For the past while — months and months — I’ve run into two main obstacles. The first is making the time for genealogy research. If I don’t have a regular time each week for working on my lines, it generally won’t happen, at least not unless genealogy has a higher priority for me. (And alas, so far it hasn’t. Other endeavors have clambered for attention, successfully.) One of my New Year’s resolutions will be to set aside an hour or so each week for genealogy. Once I get back into the groove, I don’t think it’ll be too hard to keep it up; it’s just a matter of getting started.

The second obstacle is not knowing quite where to start. I’ve done research on two of my lines, but there are hundreds, and it’s hard to know where I ought to start researching. Perhaps the best plan of attack is, I think, to just choose a family and research them. Later on I can develop a better strategy, but for now the random selection (well, hopefully guided by the Spirit :)) seems best.

Spent an hour talking with my grandmother on my mom’s side (it was her birthday). I hadn’t planned on more than five minutes, actually, but I’d been reading Dean Hughes’ book Rumors of War (which takes place at the beginning of WWII) and realized that my grandma was alive during the war. So I asked her what it was like for her, and ended up with six pages of notes about not only the war but also how she met my grandfather, and how her sister and brother died. And how her great-grandparents had owned a produce business and one of their delivery boys was Frank Sinatra (who had grown up five miles away). Family history is cool. :)

I decided a couple of weeks ago that I’d be much more motivated to do genealogy if I had a Moleskine notebook devoted solely to that pursuit, so I got one but didn’t start using it till today. Copied in those six pages of notes and it’s great. I’ve got to talk to my grandparents more often so I can capture all these memories before they disappear. (It’s also kind of nice going back to paper and pen, incidentally. I can carry the notebook with me in my pocket wherever I go, and it’s durable and wonderful for this sort of thing. It’s the kind of notebook that Indiana Jones’s dad uses in The Last Crusade, too. ;))

Technorati Tags: World War II, family history, Moleskine, Indiana Jones

As someone who works a genealogy-related job (coding genealogy software), you’d think I would be spending a lot of time on my own research. That’s how it ought to be, but I’ve let other things consume my time and attentions. And yet genealogy is important. I like it a lot. I just haven’t been doing it.

So, how am I going to change that?

One idea I got today was to “reconstruct” one or more of the villages my ancestors were from — either Torre de Passeri in Pescara, Italy, or Petersburg, Virginia, or both. By reconstruct I mean go through the records and keep track of everyone in the village over time, seeing where connections happen, to get a better feel for what life was like back then.

The other mini problem right now is not having a good system to capture the research as I’m doing it. It needs to be web-based because my laptop is still dead and I don’t yet have the money to buy a new one, so I’ll mostly be using various lab computers on campus. Lately I’ve been thinking about throwing together a very lightweight system based on a Wiki (to keep the data model simple) that would at least give me a place to put stuff, since that’s the main thing I’m lacking right now. (Alternatives would be using a combination of Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Backpack.) But I’m going to talk about this on Beyond… :)

Anyway, I’ve also been thinking about putting together a family website, since mine doesn’t have one. I did put together a very minimal one four or five years ago, with everyone’s contact info, but that was the extent of it. I’d like to make one that has blogs and forums and calendars and stuff. It has to be enough of an experience that members of the family will actually want to use it. With that, I’d either find a lightweight CMS that gets out of my way, or else just roll my own. We’ll see. I need more time! :)

Technorati Tags: genealogy, family history

Hmm, I’m not updating this as often as I’d like. Which means, basically, that I’m not doing as much genealogy as I ought. :) Beyond has fallen by the wayside (no time!) and will probably remain there for the time being. But I shouldn’t let that stop me from working on my genealogy. So, this week I’ll do some more research and (hopefully) set up a regular time so that I don’t fall behind like this. Blogging about it all will help make me accountable, too. :)

Um, I’m not dead, I promise. :) Things are wee bit busy right now (both at work and with other projects, like Beyond), but after August I should have more time. And by then I’ll be spending most of my free time on Beyond, which will lead to more research. In the meantime, I’ll hopefully be able to make some time here and there.

I’m even more excited than I was when I wrote that last post. So, I was looking through the pedigree, trying a few other people (most of whom weren’t in OneWorldTree), and then I came to Sarah Frances Burnett, daughter of John Adam Burnett (”Squire” he was called) and Mary Elizabeth Thomas. Didn’t find her, so I tried Mary’s father, Pleasant Cannaday Thomas. Voila!

