A Farthing for Your Thoughts

I.C. Farthing & Mamie Farthing, 1955

I’ve mentioned before that my maternal grandmother was Helen Lois Farthing (1910-1984).  Her parents were Mamie Clyde White (1884-1957) and Irving Colquitt Farthing (1885-1974), “Mamaw” and “Papaw” as we called them (though I’ve discovered that my mom spelled their names “Mamma” and “Pappa”).  Mamaw and Papaw were married in Dublin, Laurens County, Georgia, on 1 December 1907.  I.C., as he was known, worked for an insurance company, and later became a lawyer.  I’ve always had a special fondness for this great-grandfather, not just because he’s the only great-grandparent I knew (!), but I was named after him.  His first name, Irving, is my middle name.

Besides my mother’s personal memories, one set of sources I used for some information about my great-grandparents was the city directories of Savannah.  So far I’ve looked them up in the directories for the years 1917-1923, 1925-1929 and 1934.  Those are the years I examined at the Bull Street Library in Savannah when I was able to spend a half day there last month.  There are more city directories available on microfilm through the Family History Center (Family Search Center).  I plan to order those microfilms later this summer.  City directories are interesting books, far more than just a phone book, though you can find elements of both the white and yellow pages there.  City directories date back to the 1700’s in the USA, though the heyday seems to have been the period from about 1870’s through the 1920’s.  Most major cities had yearly directories, and even many smaller urban areas had directories compiled every few years.  At a minimum, the “classic” city directory will list each address in the city along with the business or head of household and possibly a spouse in one section, followed by an alphabetical listing of the city’s residents and businesses.  Many times the employer of individuals will also be listed.  In addition, each employed adult (or older adolescent) would be listed separately.  Advertising appeared on every page, and later books added a section of just businesses.  Once phones were introduced, the phone number was listed if the person or business had one, plus the directory would often list what we would consider a “reverse lookup” – all the phone numbers in numerical order with the telephone subscribers’ names attached.  This is truly an embarrassment of riches for the family historian if you are lucky enough to have family living in an area that had city directories.

For example, this is a page (right) from the Savannah 1918 City Directory, published by The Savannah Directory Publishing Company.  (Remember, you can click on any image in the blog for a larger view, or right-click and open in a new tab or window to keep this page up, too.)  The listing reads “Farthing, Irvin [sic] C. (Mamie), agt. Metro L. I. Co., h 302 Hall w.”  Irvin was a common misspelling of his first name; I sometimes get that, too.  Interestingly, the Street Guide section (below) spells his name correctly.  They were living at 302 West Hall Street, and he was an agent with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.  By the next year, 1919, I.C. was listed as a lawyer with an office at 24 East President Street, and he had moved his family out to the suburbs, living in Pooler.  He moved back into the city by 1922, taking up residence on East 32^nd Street.  Like I said, not only is there an alphabetical listing of residents, but there is also a Street Guide, which lists households by address.  A nice dividend to the Street Guide is that you can see who your ancestors lived near.  Sometimes this may help in finding in-laws, children, cousins, parents, or other relations who may have been missed on the traditional census.  Each block is indicated by the cross-streets, so it becomes easy to look for where they may have lived.  One thing to keep in mind, though, if you look up old addresses on a modern map, is that oftentimes the streets have been renumbered and even renamed. 

Fortunately, for some cities and for some years, there is a resource that you can use to check this out – the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.  (For a nice introduction to the Sanborn Maps check out this Wikipedia article.)  I found a selection of digitized historical Sanborn Maps for a variety of Georgia cities at the Digital Library of Georgia website (click here).  Many libraries have copies of local Maps, and a Google search may reveal additional digital sources that can be accessed online (such as ProQuest – available through many local libraries – and the Sanborn Company itself, if you want paper copies.)  Google Maps’ Street View can come in handy for seeing what the location looks like today.  Just for kicks I looked up the address 302 West Hall on a 1916 Sanborn Map available through the Digital Library of Georgia.  In this case it appears the address hasn’t changed in the past 95 years.  Comparing the map section to the legend, it appears they were living in a flat located in a 2-story wood frame building.  When I looked at the Google Street View, it appears that could be the same building, but without further research there’s no way to be sure.  Still, it’s pretty cool, yes?

Guess that’s about it for now.  More next time.

