Oh - now I'm excited - animated GIFs now work here - moving right along!

Not all of the secrets of your family tree can be found by examining your DNA!

Try a new perspective once in a while ;-)



New Blogger - Really?

OK - So I leave for a few weeks to finish a final school paper and when I come back to post - a whole new format. WOW! It's not to hard to navigate so far, but I am not too happy about the limited view to new posts. What can you expect for FREE ? Anyway I decided to post on the oldest ancestor's portrait I have come by and have some good news for followers - it is a tie! You get to read the following two Ancestors' photo analyses:

First off is my birthday 2010 find of Samuel Cephus Pool.  His age in the photo puts it at abt 1840 -1860.

    

Finding the above image of Samuel even promted me to visit his gravesite in VanZandt County, TX in 2011!

Holly Springs Cemetery - Photo by Eric R Jelle.

Samuel (1808/SC - 1887/TX) is a fascinating ancestor to examine since he had more than one marriage, many children, and served as not only a Southern Civil War Veteran, but also as a POW. 

Q: How did I find a portrait of him?

A: A simple Google image search for his son Francis M Poole yielded a site for Samuel and his wife Nancy Pickens (sadly no portrait for her yet).  Yes - it was just that easy!

Next oldest photo: 

Hon. Dr. William "Ira" Roger Hall (1800/NC - 1864/AL) :

Yes Ira was both a NC Senator and Physician in AL.  This image clearly comes from his statesman days in the Wilminton area where he represented New Brunswick County residents to the best of his ability.  He and wife Anna C Laspeyre made a sizable family before moving to Monroe County, AL where he is listed as one of two physician's with the name William R Hall in that county (the reason I reckon he went by "Ira" as only family lore mentions him in this nick name regard.)

Q:  How did I find this portrait?

A:  I wrote a letter to a cousin who left evidence he had researched that branch of the tree.  Among my grandmother's worldly things, she had a copy of his shared family history paper.  I was beyond delighted to hear back from him and have this new nugget of family history in my own collection - a sketch passed down for generations wihtin a large locket.  Yes - it was that easy and fun!

   Now go have  some fun finding your next ancestor portrait!

Less Posts Here

My apologies go out to you my few but important followers here as I have been so busy with class requirements that I rarely make it from fb over here to post lately. I am sorry! If it is any consolation, the paper I am working on for Adv Composition is on Inheritance Hijacking. Mayby I will share it here in a bit. Anyway I need to wrap it up in the next 24 hours and get it from a 16 pager down to an 11 pager ;-)

See you soon!

Have you Found Your Family in the 1940 U.S. Census?

Well, it has been a week since my initial frustration with the U.S Census release for 1940 followed by complete elation the next day which provided the above image of my mother and her parents entries in Coalgate, OK as suspected (top 3 lines). Not all states are available just yet so it is important to be patient and the longer you wait - remember that will be much closer to when the census is name searchable too!

HUGE TIP: Use Steve Morse's one step Link here :

This is exactly how I found my first record. What is neat is it takes you right to the ED for that geographic area (no need for a street addr in most cases)and all you have to do is scroll through the pages untill you find your surnames in the Name colume (abt. the 3rd one over).

Now all I have to do is pic a photo of that timeframe to add to the census page to create a phenomenal heirloom!

Here are a few zoom shots of what I found for Mom and her folks:

Yes - them being on page 3 and the first three lines of that page in the main Coalgate, OK Ennumeration District (2 of 3)was of great help!

I also found interesting the fact that in 1935 they listed their residence as Ruston, LA where I visited recently for a work trip completely oblivious that my family had ever been there!

Good luck finding your family !

One week to 1940!

We are finally coming to our Census (pun diefinitely intended!)

The official release of the 1940 U.S. Census is nearly upon us after decades of waiting.

- Do you know where to look since enumeration districts will be the inital search parameters?

- Have you looked at all of your ancestors - not just your Dad's side?

- Do you have any sibling branches you are curious about? These can be gold you know for busting down a brick wall or two!

Remember the Genedocs Census Summary (CEN)? - NOW is great time to get it ready, keep it handy, and use it to its full powerful potential; be it name variants, place of birth variants, or just having each ancestor's entire census data in one convenient place.

Have a great hunt!

11 Days to 1940 U.S. Census Release !

WHile I post daily featured forms on facebook - most of us are getting ready to bombard the 1940 Census search capabilities (by enumeration district only at first) with our onslaught of queries about our folks, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives alive then and living in the United States. Good luck with your search and if you have time - remember to volunteer to index.

March - Upgrading from 3 forms a month to all 30 each month!

Now that to goal of 400 friends has been achived on facebook, I will share with my readers that starting today I will shoot to post on facebook not 3 featured forms a month, but instead post one per day - Yes! that's all 30 per month, every month! Even with taking a few college courses, I should be able to spread Genedocs most widely for all folks not on fb everyday and manage it well if my time on task is managed wisely.

Here are the first three forms for March:


Individual Information/Photographic Summary:

This template can preserve three images from three distict periods in any relatives life - young, adulthood, and elderly. It also has a great section below the photos for more personally telling detils of their life...see for yourself:

Eight Decades of Photos:

This template was originally designed for couples who live up to 80 years together. then I realized it could be used for siblings as well, and recently for an individual also as the example of my father shows below:

Pocket Photo Pedigree:

The third form is a very handy tool indeed. When you find yourself out in the boonies with no phoe reception, internet access, and/ofr a dead device battery, just break out this conversation starter and watch the hours fly by with discussions of family research and adventures.