Fifth Annual iGene Awards

The Carnival of Genealogy's Annual iGene Awards have returned - where Geneabloggers choose the Best of their Best posts from the past year in five categories: Best Comedy, Best Biography, Best Documentary, Best Screenplay, and Best Picture.

The TransylvanianDutch chapter of the Academy of Genealogy and Family History has participated in all prior years, and will do so again. For those who are nostalgic, here were our selections in 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008 from the prior year's posts.

With no further ado, we will open the envelopes for 2012


Best Picture

For Best Picture, the winner is:  March 22nd, 2011 (which was posted on the 23rd)

The rules define this as a photograph, but a video is made up of a series of stills. And some videos this is more true of than others. We know the winning video has very little to do (directly) with our family history, past or future, however, other aspects of this post swayed us in our selection.

Runner Up:

Wordless Wednesday - Tel Aviv hotels, and postage stamps - 1944 was also nominated.   This post contained scanned images of several Tel Aviv business cards and postage stamps from the 1940s.  The war-time souvenirs were from my maternal grandfather's collection.

Best Screen Play (story you would make into a movie including the cast)

For Best Screen Play, the winner is: Dawes Commission Testimony

Readers may point out that some of these posts were prior to 2011, however, it seems appropriate that the series of posts win an award for the year of completion.  I've indicated the year of each post below, and five of them were in 2011.

Dawes Commission Testimony - Samuel T Hartley - Nov 21, 1900 (2009)
Dawes Commission Testimony - Robert Hartley - Nov 21, 1900 (2011)
Dawes Commission Testimony - Virginia Hartley Shultz - Nov 21, 1900 (2011)
Dawes Commission Testimony - Sophronia Hartley Cagle - Nov 21, 1900 (2011)
Dawes Commission Testimony - Melvin Elijah Van Every – Nov 21, 1900 (2009)
Dawes Commission Testimony - Samuel W Denyer - Nov 21, 1900   (2011)
Dawes Commission Testimony - Caroline Hartley Taylor - Nov 26, 1900 (2011)
Dawes Commission Testimony - Eliza Caroline Foster Reeves – Nov 26, 1900 (2009)
Dawes Commission Testimony - Georgia Hartley Phillips – June 17, 1902 (2009)
Dawes Commission Testimony - Samuel T Hartley – June 17, 1902 (2009)
The Dawes Commission Decision - July 11, 1902 (2010)

Casting: The Dawes Commission judges made a point that none of those testifying 'looked Choctaw."  However, I have no photographs of any of them, except my great grandfather, Melvin Elijah Van Every.

My first choice for casting Samuel T Hartley will be Morgan Freeman.  My second choice will be Leonard Nimoy.  My third choice will be Kirk Douglas.  None of them appear Choctaw, so they fit the requirements. (How Samuel T Hartley, who fought for the Confederacy, would feel about some of those casting suggestions doesn't matter to me.  He's not my ancestor.)

For Samuel's four daughters: Sophronia, Virginia, Georgia, and Caroline, I'd like to cast Drew Barrymore, Natalie Portman, Mayim Bialik, and Soleil Moon Frye.  Don't ask me why, but I think they'd make excellent sisters.

Perhaps Leo DiCaprio could play the role of my great grandfather, and Macaulay Culkin could be Robert Hartley.  Jewel Staite can complete the main cast members as Eliza Foster Reeves.

Best Documentary (investigative research)

For Best Documentary, the winner is: Civilian Occupation Codes: What's Going On?

This series of posts began with the discovery that Ancestry had changed the occupation for my great uncle on his Army Enlistment record, sometime after 2007 when I first obtained the record.  I conducted some research, and realized several other members of my family had had their occupations changed.  I identified the cause: Two different lists of Occupation Codes.  In my final post, I linked to the report from the National Archives indicating that the original Occupation Codes were in error.  It was dated in 2005, two years prior to when I initially obtained the records from Ancestry.  I still don't know when Ancestry updated their records.

Runner-up

Also receiving a nomination is: 1942 Tax Returns - a post where I looked at my grandparents' tax returns and calculated how salaries, and deductions compared to today.

Best Biography

The winner for Best Biography goes to: 

Judson Van Every - Manchester Journal - 1902 - 1910 and Judson Van Every - Manchester Journal - 1915-1917.

These two posts contained newspaper clippings from the Manchester Journal (OK) concerning my great grandfather's brother, Judson Van Every.  The clippings reveal a lot about the 15 years of his life. 

Best Comedy

The winner for Best Comedy is: Missouri Sheriff has a Mule Problem - the St. Louis Post Dispatch had a little fun at the expense of Sheriff Louis P. Gober of Scott County, Missouri (my fiancee's second great grandfather)

Runner-Up:

Also receiving a nomination was a poem I wrote: Genealogy Research

This ends the awards for the five main categories.  However, in 2010 and 2011 I added a category where  I present awards to show my gratitude to other Genea-Bloggers who commented upon, or in some other way responded to an entry, providing me with more information on my family.

Geneabloggers in a Supporting Role

This year this award goes to a blogger whose post spurred me to conduct some research for which I am grateful.

Philip of Blood and Frogs back in April posted a primer on finding and ordering US Naturalization Records.  While I already had the Declarations of Intent for most of my immigrant ancestors who arrived recently enough, I realized there were several other documents of which the National Archives might have copies.  The process led to the Naturalization Petition for Salomon Deutsch - my great grandfather - and the first name of his first daughter who remained in Transylvania, and likely died in the Holocaust.  The process also led to the Naturalization Petition for Barnet Newmark - another great grandfather - and a date for his arrival in St. Louis.

Thus concludes the Fifth Annual iGene Awards - TransylvanianDutch Chapter

Two Poems for Today - April 19

The Midnight Ride of William Dawes - by Helen F Moore (1896)

I am a wandering, bitter shade,
Never of me was a hero made;
Poets have never sung my praise,
Nobody crowned my brow with bays;
And if you ask me the fatal cause,
I answer only, “My name was Dawes.”

‘Tis all very well for the children to hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;
But why should my name be quite forgot,
Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?
Why should I ask? The reason is clear –
My name was Dawes and his Revere.

When the lights from the old North Church flashed out,
Paul Revere was waiting about,
But I was already on my way.
The shadows of night fell cold and gray
As I rode, with never a break or a pause;
But what was the use, when my name was Dawes!

History rings with his silvery name;
Closed to me are the portals of fame.
Had he been Dawes and I Revere,
No one had heard of him, I fear.
No one has heard of me because
He was Revere and I was Dawes.

***
Excerpt from Campo dei Fiori, by Czeslaw Milosz (1943)

I thought of the Campo dei Fiori
In Warsaw by the sky-carousel
One clear spring evening
To the strains of a carnival tune.
The bright melody drowned
The salvos from the ghetto wall,
And couples were flying
High in the cloudless sky.

(full poem)

April 19th is filled with historical events.  Many Americans think of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.  But this is also the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943.