But that’s not the exciting part. Here’s Pleasant’s pedigree:

So I clicked on Evan (at the upper right), and imagine my delightful surprise when I found that he’s from Glamorganshire, Wales! A couple of years ago I worked on the Welsh Mormon History website, and almost instantly Glamorganshire became my favorite place in Wales. Not sure why. Maybe now I know. :) I’ve loved Wales since I was a little kid, even though I’ve never been there.

Here’s Evan’s pedigree:

Griffith Ap Rhys is a very definitely Welsh name. Mmm! :) And when I clicked on Rhys A Fitzuryan, here’s his pedigree:

Yes, I am drooling. See all those “5+”s at the right? That means at least five more generations on each of those. Goodness! And I thought the Houchins/Sneed line was a mountain! Again, it’s not verified, but “Thomas” is a Welsh surname. Ah, this is heaven! :D I really feel like a kid in a candy store. And I’m so glad I don’t have any classes this summer, because this is a serious distraction and I don’t think I could get myself to do any homework. :)

I’m preparing a lesson on how to do genealogy for my ward (they’re having me train the FHE groups, two tomorrow and two next week, because our stake has a goal to have every member find two names and take them to the temple before August 4), and I randomly decided to look up Abram W. Houchins and Martha Sneed on Ancestry’s OneWorldTree. And holy toledo, there’s a ton. Hundreds if not thousands of names for their ancestors. How far? Back to, oh, 90 A.D. Yes, that’s not a typo. Now, I don’t know how much I trust it all — that’s 50+ generations and could all be completely made up — but it’s exciting to think that it just might be real. There’s royalty (King Aethelbert and King Egbert, for example), and all sorts of stuff. Towards the end of the line you get bogus information, though, like the “Sicambrian King of Canada” and Helen of Troy. Yes, that Helen, the daughter of Priam. Somehow I don’t quite think she fits in. :)

Anyway, it’s a ton of information. I wish Ancestry would let you download a GEDCOM, because otherwise it’s going to mean slowly typing it all in by hand so that I have it in my file, which will then allow me to verify it all. Beyond’s going to become really handy as far as that goes — it’ll automatically grey out any unverified information (information without a source attached), so I can throw in all of this potential material and see at a glance that it’s not verified. And then the work of going through it all will begin. But it’s exciting to see where our ancestors may have come from, in the different parts of England. There’s the de Aldithley family from Heleigh Castle (in Audley, Staffordshire, England), for example, and one of them was named Lynulphus. How cool is that? :) And there’s Margaret Downes, born in 1446 in Pott Shrigley (Prestbury, Cheshire, England). The royal lines come out of France and Germany and such. (Or “Austrasia” as it was called.)

So, where I thought we had no information on Abram W. Houchins and Martha Sneed’s parents, we have a mountain. A huge, veritable, larger-than-life mountain.

Here’s the OneWorldTree pedigree once you get back to the 1000s:

But of course the pedigree spreads out tremendously when you’re back that far. It would be really nice to be able to print an overview of it all, just to get a feel where the lines are, but PAF doesn’t let you do that (to my knowledge). And I haven’t entered all the information in yet. I’m thinking Beyond will have to be able to make supercharts.

So anyway, I’m wondering how much other information on our other lines is in OneWorldTree. No sense in reproducing work that’s already been done. (And for the research that has been done, it doesn’t hurt to verify it all and make sure we have valid sources, lest we seal ourselves to the wrong families.) I think I’ll start going through OneWorldTree and see what I can find. (I know, for example, that there’s a lot of info on Asberry Bailey and Mary Pauline Haire, on Broadus’s line.)

But at the moment I’m going to sit back and revel in the fact that I’m related to King Aethelbert, whoever he was. ;)

Technorati Tags: genealogy, Houchins, Sneed

I got this e-mail from Jordan Kearney about Edwin D. Willcox (who married Eliza Shanks, the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Shanks):

I have been able to find a little information on three of his children. Robert E. Willcox enlisted on June 19, 1861 in Co. A, 12th Virginia Infantry in Petersburg. He was present or accounted for until killed in action at Malvern Hill on July 1, 1862. It’s interesting to note that Malvern Hill once belonged to his paternal ancestor, Col. Richard Cocke.