Here’s your summary:

• City directories can provide valuable genealogical and family history information, as well as interesting details about life in the town or city where your ancestors lived.  Try Google Books, Ancestry.com and Googling the name of your town plus the words “city directory” for additional online resources.  There are researchers who will (for a fee) do lookups.  Additionally, many libraries have copies of their local or in-state city directories.
• City directories are no more, or less, accurate than census forms, but the two should corroborate each other.  One big advantage to the directories is that they were often printed yearly for larger urban areas during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
• Sanborn Maps can be useful in urban areas for showing what buildings existed at the time and the information can be used to supplement and verify both printed tabular resources such as censuses and directories as well as pictorial evidence that may be derived from old family photographs, drawings and historic postcards.

 Later y’all,

*GeorgiaTim

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends”

A short break turned rather longer than planned.  My apologies.  Much like Lemony Snicket I was confronted with a series of rather unfortunate events, some personal, some family, some professional, and in the middle of it all I went on a planned two-week vacation and recovered from a computer crash.  Among other things I’ve learned is not to wait to back up digital files on at least one other medium (thankfully I recovered from that near-loss), and I can no longer type for long periods on my laptop.  Next time I travel I’m going to have to take along an extra full-size keyboard and plug it in.  The trip to Georgia also reinforced my belief that we have a long way to go yet in digitizing the historical and ancestral records and making them more widely accessible.  I also found myself impressed again and again with how nice and helpful most of the people I encountered were, from the professionals employed by libraries, repositories and court houses to the chance encounters with strangers in cemeteries across the state.  Without exception I found them to be generous with their time and knowledge, and downright apologetic that they couldn’t provide more information!

One other observation: Most of my research has been confined to the internet, libraries and microfilm at the local Family Search Center (aka Family History Center).  This is simply due to the fact that I live in Wisconsin and I grew up in Georgia.  But there is a definite emotional impact derived from a visit to actual sites associated with my family, whether a cemetery, a home or a now-empty plot of land.  Just knowing that I’m walking where my ancestors walked is very special indeed and not to be discounted.  I have a deeper understanding of the reactions of people who visit England or Germany or Italy or wherever, and of how big an impact it has on them.  But for me, for now, it’s back to the long-distance research.   

I’m still sorting and cataloguing my “finds” during the trip to Georgia, but one key research goal went unrealized, and I made another key discovery. 

I’ve previously mentioned the problem I’ve been having in trying to conclusively identify the parents of my great-great grandfather Mathew “Mack” Jones.  I thought I had uncovered a major clue last fall when I found a 2001 posting on the Jones mailing list archive (JONES-L Archives) on Rootweb.  In the opening sentences it states:

I found this in the Atlanta Archives [sic]. Hope it helps someone, I copied it verbatim:
Nancy Hendricks b. 2-17-1820 d 8-8-1907 married William M. Jones b 11-24-1813 d 8-25-1877
Their children:
Mathew E. "Mack" Jones b 1835 married in 6-7-1860 to Emily "Emma" Neville b 1839

Mary E Jones b 7-12-1838 d 1927 married Thomas Neville b3-12-1808 d 10-21-1870 she also married Norman Rushing

I had planned a day at the Georgia Archives in Morrow, Georgia, specifically to try to locate the document transcribed by the original Rootsweb poster, Nancy Hicks.  When I contacted her to ask for more information about her find she did confirm that she did mean the file had been at the Georgia Archives, but was unable to provide any more details.  I spent six of my eight hours at the archives searching for this document but was unsuccessful.  I still hope that some day someone else will find and publish the document, or possible even a photo of it, that it is merely misfiled or located in a file that I didn’t think to search.  My biggest fear is that some unscrupulous “researcher” decided that his or her need of a trophy far outweighed the interests of future generations in the document and made off with it and that it is thus lost to us forever. 