Note: According to this source William Dawes, who rode with Revere, was related to Henry L Dawes, for whom The Dawes Act was named.

Two Poems for Today - April 19

The Midnight Ride of William Dawes - by Helen F Moore (1896)

I am a wandering, bitter shade,
Never of me was a hero made;
Poets have never sung my praise,
Nobody crowned my brow with bays;
And if you ask me the fatal cause,
I answer only, “My name was Dawes.”

‘Tis all very well for the children to hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;
But why should my name be quite forgot,
Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?
Why should I ask? The reason is clear –
My name was Dawes and his Revere.

When the lights from the old North Church flashed out,
Paul Revere was waiting about,
But I was already on my way.
The shadows of night fell cold and gray
As I rode, with never a break or a pause;
But what was the use, when my name was Dawes!

History rings with his silvery name;
Closed to me are the portals of fame.
Had he been Dawes and I Revere,
No one had heard of him, I fear.
No one has heard of me because
He was Revere and I was Dawes.

***
Excerpt from Campo dei Fiori, by Czeslaw Milosz (1943)

I thought of the Campo dei Fiori
In Warsaw by the sky-carousel
One clear spring evening
To the strains of a carnival tune.
The bright melody drowned
The salvos from the ghetto wall,
And couples were flying
High in the cloudless sky.

(full poem)

April 19th is filled with historical events. 

Many Americans think of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.  (Some erroneously place it on April 18th, but it was a midnight ride. The battles took place the next day.)

But this is also the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. The most recent edition of Tablet Magazine was devoted to Warsaw, including a haunting look at repurposed gravestones.

Note: According to this source William Dawes, who rode with Revere, was related to Henry L Dawes, for whom The Dawes Act was named.

Two Poems for April 19th (Repost)

The Midnight Ride of William Dawes - by Helen F Moore (1896)

I am a wandering, bitter shade,
Never of me was a hero made;
Poets have never sung my praise,
Nobody crowned my brow with bays;
And if you ask me the fatal cause,
I answer only, “My name was Dawes.”

‘Tis all very well for the children to hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;
But why should my name be quite forgot,
Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?
Why should I ask? The reason is clear –
My name was Dawes and his Revere.

When the lights from the old North Church flashed out,
Paul Revere was waiting about,
But I was already on my way.
The shadows of night fell cold and gray
As I rode, with never a break or a pause;
But what was the use, when my name was Dawes!

History rings with his silvery name;
Closed to me are the portals of fame.
Had he been Dawes and I Revere,
No one had heard of him, I fear.
No one has heard of me because
He was Revere and I was Dawes.

***

Excerpt from Campo dei Fiori, by Czeslaw Milosz (1943)

I thought of the Campo dei Fiori
In Warsaw by the sky-carousel
One clear spring evening
To the strains of a carnival tune.
The bright melody drowned
The salvos from the ghetto wall,
And couples were flying
High in the cloudless sky.

(full poem)

April 19th is filled with historical events.

Many Americans think of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.  (Some erroneously place it on April 18th, but it was a midnight ride. The battles took place the next day.)

But this is also the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. Last year's April edition of Tablet Magazine was devoted to Warsaw, including a haunting look at repurposed gravestones.

Note: According to this source William Dawes, who rode with Revere, was related to Henry L Dawes, for whom The Dawes Act was named.

Choctaw Ancestry

Minnie Van Every Benold (1884-1969), the sister of my grandmother Myrtle Van Every Deutsch, at some point in her later years, the exact date is uncertain, wrote a few pages about her experiences as a child.

Excerpt:

Then too, after Indian Territory was opened for settlement (about 1888?) my father filed on a claim on Sac and Fox Reservation, possessed it and built a log house, a good barn, and sent for his family – all on the fact that mother was part Indian – in December 1891.

After a snowy winter, he planted a crop, and made many trips to the County seat (Chandler) consulting his lawyer as his right to the land was being contested. In a fit of discouragement he loaded us all in a wagon and started back to Texas. He said he could not find an honest lawyer. We left in Spring 1892, after we could not get a hearing on our claim. I do know, or at least have been told that no records were kept during those years.

So it was last night I put the name Samuel Denyer into Footnote. The brother of my second great grandfather, Ebenezer Denyer. I was looking for his Civil War record. Instead I found a reference in the Dawes Packets.

The Amercan Dawes Commission, named for its first chairman Henry L. Dawes, was authorized under a rider to an Indian Office appropriation bill, March 3, 1893. Its purpose was to convince the Five Civilized Tribes [Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole] to agree to cede tribal title of Indian lands under an allotment process to the individual Indian, enacted in 1887 (See Dawes Act for other tribes). In November 1893, President Grover Cleveland appointed Dawes as chairman, and Meridith H. Kidd and Archibald S. McKennon as members.

During this process, the Indian nations were stripped of their communally-held national lands, and the land was divided up into single lots and given to individual members of the nation. However, to prove you were a member of a tribe, you had to declare membership in one and only one tribe to a national registry known as the Rolls

Footnote has almost all of the Application Packets (98% complete).

This was exciting. It wasn't for Ebenezer's brother, Samuel, it was for Ebenezer's son, Samuel, the uncle of my grandmother. Ebenezer married Sarah Hartley who family lore says claimed to be 1/8 Choctaw. And in the Dawes packets at Footnote I have found the applications for admission to the Choctaw Tribe made by all of Sarah Hartley's children, from both of her husbands, Ebenezer Denyer and George Foster. As well as those made by her brother, Samuel Hartley. Apparently several years after they tried unsuccessfully to claim land, they tried again when the Dawes Commission was formed. The applications are dated November of 1900.

Refused. Every last one of them. (Well, logically, one would assume if one was refused, all of them would be. And if they had been successful, they'd have claimed the land, so I shouldn't have been surprised. The decision by the commission: insufficient evidence.)

I don't care. OK, I do care. If they had been accepted my grandmother would likely have grown up somewhere other than Texas, with possible repercussions on her adult life. I might not exist. Refusal, naturally, doesn't mean they weren't Choctaw, just that the commission wasn't satisified with the proof. But each application has between 10-25 pages, and they go into detail about the relationships between all those applying. Names of spouses, children, etc. And most importantly, the names of the parents of Samuel and Sarah Hartley: George W Hartley and Eliza Beasley.

Samuel Hartley claimed to be 1/4 Choctaw, not 1/8. If accurate, this would double the percentage of my Choctaw ancestry from what I previously thought. Unfortunately, the claim was through their father, dashing any hopes that a test of my, or my mother's, mtDNA might contribute to the solution of this mystery. It would still be interesting to find out where my maternal ancestry originated, but it's much less likely to be Native American.

Also, unfortunately, while the applications make reference to marriage certificates that were entered into evidence, none of these certificates are part of the files online.

It does seem that my previous suspicions regarding the 1850 census are likely correct. The Eliza Hartley who is recorded as living with two sons Samuel and William is my third great grandmother, and Sarah was recorded in another household, likely as some sort of servant.