John Thomas Willcox served as a private in Co. B, 44th Battalion of Virginia Infantry prior to being transferred to Nichol’s (or Graham’s) Virginia Artillery Battery during the Civil War. This battery was part of Jeb Stuart’s Horse Artillery. He was paroled on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse, VA.

Alice A. Willcox was married to John Walke Baylor. John Walke Baylor enlisted on April 25, 1861 in Co. A, 12th Virginia Infantry in Petersburg. Served in this unit until February 27, 1864, when he was transferred to the Pioneer Corps of Mahone’s Brigade. Returned to the 12th Virginia in September of 1864. John was captured in April of 1865 and was confined in Libby Prison, Richmond, VA.

And here’s some additional information on Thomas Shanks, Eliza’s brother:

He enlisted on April 19, 1861 in Co. A, 12th Virginia Infantry in Petersburg. Promoted to 1st Sergeant on May 15, 1861 and Second Lieutenant on October 15, 1861. He was not reelected on reorganization of the army on May 1, 1862. Later served as a private in the Virginia State Reserves in 1864.

I didn’t know that he didn’t get reelected, nor that he served in the state reserves. Fascinating. He was involved in the fire company there in Petersburg, and he shows up quite often in the newspapers. Unfortunately there isn’t as much coverage of his brother James (my line), but that’s life.

Technorati Tags: Shanks, Willcox, genealogy

Yesterday I spent some time on EllisIsland.org trying to figure out which of the Domenico Iorios listed is my great-great grandfather. My mom’s maternal grandfather was Joseph Iorio, born in 1902 in New Jersey. In the birth certificate, his parents are listed as Domenico Iorio and Teresa Cirelli, ages 22 and 20, respectively. So Domenico was born around 1880, and Teresa around 1882. And they had to arrived in the States before 1902.

Out of the ten Domenico Iorios listed on Ellis Island, there’s only one born in 1880 (the rest are either before 1865 or after 1888). He’s from Morrone Sais and first arrived in 1899 at the age of 18, single. He then came back again (still from Morrone) in 1904, married. And again in 1907. He was also headed for Jersey City, which fits in perfectly. All the evidence looks like it’s him, but there’s still no conclusive evidence. And I don’t even know for sure that he came through Ellis Island. (But where else would he have come through?)

As for Teresa Cirelli, there are two close in age. One, from Moissana, arrived in 1903, so I doubt it’s her. The other came from Terininis in 1902 at age 19, which is close enough. But again, there’s nothing solid to say she’s actually Joseph’s mother. (Oh, she went by Maria or Marie later in life, apparently.)

There’s no Domenico Iorio in the 1900, 1910, or 1920 censuses, unfortunately. I wonder if he went back to Italy… (He certainly has a history of doing that.) According to the 1899 ship manifest, Domenico was going to stay with his brother Gabriele at 395 3rd St. in Jersey City. And, interestingly, there’s a WWI draft registration card for a Domenico Iorio, living at 377 Monmouth Rd., Jersey City, New Jersey (and Joseph Iorio was born in Jersey City, mind you), age 43, born 24 Apr 1875. Interesting. His nearest relative was listed as Gabriel Iorio. (And he worked on Broadway. Cool. :))

There’s also a draft card for a Nicola Domenico Iorio, born 30 Dec 1877, also residing in Jersey City.

Maybe I should try working from the bottom up. Joseph Iorio shows up in the 1930 census with his wife Anna and his son Anthony as lodgers in the household of James V. Keane. (They were married 22 Nov 1925.) But Joseph doesn’t show up in the 1920 or 1910 census. Hmm…

Technorati Tags: Iorio

I’ve written about Robert Shanks (of Petersburg) in the past, both on my Blank Slate journals and on Top of the Mountains, and I think it’s good to consolidate those entries here, because this will be the more definitive reference in the future (and any new findings will show up here, not in the other places). So here’s some copying and pasting. :)

15 October 2004

I’ve been researching my Shanks line, specifically Robert and Elizabeth Shanks who lived in Petersburg, Virginia but were born in Ireland. I know that they must have immigrated between 1820 and 1830 (from the census), but that’s about it. Tomorrow I’m going to the Family History Library in Salt Lake to search more records.

16 October 2004

Went to the Family History Library for five and a half hours today. Ah, it was fun! :) I found the will for Robert Shanks and all sorts of personal property records and deeds and such (he was actually pretty wealthy, I’ve found), and I also found the death records of Raffaele Iavicoli and his wife Anna Lucia Caldarelli. Raffaele’s from Castiglione Messer Marino, a comune in Chieti (Italy), and that’s where my research will be turning next. All in all, it was quite a successful trip.

