How to Lose Followers

Blogging is an interesting social medium. I must admit that when I first began this little adventure most of my social activity revolved around my family and close personal friends. I'm not sure I can make anyone understand just how shocked I was when someone began following me who didn't actually know me. Like "know me personally" know me.  This little ol' introvert began exploring the websites of people that she didn't know personally either and began to make new friends.

In those early days I blogged here about everything that interested me: grandchildren, church, genealogy, travel, saving money, cooking and a host of other family interest things. Every so often someone would follow me as the result of 1 topic. 1 topic! That's great, except that I rarely restrict myself to one topic.

Except for the Bible Reading Schedule.

I began that in 2010 totally for my own usage but decided that others might be interested to try it. As you probably know - since you are reading this - the schedule has changed and grown and basically taken on a life of its own these past three years. I think that is fantastic! But it also revealed a problem. Those who followed for the genealogy left when the genealogy posts grew scarce.

That reminds me of a Bible analogy but I'll come back to that. :)

For those of you that are interested, let me steer you in the direction of my new genealogy blog called Past Times are my Pastime. It will take me awhile to get a few more articles posted there (as well as copying - not moving - the ones that have been posted here under the GENEALOGY tab at the top) so don't get impatient with me, but do go over and see it. While you're there feel free to leave me a comment to tell me what you think. Or leave me a comment here telling me what you think. Either one works for me. Just leave me a comment. Really.

Now for that Bible analogy.

Jesus had followers, too. At one point he had many, many followers. We know this because the gospels tell us that at one point He miraculously fed 5,000 men and that didn't include the women and children. A few days later He again miraculously fed 4,000 men and their families by multiplying a few meager pieces of bread and fish. Wow! Did the people love him!!!!!

Then He stopped feeding them physical food and started telling them that they needed to accept the spiritual food He was providing. Suddenly they weren't so interested. It seems that some were only interested in "The Jesus Food Bank." He immediately lost followers. As a matter of fact, He asked his disciples if they would also leave Him. You know the answer. They didn't because they were interested in the eternal "food" He had to offer them.

Please don't misunderstand me. Jesus had only one mission (to be the mediator between God and man) but his followers didn't understand that. I, on the other hand realize that some of my blog followers joined thinking that this is a genealogy blog when it isn't and was never designed to be but now I do have a blog that is and was designed to be. Genealogy is my hobby. A good hobby, but a hobby nonetheless. And it needs to have its own space.

The focus of On A High Hill will remain entirely as it is, which means its focus will be the Bible, frugality, and family (the living members). The focus of Past Times are my Pastime will be genealogy and family (the deceased members).  Hope that's clearer than mud to everyone.  :)

Now if only I could figure out what to do about my those confused Twitter followers!

Timeline Tuesday: Ready for Exodus!

Christianclipart.com

Since I have been encouraging everyone to make a timeline as a visual and mathematical aid for understanding world history as detailed in the Bible I decided to take the task upon myself to reproduce the one my girls and I made in the early years of our homeschool. I wanted to show you just how long the lifespans were when the earth was young. I used the scale of 1 inch = 25 years just to make things easier when plotting the graphs on half-sheets of poster board. I did the math as far as I could based upon the information provided in Genesis before comparing my results with some of the better known works like Ussher's Annals of the World.*

One of my calculations was not coming out correctly and I could not figure where the problem was. Upon consulting a relatively new work (especially in comparison to Ussher who lived from 1581-1656) I found my error. Dr. Floyd N. Jones points out in his work, The Chronology of the Old Testament that Abraham was born 2008 year AM (anno mundi), or what I have been simply calling "years past creation" in my explanations and not in 1948 as I had calculated. This is because I had taken my information from Genesis 11:32 and had not compared it to Genesis 12:4, a difference of 60 years.

There are other places in scripture where this same type of miscalculation can occur but I had successfully found those. It was only this one that had eluded me. Abraham's father, Terah, was not 70 years old when Abraham was born but was 130. Terah was 70 years old when he became a father, but that would have been to one of Abraham's older brothers. Abraham was 75 years old when his father died at the age of 205.

One encounters the same thing when calculating Noah's sons. Genesis 5:32 makes it appear as though Shem, Ham, and Japheth were triplets when actually Shem was 2 years younger than his eldest brother.

Another interesting calculation is when one plots the events of Jacob's life. Did you realize that this mamma's boy probably didn't leave home until he was at least 70 years of age? Leah and Rachel were obviously young women, but their groom was no young man! Use the numbers given for Joseph in Egypt to help with the calculations. You'll find that Jacob was about 90 years old when Joseph was born. Scriptures tell us earlier that Jacob had served Laban 20 years before stealing away secretly with his wives, concubines, and children.

The information below was edited May 10, 2020.

This brings us to Exodus. There are two theories concerning the time of the Exodus. There are those who believe the Israelite family of slaves spent a full 400 years sojourn in Egypt. There are those who hold to the belief that the time that the Children of Israel beginning from when Joseph settled Jacob and his family into Egypt until Exodus of the slaves out of Egypt as led by Moses was not nearly that long. I hold to the latter belief. Moses tells us how old his grandpa(through his mother)/great-grandpa(through his father) Levi was when he died and we know that Levi was several years older than Joseph. Since we can calculate Joseph's date of death we certainly can extrapolate a bit to approximate dates of birth and death for Levi (who died when he was 137 years old). Levi, who was several years older than Joseph, outlived Joseph by 16 years. Moses also tells us how old his grandfather and father were when they died and how old he - Moses - was when God talked to him in the burning bush. It just doesn't add up to 400 years. However, if one goes back 400 years on the timeline from Moses' death (which would be the same year the Children of Israel went into the Promised Land) one finds herself at the time where God established His covenant with Abraham and told him that the 4th generation would leave Egypt. Let's count the generations in Egypt for Moses's all male line: 1. Levi; 2. Kohath; 3. Amram; 4. Moses. It works.