In Honor of Patriot's Day

The Midnight Ride of William Dawes - by Helen F Moore (1896)

I am a wandering, bitter shade,
Never of me was a hero made;
Poets have never sung my praise,
Nobody crowned my brow with bays;
And if you ask me the fatal cause,
I answer only, “My name was Dawes.”

‘Tis all very well for the children to hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere;
But why should my name be quite forgot,
Who rode as boldly and well, God wot?
Why should I ask? The reason is clear –
My name was Dawes and his Revere.

When the lights from the old North Church flashed out,
Paul Revere was waiting about,
But I was already on my way.
The shadows of night fell cold and gray
As I rode, with never a break or a pause;
But what was the use, when my name was Dawes!

History rings with his silvery name;
Closed to me are the portals of fame.
Had he been Dawes and I Revere,
No one had heard of him, I fear.
No one has heard of me because
He was Revere and I was Dawes.

Breaking Down Brick Walls: Part Two

Part One

Two Mondays ago, I transcribed the decision letter written by The Dawes Commission concerning my Hartley ancestors.  This letter mentioned the parents of my second great grandmother, Sarah Hartley Denyer Foster, as provided in the testimony of her brother, Samuel:  George W Hartley and Eliza Beasley.  However, the letter also mentioned another possible mother - Ann Fisher.

It also appears that all of said applicants claim rights in the Choctaw lands under article fourteen of the treaty between the United States and the Choctaw Nation, concluded September twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and thirty, by reason of being descendants of one George W. Hartley, and from Eliza Hartley (nee Beasley) (or Ann Hartley nee Fisher) who are alleged to have been three quarter blood Choctaw Indians and to have resided in Mississippi in eighteen hundred and thirty.

I said in my notes that followed the transcription I would devote a post to this conundrum.   I also said that Ann Fisher's name appears in only one other location in the documents I downloaded from Footnote for all eight related applications. A genealogy chart that appeared in Samuel T Hartley's application, but with no indication where/who it came from.  (click on the below images to see a larger version)

Samuel T. Hartley clearly states in his testimony that his mother was Eliza.

One assumption that could be made is that if there was a second mother for George Hartley's children, Ann Fisher was likely the mother of Sarah.  But that would be an assumption.  It's also possible Samuel may have said his mother was Eliza, but later admitted in some document I don't have, that his mother was actually Ann.  Or perhaps this chart was drawn up by the commission, and Ann's name got added there accidentally by some strange unknown series of events.

Is there any evidence that might support the theory that Sarah's mother was Ann?  Any evidence that might suggest otherwise?  Yes, and Yes.

1) Sarah's full name at birth, as far as family records are concerned, was Sarah Ann Hartley.  (circumstantial, but shouldn't be ignored.)
2) Sarah's second daughter was named Eliza.  (also circumstantial, but shouldn't be ignored either.)

3) One might ask who was the older child -- Samuel or Sarah -- and whether there is any evidence of which wife/mother came first.

Let's take a look at the evidence provided by the census.  The first census of any use is 1850.  (Prior to 1850, only the head of the household was named.)

1850  Census

In Houston County, Texas, there is an Eliza Hartley (32) living with two sons, Samuel (18)  and William (6).  They are in the same household as the family of  "Elijah and Margaret Wheeler."  Samuel claims in his testimony to have been born in 1830, so this isn't too far off.  However, there is no Sarah.

There is a Sarah Hartley (14), in another Houston County, Texas household.  Working as a farmhand for Hardey and Sarah Ware.  Her birth year would be 1836.

1854

Sarah Hartley married Ebenezer Denyer (I have a copy of the marriage certificate)  There are no ages given.

1860 Census

Sarah is recorded as age 32.  Her birth year would be 1828.  (Her brother Samuel is in the same household, and is recorded as age 26.  This is the only census where Samuel is recorded as a younger age than Sarah.)

1870 Census

Sarah is recorded as age 30.  Ten years later, and she's 2 years younger!  But because of her husband, I know she's the same woman.

1872: Ebenezer Denyer dies
1874: Sarah marries George W. Foster

1880 Census

Sarah is recorded as age 44, putting her birth year back to 1836.  Her daughter Eliza Caroline Foster Reeves testifies to the Dawes Commission that Sarah was 66 years old when she died in 1898, suggesting she was born in 1832.

While her exact birth year is open to question, I am fairly certain that Sarah was younger than her brother Samuel.  If that is their mother, Eliza (Beasley) Hartley in Houston County, Texas in 1850.  And if Ann Fisher and Eliza Beasley were both wives of George Hartley, that means Ann was the first wife.  Of course, either Ann or Eliza could have been a mistress.

So this conundrum isn't solved.  If Ann Fisher's appearance in the Dawes Commission documents isn't a mistake, she could be the mother of either Samuel or Sarah.  Since her name doesn't appear in any of the testimony, and I have no idea how her name got introduced into the documents, I have recorded Eliza Beasley as the mother of all three children (including the William who appears in the 1850 census), and relegated Ann Fisher to the notes section of my database until I learn more about her.

Tombstone Tuesday: Samuel Tillman Hartley 1830-1920

Samuel Tillman Hartley was the brother of my second great grandmother, Sarah Ann (Hartley) Denyer.

His tombstone says he was born in 1825, however in 1900 and 1902 he testified in front of the Dawes Commission that he was born on March 14, 1830.

He died on October 19, 1920, at the age of 90, and is buried in the Confederate Section of the Texas State Cemetery, having served in Company C of the Trans-Mississippi Army.

While the tombstone (and his death certificate) only provide his initials, with no information about parents or children, his second wife, Nannie Virginia, is buried next to him.

Samuel and Margaret (RAWLS) Hartley had eight children: Robert, Sophronia, Virginia, Caroline, Georgia, Amie, Samuel and Edward. All eight are mentioned in his 1900 Dawes Commission testimony, with the five eldest giving additional testimony of their own.

(photograph by Joel H. Hutto. Used with permission. Find A Grave memorial)

Fractions and DNA

in honor of what some localities refer to as Indigenous Peoples Day or Native Americans Day:

Short Math Quiz

Your mother told you she was ½ Choctaw and ½ Cherokee. Your father told you he was ½ Choctaw.

You are in front of a bunch of judges and they start asking you questions, and they want to know what your percentage of Choctaw blood is. What do you tell them?

What if you only have a primary school education? Do you think you’ll get it right

Reading through the testimonies my great grandmother, her half-sister, six cousins, and her uncle provided to the Dawes Commission, one thing remains constant. None of them understood fractions. Fractions can be difficult.

There were eight testimonies delivered in November of 1900. And my previous post on my Choctaw ancestry was based on reading through those eight testimonies. Another search turned up one more testimony delivered a year later. Samuel T Hartley, the brother of my second great grandmother, Sarah Hartley, brought another daughter of his before the commission. She was completely flummoxed by the questioning, and while it doesn’t say it, I suspect she was close to tears by the end. Her responses were all over the place, and it was clear she was very confused. Her father was present though, and was called to the witness stand. His testimony didn’t directly conflict his testimony of a year prior, but he was asked slightly different questions, which led to more information.

