Wordless Wednesday on the Dock

Another photo from my great aunt Latisha Vanderpool's photo album.

Genealogy Roadshow Survey

I was lucky as I got to see the Genealogy Roadshow twice last night, our cable company has 3 PBS stations and one station had the Genealogy Roadshow at 8 and one at 9. Several months ago I signed up with PBS to do some surveys on shows they air, and they had a first survey that asked what types of shows I liked and watched, so about a week or so ago PBS sent a short survey asking if I would be interested in a survey after the first Genealogy Roadshow, I said yes, then they asked if I was interested in a survey after each of the four shows, and again I said yes, so last night after the show I went to the URL PBS sent me and took that survey.

The survey had 33 questions , some with multiple questions, so I will just do a few here.

1. Which city was this episode based? Memphis, Nashville, Boston, Detroit, Austin or San Francisco
2. How did you rate this episode?
3. What did you like about Genealogy Roadshow?
4. What did you dislike about Genealogy Roadshow?
5. Pace of show? too fast, too slow, just right
6. Main Stories? too long, too short, just right
7. Number of stories  just enough, too many, too few
8. Did you like historical segments focused on cities where episode filmed?
9. Did you like that the stories were focused on everyday people?
10. Did the show inspire you to do genealogical research?
11. Were the family tree graphics easy to read?
12. Have you done genealogical research on your own?
13. Did you learn something new about history while watching?
14. Would you apply to have your family history researched by this show?
15. How frequently have you watched History Detectives, Antiques Roadshow, American Pickers, Finding Your Roots, Who Do You Think You Are?
16. Rate Kenyetta Berry, Josh Taylor and Emmett Miller
17. The next one was to rate each segment which I will skip here.
18. Three Best Segments
19. Three Worst Segements
20. How important was the audience?
21. How important was DNA testing?
22. How important was technological devices used in the show to show pictures, documents and family trees?

I did skip a few that were mainly repeats of other questions, just worded differently 

Saturday Night Fun Children and Grandchildren

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  Consider your Birth Surname families - the ones from your father back through his father all the way back to the first of that surname in your family group sheets or genealogy database.  List the father's name, and lifespan years.

2)  Use your paper charts or genealogy software program to create a Descendants chart (dropline or graphical) that provide the children and their children (i.e., up to the grandchildren of each father in the surname list).

3)  Count how many children they had (with all spouses), and the children of those children in your records and/or database.  Add those numbers to the list.  See my example below!  [Note: Do not count the spouses of the children]

4)  What does this list of children and grandchildren tell you about these persons in your birth surname line?  Does this task indicate areas that you need to do more research to fill out families and find potential cousins?

Mads Christensen (Mads died before his son was born)
1 son 
3 grandchildren

Mikkel Madsen  1807-1888
6 children
19 grandchildren

Hans Mikkelsen  1837-1892
10 children
25 grandchildren

Anton Mikkel Hansen 1870-1961
5 children
9 grandchildren

Claude Dillingham Hansen 1906-2008
2 children
1 grandchild

24 children average 4.8 per generation
60 grandchildren average 12 per generation

Saturday Night Fun Random Search

1)  We're going to do a little bit of Semi-Random Research tonight...what is your first name? [This is the easy part!]

2)  Go to your family tree database of choice (you know, like RootsMagic, Reunion, Ancestry Member Tree), and determine who the first person in your alphabetical name index is with a surname starting with the first two letters of your first name (e.g., my first name is RAndall, so I'm looking for the first person with a surname starting with RA).  [If there are no surnames with those first two letters, take the surname after that letter combination.]

3)  What do you know about this person based on your research?  It's OK to do more if you need to - in fact, it's encouraged!

4)  How are you related to this person, and why is s/he in your family tree?

1. CHarles so first surname is Delbert E Elmer Chambers b 9 Nov 1935 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma d. 4 Dec 1993 in Phoenix, Arizona 
2. He married Karen Ray Hansen 8 May 1970 in Chino, California
3. Karen is my second cousin so Delbert was her husband

Wordless Wednesday Swing

Another photo from my great aunt Latisha Vanderpool's photo album.

Saturday Night Fun Alive in 1863

1)  Determine where your ancestral families were on 1 September 1863 - 150 years ago.

2)  List your ancestors, their family members, their birth and death years, and their residence location (as close as possible).  Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist?

1. Mikkel Madsen b 11 May 1807 Magleby, Denmark d. 8 Sep 1888 Humble, Denmark. He married Kristen Hansdatter b. 21 May 1804 and d. 23 Jan 1880 both at Humble, Denmark. Their son Hans Mikkelsen b. 21 Apr 1837 and d. 10 Jan 1892 both at Humble, Denmark. Hans married Karen Jorgensen b. 08 Jun 1840 at Tullebolle, Denmark d. 29 Mar 1891 Humble, Denmark. Not sure if her parent were living in 1863, but I will say the were. Father was Jorgen Petersen b. abt 1791 Tullebolle, Denmark and mother Johanne Jensdatter b. abt 1803.
2. Samuel P. Dillingham b. 8 Aug 1835 Dixfield, Maine d. 25 Jun 1919 Algonquin Twp, Illinois. I think he stayed in Maine till after the Civil War. (he did not fight for medical reasons). His father was Enos Dillingham b. 10 Aug 1804 Freeport, Maine, d. 12 Jun 1876 Dixfield, Maine. His wife Clarissa Virgin had died before 1863. Samuel married Eliza M. Hellenbolt b. 1 Mar 1845 Town 2, Wisconsin and d. 03 Sep 1933 Algonquin TWP, Illinois. Her father Richard Hellenbolt b. abt 1815 in NY and mom Rhoda Preston b. abt 1816 in Canada were living in Minnesota in 1863.
3. Robert Forsyth Kelly b. 23 Jul 1855 Adams County, Illinois and d. 14 Dec 1934. His father Thomas D. Kelly b. 25 Apr 1827 near Louisville, Kentucky and d. 1 Mar 1896 Trenton, Missouri. He married Margaret J. Forsyth b. 29 Dec 1833 at Quincy, Illinois d. 28 Jul 1905 Trenton, Missouri. In 1863 this family was in California and when the Civil War was over they came back to Illinois. Robert married Vada Belle Hert who was not born in 1863, but her parents Joseph Hert b. 29 Jun 1830 in Indiana a d. 12 May 1912 in Grundy County, Missouri and Sadie Jane Selson b. 19 Mar 1832 in Indiana d. 26 Jul 1913 Harrison Twp, Missouri.
4. Daniel C. Travis b. 4 May 1833 Lawrence County, Illinois, d. 27 Mar 1905 Mill Grove, Missouri. and his wife Mary Elizabeth Travis b. 10 Sep 1833 Green County New York. d. 27 Oct 1927 Mill Grove, Missouri. Not sure where they were in 1863.
5. Joseph J. Vanderpool b. abt 1831 Campbell, Tennessee d. 1 Oct 1929 Clinton, Oklahoma, married Margaret Loe b. 3 Aug 1837 Ray County Missori, d. abt 1901 Mercer County, Missouri. They were living in Missouri in 1863.

Wordless Wednesday Rowboat

Another photo from my great aunt Latisha Vanderpool's photo album.