William & Nancy Jones, 1850 & 1860
(click for a larger image)

Even if I had been successful in locating the document, however, I would still be faced with corroborating the family tree it presents.  I have a probable 1850 Lumpkin County census for William and Nancy “Janes” and an 1860 Bulloch County census for “Wm M” and Nancy Jones.  Neither lists Mathew or Mack with the family.  The earliest census form I have listing Mack & Emma Jones is 1870.   They were married 7 June 1860 in Bulloch County.  Emma is listed in her parents’ household in the 1860 census because, though the enumeration was made on 2 July 1860, the instructions for column 3 state “The name of every person whose usual place of abode on the first day of June, 1860, was in this family.”  “Emely” is also listed as the eldest child of Jacob & “Elvina” “Nevill” on the 1850 Bulloch County census.  I still haven’t located similar census records for Mack Jones in 1850 or 1860 in Liberty or Bulloch counties, though I’m still searching page by page.  I’m also pursuing a search of the Bulloch County Deeds & Mortgages books for the relevant decades.  If I can find a “deed of gift” or other document which mentions Mack and one of his parents I will have made a giant step forward in proving or disproving this theory of his parentage.  A similar search of wills and probate records has thus far been fruitless.

In the earlier post I also stated that “So far I haven’t found a marriage record or gravesites for [William or Nancy Jones]. “  But whether or not William and Nancy turn out to be related to me I can say that I did manage to find their gravesite.  The Statesboro Regional Library (124 S. Main St, Statesboro, Bulloch County, Georgia), has a wonderful multi-volume set of bound typescripts containing surveys of the cemeteries of Bulloch County.  The surveys were done over a period of twenty-something years from the late 1960s to the late 1980s or early 1990s by numerous people.  In the rather limited time availale I paged through all the volumes, hurriedly scanning the entries for the various surnames I thought I might find there.  In one of the books I found a single page listing for the burial site on Peter Nevil’s farm.  Here’s the transcription of that listing:

Demsey Riggs

Born 8 Jan. 1808

Died 25 June 1874

William A. Sumerlin

Died 26 April 1892

William Jones

Born 24 Nov. 1813

Died 25 Aug. 1877

Nancy Jones

Born 17 February 1820

Died 8 August 1907

Calley D., dau. of

S.E. & M.E. Jones

Born 18 August 1883

Died 25 October 1886

Charles J. P. Nevil

Born 13 1863

Died 22 June 1872

Joseph L. B., son of

Thomas & Rachel Nevell

Born 9 October 1840

Killed 28 August 1862 in

second battle of Manasses, Va.

His remains are still there.

Jacob Nevil Jr., son of

J. & Rachel Nevil

Born 27 July 1838

Died 23 May 1861

Mrs. Rachel Nevil,

wife of T. Nevil

Born 30 October 1818

Died 12 July 1859

Thomas Nevil

Born 12 March 1808

Died 21 October 1870

The gravestone of William & Nancy Jones

There it was in black and white.  The graves of William and Nancy Jones, and they were listed in close proximity with the Nevils into which family one or more of their children had married.   The property wasn’t far from Statesboro so I decided to try to find the site on my way out of town.  Luck was with me that day, and I was fortunate to meet members of the Nevil family who still own the property and was given permission to view and photograph the graves.  So, even if I’m not related to them I still managed to locate their tombstone, and that was immensely satisfying!

Here’s your summary:

• Even though they are usually very suspect and you must validate the information with your own research, the family trees posted in Ancestry.com, Rootsweb.com, and other online websites and forums can provide valuable pointers when you might otherwise be at a dead end.  Don’t ignore them completely just because they often don’t cite sources.  Evaluate them as you would any other reference you find.
• There’s nothing like a visit to the locale in which your ancestors lived to breath life into their stories.
• To quote a favorite movie out of context: Never give up, never surrender!
• The websites for the Virtual Vault, the Georgia Archives and the Digital Library of Georgia are useful and valuable resources for research.  If you get the chance and you plan ahead, an in-person visit to the Georgia Archives building in Morrow, Georgia, can be equally rewarding and personally satisfying.  Sorry, I’m a bibliophile at heart; as much as I love digital research there’s nothing like the smell of old paper and leather to set my heart racing!