17 November 2004

Found a bunch of historical newspapers from Petersburg, Virginia on Ancestry.com in the late 1800s and I’m finding a lot of info on my Shanks line there.

22 November 2004

For the past month or so I’ve been researching the Robert and Elizabeth Shanks line, trying to figure out where in Ireland they came from. So, today I did a cursory search on the Library of Virginia’s catalog to see if they had anything that mentioned the Shanks family. First item to come up: the Shanks family papers, 1824-1853, including lots of deeds and other miscellanea. There’s an accompanying historical note that confirms that Robert emigrated from Ireland with his wife Elizabeth and he was a carpenter at first, but also did lots of land deals. Then I found the Baxter family papers, for William H. Baxter (who married Robert and Elizabeth’s daughter Matilda) and his father. Finally, I did a search through the legislative petitions and found a petition dated 5 Dec 1820 which reads, “Petitioner: Shanks, Robert & William; Locality: Chesterfield County; Description: Natives of Ireland and nephews of William Shanks who died intestate in Sept. 1816 ask for a law releasing to petitioners the Commonwealth’s right to a tract of land in Nansemond Co. and a house and lot in Blandford. Includes declaration of citizenship.” As you can imagine, that’s a goldmine. Now I know that there’s a William who is Robert’s brother or cousin, and there’s a William Shanks already in America by 1816 (and probably a while before then) who is their uncle. There’s a William Shanks I’d seen in the personal property tax lists from 1800 on but I didn’t know if he was related or not. Now I’ve just got to get my hands on the actual record so I can see that declaration of citizenship and find out where in Ireland my Shanks family came from. There are a William, Robert, and Elizabeth Shanks in Granville, North Carolina, about the same time, and for a while I thought they were the same (that Robert and Elizabeth even have a Robert, Jr., just like ours), but they’re not.

7 December 2004

Last night I got a copy in the mail of the legislative petition by Robert and William Shanks in 1820. From it I learned that Robert and William were brothers (and had a third brother named John who fought against the British), that their father’s name was James and was still living in Ireland at the time, and that Robert and his wife and three children arrived in America on 21 Aug 1817. I’m in the process of tracking down which ship arrived on that date. Success is not far away. :)

4 June 2006

Decided to typeset the will of my ancestor Robert Shanks so I could have a nice PDF version to put in my files. Also did the legislative petition he and his brother William signed in 1820 to request the land of their deceased uncle William. And that was all I was intending to do, but I got addicted, and I’ve found some cool bits of information.

First, I went back to the Library of Virginia catalog to copy the relevant catalog entries (there are the Shanks family papers, and the Baxter family papers, both of which are quite relevant to my lines). Under the Baxter family papers I found this biographical note: “William Henry Baxter was born 30 March 1830 in Havana, Cuba, to Thomas Baxter and his first wife. William Baxter became a machinist, a businessman and a property owner in Petersburg. He eventually became superintendent of a gas works. He married Matilda Shanks (ca. 1829-1886) in July 1853, and they had at least 3 children. Baxter died 5 July 1915 in Petersburg.”

Havana?!? What were they doing in Havana? It’s kind of ironic because my mom’s dad was Cuban and was born in Havana, too. Small world. :)

In the University of Virginia Library catalog entry for the business records of William H. Baxter, Robert’s son-in-law (he married Robert and Elizabeth’s daughter Matilda), I found that Robert Shanks and his brother William D. Shanks were apparently partners in the Blandford and Mansfield Mill Companies.

Another extremely interesting entry was this: “Correspondence of Robert Shanks and William H. Baxter incident to the founding and operation of the Petersburg Gas Co.” First, any letters are like a gold mine — I’ll finally get to see more of his personality. (Some of it’s evident in his will, but a will is a legal document and because of the formality you can’t see much of the person behind it.) And he helped found the Petersburg Gas Company? I had no idea…

My favorite is this one, also from the Library of Virginia: “Covenant of F.B. Stainback and R.S. Birchett to abstain from card playing for five years or pay $5,000 to the Petersburg Orphan Asylum, also two Dinwiddie County land tax receipts, of Robert Shanks, Sr. and Jr.” My, have times changed! :) (Admittedly the part Robert plays in this isn’t as funny, but still…)