Salt Lake Institute 2015

The 20th annual Salt Lake Institute is January 12-16. SLIG is being held at a new venue - the Hilton Salt Lake City Center. Four tracks remain open:
1) Finding Immigrant Origins [David Ouimette] = 16
2) Research in Original Source Repositories [John P. Colletta] = 17
3) Post War Military Records [Craig R. Scott] = 27
4) Resources & Strategies for US Research - Part I [Paula Stuart-Warren] = 17

If you are interested in any of these topics, sign up for a really interesting week of classes with access to the LDS Family History Library.

Website: http://infouga.org/cpage.php?pt=314

I'm taking the class on New England Research. Hope to see you there!

Another run-in with Serendipity

I was attempting another search this morning for James B. Crail just to get my blood pressure up. :)- James was from Ohio and I have two possible records for him during the mid-1830s in Hamilton Co., Ohio and two definite records [1851 & 1854 town lot purchases] in Marieta, Shelby, IN. That's it. Other than knowing he died before 1875, I can find nothing on him - that includes the 1850-70 censuses! As usual I found nothing new.

BUT.....................

While checking Crail burials in Indiana on Find a Grave, I did come across a burial for one Willie R. Crail. Willie died 18 October 1895 in Tipton Co. & was buried at Fairview Cemetery in Tipton. He was the son of James & Mima Crail, my great-grandparents.

I was under the impression from conversations with my late uncle that Willie had died in a wagon accident in Shelbyville just before the family was going to move west. Wrong! He died just before the family moved to Shelbyville. Willie died just six days prior to his 12th birthday.

All discoveries are celebrated!

A Couple of Upcoming Events

Oct. 11 [Saturday]: The Genealogical Society of Marion County Annual Conference in conjunction with the Indiana Historical Society at the Eugene & Marilyn Glick History Center in Indianapolis Speakers: Juliana Szucs Smith & Lou Szucs. See www.genealogyindy.org for details.

Oct. 18 [Saturday]: Shelby Co. Genealogical Society [Shelbyville, IN] Conference: I will  be presenting "Using Online Resources to Help Solve Brickwall Research Problems.

Ancient Wales Studies

If you are waging war with your pre-1500 Welsh ancestors, as I have been recently, may I suggest a really interesting website: Ancient Wales Studies. The site offers an extensive series of articles researched by Darrell Wolcott on the Welsh prior to 1500.It is based in Texas. Numerous articles are listed in the left-land column of the page. For others, you may need to search through the notes of an article to find additional articles on that subject -then Google it. Articles are well-documented. If you aren't familiar with ancient Welsh history, you may have to read through an article a couple of times to get a grasp on things. You see, the early Welsh had the habit of repeating given names, as well as having the stumbling block of patronymic surnames. Those were also repetitive. Of course none of us have ancestral families that fell victim to repetitive given names!*

If you are researching Welsh ancestors give this site a try! http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org

*Humor! :)-

Welsh Pedigrees

I've spent the last week or so trying to sort out the ancestry of my Welsh ancestor Evan Thomas [born: c1606-09 in Wales & died: 1661 in Boston]. That is part of the reason I haven't been posting.         

This little project is mind-boggling!

Each source gives a slightly different lineage for the Thomas family dating back to the 6th century or so. Two of the sources are family genealogies. Sources for the antiquated lineage are not given. My third source is the Community Trees Project  at familysearch.org, specifically the Wales Medieval Database Primarily of Nobility & Gentry. The lineage offered here offers the biggest discrepancy, about seven generations worth. My newest source is the Ancient Wales Studies web site. I'm still wading through the report on "Einon ap Llywarch of Carmarthenshire." This is a more recent examination of older Welsh genealogies.

So far my conclusion is ..... be happy tracing the family back three or four generations, don't get too ambitious! However, I'm giving it my best shot!!

Baseball and Genealogy

I wrote an article a few years ago for Gen Weekly [Genealogy Today] about baseball crossing generations. I think it's online now, so try a Google search if you'd like to read it.

The baseball season is winding down and my Reds continue to fade this year. My first big league game ever was at old Crosley Field in Cincinnati. I think it was the last game of 1961. I was just getting interested in baseball at the time. We also attended Indianapolis Indians AAA games at old Victory Field/Bush Stadium.

I was a big Yankee fan from 1962-1968. As the Yankee greats were traded or retired [Berra, Mantle, Maris, Ford, etc.], my interest in the Reds increased. I got to see the Yankee greats, the Big Red Machine, Koufax, Drysdale, Musial, Mays and dozens of others.

My maternal grandfather was a big White Sox fan. My Dad was a Yankee fan until the late '60s. We sort of adopted the Reds at the same time.

Pop attended the 1939 World Series at Wrigley Field in Chicago. He saw Joe DiMaggio belt a home run. [That was also Lou Gehrig's last series.] In 1964, we went to see the Yankees play the White Sox. Mickey Mantle hit a home run that day. Mantle took over as Yankee super star from DiMaggio.

Pop and my grandmother took in Indians games at old Washington Park [about where the Indy Zoo is today.] He and Mom took my to old Victory Field many times.

My parents and I shared a lot of baseball memories - crazy ones, fun ones, weird ones. We detoured to Houston to see the Astrodome enroute to Florida. We nearly froze to death at Chavez Ravine [Dodger Stadium] in June.

I wish I could have talked baseball with Mom's father and with Pop's mother. The sport crisscrosses generations. I've even been able to get my girlfriend to attend games at Indy's new Victory Field. We've been to Wrigley and Great American as well. Trade off? She's a NASCAR fan. I go to the Brickyard 400!

Family Updates

It looks like I'll have time to address updating a few families - Thomas, Scott, Newcomb, Almy, Sumter, Holden, Turner, Gaymer, Jennison, Low, St. John and a couple of others.

Then comes the most dreaded of all tasks - organizing the files! The den is a jumble of folders and notebooks. Family data needs to be put in file folders. File folders need to be put in the filing cabinet.

Where are those elves that helped out that shoemaker? Do they do genealogical organizing on the side?