 Later y’all,

*GeorgiaTim
 

Maga: Another Grand-Mother (Grand-Mothers IV)

Helen Farthing at 18
(or 16, or maybe 14)

My maternal grandmother was Helen Lois Farthing (1910-1984).  In 1932 she married Frank Maxwell Perry (1910-1970).  Helen & Frank were divorced in 1950, and Helen married Joseph Matthew Solana (abt 1895-1961) in 1958.  Helen’s parents were Mamie Clyde White (1884-1957) and Irving Colquitt Farthing (1885-1974).  We called my grandmother Helen “Maga”, pronounced mah’-gah (emphasis on the first syllable).  The family story is that she didn’t want to be called “grandma”, so of course everybody tried to get her first grandchild to call her that.  But no matter how many times they said it, “gramma, gramma”, over and over, when he pronounced it he reversed the syllables, and a baby-talk “gamma” came out “maga”.  And that’s how she got her name.  But she wasn’t alone in having a unique name within the family.  Frank was called “Daddy Mack”, Joe Solana was “Pop”, Irving was “I.C.” to his friends and colleagues, and “Papaw” to his us, as his wife Mamie was “Mamaw” to her grandchildren.  There is some variance in spelling, Papaw-Pappaw and the same with Mamaw-Mammaw.  We pronounced them with a short “a” in the first syllables, like “pat” and “mat”, and the long drawl of “–paw” and “–maw” trailing after, so I’ve adopted the single middle consonant spelling.

I haven’t yet obtained copies of Maga’s marriage licenses or her death certificate but hope to do so this summer.  Mamaw and Papaw were married in 1907, and I do have a copy of their marriage record from the Georgia’s Virtual Vault website.  They obtained their marriage license from Laurens County (Dublin) on 30 November 1907 and were married the next day, 1 December 1907, by A.L. Hobbs, N.P. & J.P (Notary Public & Justice of the Peace).  And there’s plenty of information on the next three censuses.  In 1910, they were renting at 217 Gaston Street in Savannah.  Irving C and Mamie (they stretched the truth a little bit, claiming 3 years of marriage), their twins Elmer C & Ethel F (1 7/12 years old), and Papaw’s brother Troy. Under employment it looks like I.C. was in the Const [?] Dept, Insurance, and Troy was an Insurance Agent (my mother remembers her mother’s Uncle Troy; I think he might have been Papaw’s favorite brother maybe).  In 1920 the family had moved a bit north of the city to the small town of Pooler and were renting on Morgan Street (no house number was recorded).  My mother said that her grandfather rented all his life.  He never bought a house.  He didn’t believe in going into debt for anything.  Irving C and Mamie are now living with five children: Ethel F, Elmer C, Helen L, Bernard C & Alvin R, and I.C. is a lawyer.  1930 found them back in Savannah, living in rented digs at 205 W Gwinnett, and paying $40 per month in rent.  Irving C., Mamie C, Ethel F, Helen L, Bernard C & Alvin R live together, Elmer having moved out and gotten married.  Papaw is still a lawyer, and interestingly three of the children are working: 21-year-old Ethel is a stenographer in a loan office, Helen, 19, is a saleslady in a department store, and even 13-year-old Bernard works “curb service” at a drugstore.  Only the youngest, Alvin, 12, doesn’t work outside the home.  No doubt he had more than his share of chores to keep him out of mischief!

 

Robert White's marriages

Since Mamie and Irving were both born in the 1880’s and the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire, there’s only one earlier census for each of them.  In 1900 Mamie was living with her father Robert A White, brother Robert and step-mother Valeria in Dodge County.  Mamie’s father was a teamster, which in 1900 may have meant he actually handled teams of work horses in addition to hauling freight.  Meanwhile, Irving was living with his father Reuben Farthing, a blacksmith, mother Martha, and eight brothers and sisters.  Unfortunately, this is nearly a dead end for Mamaw’s family until I can discover more clues or uncover more documents.  My mother was always told that Mamie’s mother’s name was Elizabeth Rozier or Rosier, and that she died when Mamie was a little girl.  I found a marriage license recorded in Laurens County for a marriage between Robert White and Valeria Warren on 19 February 1894, but so far the only close match in a marriage record I’ve found for his first wife is for Robert White and “Leona Rozar”, married 18 July 1880, also in Laurens County.  I can’t find any Rozars, Rosiers or Roziers in Laurens or the surrounding area in 1870 or 1880 with a daughter names Elizabeth or Leona of the appropriate age.  Nor can I find a family with a young Robert A White.  I did find a Robert D White, aged 28, in the 1910 census living in Dublin with his wife Lula E, 27, daughter Vida Pearl, 2, and father Robert A White, 51, but the 1900 census has father and son named Robert A White, and their ages are 39 and 17.  So it’s acceptably close if I could find more corroboration.

 
The Farthings are another story.  There is a long line of blacksmithing Farthings stretching back at least a hundred years, but that’s a tale for another day.

