Carnival of Ice Cream

I scream; you scream; we all scream . . . for ice cream.

The Carnival of Ice Cream is up at Musings of a Mainah. Melissa has done a great job with this one. Hopefully there will be a few more than "4 servings" before long.

The Mysterious Franky Davidson

Franky Davidson, the second wife of Andrew Capus Thornton, has always been somewhat of a mystery to Cape's family. They married late in 1880, and he married Berniece Estelle "Bennie" Duke in 1887. Our best guess is that the mysterious Franky died in childbirth. The above document is our only clue as to who Franky was. A. J. Warnick (or Warnix) appears to be the Andrew Warnic enumerated in the 1880 census for Cotton Gin Port, Monroe County, Mississippi, along with his wife Nancy and a sister-in-law Francis Davis whom we assume to be Franky Davidson. There is an 1886 marriage in Monroe County, Mississippi for A. J. Warnick to a Mary E. Finley. If this is the same person, did Nancy die? There is an 1879 marriage in Blount County, Alabama for an Andrew Warnick to Nanna Davidson. This couple does not appear in the 1880 Blount County census. It is possible that this is the family in question, especially since both Nancy and Francis are said to have been born in Alabama.

There is a Francis L. Davis in the 1870 Sanford County, Alabama Census living near Detroit which is not very far from Monroe County with presumed parents of J. H. and Elizabeth Davis. Is this the mysterious Franky? If so, where is Nancy? If the marriage in Blount County is correct, why would a person from western Alabama go to eastern Alabama to marry?

So . . . the search continues for the elusive Franky Davidson.


Sources:
1880 U.S. Census, population schedule, Monroe County, Mississippi, Cotton Gin Port, Andrew Warnic household, S.D. 1, E.D. 125, p. 34, dwelling 92, family 92; NARA micropublication T9, roll 658; Ancestry.com, accessed 28 Jun 2007.

1870 U.S. Census, population schedule, Sanford County, Alabama, Twp. 12, Range 15, J. H. Davis household, p. 344, dwelling 18, family 18; NARA micropublication M593, roll 39; Ancestry.com, accessed 28 Jun 2007.

Alabama Marriage Collection, 1800-1969, online database available from Ancestry.com, accessed 28 Jun 2007.

Mississippi Marriages, 1776-1935, online database available from Ancestry.com, accessed 28 Jun 2007.

My apologies to Elizabeth Shown Mills if I haven't quite got the above citations up-to-par. My cat is sitting atop your wonderful citation style manual called Evidence: Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian and the quick card too. I know better than to disturb him!

American Baptist Register of 1852 Obituaries

Alvie Davidson has begun posting the American Baptist Register of 1852 Obituaries over on his blog. He's planning to post a letter a day until it is complete. He managed to get A-C posted today!

In Search of the Missing Gravestones

Volunteers went wading to try to locate some gravestones from a Sandwich, Massachusetts cemetery which a mid-twentieth century historian claimed had been tossed in a pond in the 1880s.

Comments on "The Family Tree, Pruned"

There's an article in the July 2007 issue of Smithsonian that is getting a lot of attention among professional genealogists. It's written by Richard Conniff and is entitled "The Family Tree, Pruned." The attention that is drawing is largely based on the examples the author utilizes to reach a conclusion that "genealogy is bunk." The author cites a quotation by Elizabeth Shown Mills regarding the genealogy business which many professionals immediately recognized as being out of context. The author seems to think that all genealogists are seeking royalty in their ancestry. I never expected to find any royal ancestors in my family tree. I still don't have confirmation of any because I'm focusing on American research until such a time that I can realistically do the travel required to adequately research my ancestors to the other side of the big pond using as many original resources as possible. While I'll admit it is kind of neat to be able to say that you are very distantly related to someone who is well-known, it's never been the goal of my research. I'm more interested in genealogy from the aspect that it brings history to life for me. The Salem Witch Trials are much more interesting to me now than they were when I was in school because I can now identify with my 8th great grand-aunt who was one of those convicted in 1692 but managed to escape death and lived until 1700. I can read the Scarlet Letter in a new light knowing that some scholars believe that Rev. Stephen Bachiler and one of his wives were the inspiration for Hawthorne's work. I think about what it was like for my ancestors who lived in the Boston area in 1635 and experienced the horrendous hurricane there. I learned more about the Civil War by finding a Union ancestor who served in an Alabama regiment than I'd learned all through my school years. I've also deconstructed a few family legends. For example, it was tradition in my mom's family that they were related to Zachary Taylor, the president. I discovered that while we were related to a Zachary Taylor, the brother of my great grandmother, we were not related to the president. What is interesting to me is the fact that our Zachary must have donated to women's suffrage because there is a signed form letter from Susan B. Anthony among the family's possessions. I'm less impressed by the letter's author than I am by learning about the cause in which he believed. I'm intrigued by the fact that some of my ancestors were aboard the same ship to America that Roger Williams was. I wonder how their time spent with him influenced them and occasionally find evidence that they may have been influenced to a greater extent that I'd first believed. I've learned historical facts from different regions because I've found ancestors in those places. A few years ago, I had never heard of Block Island, but now I can tell you quite a bit about it because I discovered one ancestor who was among its first settlers. The author also seemed to use the exception of the lady who was so obsessed by getting DNA evidence to support a conclusion that she staked out a fast-food restaurant to obtain a specimen. All of the DNA studies that I've seen require the consent of the person whose DNA is being tested. My brother volunteered to be tested. I would never dream of testing someone who was opposed to it no matter how vital I thought that person's testing was to a genealogical problem's resolution. While there are some folks out there who fit the stereotype found in this article, those with whom I come in contact at the national conferences subscribe to a higher standard in their efforts and will love their ancestors regardless of who they are and what they have done.