I consulted two books for an approximate time of the Exodus. One was Dr. Jones' book (mentioned above) and the other was Unwrapping the Pharoahs by John Ashton and David Down. Both works have independently come to the conclusion that the Children of Israel left Egypt for the Promised Land in the 15th century BC. Their calculations differ by 46 years, which is minor in the grand scheme of things. The reason this date is so important is that it is necessary to make the math work in I Kings 6:1 when it speaks of the building of Solomon's Temple.

Another thing that I found interesting is that both authors independently calculated that Joseph died 64 years before Moses was born. That's why there arose a Pharaoh that didn't know Joseph, and obviously didn't care about what he had done to save the Egyptians from starvation either. That's gratitude for you!

So if you are interested in dates, which I am, let's use Jones' dates for the death of Joseph and birth of Moses and lets use Ashton's names for the pharaohs in Egypt to set the stage for our study of Exodus.

Joseph died 1635 BC in Egypt
Levi died 1619 BC in Egypt - this is also the latest that Jochebed could be born. Unlike her brothers, she was born in Egypt.
Moses born 1571 BC in Egypt. His brother, Aaron, was born in 1574 BC because he was 3 years old when Moses was born.

PROBABLE PHARAOHS OF THE TIME (traditional Dynasties 12 and 13 in Egyptian history.)

Dynasty 12:
Sestrosis I - Pharoah during the years of feast and famine.
Amenemhet II
Sestrosis II
Sestrosis III - may be the last pharaoh who knew Joseph. He was a fierce warrior who had very little compassion for anyone. His son reigned after him and may have been just as fierce and uncaring.
Amenemhet III -  He had 2 daughters and no sons.
Sebeknefrure - The daughter of Amenemhet III who reigned well for 4 years after her father died. She may be the princess who found Moses in the river. There are mentions of Amenemhet IV but no signs that he ever reigned. Was this Moses? Sebeknefrure had no heir so

Dynasty 13;
Khasekemre-Neferhotep I - may have been the Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus. His mummy has never been found. He had a son named Wahneferhotep who just disappeared from Egyptian history without a trace. Neferhotep also seems to have been the last Pharaoh before the Hyksos conquered the Egyptians without a fight. It makes sense. Pharaoh and his army were drowned in the Red Sea. The people had been impoverished from the plagues and the spoils that the Hebrews took when they left Egypt. Add the fact that the first-born male from every Egyptian family, including Pharaoh's son,  had died in the 10th plague and you can see that the country was ripe for conquest.



Since this has turned into a lengthy discourse we'll save the introduction to the Gospel of Mark for next week.  In the meantime, stay current with your reading!


*I receive NO compensation from the sale of these books.

Tuesday's Timeline: Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's sons

This past week we finished reading about the life of Abraham. The narrative of his life was quite  dramatic and the drama continued with his son, Isaac, and Isaac's sons. When we finished chapter 30 last week we were reading the portion of Genesis where Jacob and his wives and concubines were birthing sons that would constitute the heads of the 12 tribes of the Children of Israel. We read many instances of Godly individuals who felt that for some reason God needed their help to bring about His desires.  There's even a bit of open defiance when Isaac determined to make Esau the chosen son in the place of God's choice, Jacob.  Can you imagine the bitter tone of Isaac's voice when he told Esau after being tricked into blessing Jacob, "yea, and he shall be blessed,"?[1] Jacob was wrong to trick his father but his father was wrong to think that he could trick God.  There are still people who think they can thwart God's plans.  (Good luck with that.)

In review, the timeline last week stopped at Abraham.  He was born about the year 1949 post-creation, which even secular authors postulate to have been about 2100 BC. 

Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born [2] so we can say that Isaac was born in year 2049 post-creation, 393 years post-flood, or approximately 2000 BC.

Isaac was 60 years old when his sons were born [3] which means that Jacob and Esau were born in year 2109 post-creation, 453 years post-flood (remember from last week that Shem, the son of Noah was still alive), which would be approximately 1940 BC.

We know that Jacob was more than 40 years old when he went to Haran to take a wife from the descendants of Bethuel, Rebekah's brother.[4]  This would bring us to about 1900 BC. It would be at about this same time that Shem, the son of Noah, died.

We're even told about news reaching Abraham and Sarah concerning family members back in Haran.[4]  If nothing else this proves that the family found some way of keeping track of each other while living far apart.

Moses was a very careful record keeper, giving us the account of nations for many of the descendants of Noah.  He listed them even though they weren't of his own direct line.  He listed the children of Shem, Ham, and Japheth as well as several of the lesser-known lines through their lines as well some of the more well-known descendants that would later become adversaries of the Children of Israel.  These include the descendants of Lot, and the other sons of Abraham, and even Esau.  Moses filled out all the family sheets.  He was a genealogist after my own heart!


Sources:
[1] Genesis 27:33
[2] Genesis 21:5
[3] Genesis 25:26
[4] Genesis 26:34; 27:46; 28:1-7
[5] Genesis 22:20

Note:  All calculations for dates post-creation or post-flood and any resulting mathematical errors are purely my own.

Timeline Tuesday: Abraham's Family Bible

NOTE!!!!(Feb 17, 2024): I miscalculated how old Terah was when Abram/Abraham was born. He was NOT 70 years old, but was 130 years old. Add 60 years to each event on the chart for Abraham and you will find how many years after the flood Abraham was born and died. It is still interesting to see how the generations overlapped. That part of the graph certainly didn't change! Abraham was born 352 years after flood and died 527 years afterward. Since Shem died 502 years afterward, Shem did not outlive Abraham, but died 25 years prior to Abraham's death. This means Shem may still have known of Isaac's birth since Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, putting Isaac's birth at year 452 after the flood..

As promised, I am sharing with you an excerpt of The Genesis Timeline that I've made and have encouraged you to make as well. The portion below is taken from the details given in Genesis 11:10 and 25:7 and covers only the genealogy from Shem to Abraham. The numbers in the chart are not dates but are the number of years after the flood (NOT to be confused with the number of years after creation!).