Helen Farthing with Tim, 1958

Here’s your summary:

• Family stories and histories can provide valuable clues.  Sometimes all you need is a name to help confirm some documentation.  It’s not proof, but it can move up the probabilities, so that it becomes reasonable to pursue additional research which can provide corroboration.
• Census forms, particularly from the decades surrounding the turn of the last century, are often rich in details which can add to the texture of your family history.
• The handwriting on the census forms can be difficult to decipher.  Don’t waste time trying to decipher the printed column headings.  Use a resource such as the census blanks available from Ancestry.com or another source.  Many websites provide the blanks in downloadable form, and they can also be obtained from most FamilySearch Centers (formerly Family History Centers).
• Don’t forget to try to confirm facts with multiple sources.  Tombstones, marriage records, death records, family Bibles, census forms and family histories should all be weighed and considered carefully.  No single document can provide all the evidence you need, but each is a piece of the puzzle.

 Later y’all,

*GeorgiaTim

Grand-Mothers III – Maggie Stringer’s Grandparents

I do apologize for the 10-day hiatus.  I’ve had issues.  L  There’s a lot going on over the next month but I promise I’ll try to get back on a regular schedule.

I wanted to discuss my paternal grandmother’s grandparents.  My grandmother, Maggie Frances Stringer (1907-2000), was the daughter of Hattie Mosell Williams (22 Mar 1880 – 21 Jul 1921) and Thomas Henry Stringer (26 Mar 1869 – 1 Jul 1933).  The family lived in Tattnall County in 1910 and Haw Pond, Evans County, in 1920, and she married my grandfather James Dewey Jones (1907-1973) in 1928. They lived in Bulloch, Chatham and Effingham Counties.

Thomas & Hattie Stringer's parents, from their Bible

According to Hattie’s death certificate (I posted it at the end of the previous post, click here), Hattie’s parents were S. M. Williams and Mary J. Andrews.  Hattie & Thomas’ Bible shows her father’s name as Shep M. Williams.  This is enough information to at least start a census search on Ancestry.com.  Starting my search in Richmond County because Hattie and Thomas Stringer got married there in 1901, I found a 1900 census right away, showing Mary J. and Shepard M. Williams living there with their seven children.  By 1910 Mary and Shep had moved to Tattnall County with at least the two youngest of their children, and by 1920 the youngest had left home but daughter now-widowed Mattie M. Mincy had moved in with her six children.  The 1890 census doesn’t survive for Georgia.

I have located a Screven County marriage license issued 26 Apr 1881 to Sheppard W. [not M] Williams & Mary Jane Andrews, who were married 13 Oct 1881 (record Marriage Book D, 1874-1881, p 149).  This is of course after eldest daughter, and my great-grandmother, Hattie was born, but I’m finding that wasn’t as unusual as you would think, so while I haven’t committed to that yet, it’s in my files as a possibility.

I haven’t located any other information about Mary J. Andrews prior to the 1900 census.  I have one likely mention of “SM Williams” in the 1860 census, living with his parents “JM” and “HA” Williams in Effingham County.  (I really hate it when the census enumerators only recorded initials!)  The reason I think it “likely” is a combination of family history that Shepard Williams was named after his grandfather, and in 1850 James B and Harriet Williams were living in Bulloch County with an elderly Shepard Williams and two young daughters whose names at least partially match the initials used in the 1860 census (Mary and Ella in 1850, “ME” and “EE” in 1860).  The children’s ages are off by a year, and Harriet’s age differs from the age given for “HA” by 2 years so more research needs to be done.

1900, 1910 & 1920 Census Records for Shepard M. Williams and Mary J. [Andrews] Williams

I’ve loaded a large image of excerpt from those three census records because the 1900, 1910 and 1920 census forms are particularly rich in details.  You can click on the image in here to open a larger size for reference.  I think we should look at these in more detail so you’ve got an idea what can be gleaned from these records.  I’ve added the column numbers to make it easier to refer to the illustration.  You can find blanks which will list all the column headings by number for all census years at the Ancestry.com site (http://www.ancestry.com/charts/census.aspx), and other websites also have census blanks (just Google “census blanks”).  This is so much easier than trying to read blurry census forms from microfilm or even the digitize ones online.