In 1901 he claimed his father said he was ½ Choctaw. And that his mother said she was ½ Choctaw and ½ Cherokee. (He had no proof. Neither had ever had their names on rolls, or applied for land. That is why the commission denied the applications, they wouldn’t give land to just anyone who said they thought they had blood from one of the 5 civilized tribes, no matter how earnest they looked. They needed some evidence, and DNA evidence wasn’t around back then. My ancestors had no proof beyond what they had been told by their parents and grandparents.)

In 1900 he had been asked whether he claimed his Choctaw heritage from his mother or father. His response was ‘father’. (It should have been ‘both’ but maybe he thought from the question he had to choose one.) The next question was how much blood his father had, so he had responded ½, and from that the Commission told him he would be ¼, and he accepted that.

If the 1901 testimony is accurate, his mother claimed to be 100% Native American, half Choctaw, half Cherokee. And since she would be my mtDNA ancestor, taking the test might actually solve this question for my family. If my second great grandmother was ¾ Native American, then I am 3/64, which is getting higher and higher as I continue doing research. A year ago I thought I was only 1/128.

Here are the people named in the nine testimonies I have downloaded from Footnote, and their percentage of Native American DNA assuming the testimony given by Samuel Hartley in 1901 is accurate.

First Generation
(1/2) George W Hartley
(1/1) Eliza Beasley

Second Generation (3/4)
Samuel T Hartley (married Margaret ___ and Nannie ____)
Sarah Ann Hartley (married Ebenezer Denyer and George W Foster)
[Research indicates there may have been a third child named William Hartley]

Third Generation (3/8)
Caroline Hartley (married Jesse M Taylor)
Georgia Amelia Hartley (married Miles J Phillips)
Robert Hilliard Hartley (married Louisa ___ )
Sophronia Hartley (married James Cagle)
Virginia Hartley (married Henry Shultz)
Amie Hartley
Samuel H Hartley
Eddie Hartley

Samuel William Denyer (married Alice Gollihar)
Margaret Jane Denyer (married Melvin Van Every)
Eliza Caroline Foster (married William T Reeves)
[George and Sarah Foster had two other children: George Foster Jr. and Sarah Ann Foster. Neither testified before the Dawes Commission as far as I can tell.]

Fourth Generation (3/16)
Taylor children: Maudie, Claudie, Mattie, Earline, Jesse
Phillips children: Hester, Ruby
Hartley children: Bessie Leanner, Youler May
Cagle children: Dessie, Edna [later children include: Flossie, Hazel, Ruby, Otis]
Shultz children: Birdie, Callie, Julia, Richard
Denyer children: Alfred, Arthur, Addie, Zenovia, Lee, Samuel, William, Melvin
Van Every children: Minnie, Samuel, Willa, Evva, Myrtle

Defining a Patriot

Three years ago I wrote a post concerning all of my ancestors and where they were during the Revolution.

My ancestor David Van Every served a few months in the New York Militia, but he became a United Empire Loyalist like his father. And since there is no indication that his father's loyalties were ever in doubt, it might be fair to wonder if those few months in the New York Militia were entirely patriotic. He did have uncles and cousins serving patriotically, so it's possible, and there is some evidence he may have signed  up for the militia honestly, which I will go into in another post, but there is enough doubt I knew I would feel uncomfortable using that service to claim descent from a Patriot.

I hadn't completely given up hope of finding a truly Patriotic ancestor, but figured the only branches would be the ancestors of my maternal great great grandmother, Sarah Hartley Denyer. Born around 1836, I'd have to research back to her grandparents and great grandparents.

I was plugging in some surnames into the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) databases recently for fun, and found a different ancestor, my fifth great grandfather, Mark Fretz.

FRETZ, MARCK  Ancestor #: A042599
Service: PENNSYLVANIA Rank: PRIVATE
Birth: 12- -1750 BEDMINSTER TWP BUCKS CO PENNSYLVANIA
Death: 2-24-1840 NEW BRITAIN TWP BUCKS CO PENNSYLVANIA
Service Description: 1) CAPT HENRY DARROCH, LCOL WILLIAM ROBERTS
2) 3RD BATT, BUCKS CO, MILITIA

As I wrote back in 2012, I had not found any evidence that my Mennonite Fretz ancestors had violated their dedication to pacifism. But the entry on the DAR database suggested Mar(c)k Fretz had served in the militia. So I went looking for other sources and found this (Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File, Pennsylvania State Archives):

It appears Mark Fretz paid fines for the privilege of not actively serving in the militia. If I am reading the card correctly, and if the abstract from the original record is correct, in 1780 he paid 600 pounds, which would have been a significant amount in 1780.

Here is DAR's definition of "Acceptable Service" (SAR uses the same definition.)

• Signers of the Declaration of Independence
• Military Service...
• Civil Service...
• Patriotic Service, which includes:...
• Furnishing a substitute for military service...

So my ancestor, Mark Fretz, would be considered a Patriot under that definition. I am proud of his dedication to his religious principles, however, he didn't serve in the militia.

While I would like to find an ancestor who was an active Patriot, since the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution organizations accept those pacifists who paid the fines as suitable ancestors, I wouldn't feel bad about using Mark Fretz for that purpose. Becoming a member of the Sons isn't on my high list of priorities right now, though I realize some kin might feel different. So the question arises: Could I, or a cousin, prove descent from Mark Fretz to the satisfaction of their guidelines?

The 'proof' cited in my database relies heavily on: A Brief History of John and Christian Fretz and a Complete Genealogical Family Register With Biographies of their Descendants from the Earliest Available Records to the Present Time – by Rev A.J. Fretz of Milton N.J. copyright 1890. Mennonite Publishing Co. Elkhart, Indiana. pp. 326-333. [read the transcribed text here]

My great-grandparents, Melvin and Margaret Jane (Denyer) Van Every appear in the genealogy, along with their first three children. I am confident I can prove up to there with vital records. However, looking at the guidelines on the lineage society websites, they rarely accept family history publications that don't contain source annotations. Regardless of how accurate I may feel the work to be, it isn't annotated. So, removing it as a source, what other sources are there?

They are likely to accept the lineage information provided within the testimony to the Dawes Commission. (The Dawes Commission rejected their claims to be of Choctaw descent, but not their testimony of how they were all related to each other.) My grandmother is mentioned in the testimony, as she was born a few months prior. My second great grandmother, Sarah (Hartley) Denyer is also mentioned. She died two years prior to the testimony, but her brother testified. I have a copy of the 1854 marriage certificate for Sarah Hartley and Ebenezer Denyer.

Can I connect Ebenezer Denyer with Mark Fretz with acceptable records? The answer lies in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Ebenezer was born there, as was his mother, Elizabeth (Sliver) Denyer, grandmother Barbara (Fretz) Sliver, and his great-grandfather, Mark Fretz. [His mother and grandmother both died in Texas, which would be helpful in proving that he is the same Ebenezer Denyer.] There is a good chance it could be done.

