Monthly Archives: January 2012

Genealogy, SNGF

SNGF-Doing Random Research

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver at Genea-Musing

Hey genealogy buffs – it’s Saturday Night and time for more Genealogy Fun!  Play along with us and tell us about it.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to follow Chris Staats’ rules (from Freaky Friday: Random Research Reports)  for picking a random person’s name and then doing some online research about that person.  Here are Chris’s rules:1. Go to The Random Name Generator and click the red “Generate Name” button at the top of the screen (more than once if you want).  Pick one of the names you see.

2. Go to Ancestry.com and enter your generated name in the search box on the main search page. [Randy’s add:  If you don’t have Ancestry.com, go to https://www.familysearch.org/ and do it there – it’s free.]

3. From the results, your research target will be the first census result for your generated name.

4. Using whatever online resources are at your disposal, see what else you can discover about your random person and write about it. It can be a formal report complete with footnotes, or just a “research story” about what you tried, problems you overcame, or success you had. Maybe you want to create a research plan for practice?

5. Post about it on your own blog, or as a comment here at Genea-Musings or a comment on Facebook, Google Plus or Twitter.

Here is mine:

Owen Wilkerson

I didn’t read the directions closely. I didn’t pick the first Owen because he had a middle initial. Maybe it made my search easier and maybe it didn’t. Having said this, here is what I found on “My” Owen Wilkerson.

According to the 191o-30 Census,
Owen Wilkerson was born about 1888 in Kentucky.
In the 1910 Federal Census District 4, Washington, Kentucky, we find Owen at age of 22 single and the son of William A. age 60 and Ruth Wilkerson age 55. His probable siblings listed as sons of William, are  John Wilkerson age 24 and Albert Wilkerson age 17.

In the 1920 Census we find Owen again at the age of 32 married and with children.
He and his wife Susie are found in Springfield, Washington Co.,Kentucky. Susie is listed as being 26 in 1920 Census she is listed as being born in Kentucky. They lived in a rented home. The following children are listed as theirs:
Edgar Wilkerson 7
Gracy Wilkerson 5
Raymond Wilkerson 2
Lee Wilkerson 0 [4\12]<— notation added to Ancestry record by other then the census taker.

I also found his brother Albert living with Owen and Susie in the 1920 census, with his wife and his child.  Albert is listed as being 27 which is consistent with the 1910 census, his wife Dicie is listed as 20 and  a daughter named Lily who at the time of this census is listed as 1. We also find living with Owen, his mother listed as 65 years of age.

On Ancestry.com I found The Powell Family, which includes what seems to be William, Ruth and family. This researcher has William Eliot and not William A. these look to be the same men. It is worth taking a look at.

According to the census research, we lose William somewhere between 1910 and 1920. The Powell Family site lists his death in 1912, I found his death in Kentucky death index 1911-2000 and Kentucky Death Records 1852-1953 Ruth’s is listed there as well as dying on March 14, 1920, the Kentucky Death Index and the Kentucky Death Records are used as sources for her death. Enumeration of the 1920 census was done on January 20, for this area so March is a reasonable time period for her death.

We find the little family again in the 1930 Census Owen age 42, Susie (Lulie as transcribed) aged 37 and the following children can be found residing with them:
Edgar Wilkerson 17 b. KY
Grace Wilkerson 16 b. KY
Raymond Wilkerson 13 b. KY
Lee Wilkerson 10 b. KY
Margrite Wilkerson 8 b. KY
J W Wilkerson 6 b. KY
Owen Jr. Wilkerson 4 b. KY
Henry Wilkerson 2 b. KY

With this bit of information a possible family tree for Owen would look something like this.

William E. (A) Wilkerson b.  abt 1850 in Kentucky d. 28 October 1920 in Washington Kentucky. He married Ruth (to further research her name I would look at the death information, it might give her parents names also for marriage information) about 1870. Ruth died March 14, 1920 Washington, Kentucky

William and Ruth had the following children:
i John Wilkerson b. circa 1886
ii Owen Wilkerson b. circa 1888
iii Albert Wilkerson b. circa 1893 m. Dicie

ii Owen Wilkerson (William 1)
was born in 1888 in Washington, Kentucy m. Susie about 1908
again more research needs to be done to prove births, deaths and marriage.
Owen and Susie had the following children:

Edgar Wilkerson  b.  circa 1913 KY
Grace Wilkerson  b. circa 1914 KY
Raymond Wilkerson  b. circa 1917 KY
Lee Wilkerson  b. circa 1920  KY
Margrite Wilkerson  b. circa 1922 KY
J W Wilkerson  b. circa 1924 KY
Owen Jr. Wilkerson  b. circa 1926 KY
Henry Wilkerson  b. circa 1928 KY

iii Albert Wilkerson (William 1) b. circa 1893 in Kentucky  m. Dicie b. circa 1900 Kentucky m. circa 1918

They had a daughter:
Lily b. circa 1919 in Kentucky

A nice start for an hour search on Ancestry and Rootsweb, but certainly much is yet to be found. If I let my genealogy mind keep going, I will be working on this family all night!

