January Ancestor: Charles Alexander Foster

This month is nearing an end, so I better get my blog on my ancestor done.
This month I am focusing on Charles Alexander Foster, my father's mother's father (my great-grandfather).

Charles Alexander Foster was born on December 14, 1875 in Manchester, Adams County, Ohio to Nathan M. and Mary M. Foster. In 1880 we find him in Adams county, Ohio in the census with his parents and siblings. The next time I can find him is in 1900 in the census, where he is listed as a servant living with the McIntosh family in Madison county, Nebraska. So why did he move from Ohio to Nebraska? And did he come by himself, and if so why? This I don't know (yet).

Then on February 22, 1904 Charles marries Edith Adel Hanks in Tilden, Madison county, Nebraska. They then become the parents of 4 daughters. The first two, Berniece and Mable are born in Tilden. Then some time between 1908-1910 the family moves to Sidney, Cheyenne county, Nebraska. Viola is born in 1910 in Nebraska; I am uncertain which county she is born. Then Genestia is born in 1912 in Sidney, Cheyenne county, Nebraska. On the 1910 census, the Charles Foster family is listed as living in Sidney, Cheyenne county, Nebraska. On September 12, 1918 Charles signs his World War I draft card, where he is listed as a farmer with dark hair and blue eyes from Sidney, Nebraska. The next 3 censuses 1920, 1930 and 1940 find Charles living in Sidney, Cheyenne County, Nebraska. Charles continues to be listed as a farmer in 1920, 1930 and 1940.

Charles passes away February 27, 1951 at the age of 75 while in San Jose, Santa Clara county, California. I'm guessing he was there visiting or living with his daughter Genestia and her family. He was brought back to Sidney, Cheyenne county, Nebraska for burial. His wife passes away less than a month later, on March 21.

Along with the censuses I have found him in, and the draft card, I also have his marriage certificate, a photo of his gravestone, and his obituary. It would be good for me to look for some land records for him, since he was a farmer and owned land. I wonder if this land he owned prior to 1920 is still the land my uncle farms and my family owns. It would also be nice to find out more about the years between 1880 and 1900. The 1890 census burned so it isn't accessible, and unfortunately Ohio didn't take any state censuses. I don't find him in the Nebraska 1885 state census, and since he would've been only 10 years old, I don't think he would be in that census (away from his family). His parents did live in Illinois for a while, but Illinois did not have any state censuses after 1865.

Doing these blogs always make me realize how much I don't know and could still do on my ancestors. I may know their birth date, and birth place, but there are still parts missing to their stories. I don't think I have a photo of him either. It would be nice to find one of those, but I don't know which family member might have one or if they got thrown away (gasp!).

Goals for 2015

Happy New Year! I can still say that right? It's not April yet. The temperature outside says I can say that until the temperature reaches my age. So it's time to set some goals for 2015, and try to have them measurable and realistic. There is some SMART acronym for goals, specific, measurable, assignable or achievable (well I'll go with achievable because they are all assigned to me), relevant or realistic and time related. Well these are all to be achieved within a calendar year, but some of them I chop up into smaller goals so I can better achieve them.
I like to divide my genealogy goals up in 3 categories: Personal, Professional and Volunteer

Professional:
1. Attend at least 20 sessions of #genchat this year on Twitter
     So do you #genchat? It's a chat session of genealogists usually on Friday evenings at 9 pm central. Find the schedule here: http://www.genealogygenchat.com/schedule.html

2. Do 2 webinars or videos for genealogy education

3. Plan a spectacular state conference, attend it and one other genealogy conference

4. Blog twice a month or 24 times a year
   Included in this is blogging about 1 ancestor per month or 12 per year, I put my list of ancestors in an Excel spreadsheet for easy reference. This year I intend to include a few of my husband's ancestors as well as mine.

5. Continue with a research project (for a client)

6. Continue scanning land records (for another client)

Volunteer:
1. Update the cemetery directory in May before Memorial day

2. Continue adding photos on Findagrave and taking more

3. Continue indexing marriage records and put online, do 3 surname letters

4. Continue regular (quarterly?) updates of my GenWeb site

Personal:
1. Do timelines for 12 ancestors

2. Continue regular (quarterly?) backups of data to external hard drive and cloud

3. Finish husband's Mayflower application

4. Do my DAR application and state pioneer award

5. Continue working on research as on Ancestry to do list (mark off two?)

What are your goals? Do you set them? Stay tuned to see how I do. I try to make quarterly goals to help me attain them, or monthly. Whew! Got it done within the first week of the new year. Happy 2015!