SNGF: Matrilineal Line

For his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, Randy Seaver at Geneamusings challenged:

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:


1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!


2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.

Perhaps he came up with this idea because tomorrow is Mother's Day?

a) Me - John C. Newmark (1969 - )
b) (classified)
c) Myrtle Van Every (1900-1951) married Martin Joel Deutsch (1907-1991)
d) Margaret Jane McAlpin Monteroy Denyer (1868-1923) married Melvin Elijah Van Every (1863-1929)
e) Sarah Ann Hartley (1836-1898) married Ebenezer Ophan Denyer (1828-1872)
f) Eliza Beasley (?-?) married George W. Hartley (?-?)

The names of Eliza Beasley and George W. Hartley come from the Dawes Commission testimony of Sarah's brother Samuel Tillman Hartley.  And that is where my knowledge ends.

My mother has had her mtDNA tested and she was in Haplogroup U5 (Clan Ursula) - This suggests a possible origin in Northern Europe - such as Sweden, Norway, or Finland.  This discovery didn't disprove that Sarah Hartley was part Choctaw (she allegedly claimed to be 1/8), but it does suggest that her brother's claim in front of the Dawes Commission that their mother was 100% Native American (1/2 Choctaw, 1/2 Cherokee) was inaccurate.

Identifying William

When I first saw these postcards in my grandmother's boxes, I didn't scan them in, as there wasn't much on them, and what was there wasn't very legible. But going through the collection of letters and postcards recently to see if I had missed anything, I saw them, and realized I didn't know for certain who they were from.



They're birthday cards sent to my great grandmother, Margaret Jane (Denyer) Vanevery. I know this primarily because I can read the postmark date, I know her date of birth, and I can read "many happy returns." One is signed "Wm" and the other "Bro Wm." Neither Margaret nor her husband, Melvin, had a brother with the given name, William. Margaret did have an uncle, William. William Sliver Denyer was born in 1834, and it's possible he was still alive in 1914 or 1917. However, he'd sign the card Uncle William, wouldn't he?

You may have noticed that I said neither Margaret nor Melvin had a brother with the given name, William. I said nothing about middle names. She had one brother, Samuel William Denyer, and one half-brother, George William Foster, Jr.

When her brother testified in front of The Dawes Commission in 1900 he identified himself only by his first name. However, the Dawes packet does make reference to him by his initials, SW Denyer, in a few places. And the packet contains a letter he wrote to the Commission.

I believe the handwriting matches.

So, while the postcards themselves don't have a lot of information on them, they do tell me that Samuel Denyer at least on occasion referred to himself by his middle name.

The 1914 postcard also indicates my great grandmother was living in Berclair, TX in September of 1914. This doesn't come as a surprise, as my great grandfather opened a cheese manufactory in Berclair in November of 1914. However, I believe they kept their farm in the San Marcos/Maxwell area until they moved to El Paso in 1917.

In the collection of postcards my great grandmother saved, there are several from her husband's siblings. However, there are none from her half-siblings. There is no evidence that they kept in touch. There is, of course, also no evidence that they didn't.

52 Weeks of Amanuensis Monday

This week's transcription not only concludes the audiotape my grandfather and his siblings created in 1977, but it closes out 52 weeks of Amanuensis Monday. Some may recall I took a holiday on Labor Day, however in the first two weeks of this series I posted transcriptions from five separate testimonies in front of The Dawes Commission. So in the past year I have actually had 54 separate posts. All of them are indexed here chronologically. I made the index chronological to create a timeline so I could see at a glance what each limb of my family tree was doing during the same time period.

The most difficult thing to transcribe?

There's no question that transcribing the audio tape my maternal grandfather and his siblings created was the most time consuming. I felt ten minutes of tape created a reasonable sized post, but it took a lot longer to accomplish than transcribing a letter or other already written document. I also ran across the issue of not being able to understand occasional words spoken in Hungarian or Romanian, and spent some time attempting to research and find the words phonetically on the internet.

However, I am glad I did it, for all the information contained within. I've mentioned before that I don't remember things unless I write them down. Decades I listened to my parents and relatives explain over and over again how A was related to B. They handed me charts they drew. Neither helped. But once I drew the charts, the information remained.

The easiest thing to transcribe?

The Dawes Commission transcripts. I just fed them through an Optical Character Recognition program, and then went through and corrected the mistakes. Some may wonder why I went to the trouble of transcribing it, or other already typewritten documents. The image of the document can be opened and read by anyone. However, the image can't be searched for words. I can put a surname in my computer's search program, and it will return every word document where that surname appears. So if I want to find that letter I recall which mentioned a particular person, I don't have to rely on having given it a useful file name, or having maintained a list of file names and their annotated descriptions. If I transcribed the letter, I can search for it on my computer.

Has everything I've transcribed been posted?

Not everything. Some of it isn't appropriate for sharing on the internet -- either due to copyright issues, or I'd rather not embarrass/upset living relatives. I also like having a surplus of transcriptions I can dip into if I have a busy week.

How much more do I have to transcribe?

I've been amazed at the number of newspaper articles I've been discovering online, and my maternal grandparents saved over a hundred letters they exchanged over the years. I'm not through transcribing my great uncle Mandell's war diary, and I have a few more audiotapes I can transcribe. And that's just what I know about now; I'm sure new things will be uncovered. Let's just say I foresee another 52 weeks of Amanuensis Monday.

A Tale of Two Grandmas

Below are two timelines, interwoven. These are the lives of my two grandmothers, mostly defined by the births, marriages, and deaths of themselves, and their close family. Though other important events in their lives are included. As is my habit, I have obscured some of the information on living relatives. [The timeline for Myrtle Van Every is an update of one I created back in March of 2008.]

While timelines in general are useful to visualize the order of events in someone's life, I thought interweaving these in this fashion might help visualize some parallels and differences.

While there are generic forms for creating timelines, I avoided them, because most of the forms I saw only allowed one line to enter the 'event' and as you will see below, I have a tendency to write more than that.

21 Mar 1900 – Myrtle Ethel Van Every is born in Maxwell, Texas, the eighth and final child of Melvin Van Every and Margaret Jane McAlpin Monteroy Denyer. (Three of those eight died as infants, so Myrtle grows up as the youngest of five children.)
21 Nov 1900 - Melvin Van Every appears in front of Dawes Commission testifying about the Denyer family Choctaw roots. He explains he is there in Margaret's stead, as she is home with a sick baby - Myrtle.
11 July 1902 - Hartley/Denyer application is rejected by the Dawes Commission for lack of evidence
08 Nov 1905 – Myrtle’s sister, Minnie Ray, at age 19, marries August Benold.
09 Jan 1909 - Myrtle's sister, Willa Ann, at age 19, marries Lexington Roberts
05 Dec 1912 - Myrtle's sister, Evelyn Syvela, at age 20, marries William Campbell
14 Aug 1914 – Belle "Sissie" Feinstein is born in St. Louis City, Missouri, the second child of Herman Max Feinstein and Anna (Blatt) Feinstein.
05 Mar 1915 – Sissie's grandfather, Selig Feinstein, dies of Chronic Interstitial Nephritis, a kidney disorder usually caused by a reaction to pain medication.
08 Jan 1916 – Myrtle’s sister, Willa Ann Van Every Roberts dies at age 26, leaving behind a daughter, Agnes, age 5.