Events in Years Post-Flood

Name	Birth	Death
Shem	pre-flood	502
Arphaxad	2	440
Salah	37	470
Eber	67	531
Peleg	101	340
Reu	131	370
Serug	163	393
Nahor	193	341
Terah	222	427
Abraham	292	467

Do you see anything interesting about the numbers? For one thing, Shem (the son of Noah) still lived at the time of Abraham! That means that if he ever received news of his multi-generational grandchildren he could have heard about the birth of Isaac as well! (We'll study those dates in future weeks as we get deeper into our study of the Patriarchs.)

Mention is made in Genesis 10:25 that the earth was divided about the time of Peleg's birth so that would place the Tower of Babel around 100 years after the Flood. Prior to that event everyone spoke the same language. It would make sense that Peleg spoke the same language as his father, Eber, since he was an infant at the time of Babel. If Eber were the start of a new language group separate from his progenitors (which isn't necessarily true but certainly is possible) he would still know the names of his immediate forefathers, including Noah, as all of his post-flood male ancestors were still alive at the time of the Babel confusion. Yes, even Noah, whose name is not mentioned in Genesis 10, lived long enough to see his descendants divided at Babel. Perhaps the Genesis 10 men lost the ability to communicate with each other but it doesn't mean they no longer recognized their relationship to each other. (A problem often encountered even today among families that immigrate to distant lands then take their children back to the native homeland to visit aged relatives.)

Given the age that men lived back in those days it can be seen by the timeline how genealogy records could be inherited through the generations. Let's view two examples, one before the flood and one after.

Pre-Flood
Adam lived to be 930 years old. Using the information found in the earlier chapters of Genesis the timeline shows that Adam lived to see Noah's father, Lamech. (Make your own timeline if you don't believe me. Seriously.)

Since Adam lived until the time of Lamech one can be sure that the genealogy records were passed down - or were commonly known - in Lamech's family. Doing genealogy in those days must have been easy, but think of the number of generational record pages that their Family Bible would require! :)

So Adam lived to the time of Lamech and Lamech was the father of Noah. Given the importance of the genealogy and the fact that Noah's line would be the only surviving descendants of Adam it seems reasonable that Noah would take a copy of the family tree common to all future descendants aboard the ark with him.

Post-Flood
Shem is the son of Noah through whom Abraham descended and was still living during Abraham's lifetime. As a matter of fact, Eber was still alive, too. Was this why Abraham was first called "Abram the Hebrew" in Genesis 14:13? Possibly it is from Eber that the Jewish nation received this name.

We're not told that any of Abraham's immediate ancestors lived near one another post-Babel, but written copies were probably kept by each family.
From Abraham the records were preserved through Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's sons. At that point they would easily reach the hands of Moses, the author of Genesis, who JUST HAPPENED (ha! ha!) to be the great-grandson of Jacob! (But I'm getting too far ahead in the timeline.)

Considering that the years of birth and death provided by Moses are so specific for each generation, I think it is reasonable to conclude that the records were passed down from generation to generation and really did make up the "family" Bible later inherited by Moses. Of course I don't think that he inherited some coffee table-book sized Bible like our families possess. In his day the canon was only beginning to be compiled so the genealogy contained in this Family Bible wasn't just a few register pages inserted between the text. His genealogy actually made up the text of any Family Bible!

Was it impossible to accurately pass the family tree down from Adam to Moses in the manner I've described? I don't think so! Almost 1,000 years have passed since the Battle of Hastings and yet we still know the exact date it occurred and the names of many of the principles including William the Conqueror. How do we know so much about it at this late date? Written documentation and artistic depictions such as the Bayeux Tapestry have preserved the history. If lifespans were as long today as they were in the antediluvian period someone would be living now to tell us the story of his family having taken part in that battle. Wouldn't Veteran's Day celebrations be quite impressive with all your ancestors from the Battle of Hastings up to the present era around to celebrate their military feats?!

As a genealogist I would love to be able to quiz my ancestors. As it is, I must analyze the records and relics that they left behind to piece together their stories. And yet, I am able to do just that even without direct contact! For many generations the years of birth and death can almost always be located. If I can document events in my ancestors' lives through human resources I have no problem believing that Moses was able to do the same for his using the human records at his disposal. Besides, he received divine help from his Friend during their long discussions on Mount Sinai!

God never ceases to amaze me! The very complex God makes it all so simple. And very simple people make it all too complicated. Open your eyes, use your brain, and appreciate the things God has revealed in His Word!

To the Descendants of John and Hannah Bridges: A Petition

(Important Edit! Anyone may sign the petition!  You do not need to be a descendant.  Your help is greatly appreciated.)

It has recently come to my attention that there is an active petition that the descendants of John Bridges and Hannah Garland Bridges may sign requesting that the township provide an access drive to their graves. The cemetery containing their remains and those of several other family members is now landlocked and it is impossible to visit there without disturbing the residents who live in the closest house.

John Bridges was born in York Co., Massachusetts, now Maine, and migrated west following the Revolutionary War. It is well documented that he is the first resident of Anderson Township, Hamilton County, Ohio having arrived in 1790. The township itself is proud of its history and the name of Bridges is a prominent one in the community.

If you are a descendant or the spouse of a descendant please visit HERE and sign the petition. I did not write the petition but I did sign it. The township has agreed to accept an Internet petition but they require valid mailing addresses for each signer. There is no space provided for this information so my suggestion is to put it in the "Comment" field.

Thank you very much for your help. The last time I visited this cemetery was in 2004 on behalf of an out-of-state descendant who wanted pictures of his ancestors and it was not an easy endeavor.

Day 27 Words of Wisdom

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12

I keep my religious beliefs separate from my genealogical research, that is, until I visit a family cemetery and am reminded that one day I'll be forced to join them!

(Hebrews 9:27)

Day 16 Words of Wisdom

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Here's one for the genealogist:

Live your life in such a way that your descendants will be proud to call you their ancestor.

Sometimes Heredity is Just Plain Quirky!

