I Seek

Comments about what I strive to obtain for my genealogy file.Updated: 13 Apr 2009

We try to record the full name (including middle name) of each person and information on 5 life events: birth, christening, marriage, death, and burial.

It is easiest to read dates when they are written in this format: 7 May 1939.

We try to obtain the date for each event, and the city/town, county, and state where the event occured.

It is very important to record the name of the county where events took place. In many states there are multiple places with the same place name so knowing the county name is important.
In the case of burials, we also record the name of the cemetery.

When someone marries into the line, we record the name of their parents (maiden name for the mother).

We like to get newspaper clippings about weddings, anniversaries, deaths, and other events that took place in family member's lives, along with short stories and recollections written by family members. This textual information is entered in the note field for each person. This information is what makes reading a genealogy interesting.

This material can be shared in the form of clippings, scanned images, or typed text. Getting the information already typed is a big help.

You also might want to consider writing a few paragraphs about yourself, your spouse, your children, your parents, and grandparents which I could include in the "Note" field for each person.

Things that I think might be of interest are: where did they grow up, where did they live, what schools did they attend, did they have military service and if so, with what units and where, when did they met their spouse, what did they do for a living, did they receive any awards or citations, did they ever serve in public office or do public service, in what organizations did they hold membership, what was their religious affiliation, and what significant events occurred in their lives?

File: !alliwan.txt

Isaac Baldwin

Isaac Baldwin

Census: 1820 in Monroe Co., OH, Ohio Twp.
Isaac Baldwin (Balding) between the age of 26/45 with five sons (4 under 10 and 2 10-16) and 1 daughter (under 10) and one female (26-45)
(Furnished by Gordon Paul)

LAND: In 1828, Isaac and Mary Baldwin sold some land to James Walton and the deed information shows they lived near Negro Run of Sunfish Creek. That creek empties into the Ohio River at Clarington. Isaac Baldwin must have died without a will prior to April 22, 1848, as The Spirit of Democracy of that date shows that George W. Durkee had been appointed as his administrator. According to a Durkee family Bible, George W. Durkee was married to Matilda Baldwin, July 4, 1841, so she was probably the female in the Isaac Baldwin family in the 1820 census and under 10 years of age.
(Source: Catherine Fedorchak, Family Research in Monroe County, undated)

PROBATE: Isaac Baldwin died, Abt. Apr 1848. The estate notice is dated, 22 Apr 1848, George W. Durkee, administrator. (George W. Durkee married Matilda Baldwin)
(Source: Norma Henthorn)

PROBATE: 22 Jul 1848, notice of probate, Isaac Baldwin estate. Wm. C. Walton appointed guardian of Isaac Baldwin, lunatic.

LAND: 24 Mar 1849, Book 11, p. 288, Monroe Co., OH, To Eli Baldwin, quit claim. From, Andrew and Maria Henthorn; George and Matilda Durkee; in consideration of the division of the farm formerly owned by Isaac Baldwin; Witnesses: Thomas Weston and Washington Foreman. Andrew and Mariah Henthorn each signed with an "X" and George and Matilda Durkee signed their names.

RESEARCHER: Mrs. Emanuel (Ruth) Baldwin of Beallsville, OH worked on the Baldwin family.

File Recovery Project

At one time all of my genealogy files were in the DOS Personal Ancestral File (PAF) format on an IBM ThinkPad laptop. When the clock battery on this computer wore out it wouldn't boot up any more. I paid a computer shop to put the files from the hard drive on a Kingston thumb drive. Then I set the thumb drive aside and complained about how much work it would be to move the files from the thumb drive to my replacement computer, a Dell Latitude laptop where I intended to load them into the RootsMagic genealogy program.

The issues involved in the process aren't worth going into in this posting. Suffice it to say, there are many steps involved and I have to do part of the work on a desktop computer that also has issues. The biggest problem is that the "note" field in my PAF files use a period (.) to separate paragraphs. Those place holders must be removed and replaced with a carriage return before converting the old PAF files to RootsMagic.