I was a bit surprised to find my relatives living all the way up in Augusta (Richmond County).  I had assumed they were all farmers in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  But of course people try to go where the jobs are, especially when they have seven children!  If you look all the way over to the right, Column #19 of the 1900 census gives the occupation of the employed members of the family.  Shepard was an elevator man at a cotton mill, and three of his daughters worked as spoolers; daughter Mattie was also a room [sp?] hand, whatever that is.  Two of the daughters had been out of work for 1 month each (Column #20).  From Columns #25 and #27 I can find that they rented a house.  All the way back over to the left, in the first unnumbered column, the census enumerator entered the street name in the rows above my family’s entry.  The second unnumbered column has the house number.  So Mary Jane and Shep lived in a rented house at 1929 Hicks Street in Augusta.  I’ll have to research city directories to find out if the houses and streets have been renumbered since 1900, but the current location in Augusta looks like a narrow, almost rural, lane, with a few wooden houses and storage garages (Google maps, street view).

There’s more to be found in the 1900 census.  According to the record, Shep was born in December 1851 and Mary Jane in August 1859 (the double-column #7).  Someone went back and forth on their ages (Column #8).  The census was taken on 7 June 1900, so their correct ages should be 48 and 40, but the darker number indicates 49 and 41.  Which calculation was incorrect?  They reported their ages as 59 and 51 in 1910, and 69 and 61 in 1920, so I’m left wondering if they gave the census taker their age and birthday and he (incorrectly) computed their birth year.  Since we don’t have birth certificates, and I haven’t yet found any tombstones, we’re left with a conundrum.  I confess that I still show 1851 and 1859 in my family tree, but I’m giving serious consideration to backing that up their birth years to 1850 and 1858.

Sheppard W. Williams & Mary Jane Andrews
1881 Screven County Marriage License

As I mentioned above, I found a “possible” marriage record in Screven County, giving their marriage date as 13 Oct 1881.  But here on the 1900 census, Column #10, they indicated they had been married 24 years, which would calculate to a marriage in about 1876.  But if you look down to the 1910 census, Column #9 indicates that Mary and Shepard had been married for 30 years, placing their wedding in about 1880.  This isn’t something I can resolve with the current data available to me, so I’ll just have to put it aside until I can discover more information.  By the way, both the 1900 and 1910 census forms record that Mary gave birth to seven children and that all seven were still living (Columns #11 & #12 in 1900, #10 & #11 in 1910).

While we’re looking at the 1910 census, take a look at the far right columns again.  With the change of residence came a change of employment.  Shepard was and Overseer (Column #18) on “Bukins” or “Perkins” farm (Col #19 – something else to add to my research list).  He rented (Col # 26) a house (#28), and there is further information on entry #89 on the farm schedule (which I haven’t been able to locate – I think this may be one of the years that congress ordered destroyed, so that individual records no longer exist).  There is no house number, since they lived in the country, but the first unnumbered column on the far left indicates they lived on the Reidsville and Statesboro Road.  As an aside, this is census Sheet number 36-B.  On Sheet number 36-A, apparently not far away, on Cobbtown Road, lived their son-in-law Tom H Stringer and his wife (their daughter) Hattie, along with their four children, one of whom was my then-three-year-old grandmother!

And finally, the 1920 census shows Shep and Mary living on their own farm (“Operator” in Column #26, “Farm” in Column #27, and “OA”, meaning working on his own account, in Column #28).  There was further information on row 211 of the farm schedule (Column #29; again, I don’t know if this schedule still exists in complete form).  As I’ve said, I have no record of their deaths or burials, only a notation, drawn from family recollection that Mary Jane Andrews Williams died in 1926 and Shepard M Williams died before 1930.  Hopefully I’ll be able to dig up some more information from my family in the near future.

I hope I haven’t totally confused you, and I’ll be moving on to another branch of the family next time.