Have you ever been to the doctor or the dentist and had him mention something unusual about you? I don't mean that the doc was making fun of your anatomy. On second thought, I guess that is sort of what I mean. Specifically I mean that something about your person is different from that of the general population

I had that happen several years ago when I went to the dentist to have my wisdom teeth removed. That's when I discovered that I wasn't having teeth extracted.  I was having a tooth pulled. Specifically, the upper left one. Because that's all I had, that's why!  (I know this wisdom tooth deficiency explains so much about me to some of you.) :)

This one-wisdom-tooth discovery intrigued me on so many levels!

• As a foodie person I was thrilled that few meals would be missed! (Just eat on the other side!)
• As the home economist I was glad to pay for only one extraction!
• As a home-schooling mom I was interested in setting up a Punnett square to see if this was a family trait passed down to my kids.
• As a hobby genealogist I was interested in determining if this was something that I'd inherited from my ancestors or if I was actually the DNA mutant. (I don't think I like the sound of that!)

It turns out that I am not the mutant!!!! My mom only had the two upper wisdom teeth and so did her mom! We don't have any knowledge of generations before Grandma.

But I only had 1 upper tooth, not the deviant 2. Only time would tell if this would be the trait passed on through my DNA. Then a few years ago the orthodontist told us that The Bear only had buds for 2 wisdom teeth (not 4, but not 1 like me either). So I did pass on the "only the uppers" trait and The Bear might be the only one of my four children to inherit this recessive gene. (I'm not sure now but I can find out easily enough. Well, girls?) This means that for some reason (probably a childhood illness) the tooth bud for my upper right wisdom tooth did not develop but that it did not cause a further DNA mutation either.

Just this week a cousin's child said that she is cutting a wisdom tooth. She's in her mid-20's, which is also about the time I got mine. (Late tooth eruptions is another one of those tooth oddities I inherited. My parents considered dentures for me as I neared my first birthday without chompers. Just kidding.)

Anyway, being curious I asked my first cousin once removed (for all of you who need schooling in generation labeling) about the number of her wisdom teeth. She only has the uppers! Since her grandma was my mom's sister she inherited this recessive mutation from my maternal grandma (which would be her great grandma), too! Now I'm so curious that I wish I could determine which of my grandma's siblings had it (she had 2 sisters and 1 brother) and which of the next generation has/had it (there were 10 children in the next generation) and so on down through the generations.

So while the rest of the homeschooling families are doing Punnett squares for peas and fruit flies, or human heredity like the ability to roll the tongue (I can't), taste the bitter strips (I can), blood types (I'm O+) and ear attachment (mine aren't, I don't think) I'm more interested in diagramming our family's tooth genetics because that's a study I could really sink my teeth into!  (Sorry, I just couldn't resist a parting pun concerning Punnett squares.)    :)

The Anthropology of Genealogy

All of my worlds are colliding these days. And that's not always a bad thing.

I just finished reading the "She Reads" monthly selection and listened to the blog audio clip interview with the author. I was struck by how much local flavor colors the writing because the author is native to the setting. So while this book was not a genealogy per se, it was somewhat of a cultural, religious, and social anthropological discourse of the author's heritage. It reminded me of my own culturally diverse roots.

In doing research for the Ohio History class that I teach I've made some interesting anthropological discoveries behind my own family tree. This could prove useful for further research or for even understanding family traditions.

Most people are unimpressed when someone mentions that they are from Ohio - unless it is getting close to presidential election time and then suddenly everyone (including the media) starts treating us with respect. But in non-election years? Not so much. And who can blame them? We seem mediocre enough: just plain ol' plain.

But actually, we're anything but! We're quite a blend of anthropology. We are the example of the proverbial American melting pot. Nothing proves this more than my own lineage.

Some of my New England Anglican ancestors were the first to arrive in the newly formed Northwest Territory. In 1797 my southern Virginia Baptist ancestors appeared and settled in the same neighborhood. If you know any church or U.S. History you know that this was a potentially hostile situation. Somehow they overcame it because a son from one family married a daughter from the other. Perhaps their mutual hatred of the British united them. Both fathers were reportedly Revolutionary War veterans and their children married during the War of 1812. Or maybe their shared wilderness experiences made them set aside any differences for the sake of survival. One way or another, their bonds were forged and children were born.

A son produced from the union of this New Englander-Southern farmer alliance went on to marry a girl of Scots-Irish ancestry. They had children.

A daughter from the union of New Englander-Southern farmer -- Scots-Irish marriage went on to marry a German Protestant boy whose parents still spoke their native language almost exclusively because they had learned very little English in the 40 years since they had immigrated from the Old Country.

Okay, stick with me now! We're on a roll!

A daughter produced from this union of New Englander-Southern farmer -Scots-Irish -- German marriage went on to marry a man of English-Jewish ancestry. The English line had only been in America for a generation or so. The Jewish line had been in America (but not Ohio) for many years. You can imagine the fireworks when the Southern Jewish girl married into the high-brow English Methodist family a generation before and then moved to Ohio as a consequence!

And this is just my mother's Ohio line! When she, the New England - Southern Virginian - Scots-Irish - German - English - Jewish girl, married my dad another set of cultural, social, and religious aspects were introduced, including some inherited from his own first settlers of Ohio roots (although another part of the state entirely). Sometimes I feel like a walking Ohio History exhibit!

And on another note, perhaps it explains why sometime I feel so mixed up. I really am! I'm not religiously confused, but the cultural and social aspects can be daunting depending on the situation. It really tends to manifest itself in reaction to negative stimuli. Which culture comes into play? I'll-blow-them-out-of-the-water-after-I've-had-my-afternoon-tea English? Or shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later Scots-Irish? Hmm.

I guess I'm not so different from my dog, Pepper. She looks and acts a whole lot like her chocolate lab roots but also somewhat like the unspecified part of her lineage (which I suspect to be some type of hound). Her confusion manifests itself when she encounters a bird in the yard. First she points at it and then she haltingly runs for it. She seems to be saying, "Do I point at it or do I retrieve it? Point? Or retrieve?" Finally, she looks at me like I'm going to give her a command (which she wouldn't understand if I did). After a long moment she makes her decision, "Oh, never mind! Let's play fetch." And she picks up a ball and brings it to me.

