great-great grandmother, Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley was born in about 1857.

I chose this destination because it was within the National Park. It was only after the trip was booked that I realized the connection to the Samms family...and I am glad I did.

While we were in driving around the National Park, Cousin Kelly and I stopped into a gift shop in the nearby town of  Woody Point. We almost didn't get into the shop. It was after their closing time and the door was lock but as we turned back to get in the car, one of the owners of the Hunky Dory, Mr. Charlie Payne, came running out of his home to open his shop up for us.

Just as with every stop, Cousin Kelly informed Mr. Payne that I was doing some genealogy research in the area; that I am an Earle. Mr. Payne immediately acknowledged that there were many Earles in the area. I explained to him that this was the section on Newfoundland where my Samms ancestors were from. "Samms?," he inquired. "My wife is Samms." At that point he excused himself to go back to his home to retrieve some genealogical research he had collected. When he returned he shared this story with us.:

Loss of the "Reddie" [recorded from] Louis and Ned Samms [by Charlie Payne]

During the 1870s, the Samms family of Gadds Harbour carried on a seal hunt on a small scale. The enterprise was short-lived because on an accident at the ice. It was during the 1870s that the "Reddie" went to the ice and was lost with her entire crew from Gadds Harbour and Norris Point. Her wreck was found later the same year on St. Paul's Island on the Quebec Shore of the gulf of St. Lawrence. Seven men were lost in total. Reuben Samms left a wife and 7 or 8 children, James Organ left a wife and 6 or 7 children, William Parrons left a wife and one child, James Harding was the only supporter of a mother, 3 sisters and 2 little brothers, and Richard Sams, the unmarried brother of Ruben Sams. It is said that there was only one man left in Gadds Harbour after the loss of the "Reddie." One day that same spring he left to walk across on the ice to Woody Point for food supplies and he too never returned. He fell through the spring ice and drowned.

Reuben Samms - also spelled Ruben Sams in this story - was my third great grandfather, the father of Sarah Samms-Earle-Bromley.

Mr. Payne - now more lovingly referred to as Cousin Charlie - recommended a book to me in which the story is recorded; The Good and Beautiful Bay: A History of Bonne Bay to Confederation and a Little Beyond by Antony Berger. 

When we returned to St. John's at the end of our trip I went to the Provincial Archives again to see if I could find anymore about the "Reddie." Unfortunately, I could not. As the librarian at the Archives concurred with me, oral history is perhaps the only way this story of the tragic event has survived. Thank God for the storytellers.