On a side note I did find one of my husbands surnames living down the street from William Wilkerson……and here she goes running another rabbit 😀 Can you say GADD (Genealogy Attention Deficit Disorder!)

Happy Hunting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Genealogy

Friday History on this Day/William D. McCartney Happy 207 Birthday!

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William D. McCartney

b. January 20, 1805 , Derry, Columbia Co. Pennsylvania, to Isaiah and Lettuce Hudders McCartney.

m. Maria J. Stewart  daughter of Thomas Stewart

d. July 27, 1863 Columbiana Co., Ohio what I believe is his obituary can be found at Sundays-Obituaries- William D. McCartney

Happy Hunting!

 

 

Genealogy

Maritime Monday/Capt. David Smith

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Capt. David C. Smith
Captain of the HMS Athens

Capt David C. Smith was christened on 8 May 1832 Dundee, Angus, Scotland to Alexander and Jean Nicholl Smith.

I know very little of his early life, the few pieces that I do have come from a letter written by his cousin, my second great -grandmother. Ellen said that he was a much-loved cousin whom she had spent her childhood with as her parents had died when she was young of the small pox. She also notes in her letter that David was a Godly man, and that he had addressed  the Sabbath school children on the previous Sunday the 13 of May. May 17 fell on a Wednesday that year. He attended the Scottish Presbyterian Church. Ellen also notes that David was going to help her and her 6 children out financially as her husband Byron had perished on March 6 of that same year.

I was given a letter that David wrote. His grandson shared it with me. I believe that he was a well seasoned sailor and to have been a Captain at 33 must have been a testimony to that. The letter tells of his many travels and ports that he visited. He was quite thrilled when visiting Rio de Janeiro but he did comment about how lavish the city was and how not far from the center that destitution was rampant. Something sadly you will find still to this day.

David married Jane Elliot Nicholson in which year I am not curtain at this writing I have not posted this information to my data base and I need to retrieve it from my hard drive. Always work to do, grin.

The Gale of “65′ is a well know disaster that took place at the Cape of Good Hope, as this port is one ravaged by many storms this must mean this storm was above the standard fare for that port. The RMS Athens was his ship and he had just acquired commission of this ship two days earlier. She was a mail ship. The great gale came roaring in with such force that 22 ship suffered damage that day.  The Athens anchors were parted and David asked for birthing at an unfinished dock and was denied the birthing by the harbor master. He then set out for open seas. Sadly they ship made it only past the mouth of the bay before a huge wave took out her boilers and left her to the mercies of the seas. All hand were lost, except for the Second and Third mates as they were on shore when the weather went bad and they could not join their ship.

Here is a short piece from the  ‘The Illustrated London News’, July 29th, 1865.

ATHENS

From ‘The Illustrated London News’, July 29th, 1865.
On May 17th, a fierce storm swept Table Bay and, in endeavouring to steam out of the bay after her anchors had parted, the ‘Athens’ was carried broadside upon rocks at Green Point, between the lighthouses. Signals of distress were
made but it was impossible to give assistance, there being no lines or rescue equipment at the lighthouses. She struck at seven o’clock p.m., and screams for help were clearly heard by those on shore. Her back broke and at about ten o’clock all cries for help ceased. Nothing remained of the ship by daybreak except her engines and boilers. There were no passengers, just Captain D. Smith, Dr. J. Heath Curtis, the Medical Officer, C. Downer, T. Brown and Baker, engineers and 25 other crew members.

I have include the below link as  it is the most well put together piece on the gale and the wreck of the RMS Athens that I have found.

R.M.S. Athens 

How interesting to note how one mans life touched so many. He was not able to attend to Ellen and her family and she had to part up the family to friends and family so that they would be able to survive and in time she left Canada for Chicago to run a boarding house there.  My great grandparents met there and from there the rest is history and here I sit writing of the trials of one family that became blessings for many.

Happy Hunting!

Genealogy

WOW! Guess its time to get back on the band wagon!

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Gee I am not sure where the month of December went. Okay so I do know where it went. I work retail and things got rather busy and  lot hours that were picked up. Family gathering, Church functions and trips to the mall, left  little time for much else. I did honestly try to do the Advent Calendar, but got way-laid somewhere around the 4th day! So much for the excuses! It’s a good thing, that this blog isn’t my lively hood.

It is now the New Year and time of rebirth so to speak, a clean slate and new beginning. My first offering of this new year of 2012 is a picture of my father taken when he was yet little?

1937

I understand Dad weighed in over 10 lbs at birth. I bet my Mom is glad I didn’t follow this trait! I was but 4 lbs 8 oz, I am sure she would have hoped for a bit more weight in my case.

I wish everyone a very Blessed New Year and my the Good Lord guide and keep you in 2012!

OH and Santa thank you so much for this photo, what a welcome thing to find in my stocking !!!

Happy Hunting!