16 Dec 1917 – Sissie's younger brother, Seymour “Babe” Feinstein, is born.

1917 - The Van Every Family moves to Fabens, TX, just south of El Paso. Melvin Van Every, obtains a job as El Paso County Apiary Inspector (two events are likely related)
1918 - Myrtle's probable graduation from high school. Personnel records indicate she had a high school degree, and two years of post-secondary education.
1919 - Letters from Myrtle's parents indicate she married and divorced a man named "Jack." Last name yet to be determined.
12 Aug 1919 - Myrtle begins working as a clerk at the QuarterMasterCorps in El Paso TX.
1920 – According to the US Census, Myrtle may be residing at Fort Bliss, in El Paso TX, at the QuarterMasterCorps. (Surname on census is illegible.)

20 Nov 1920 - Myrtle begins working for the US Post Office in St. Louis according to her personnel records. Myrtle’s brother, Samuel, is working towards a degree in Optometry in St. Louis.
02 May 1923 – In Hudspeth, TX, at the age of 55, Myrtle’s mother dies of Chronic Interstitial Nephritis, a kidney disorder usually caused by a reaction to pain medication.
1926 – Sometime between 1926 and 1930 Myrtle’s brother, Samuel, moves to Kansas City.

13 Apr 1926 – Sissie's grandfather, Morris Blatt, dies.

30 Apr 1927 – Myrtle marries Dale B Ridgely in San Francisco.
12 Aug 1927 - Divorce proceedings between Myrtle and Dale begin
26 Sept 1927 - Myrtle returns to work in St. Louis, Missouri
14 Oct 1927 - Divorce decreed.

1928 - By 1928 the Feinstein family have moved to San Bonita Avenue, in Clayton, St. Louis County, Missouri.

26 May 1929 – Myrtle’s father dies at the age of 66 in Garfield, New Mexico. At some point in the past 6 years he has remarried. Myrtle also changes her surname back to Van Every.

10 Aug 1932 – Sissie's grandmother, Annie (Perlik) Feinstein, dies.
1933 – Sisse is graduated from Clayton High School
18 Sept 1933 – Myrtle’s brother, Samuel, dies in Kansas City, MO of cirrhosis of the liver, caused by alcohol. Myrtle was the informant on the death certificate. There are indications her sisters may not have been there with her. Family would later tell Myrtle’s daughters that he died in a flu epidemic. If Myrtle was the only one there, it's not clear if she was the only one who knew the truth. [At age 33, both of Myrtle’s parents are deceased, and only two sisters remain alive.]
08 June 1934 - Myrtle's future husband, Martin Deutsch, accepts transfer to the St. Louis Post Office HDQ as Postal Inspector.
01 July 1935 - Myrtle transfers to St. Louis Division Hdq
10 May 1936 - Sissie secretly marries Melvin Lester Newmark; Waterloo, Monroe County, Illinois
31 Dec 1936 – Myrtle marries Martin Joel Deutsch in Springfield, IL. They are driving to Chicago to see Martin’s sister, Berta, get married to Herman Freed.

01 Nov 1936 - Sissie's brother, "Benny", marries Belle Hoffman
10 Jan 1937 - Sissie and Melvin are married in front of their families at United Hebrew Temple in St. Louis, the ceremony conducted by Rabbi Samuel Thurman. No one learns about the earlier secret marriage for many years.

14 Feb 1937 – Myrtle resigns from the Post Office. (effective date)
1938 - Myrtle and Martin have a daughter. Sissie and Melvin have a son.
1940 – Myrtle and Martin have a second daughter.
1941 - Myrtle and Martin move to Oakley Drive, in Clayton, St. Louis County, MO
Mar 1942 – Myrtle’s husband Martin, already an Army reserve officer, enters active service, most of it spent in Africa. Not long after, Myrtle retuns to work at the St. Louis Post Office.
29 Apr 1942 - Sissie's brother, "Babe", marries Leonore Miller
15 Oct 1942 - Sissie and Melvin have a second son, Stevan J Newmark

1943 - Sissie's husband, Melvin joins up with the American Red Cross, most of it he is stationed in Australia

1945 – Myrtle and daughters move temporarily to West Palm Beach, FL. (House in Clayton not sold)
04 Oct 1945 - Myrtle files an affidavit that her birthdate was March 21, 1905. Her sister, Minnie, testifies in support of this statement, declaring she was present at the birth. (1905 was the year Minnie was married, so it is highly doubtful she misremembered Myrtle having been born in that year.) It is unknown why they did this. Maybe Myrtle was searching for a job and felt being five years younger would be beneficial.
1945 – November, Myrtle’s husband Martin returns home from active duty.
1945 - Sissie's husband, Melvin, returns from the war.
1946 – Deutsch Family returns to St. Louis
1947 – Myrtle takes family on vacation to Texas to visit her sisters Minnie and Eva, and their families.
11 Sept 1951 – Myrtle dies of colon cancer at the age of 51.
1952 - Sissie and Melvin have a third son
1955 - Newmark family moves to Payson Drive in Olivette, St. Louis County, Missouri.
08 Nov 1963 - Sissie's father Herman Max Feinstein dies.
09 Dec 1965 - Sissie's mother Anna (Blatt) Feinstein dies.
30 Mar 1968 – Sissie's older brother, Bernard “Benny” Feinstein dies.
22 Jan 1992 - Sissie's husband Melvin Lester Newmark, dies while vacationing in Palm Springs, California
04 Oct 1997 - Sissie's middle son, Stevan J Newmark dies.
06 Dec 1999 – Sissie's younger brother, Seymour “Babe” Feinstein dies.
11 Oct 2002 – Belle "Sissie" (Feinstein) Newmark dies from emphysema and pneumonia, at the age of 88.

I knew before I began that the two timelines would interweave well in the 1930s and 1940s with the marriages and the War. However, what this did highlight for me was that the date of both marriages appear to have been influenced by the marriage of a sibling.

Myrtle and Martin were married by a Justice of the Peace in transit to celebrate the wedding of Martin's sister. It wasn't a complete spur of the moment decision, as they had announced they were engaged at least a month earlier. I suspect since both her parents were gone, and she had already been married twice, albeit briefly both times, Myrtle had no interest in a family wedding.

While I knew Sissie and Melvin had been impatient to get married, I didn't know why the Feinstein and Newmark families had set the date as they had. If it had been in 1935, I would have guessed it was waiting for Sissie to turn 21, but she turned 22 in August of 1936. While I'm not certain, it appears the Feinsteins may have wanted Sissie's marriage to be after her older brother's. However, Sissie and Melvin were impatient, so they too were married by a Justice of the Peace.