I couldn't agree with her more. I find the study of my own anthropology to be very fetching indeed.

Hi-ho! Hi-ho! It's to the Cincinnati Public Library I Go!

(Or soon will be, anyway.)

Nothing cheers me quite like going to the library.

AND I'm even happier if I'm there to do a bit of genealogy research.

And BONUS POINTS if someone else pays the cost of parking!

Yessirree Bob, I'm heading downtown to do a bit of research and if you'd like me to do "just a bit" (an hour or so) for you, too, I'll be glad to work it into my schedule. (And your name doesn't even need to be Bob, but it's okay if it is.)

I'd prefer to do genealogy look-ups, but it doesn't need to be that if you have some other research in mind. This is very simple, really.

• Is there a book in the library's catalog that might have something pertaining to your genealogy research but you're not sure and won't know until someone takes a peek inside?
• Is there a book in the library catalog that you know has information about your family but you have no way of quickly obtaining copies of particular pages?
• Is there some other book or resource (non-genealogical) that has information that you'd like to have copied (within reason and copyright limits, of course)?

If the answer to any of these questions is Yes! then I'd be happy to be of service.  

And if the answer is I'm not sure then feel free to check out the online catalog for more information.

This could be a win-win situation for both of us!  Contact me at Karabeth6@gmail.com if you're interested.

New Page Added

I'm always making lists. And I'm always losing lists that are written on paper.

Sometimes I neglect to write everything on the list as I think was the case of my book list of 2010. I just can't believe that I didn't read even one book from the end of June until the beginning of October! I'm willing to concede that I didn't read much over the summer since there are all of the church related events like Vacation Bible School, camp, and other activities added to the back-to-school planning that take up the time, but reading no books seems a bit extreme.

Therefore, I have made one of my blog pages to be where I keep my lists. There's even a list of the genealogy lines or persons that I'm currently researching. This will be updated to reflect any changes.

Check it out if you want to know what I'm reading, writing, and researching. Its the page called "The List of My Lists" and for good reason.

Who Reads This Stuff?

Evidently more people than I first thought.

When a person (specifically, me) writes a blog post it seems so private, like say, to be kept among family and friends. Actually blogging is so out there. Certain phrases or key words catch someone's attention whether it be within the body of a blog post or in the author's profile.

I say this as a warning to watch what I say. As if the pictures of my followers - most of whom I don't know - don't prove the openness of this medium then recent comments and emails do.

There are those who responded to something from my genealogy posts because they recognized a highlighted name or other detail. If the post was about one of my own ancestors I replied and signed my real name to facilitate the sharing of our mutual research goals. (Side note: There is nothing special about the anonymity of this blog. Anyone who knows me, knows me and anyone who doesn't gets weeded out in a hurry when they send me requests to join Facebook that say "Hi Karabeth!Remember me? I sat next to you in high school English! Join Facebook and be my friend." Um, give me a break! Bill Murray used that line in the movie Groundhog Day in order to seduce one of the Punxsutawney women. There is more than enough information included here to expose my identity, but some anonymity has helped to keep a few weirdos at bay. PS.  Sorry Punxsutawney for the misspelling in the original of this post.)

There are those who contacted me after I mentioned I'd read certain books. That has happened a couple of times in the last week thanks to my list from 2010. Who knew that the authors and their agents kept such close tabs on things? It makes sense, though, doesn't it? As Dan Miller said in his book, marketing the product could be the difference between success and failure. Okay, I'm paraphrasing. And Dan Miller isn't one of the authors that contacted me, but if he sees this and wants to confirm or deny my paraphrase he's more than welcome to do so.

There are those whose digital designs I've used (in the whole 2 weeks I've been digitally scrapbooking here) that have thanked me for using their products. Okay, one is my friend, Vicky, but truly, it was unexpected to receive a word from Kim telling me that she liked how I'd used her items to make my Family of Faith page.

There were several unknown individuals who contacted me requesting the Bible reading schedule in file format. I suspect now that there were more who followed last year's schedule than I originally suspected. I thank you for your encouragement, both in using the schedule and in helping to keep me on track. Yes, I need the accountability, too. Aren't Christians supposed to encourage each other to good works? Hmm. I think I read that somewhere. :) (cf. Hebrews 10:24)

I've also received offers from educational software and curriculum developers that want me to try their products and write a review. So far, I have not taken advantage of these offers and the blog has remained non-monetized. However, I wouldn't be adverse to trying a product and writing a review if it actually fit my focus group. The days of spelling, learning to read, math manipulatives and other early-to-mid childhood education topics are long over in this homeschool. {sob}

What I need are programs that teach

• Physics,
• Calculus, and
• Spanish.

So if you have developed quality products for homeschooled high school students that you wish me to review, then we just might be able work out a mutually beneficial arrangement because evidently there are more people who come across this blog than we might think.

A Perspective on Genealogy

This isn't a genealogy blog. It will never be a genealogy blog. But it is a whatever-is-important-to-me-at-the moment kind of blog. It's just that genealogy has been on my mind lately. So why, you may ask (or you may not, but we'll pretend you might) do I do genealogy?

It's a spiritual thing.

No, really it is. And I'm not some transcendental seeker that believes we're all part of the interconnected cosmos, if indeed, that is what they believe.