Genealogical research to me is not meaningless or bunk. I'd like to make one other observation from the article. Conniff commented on a study by scientists which came to the conclusion that there is a common ancestor for all persons between 2000 and 3500 years ago. BINGO! This is an argument for creation and the great flood of Genesis. Noah is that common ancestor because the only persons aboard were Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives.

Update - Michael John Neill on the topic.

Update 2 - Randy Seaver on the topic.

Update 3 - Genealogy Gifts has created a new T-shirt line in response to Conniff's article.

Update 4 - Bill West on the topic.

Amy . . . on Libraries

I loved Amy's post about libraries and wanted to share it with all my librarian friends who read this blog!

One Hot Summer Day

Several years ago, I was in Holmes County, Ohio during a very hot week in the summer. I believe it may have been near the 4th of July. As we were driving through the countryside, we stopped at the Ashery Country Store near Mt. Eaton which is a very nice little store that sells bulk goods, baked goods, cheeses, deli meats, etc. On that day, they were making homemade ice cream outside the store. The thing that I remember most is the dog that was standing nearby to lick up all the ice cream that was sliding off the cones. One little boy held his cone out for the dog to lap up. The dog apparently knew he wasn't supposed to partake because he looked at it longingly and didn't indulge. However, when a little slid to the ground later, the dog lapped it right up!

Knoxville & Electro-Turkish Baths

My favorite local columnist is not featured in a mainstream paper, but instead his articles appear in the MetroPulse, an alternative paper which has just been purchased by E.W. Scripps. The columnist is Jack Neely. He writes articles on interesting things from Knoxville's history. This week's column on Electro-Turkish Baths is no exception to his interesting topics. There is also mention of an early vegetarian restaurant which fared better than its contemporary counterparts in the city.

DNA & the Amish

Thanks to the Meme going around, I've discovered a wonderful post by The Genetic Genealogist about the Amish and DNA. There is an interesting summary of results for the Yoder project. My Yoder line is 25126 in the numbering system utilized by the Yoder Newsletter. This is derived from the book Amish and Amish-Mennonite Genealogies by Hugh F. Gingerich and Rachel W. Kreider. This is one of the must-have books for those of us with Amish ancestry. Thanks, Randy, for choosing The Genetic Genealogist as one of your five thinking bloggers.

Thinking Blogger - Tag, You're It

I've been tagged by Janice at Cow Hampshire as a Thinking Blogger. This is a meme that is going around the blogosphere. I'm honored by the award!

The rules for the meme are straightforward...

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think;

2. Link to the original post at The Thinking Blog, so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme; and

3. Optionally: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ graphic with a link to the post that you wrote.

So now, for the 5 blogs that make me think (and I'm having to work very hard to keep from duplicating the ones that Janice and my cousin Terry whom she also tagged haven't tagged even though there are lots of options out there):

1. Southern Byways - I love SP's take on all things Southern.

2. The Recliner Commentaries - I met Dennis several years ago at an ACL conference. He mostly comments on current events.

3. Seldom Wrong, Never in Doubt - I had the opportunity to work with Jon years ago when CCU was still CBC&S. He was a thinking professor then, and he's still thinking!

4. Sandusky History - This is a great blog dealing with the history of Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio by the Library Archives.

5. Blogging Cat - I never cease to be amazed at how similar Muddy and my cat Brumley are.

Thanks to all of these bloggers and many others for making me think.

Interesting Article in Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Descendants of slaves and slave owners bond with one another.

Tea

I think most of the folks in my class were intrigued by the Boston Tea Party the first time we heard about it in elementary school. Janice has an excellent post about New Hampshire tea.

Steamer Found in Lake Erie

A steamboat which sank in 1850 has been found in Lake Erie. Are there any genealogists out there besides me that wish they'd post a passenger list of those aboard when it sank? I just wonder what they'll recover there besides the wine and cows?

ACL 2007 Workshops

LibraryThing was down when the workshops for it were scheduled. I felt sorry for the presenter who had to rely on PowerPoint backup, but at least he had that! They were having a bookcover pile contest while it was down. We considered having a pile of librarians who were trying to access librarians while it was down and submitting that, but we didn't!