As of yesterday morning the five largest files hadn't been converted. It had been so long since I worked on this project I had trouble understanding the notes I wrote the last time I worked on the project a year ago.

I'm using this posting to announce that yesterday I was sucessful in converting the Adam Henthorn, of Monroe Co., Ohio, file of 6,405 individuals and 2,379 marriages. I worked most of the day on the project. After the file was loaded into RootsMagic a test revealed that there is enough information to produce a Register genealogy report of nearly 700 pages.

At least four files, probably all larger, remain to be converted: James Henthorn; William Henthorn; Conger; and Yoho. There is one large file that seems to be damaged. I'll probably have to accept that I lost all of that work. Based on the Adam Henthorn project I estimate it will take four full days to complete the work. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to accomplish these projects in due time.

Mr. Dickie

Looking to the Future

I'm looking forward to getting a Verizon high-speed Internet connection and whatever website space they make available with the service. Ever since AOL dropped free website support I've been upset because all of the genealogy information I'd shared for years was no longer available on the Internet. It will be nice to again have a place for anything I want to share.

Yesterday I worked on a project to convert my genealogy files that were stored, at one time, in the file format of the Family Origins for Windows program to the file format of the program that replaced it, RootsMagic. The process was quite easy because the RootsMagic program has this capability built-in. I also created a "text" file where I listed the names of all of the genealogy files and other pertinent information. I needed to do this because I'm sure it won't be long before I forget what I have available. Once a file is stored in the RootsMagic format all of the powerful output capabilities of the program can be used to share the information. I wish this program had been available years ago when I was working on genealogy almost every day. As time goes by it will be interesting to see what comes out of my current efforts. Hopefully I can sustain the interest and energy to make good use of these expanded capabilities.

Watch this blog for further reports about my progress with the high-speed Internet connection and with RootsMagic.

Mr. Dickie

Ahnentafel Defined

Ahnentafel Defined

Ahnentafel is a German word meaning ancestor chart.

The person for whom the chart is prepared has the number one (1) in front of their name.

To find the father of a person, double their number. To find the mother, double their number and add one. Therefore, the parents of (1) would be (2) and (3). The parents of (3) would be (6) and (7). Fathers are always even numbers and mothers odd numbers.

By the way, if people repeat in a chart it is not an error. This happens when there are so many links between the various families.

File: !ahnen.txt

Thomas Cresap

Thomas Cresap(b. 1694 ?; d. 1790)

A name that still strikes sparks in our imagininations is that of Thomas Cresap. With his air of daring, his boastfulness, his audacious swagger coupled with sheer courage, his colorful attitude and speech, and a gift for finding his way despite any and all obstacles, he often reminds us of another English-born adventurer connected with Maryland: Captain John Smith.

Certainly, the family fort, househould, and trading post called "Oldtown," which he established and operated for many years, was one of the best-known place names in colonial America. Every traveler of any consequence knew about Cresap and Oldtown (known to many Indians as Opessa's Town). Located on the northern bank of the Potomac River, about 15 miles east of Cumberland, [Maryland], it was, for some ten years or more, looked upon as a sort of "Ultima Thule, or fartherest west," in Maryland.

Cresap, a frequently-embattled rough-hewn frontiersman, and speculator, in a certain sense, was also an innkeeper --- but food and lodgings were free of charge to all who came. This was a custom of the time, especially in such a region where the usual inns and taverns were non-existent. On any one day, he might have as his guests one or two Moravian missionaries, on their way from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Virginia - and their Bethabara or Wachovia settlements in North Carolina (bent on converting Indians to Christianity); a government emissary on some important mission; perhaps even George Washington or Christopher Gist; three or four Indians, passing through; and one or two hunters, or trappers. Very likely, he enjoyed the "tall stories," and profited by the items of genuine frontier news, but was equally glad to find tourist traffic light on other days, considering his expense for food.