But it is a spiritual thing. And here's why:

• I believe that each person is one of God's special creations. As such, each one of my ancestors is not just a name but a real person who walked upon this earth but still lives somewhere in eternity with God or apart from Him.
• I believe that "love never fails" according to I Corinthians 13. I know that my love for the family members I knew who have departed this life has not failed and I want to help keep memories of them alive. I know that they loved the generations preceding them, too. For instance, I still love my grandparents (and the great-grandparent that I was privileged to know). They likewise loved their grandparents and other family members that died long before I was born. I use my genealogy research to get to know the people who are loved by the people that I love.
• I believe that sharing the things I've learned has given me even more people to love. And here I mean living people, not the dearly departed, although some of them have departed since I began researching. I'm thinking of the bonds I've forged with members of my parents' and grandparents' generations. As hard as it might be to believe, up until a couple of years ago I heard regularly from my grandpa's double-first cousin. I'm assuming that she has passed on now since she was 102 years old the last time I had a note or phone call from her. I also loved talking to my grandma's sisters, one of whom was older than my grandma and lived to be almost 100 herself. And making connections with second and third cousins who also like to pursue our mutual ancestry has made for enjoyable fellowship.
• I believe it has the potential to heal wounds and mend broken hearts. At the very least, it has the potential to put an end to questions like "I wonder what ever happened to so-and-so?" In our family, it was my mother's cousin who disappeared when they were all young children due to a nasty divorce. We were delighted when his daughter contacted me after seeing familiar names on Rootsweb several years ago! Another could be, "Where is so-and-so buried?" That one was resolved by finding my dad's grandmother's grave so that he could visit it during one of his infrequent trips to the west coast.

It is truly a very spiritual journey for me to do genealogy research. Like we do, our ancestors had the desire to be recognized and respected, revered and remembered. God longed to have a relationship with them and so do I even if it means in the limited way that comes by meticulously piecing together the details of their lives and histories.

I learn things from my discoveries. As the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun.

Providence 365: Week 1

The verse this week to highlight was taken from Ephesians 1:11. I chose to do a brief family tree to show that I am thankful to have a heritage of faith that has been passed down from generation to generation. I pray it never ends until the Lord returns.

All of the elements on this page are courtesy of kimerickreations except for the verse which is courtesy of Precepts and Promises for the Providence 365 project.

The photos are of my family: one each of my grandparents in the 1920s and one of my parents and their descendants taken in 2005 in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary. Since that time, one more granddaughter has married and three new great-grandbabies have been added to their family tree.

More On the DNA Study

I'm confused!

I know that isn't an uncommon occurrence but I'm really confused now.  Why do people participate in DNA studies if they don't want to find matches?  Isn't that the whole point in participating?

This is the second - no, third - time I've gotten the brush-off from someone who participated in the Ancestry.com DNA study.  Two participants basically sent me "Dear John" letters stating that they don't want to be bothered, that they aren't interested in genealogy thankyouverymuch, and could I please just go pester someone else for awhile?  O-k-a-a-a-y.  

And the third person?  Oh, that person never answered my query in the first place which told me right off the bat that he wasn't interested in trying to find answers to our shared heritage.  Again, why bother participating?

I'm not complaining about Ancestry.com.  Really I'm not.  I am, however, complaining about people who seem to think this is some kind of a joke to participate in the DNA studies and then refuse to cooperate with others who match.  You did know that Ancestry.com is a genealogy service, right?

Let's get some things straight.   It cost money to do genealogy research.  I'm not a professional.  I've said on this blog that I'd be willing to pick things up in downtown Cincinnati for a few bucks, but let's be honest, I'm going downtown whether anyone hires me or not so my offer does little more than ask for help paying for the gas, parking fees (!!!!), and copy costs if you need something while I'm there.  I'm a hobbyist, but I do take my hobby pretty seriously.  (Golfers, bowlers, or crafters need not judge.)

Ancestry.com does cost money, potentially, lots of money.  DNA tests cost money, not fortunes, but not cheap either.  Some of us are female and can't even take the DNA test so we talk a male relative into taking the test for us.   We submit our kit and we wait to find matches.  AND WE'RE ELATED WHEN WE FIND THEM!

In both cases where our DNA matched another submission (and I got a response), I found out that the participant didn't have any genealogy information, didn't have anyone in the family who did genealogy, and wasn't the least bit interested in sharing notes with people who match.   Neither case was an adoption (and if it was wouldn't they be interested in hearing from a match?), and both seemed to have no clue as to how they could have blood relatives in the United States.  Well, a perfunctory knowledge of history would tell you that anyone whose paternal line is not Native American must have ancestry that goes back to Europe, Africa, or Asia within a couple of hundred years -which is not that many generations, by the way - so it isn't at all unusual that we should have common DNA with people on other continents.  Negotiations don't get far enough for me to explain this. 

 Ancestry.com provides a service for genealogists, including DNA testing.  One of the reasons they do this is to make money by making records and other researchers available.  Customers pay the fees to access those records and to make connections with other family researchers.  Participants should not be shocked when someone contacts them requesting more information.

I have to admit that I'm not very impressed with these "cousins" of mine.  And cousins they are.  The DNA says so.  It's true that you can choose your friends but not your family.

More About Our DNA results

Remember this post from over 2 years ago where I told about the DNA test my dad had taken in the hopes of advancing our genealogy research? (See here)  Remember how shocked I was to find out that I am of Scandinavian descent? Okay, remember that I mentioned briefly that my grandpa said we were Dutch  but I "assumed" he meant German as in "Pennsylvania Dutch" because his Grandma's lineage was of German descent?

Well, once again, I am amazed and astounded by those same DNA results! I checked the site recently to see if our results matched closely any recent participants. I almost choked on my coffee when I saw that there was one . . . . and he was an exact match! I contacted him immediately (which was about a month ago) and waited for the response (which came yesterday). The man's family is from Portugal and his parents were born in British Guyana. A quick look at that country's history confirmed my suspicions that the old colony of Guiana was indeed settled by none other than the Dutch. Mmm hmm.

Do you also remember that I once contacted a man in England whose DNA was close (off by 1 point on 1 marker) and that he just could not believe that he could possibly have any relations in the USA? (See here) My, but won't he be surprised to find out that he no longer has relatives in North American but on the South American continent, too?!

Those rascally ancestors! They really got around! Who ever heard of such a thing! :)

I'm no closer than I was to breaking down my brick wall since our surnames do not match, but at least I have a few more clues to go on since my American paternal ancestor was born sometime around the time of the Anglo-Dutch wars. Oh, how the plot thickens! And I love a good story!