One of my colleagues and myself have talked several times about the workshop that showed how one library is using Facebook to reach its students where they are. I believe that we'll all be talking about how we can utilize Web 2.0 technologies to reach students in the coming academic year.

Another very interesting workshop was the one on customized toolbars which allow one to search things such as the library's online catalog, databases, and citation style guides. I'm already trying to figure out what we would need to include on one for our students. The presenters did tell us that it took time to develop them because of the code involved, but it is so useful that it will be worth the time.

I went to two cataloging workshops--one on authority control and one on metadata. I was very pleased with the direction the authority control presenter took. She approached it from the how it is changing and is likely to change perspective rather than it being a "how to" workshop. I know there were some in attendance who were looking for something a bit more hands-on, but having experience in the area, I was grateful for a more futuristic approach. The metadata was a good review for me of some of the skills that I'd been taught at a workshop back in about 2000. I really had not utilized this except in one digitization project since that time, and it was helpful to see the core elements of metadata for libraries once again.

The picture book update was great! This is the workshop where we get to pass around a lot of picture books which came out in the previous year. It's always interesting.

Networking Night at ACL

I didn't take a lot of photos of people at ACL this year, but here are a couple from Wednesday night's "Networking" event.

This is a photograph of the "photography" group.

This was the largest group of the evening--the games group.

Thoughts on Indexing

I just finished indexing my 4,500th record (1900 census) for Family Search Indexing. The last batch included a lot of first generation immigrants with their children. As I saw the countries of origin of these immigrants (Ireland, Germany, England, and Scotland mostly), I couldn't help but think about their journeys across the Atlantic, and the difficulties they must have faced. I was amazed that some of the Germans married the Irish in such a short amount of time after reaching America. (The census gives the year or immigration, and one could tell that the parents came at separate times by that date. The age of the oldest child often helps estimate the marriage date.) I also noted that some of these persons had lived in Canada at one point because the oldest children were sometimes born there and also had immigration dates. I wondered if these immigrants were happy that their children (or at least the younger ones) were born as Americans? Did they have families back in the old country? How often did they hear from them? What was it like for them? Did they ever reconsider their decision to move to America?

A Very Nice Cat Picture from Amy

Here.

Stories of the Secret City

The Atomic Heritage Foundation is placing materials online relating to the history of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, home of the Manhattan Project. Stories of children, veteran stories, and a blog are already online. It is hoped they will place the recorded stories of the earliest residents which were collected this weekend online as well.

Genealogical Discussion at ACL

On Thursday at lunch, several ACL members who were pursuing their own genealogy or helping library researchers with theirs met. A quick round-up of some of the resources mentioned at our roundtable discussion.

Must-Have Books for Identifying Records
The Handybook for Genealogists, 11th ed. (Everton, 2005)
Redbook: American State, County, and Town Sources, 3rd ed. (Ancestry, 2004)

For Native American Research
Lennon, Rachel Mills. Tracing Ancestors Among the Five Civilized Tribes: Southeastern Indians Prior to Removal. (Genealogical, 2002)

Paid Databases
Ancestry.com
Footnote.com

Blogs
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
GenealogyBlog.com

Ordering Pension Files from National Archives

Christian Publishers Just Don't Get It

One of the events at this year's Association of Christian Librarians' Conference was a publisher's forum with representatives of Kregel, Zondervan, Baker, and Eerdmans speaking as panelists. It became very clear to the librarians that although the publishers stated that our libraries were very important to them that when push comes to shove, they just don't understand the digital revolution in libraries and are doing nothing to serve our needs. A few of them have a few downloadable books available, but these seem to be marketed to individuals rather than to libraries because they require different platforms. Libraries are more interested in having electronic books available which can be read in a web browser by their patrons and which require no additional software installation beyond Adobe PDF which is usually already available. They aren't interested in software which requires special readers or devices in order to read them. These publishers seemed very much mired in the print world of the 1960s and early 1970s rather than in the 21st century. I believe that if these publishers don't quickly get into the 21st century, that they are going to cause their own demise. Several of them kept making an excuse about "being fair to the authors" in regards to royalties; however, if publishers such as Oxford University Press are doing it, there is no excuse why those models cannot be studied and an acceptable one established. There is also one other thing that was disturbing to many of the librarians in attendance. It was clear that the publishers didn't understand how books are used by academics. They did not seem to appreciate the fact that many persons use only portions of books in electronic formats. Do they not realize that the same thing has been going on for years in academia? If a researcher is seeking information, they may only use one chapter or a few pages that they've located using the index in the back of the book. Most researchers do look at the context to determine if there is additional information relevant to their work as they utilize the information. They don't really take it completely out of context which is what the publishers seemed to think happened if the entire book was not read. It is hoped that the four publishers present and other publishers in the Christian book industry will move into the 21st century before they are replaced by publishers who publish electronically and will print on demand as needed. The model is already out there. An few upstarts could come along and revolutionize Christian publishing if those not already in the industry don't take the lead.