Here’s your summary:

• Family stories and histories, whether oral or written, are often the only starting point you’ll have to find out information on the “mid-distant” ancestors – those who may have died within living memory or within the memory of the very recently departed.  And there’s often no way to confirm this information with primary sources, so many times you’ll have to begin relying totally on the census to corroborate the stories.  At some point you may be totally reliant on what you can glean from the census forms.
• The handwriting on the census forms can be difficult to decipher.  Don’t waste time trying to decipher the printed column headings.  Use a resource such as the census blanks available from Ancestry.com or another source.  Many websites provide the blanks in downloadable form, and they can also be obtained from most FamilySearch Centers (formerly Family History Centers).
• Census forms can be a valuable source of information for more than just name and age.  Don't neglect all those "other" columns, particularly for 1880 and for 1900, 1910 and 1920. 
• You can't expect to resolve every issue the first time with only the records at hand, so make notes and move on.  Revisit the questionable data or incomplete results when you have access to more information.

Later y’all,

 *GeorgiaTim

Grand-Mothers II – The Parents of Maggie Stringer

In the first Grand-Mothers post, I stated that my paternal grandmother was Maggie Frances Stringer, the daughter of Hattie Mosell Williams (22 Mar 1880 – 21 Jul 1921) and Thomas Henry Stringer (26 Mar 1869 – 1 Jul 1933).  I also noted that her name is written “Frances Magadelin” [sic] in Hattie & Tom Stringer’s Bible, and that the family lived in Tattnall County in 1910 and Haw Pond, Evans County, in 1920.  Here are a few pages from that Bible I mentioned (again thanks to my cousin Michelle, who made the scans from the Bible which is currently in the possession of our Aunt Mildred).

Pages from the Hattie Williams-Thomas Stringer family Bible

According to the first of these pages from the family Bible, “Thos. H. Stringer and Hattie M. Williams” were married 21 March, 1901, in Augusta [Richmond County], Georgia, by “Louis Schillen” and the witness was Mrs. M. J. Williams.  Unfortunately, the last record in the last Richmond County marriage book available online through the Virtual Vault is for a license issued 12 January 1901, so that’s another record to add to my “to be ordered” list.  Most likely the handwriting is that of Hattie.  I have no proof of this at this time; it’s just a feeling about it.

Alternate B/W copy of part of page 3 of family Bible above

There is additional valuable information to be gleaned from these pages.  On the second page, at the bottom, you can see the copyright date is 1907.  Since I don’t have a copy of the title page of the Bible, which may or may not have a printing date, with the copyright date I know that the earliest this family data could have been recorded in this Bible is 1907.  Just above that are Hattie and Thomas’s dates of birth and, of great importance, their parents’ names (though the writer did not record their mothers’ maiden names).  Listed as “Grandparents”, Thomas’ parents were Robert F. Stringer and Martha E. Stringer and Hattie’s parents were Shep M. Williams and Mary J. Williams.  Thus it seems that Hattie’s mother may have been the witness to her wedding.  There is no explanation as to why only one witness is listed.

The third page lists Hattie and Thomas’ children, their dates of birth, their spouses, and their dates of marriage.  Maggie is the third child, married to Dewey Jones on 6 October 1928.  The rest of the third and fourth pages (parts of which I have blurred because some of these people are still living) concern mostly their grandchildren.  It appears to me that these pages bear the handwriting of at least three different individuals.  In any case, the fourth page states that Hattie and Thomas were Missionary Baptists, and someone has recorded that both died of “apoplexy” (a term applied to any sudden, unexpected loss of consciousness followed by death), Hattie on 21 July 1921 and 1 July 1933, and that both are buried at “Canoochee”.  (OK, I’m cheating again!  I have a secondary copy, a black & white photocopy that is a bit clearer along the bound edge of the pages.)  In support of the death dates, again thanks to Michelle, I have photos of Hattie and Thomas’ gravestones.  Additionally, since Hattie died in 1921 I was able to locate her death certificate online in Georgia’s Virtual Vault, my number-one source for original documents from this time period.  In this case, my first search, by first and last name, turned up exactly one record and that was hers.  And, Hattie's death certificate gives me her mother's maiden name -- she was Mary Jane Andrews.

Having the names of Hattie and Thomas’ parents will help as I go back another generation.  But I think I’ll leave that for another time.