Do You Speak the Same Language? (Case D)

Do you speak the same language as your ancestors? Before you answer too quickly let me clarify my question. I'm not talking about a foreign language. I'm specifically referring to local dialects. Knowing how your ancestors pronounced certain words, including names, can provide important clues for locating documents.

Those of us who have ancestry that runs through the south, particularly the Appalachian Mountain region, might encounter some difficulties due to spelling. Part of the problem in the early records was illiteracy but spelling errors continued to occur long after literacy was restored to the area.

I could give numerous examples of what I mean by this but I'll use Terrill Thompson to make my point. In Case C I discussed the difficulty in finding a death certificate for Matilda Tewksbury based upon information gleaned from her tombstone. In that case, Matilda had remarried (actually, she had remarried twice) but nothing on her grave indicated her forays into the holy estate of matrimony beyond that of her marriage to Thomas Tewksbury. It took a chance encounter with her name next to her daughter's on a census record to eventually locate her death certificate under a different name than the one found on her grave.

This case is somewhat similar. The spelling of Terrill Thompson's name and the information concerning his death was obtained from his headstone. It was assumed that his death certificate would be easily obtained. That was not to be!

 

When the search began, no death certificate could be found in either the indices or in a search of the state archives. After lengthy attempts of spelling phonetically according to local speech patterns, the following document was finally located:

The name rendered "Terrill" on the headstone was given as "Turl" on the death certificate. This is not an isolated incident and colloquial pronunciation should always be considered when documents cannot be found using proper spelling. The letter "r" is particularly a troublesome one in some regional pronunciations. Vowels are also confused or used interchangeably. Alex is pronounced "Elick" and might be spelled that way. Dabney morphs into "Dabner" on his paperwork. Juanita may be spelled "Woneety" or "Neater." Josiah becomes "Sire."

This article is in no way intended to be mocking or insulting. These examples are from my own personal research.

As for Terrill's wife, Mandy? I've yet to locate her death certificate and suspect that an irregular spelling might be the cause. If anyone can offer assistance, I would be grateful.

Is This Book Acceptable Proof for a Lineage Society? (Cases E & F)

One of the hardest things I've ever had to do as a Daughters of the American Revolution chapter registrar or lineage research liaison is to tell someone that the biographical information they found in a book is not sufficient proof for membership. How can that be? It says so right here in this publication!

Yes, I know. And this can be frustrating.

It does not matter if the generation in question is a patriot or someone further up the family tree. Just because a book "says so" doesn't prove lineage or service. This troubling scenario can happen to anyone, including me. As stated above, I am already a member of the DAR so I will use a couple of people in my own tree as examples of what does not meet the burden of proof.

The Historic Sites Committee of the Cincinnati Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution has been working for literally years to compile a book about Revolutionary War soldiers who are buried in their county. Their project recently came to fruition and is called, reasonably enough, Revolutionary War Soldiers Buried in Hamilton County, Ohio. Published by Little Miami Publishing of Milford, Ohio and available from either the chapter itself or the publisher, this volume contains 192 pages of biographical material, tombstone photos, and source references. With index, this paperback book is 224 pages in length. It is reasonably priced at $16.95. I recently obtained a copy for my home library.

I was not one of the women who compiled this book but I am acquainted with many who did. And I commend them for a job well done. Other chapters around have compiled similar volumes, too. Often I receive email from hopefuls who have found information concerning one of their ancestors in a similar book. It breaks my heart to break the news to them that even though a DAR chapter compiled the book, inclusion in it is not enough for membership in the society. It just doesn't seem fair somehow. And yet, as someone who has two patriots included in this new Hamilton County book who do not meet the criteria necessary for membership I must state that I understand why the rules are what they are.

One of my ancestors, whom I'll call Case E, has a gravestone stating that he served in the Revolutionary War. Although the stone appears to date back to the time of his death in the early 1800s, it is not enough to prove military service. Such claims must be supported by a muster roll, pension file, or receipt. We have been unable to find anything that backs up the words on this headstone and therefore, I cannot use this man as a patriot ancestor for membership.

Why isn't the claim on an old headstone enough? For one thing, there is no way of knowing for certain exactly when a headstone was erected on a grave. Although this stone appears to be ancient, it might have been erected several years after the man died. And at the time of his death, he was in territory that was geographically far from the area of his nativity. Correspondence with people who knew him in his prior life was probably rare or nonexistent. Moving to the then-frontier often meant taking on new identities at worst or embellishing one's accomplishments (lying) at best. I'm not suggesting that my ancestor did that. I am suggesting that there is no way for us to know for certain without an actual name on a muster roll or similar document.

Gravestones often hold untruths. A few years ago one of our excursions into a family cemetery revealed an ancestor's stone that claimed the man was born in England and even gave a date of migration. The only problem is that with the modern availability of records it is now known that he was born and raised in North Carolina. Either he or his descendants decided to tell tall-tales.

Unsubstantiated claims on tombstones are not the only reason why the information gleaned from books is not enough proof for lineage societies. Another of my ancestors, Case F, is also listed in this book. The biographical sketch itself mentions that his service is merely family tradition. Indeed, our family folklore states that Case F served as a child musician. Again, there is nothing found to support the claim that he served in any capacity although his father is a proven patriot. It would be reasonable to assume that the child's name would be found in the muster roll of his father's regiment or another of the local militia. Given the fact that this man lived to be an advanced age and even served in positions of state and local government in Ohio, it would also seem reasonable that he would be aware of his rights to land and a pension for services rendered. Yet he never filed. Did he serve as a child musician? Perhaps, but family folklore and tradition are never enough to constitute proof of service.

Using the information found in this book and in its listed resources, I attempted to obtain the necessary proofs for my two supposed-patriots. Nothing was found in the National Archives or the archives of their respective birth states to document these claims. Information in their biographies was useful for further documenting their family trees.