William S Denyer & Danyer - Confederate & Union Soldier

The below Pension Record appeared in my ‘hints’ on Ancestry. 

William S Danyer - Union Soldier in Louisiana Cavalry Scouts

The record identifies a Widow named Sarah E Danyer, who filed from Arkansas in 1896, and a minor with a guardian named Nancy E Danyer, who filed in either 1880 or 1890. The handwriting isn’t clear. I am unsure if the Certificate No. column indicates that the first two applications were successful, and the one for the minor was not.

Could this be William Sliver Denyer, brother of my 2nd great grandfather?

William S Denyer, my great great granduncle, definitely served under the Confederacy 1861-1862 in Louisiana. He was injured in 1862 and his hospital records are the last in the file at Fold3. Both of his brothers Ebenezer and Samuel served under the Confederacy in Texas. However, their father had died in Louisiana in 1848, and William appeared to stay there until the war. (All three sons were born in Bucks County Pennsylvania, and their father was born in England, so traveling was in their blood.)

William S Danyer also has a file on Fold3.  Here is his enlistment record. William S Danyer enlisted in the 30th Regiment of Missouri while in Vidalia, Louisiana in Feb of 1864. He was born in Buck County, Mississippi.  

There is currently no Buck County in Mississippi. I suspect there wasn't in 1864. My 2nd great granduncle was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  This is almost definitely him, and we now have evidence that he fought for both the Confederacy and the Union.  Why he claimed to have been born in Mississippi is a mystery, but that could have simply been a clerical error. Other documents in the Fold3 folder indicate William S Danyer deserted in April of 1865, (Perhaps only a couple days before the war ended.) During his year of service between April 1864-April 1865 he was listed on muster rolls as under detached service in Louisiana, which may be why the pension application indicates he was with the Louisiana Cavalry Scouts.

The pension file indicates William's widow filed from Arkansas. If he is my relative, who are Sarah E and Nancy E? That is a question with a potentially intriguing answer. 

William S Denyer had two known wives - Susannah Dilly (who died in 1863) and Nancy E Rhodes, who he married in February of 1865 in Illinois (shortly before he deserted, and likely the reason he deserted.) They had a son, Andre, 9 months later. He would have been 25 in 1890, so it’s likely the year on the document is 1880. But Nancy should be the widow too. Who is Sarah Denyer?

Could she be the widow of William’s brother -- My 2nd great grandmother, Sarah Hartley Denyer Foster. Her father had died in Little Rock Arkansas in 1840. His children ended up in Texas, but Sarah might have returned after her husbands died. 

I don’t have a date of death for William. He could have been deceased and his widow could have tried to help her sister-in-law draw a Union pension since her sister in law’s first husband, Ebenezer Denyer, served the Confederacy. He died in 1872. I’m not sure when her husband George Foster died but it is likely he died before she did. My great grandfather testified in 1900 in front of the Dawes Commission that she was living with them in 1898 when she died. So in September 1896 she could have been a widow again. But while I have been unable to find her 1898 death records, I have not looked in Arkansas for them. And my primary focus has been searching for the name Sarah Foster. But there’s a chance she returned to the name Denyer.  

I like how these documents indicate that there was at least one Denyer who fought, however briefly, for the Union. Just like my ancestor, David Vanevery, fought in the American Revolution on both the Patriot and Loyalist sides. It also seems to show that there was a close relationship between my 2nd great grandmother, Sarah Hartley Denyer Foster, and her sister-in-law.  If Sarah was living with her daughter's family when she died, as the Dawes Commission was told, she almost certainly died in Texas, but she may have briefly been in Arkansas, and I might be able to find records for her there.

Amanuensis Monday: Dawes Commission - Sophronia Cagle

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

I began this project back in February of 2009, and since then, many others have joined in on the meme.  Why do we transcribe?  I provide my three reasons in the linked post.  You may find others.  If you participate, feel free to leave a link to your post in the comments.

***

This week, I continue with the application my maternal grandmother's aunts, uncles, and cousins made in 1900 to the Dawes Commission to be accepted as Mississippi Choctaws. Previously I have transcribed the testimony given by

1. Samuel T Hartley – Nov 21, 1900 (Brother of my great great grandmother, Sarah Hartley Denyer Foster)
2. Melvin Elijah Van Every – Nov 21, 1900 (My great grandfather)
3. Samuel W Denyer - Nov 21, 1900 (Brother of my great grandmother, Margaret Denyer Van Every)
4. Eliza Caroline Foster Reeves – Nov 26, 1900 (Half-sister of my great grandmother)
5. Georgia Hartley Phillips – June 17, 1902 (Daughter of Samuel T Hartley)
6. Samuel T Hartley – June 17, 1902 

and the ultimate decision - July 11, 1902  (A rejection.)

Below is the testimony given by Sophronia Hartley Cagle, another daughter of Samuel T Hartley.

Amanuensis Monday: Dawes Commission - Samuel W Denyer

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

I began this project back in February of 2009, and since then, many others have joined in on the meme.  Why do we transcribe?  I provide my three reasons in the linked post.  You may find others.  If you participate, feel free to leave a link to your post in the comments.

***

This week, I return to the application my maternal grandmother's aunts, uncles, and cousins made in 1900 to the Dawes Commission to be accepted as Mississippi Choctaws. Previously I have transcribed the testimony given by

1. Samuel T Hartley – Nov 21, 1900 (Brother of my great great grandmother, Sarah Hartley Denyer Foster)
2. Melvin Elijah Van Every – Nov 21, 1900 (my great grandfather)
3. Eliza Caroline Foster Reeves – Nov 26, 1900 (Half-sister of my great grandmother, Margaret Denyer Van Every)
4. Georgia Hartley Phillips – June 17, 1902 (Daughter of Samuel Hartley)
5. Samuel T Hartley – June 17, 1902 

and the ultimate decision - July 11, 1902  (A rejection.)

Below is the testimony given by Samuel William Denyer, brother to my great grandmother, Margaret Denyer Van Every.

The Black Swan Fallacy

Modification of 2009 post

The Black Swan Fallacy is taught in college logic courses.

"I've never seen a black swan," the logic goes, "so black swans don't exist."

The logic is obviously absurd. No one has the opportunity to personally examine the color of every swan on the planet. That doesn't stop us from accidentally falling into this logical trap.

We may be very familiar with American swans, for example, and think our experience is sufficient. But black swans actually exist in Australia, if not elsewhere.

 [image source]

 There are also people who are very adamant that no two snowflakes look alike, or that there's no such thing as an honest politician. Science tells us the truth about snowflakes. Though I fear the existence of an honest politician is an element of faith one must either have, or not have.

Genealogical Black Swans

In genealogy we run across this fallacy when we assume something didn't happen, because we haven't seen the evidence for it.

I'll use an example from my family history.