It is evident that Cresap had something further to gain from all this. He did considerable business with friendly Indians, trading European-style hardware and food items (flour, salt, gunpowder, weapons, bacon, hams, and so on) for furs. Increasingly, too, he bought and sold land, not omitting to solicit business from his Moravian churchly visitors. Here, we encounter an odd quirk of his nature. Though not religious, he looked upon their religious activities as a stabilizing influence. In addition, he respected them for their godly behavior and high principles.

As for Indian visitors, he welcomed friendly ones who might be customers; and he "put up" with others, showing whatever grace he could summon. (Often, there were war parties of the Six Nations, on their way to or from battles with their customary southern enemies, the Cherokees. These rather unwelcome guests --- who never bought real estate and seldom traded furs -- apparently reasoned that the colonists had driven away or killed their deer or other game, and that Cresap, therefore, should supply food to take its place. They regarded him as the only visible representative of a faraway "Great White Father" who had already broken one promise or another. Here, though not especially gifted as a diplomat, Cresap usually managed to "strike a deal.")

"Big Spoon," we are told, was the name usually given to him by Indians, descriptive of his apparently open-handed generosity in supplying them with food. As for Cresap, himself, the descriptions we have vary considerably, depending upon who said or wrote them. (See "Thomas Cresap, Maryland Frontiersman," by Kenneth P. Bailey.) William Trent, the Pennsylvania trader and Virginia military personage, was a prominent and fairly frequent quest at Oldtown. Andrew Montour, another respected individual (three-quarters Indian, and long noted as an interpreter and diplomat in Indian affairs) was Cresap's close friend. So was that courageous diplomat and Indian scout, George Croghan. It was from Cresap that George Washington learned much frontier lore, the two remaining friends until Cresap's death in 1790. (He was born in Yorkshire, England, probably about 1694, though he, himself, never was sure of the date).

On the other hand, a member of Braddock's expedition, described him thus.
"May 8th: Ferried over the River into Maryland ... there lives Colonel Cressop, A Rattle Snake Colonel, and a D---d Rascal ..."

No doubt, the title of "Rattle Snake Colonel" was intended to be derogatory, indicating that the military title was self-adopted rather than official.

By some, no doubt, Cresap was accused of "interfering in Indian affairs." He was not one to "go by the book." Yet, time and again, we read statements praising his hospitality, such as this one by two Moravians, visitors at Oldtown in 1749:

"... On October 31st, we passed no house for thirty-five miles, but indescribably high mountains. We started early ... and after passing safely through two creeks we came to Colonel Crissops at night, pretty well tired out. He received us very courteously ... Several other people were with him, a gentleman from Maryland and a servant from Virginia, to whom he gave all kind of good information about Bethlehem, and also about the conversion of the Indians... He also showed us on a map where the Six Nations live ..."

Extraordinary, indeed, was Cresap's ability to serve in the Maryland General Assembly, at Annapolis during part of one week, while being on hand the remainder of the week, as a sort of human "frontier listening post," at Oldtown.

It was in 1739 that a Pennsylvania captain, John Charlton, took out, from the Maryland government, a patent for 200 acres of land at a spot known as "Indian Seat." Cresap bought this on May 24, 1740 (for 100 pounds current money). With later land additions, it became known as Oldtown. From then on, he frequently acquired more land, selling whenever there was promise of a good profit.

From all this, we may certainly conclude that Thomas Cresap was just the right sort to have stationed along such Indian trails as Nemacolin's Path; one from whom news would be frequently forthcoming; and one who would seldom leave either friends or enemies in doubt.

(Biographical Sketches of Maryland by George and Virginia Schaun, 1969, p. 96-97)

National Genealogical Society Library

Did you know that the National Genealogical Society Library is no longer located in Arlington, VA? Several years ago the collection was transferred to the St. Louis County Library in St. Louis, MO. This accomplished two goals. First it physically located the collection nearer to the middle of the country. Second the St. Louis library agreed to make the items in the collection available through inter-library loan.

Yours truly donated two genealogies to the collection, one for the Watson family and the other for a branch of the Henthorn family.

This link will take you to a page where you can find links to other pages which explains all this in more detail.

St. Louis County Library - Special Collections Department

Mr. Dickie