Hattie M. [Williams] Stringer Death Certificate
(Death Certificates, Vital Records, Public Health, RG 26-5-95, Georgia Archives)

Here’s your summary:

• The women of the family often had control of the family history (the same as today).  If you have a family Bible, it’s a good bet that you’re looking at the handwriting of the women in your family.  Women didn’t always take the pictures, but they were usually took charge of them once they were printed, framing them to hang on the walls or pasting them in endless scrapbooks and photo albums.
• Family Bibles can be a rich source of information, but you should treat it as you would any other source and try your best to verify the information.  While an invaluable pointer to information you might not otherwise have, without corroborating evidence and documentation it is only hearsay.
• Try to keep the date ranges of your primary records sources in mind as you do your research.  In this case, I know that the Georgia’s Virtual Vault website has death certificates from many Georgia counties from as early as 1914 to as late as 1930, though they are mostly from 1919 through 1927.  If you remember what you CAN find, you are more likely to quickly find records to support your research.
• Don't forget to check all the fields on a death certificate.  It, too, may give you valuable clues.

 Later y’all,

*GeorgiaTim

Georgia Archives threatened by House Budget

I normally won't write a topical post (current events) because that's not what I intended this blog to be about.  But I had to make an exception in this case.  In case you haven't read elsewhere, funding for the Georgia Archives (which includes the Virtual Vault) is scheduled for serious reductions, below the level that the Archive needs to function as a viable public resource.  The letter below has been sent out to many people across the state and the country, and I quote it as is:

Georgia Archives threatened by House Budget URGENT ACTION REQUIRED! An open letter from FOGAH Chair, Virginia Shadron: The Fiscal Year 2012 budget that passed the Georgia House of Representatives on March 11 as HB 78 includes budget reductions that could result in the State Archives closing its doors to the public. The budget contains two items that together would reduce the Archives’ budget by at least $300,000. The Archives’ base budget, after preceding budget cuts, is $4,643,588. Over 65% of that goes to pay fixed costs (such as rent) that cannot be reduced. The current bill proposes an additional cut in “personal services and … savings from reduced hours …” in the amount of $260,458. The second way in which the Archives’ budget is eroded is that the House budget does not fund the annual increase in the Archives’ rent, an amount of more than $40,000 for FY12. Altogether, the additional cuts to personal services and the failure to fund the rent increase means that the Archives’ sustains a critical $300,000 in cuts. You might wonder, “What is the fuss about?” That shortfall can come from one place only—and that is staff. Without intervention the Archives will almost certainly be forced to close its doors to the public, reduce scanning operations and preservation activities, and eliminate most transfers of records from state agencies—the records that protect Georgia financially and legally. The House version of the budget now goes to the Senate for adjustment and passage. Call and write your state senator immediately and ask that a minimum of $300,000 be restored to the Archives budget! Go to http://www.legis.ga.gov and click on "Find Your Legislator" to find your senator. - Virginia Shadron

I don't know if letters from non-residents will do any good at this point.  Heck, I don't know if letters from ANYONE will do any good at this point.  But if you still live in Georgia, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write to and call your Georgia State Senator an let them know that they need to restore the funding for this valuable historical and cultural resource.  Not doing so is like forgoing regular maintenance on your car.  You can't make up for it later.  And we can't just buy a new history if we lose the one we have! 

Thank you.
*GeorgiaTim

It's Awards Season: The One Lovely Blog Award

I received a very nice note from Lisa Wallen Logsdon at the blog “Old Stones Undeciphered” informing me that I was a recipient of the "One Lovely Blog".  It’s a community award that circulates through the blogs, awarded by bloggers to bloggers.  There are rules to this award:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted the award and their blog link.

2. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

So what, you say?  As I wrote Lisa, “Someone once said that everyone thinks awards are silly ... until you win one. Seriously, though, it is always nice to find one is not just shouting into the void.”

Thank you again Lisa, and thanks to all the other bloggers out there.  Writing can be hard work.  Yes, you might say the work is its own reward, but it nevertheless is work, and it’s nice when someone gives you an “attaboy” for your efforts.

Without further ado, here’s my list.  These are some of the blogs I’ve discovered in the past few months that I find entertaining, informative and/or intriguing.  Congratulations to all of you, and I hope your new readers will be as pleased to discover you as I was.

• ATCO Georgia, The Village
• Begin With Craft
• The Canty Quest
• Climbing My Family Tree
• Family Lines
• Find My Ancestor Blog
• Forgotten Old Photos
• Genealogy and Family History.com
• Genealogy By Ginger’s Blog
• The Internet Genealogist
• LongLostRelatives.net
• The Mashburn Collection
• The Shy Genealogist
• My Tombstone Collection
• The Turning of Generations

Later y’all,

*GeorgiaTim