Fact 1: Melvin Van Every, his wife, and children appear in the 1900 census in Caldwell County, Texas

Fact 2: Dates of birth for the children from a Family Record (believed to be copied from a family Bible) indicate births in Caldwell County in 1884, 1886, 1888, 1890, 1898, and 1900.  (With one birth in Oklahoma in 1892)

Fact 3: in 1900, in front of the Dawes Commission, Melvin Van Every testifies that his mother-in-law, Sarah (Hartley) (Denyer) Foster, was living with them in 1898 when she died.

Fact 4: The eldest child above has written notes indicating they only remained in Oklahoma briefly - between December of 1891 and Spring of 1892.

Most genealogists would look for records of the death of a Sarah Foster in Caldwell County, Texas.  Due to the scarcity of death records in 1898, there would probably be little effort made looking elsewhere when they weren't found.  Maybe you'd look in neighboring counties. However, if we catch ourselves stating with certainty that she died in Caldwell County, we have fallen for the Black Swan fallacy. We may have found no evidence to the contrary, but we don't have proof.

The Genealogical Proof Standard includes a "reasonably exhaustive search." Though we must remember reasonably exhaustive will still miss records. And truly exhaustive is next to impossible.

I was lucky, and a young Minnie Van Every wrote letters to The Houston Post between 1897 and 1899 (age 13-15).  She signed her name with the town she was writing from, so I know in November 1897 they traveled to Ganado, Jackson County, Texas, and if the Family Record is correct, they returned to Caldwell County prior to May 1898.

I now believe that Sarah Foster lived in Jackson County, and the Van Everys spent a year living with her. (Perhaps she was ill, so when she died, they returned to Caldwell. However, this is an unproven hypothesis.)  In the above map of counties in Southeastern Texas, I've colored in Caldwell and Jackson.  They are near each other, but probably not near enough that I would ever consider searching in Jackson if it weren't for those letters Minnie Van Every wrote.

There were enough missing years in the example above to raise some suspicion.  How about this for an example?

Entries from the St. Louis City Directory for my grandmother, Myrtle Van Every

• 1921 - Astor Hotel
• 1921 - 4528a Enright
• 1922 - Westgate Hotel
• 1922 - 4123 Westminster
• 1923 - 4515 Washington
• 1924 - 5630 Delmar
• 1925 - 5540 Pershing
• 1926 - 4506 Forest Park
• 1927 - 4545 Washington
• 1928 - 5707 McPherson apt 111 
• 1928 - 5656 Kingsbury apt 203
• 1930 - Georgiana Court Apartments, 5660 Kingsbury, apt 203, St. Louis, MO (census - ED 169 - Sheet 1B) 

She moved around a lot, but she remained in St. Louis.  She doesn't appear in the 1929 directory, but not appearing in a particular directory isn't uncommon.  I can imagine many genealogists, of varying experience levels, stating as fact that she lived in St. Louis continually from 1921 to 1930, citing the St. Louis City Directories and the 1930 census as evidence.

Unfortunately, it's not true.  In April of 1927 she was married in Oakland, California.  In October of 1927 they divorced, and Myrtle returned to St. Louis. She didn't miss appearing in the 1927 directory.  She appeared in the 1928 directory under her maiden name, and her married name.  And she did appear in the 1929 directory, but only under her married name. She returned to her maiden name by the census in 1930.

Since she worked for the US Postal Service, I was able to obtain her personnel records, which indicated her name change, but said nothing about geographical relocation.  Her brief husband was born in Illinois. not too far from St. Louis.  I'd have had absolutely no reason to conduct any research in California.

Once again, I was lucky, and my grandmother saved her divorce papers, which I found in a box of her effects after obtaining her personnel records.

Each document we uncover is but a snapshot in time.  Adding more snapshots increases our knowledge, but we need to beware of Black Swans nesting in our genealogical assumptions and conclusions.

The Happy Dance

The theme for the 65th Carnival of Genealogy: "The Happy Dance. The Joy of Genealogy. Almost everyone has experienced it. Tell us about the first time, or the last time, or the best time. What event, what document, what special find has caused you to stand up and cheer, to go crazy with joy?

One occasion I recall was when I received my maternal grandmother's "Official Personnel Folder" from the US Government. She had worked for the Post Office from 1921-1936. My maternal grandfather's OPF contained 50 pages of material from his career. My grandmother's 3. Her signed Oath of Office taken in 1921 was nice, but it's not my only copy of her signature. The document entitled "Report of Separation" didn't have a lot of useful information. It noted that her 'last date of pay' was Jan 21, 1937 - which was a fun coincidence since it was exactly 32 years before I was born.

It was the third document that caused the Happy Dance

A year by year accounting of her career, including her name changes in 1927 and 1929. At that point in my research, from letters she had saved from her father, I knew she had been planning to marry someone named Dale in 1927. I also knew from my mother that there had been one or two husbands prior to my grandfather. But we had no last name. After opening the package, I instantly called my mother to give her the information, which I then passed along to an aunt in an email.

Another happy dance occurred upon my discovery of testimony my maternal Hartley ancestors gave in front of the American Dawes Commission - backing up the family story that we have Choctaw ancestry.

On my paternal ancestry, I'd have to include my discovery that my second great grandfather Selig Feinstein had received a patent for improvements to a fire hydrant. At this point in my research this was confusing because I thought his career was limited to real estate and laundry. A week later I discovered he spent ten years as a shoer/blacksmith.

Amanuensis Monday: Dawes Commission - Virigina Shultz

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

I began this project back in February of 2009, and since then, many others have joined in on the meme.  Why do we transcribe?  I provide my three reasons in the linked post.  You may find others.  If you participate, feel free to leave a link to your post in the comments.

***

This week, I continue with the application my maternal grandmother's aunts, uncles, and cousins made in 1900 to the Dawes Commission to be accepted as Mississippi Choctaws. (The numbers below are the numbers of their case files, and likely indicate the order in which they provided the testimony.) Previously I have transcribed the testimony given by

1. MCR 1050 - Samuel T Hartley – Nov 21, 1900 (Brother of my great great grandmother, Sarah Hartley Denyer Foster)
2. MCR 1051 - Robert Hartley - Nov 21, 1900 (Son of Samuel T Hartley)
3. MCR 1053 - Sophronia Hartley Cagle - Nov 21, 1900 (Daughter of Samuel T Hartley) 
4. MCR 1054 - Melvin Elijah Van Every – Nov 21, 1900 (My great grandfather)
5. MCR 1055 - Samuel W Denyer - Nov 21, 1900 (Brother of my great grandmother, Margaret Denyer Van Every)
6. MCR 1069 - Eliza Caroline Foster Reeves – Nov 26, 1900 (Half-sister of my great grandmother)
7. MCR 5842 - Georgia Hartley Phillips – June 17, 1902 (Daughter of Samuel T Hartley)
8. MCR 5842 - Samuel T Hartley – June 17, 1902 

and the ultimate decision - July 11, 1902  (A rejection.)

Below is the testimony given by Virginia Shultz, a daughter of Samuel T Hartley, and a first cousin to my great grandmother, Margaret (Denyer) Van Every