In conclusion, books published by lineage societies and their affiliates are wonderful sources of information that provide excellent clues for further research. They are worthy additions to the genealogist's library as long as one is aware of their limitations. They should be used as roadmaps to aid in the discovery of proof but not as proof themselves.

(If you would like to purchase a copy of the book mentioned in this article, please contact me privately at Karabeth6@gmail.com and I will put you in contact with a chapter representative.)

Matilda Tewksbury, Hidden in Plain Sight (Case C)

How well do you know your neighbors? Even if you are fairly well acquainted chances are that you are not related to them. Such was not the case a few generations ago. Except for the occasional lone wanderer, families had a tendency to stick together. This is very helpful when it comes to genealogical research.

However, sometimes a researcher will encounter a family or person that seems to disappear. Such was the case of Matilda Tewksbury. She could be clearly identified through 1880 but then nothing more was known about her until her supposed death in 1912. Where was she in those intervening years?

Locating the missing person's relatives often aids in the discovery of those individuals. This seemed to be the most logical step in finding Matilda. Her last piece of recognizable information was in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census where she was enumerated with her husband, Thomas Tewksbury, and their 7-year-old daughter, Nancy J. Tewksbury. They resided in Scipio Twp., Meigs Co., OH, page 2.

Click image for larger view

Nothing more was known until we discovered the headstone that she shared with her husband, Thomas. It showed that he died in 1893 but that she survived until 1912. The search through the census abstracts for 1900 and 1910 failed to show anyone by her name in either Meigs or the neighboring county of Athens. Since Tewksbury is often either spelled wrong on the abstracts themselves or transcribed incorrectly in indices I unsuccessfully performed a visual search of Athens and Meigs counties in Ohio and a few counties in nearby West Virginia. (Note: the 1890 U.S.Census was almost completely destroyed by fire.)

Since state death records were standardized in Ohio on December 20, 1908 it seemed reasonable that Matilda's death certificate would be on file. One was not found at the Ohio Historical Society Archives Library. At this point I began to wonder if the date was wrong on the grave and that perhaps she had died prior to 1908.

I began to compile a list of her known relatives. Both of her parents were dead by 1880 but several of her sisters were married and living in the Meigs-Athens area. It was not known how many children Matilda had borne since Nancy J. was the only one listed on the 1880 census. There was plenty of time between then and Thomas' death in 1893 to have given birth to more.

This led to the possibility that she was enumerated incorrectly in future census years. Often a widowed mother living in the household of her married daughter was erroneously ascribed the surname of the household and not her own. In other words, if Mother Smith lives with Son-in-law Jones and Daughter Jones she might very well be named Mother Jones in the census. I did another visual search, but this time looking for anyone named Matilda. Again, this was unsuccessful. 

Matilda's living siblings were found in the 1900 census. None had a Matilda in their household or living next door.

Returning to the known daughter, Nancy J. it was discovered that she seemed to have disappear also. Obviously, genealogy is usually worked backward, meaning from child to parents. In this case, it was known that Nancy's middle initial stood for "Josephine" and that she had married by 1900. Thus began a search for her and her husband as well.

Josephine, her husband, and their family were found living north of Athens in Bearfield Township, Perry County, Ohio. When I glanced at the entry of the family living above them my eye was drawn to the name "Matilda."



Click on image for larger view



There were several crucial pieces of information to be gleaned from this abstract. First, Matilda had remarried. Second, she had given birth to only one child. That would be Nancy Josephine. And third, she, her daughter, and her daughter's family had moved from Meigs County sometime after 1893, which was when Thomas' death was recorded there.

I now began a search for a marriage record for Matilda Tewksbury and Charles Stoneburner; I also resumed my search for her death certificate under the name of Matilda Stoneburner. I was partly successful. The marriage search revealed that Mrs. "Tillie" Tewksbury married Charles C. Stoneburner on December 3, 1894 in Meigs County. But the search for her death record was again futile.

Knowing that Matilda had remarried once, I thought that perhaps she had done so again. Perry County records revealed that her second husband, Charles Stoneburner, had died February 28, 1902. I searched the marriage books for Perry, Meigs, and Athens counties and found record of a marriage between Matilda Stoneburner and W. B. Rickey on April 20, 1904 in Athens County. She and W.B. were enumerated there in the 1910 census. Their home was near the cemetery where her first husband, Thomas, was buried. Matilda had returned home.

From that point, it was easy to find that Matilda's death had taken place on April 21, 1912 in Athens County, Ohio and to order her death certificate. Her tombstone showed that she was the wife of Thomas Tewksbury but it omitted information to make it possible to trace her location during the years that she survived him.

The search for Matilda Tewksbury's death certificate illustrates several things:

• it is important to pinpoint the whereabouts of the individual's family members if possible even if they are not in your direct ancestry line.
• it is beneficial to begin at the last known location and make your way into the neighboring counties for information. Think of making concentric circles outward.
• it shows that widows might remarry but still be buried by their first husband. This could cause a surname discrepancy between the headstone and death certificate.

Local Genealogical Researcher Available

I often do genealogy research for others. Until recently, this has been as an unpaid volunteer helping people obtain membership in lineage societies. This experience has been mutually beneficial both to the 50+ individuals whom I have helped and also to me as I have become more familiar with local resources. Now I am available to assist clients with research specific to the Cincinnati/Hamilton County, Ohio area.

Research will be done contractually at an hourly rate. There is a minimum retainer equal to a 2-hour fee. There is no extra charge for copies or the postage to mail them. The minimum deposit must be paid in advance. Additional hours will be billed separately with the client stipulating on the contract the maximum number of hours he is willing to finance.

Research is limited to the following repositories:

• The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (including newspaper microfilm)
• University of Cincinnati Blegen Library (which contains the regional archives)
• Probate Court (marriage records)

Each of the above facilities offers limited services. Some or all charge a nominal fee for copies. You are encouraged to contact them first to see if you can obtain what you require directly. If it is determined that you need additional assistance please contact me at Karabeth6@gmail.com for more details. The email consultation is free, but specific questions pertaining to services offered by the above research facilities will be ignored.