Review of 2011 Goals

Well 2011 is more than half over so I thought I'd see how I'm doing on my 2011 goals. So first relisting my goals, and then how I'm doing:

Now to plan for 2011, here are my goals, in no particular order:

1. To finish my husband's Mayflower application

2. To finish photographing the Osceola Cemetery and put it on Findagrave and possibly start another one

3. To have a sizable (at least 20) group attend our event March 28 with Megan Smolenyak

4. To write a blog at least twice a month (24 times a year)

5. To update my Kearney County NE GenWeb web site at least monthly

6. Organize: Set aside 1 hour each week to organize, whether it be my computer or papers

7. Look into the NGS Home Study course

8. Research: Continue to research, and hopefully into records with which I have less experience (land records, probate records, etc.)

9. To do a better job at keeping up with my obit transcripts, to have each month done by the 10th of the following month

10. To keep up reading my emails better, to get no more than a month behind in reading the GenWeb ones.

11. Work on my husband's SAR and my DAR applications. 




1. Still working on it, so not gotten much, if any further than I was several months ago (not good).
2. Working on it, I have 7 blocks photographed and almost 6 blocks of memorials online. (fairly well)
3. DONE! We had unexpected bad weather so we only had around 30 people come but for our small town, that was great! I think we would've had a few more if weather was better. 
4. Doing pretty good, I think one month I only had one post, but made up for it the month before or after. 
5. Doing horribly on this one, haven't updated it since I wrote the goal. 
6. Doing okay, got my genealogy mess by my computer organized into a bookshelf. Could always do more and better on this one. 
7. Done a tiny bit on this one (so not good).
8. I have done a little research online with land records and found one of my great-great-grandfather's homestead info. Started this goal but would like to do more. 
9. I have pretty much quit on the obit transcripts; the webmaster decided not to do the paper I was doing anymore and she offered me another one but I haven't done it. 
10. Up until last night I was a year behind on those emails, so now I'm about 11 months behind, so not doing well on this one either. 
11. Haven't done anything on these either. 


Well this means I still have lots I can do for the rest of 2011. Although no excuse is a good one, I did get pregnant so have been extra tired with less energy for at least 3 months. I seem to be motivated for only certain things, or bounce around from one to another, but so far, this is just a hobby for me, although some day I would love to get paid for doing something I love. 

Family Reunions

Apparently July is the time for family reunions, and after many years of gathering at Christmas, three years ago my mom's side of the family decided to gather in the summer instead. Weather being what it is in the Midwest (Kansas and Nebraska) and having many teachers in the family, summer seems to work better.

The first year was a bit of a trial run, so we also organized it around a surprise birthday party for my mom's 65th birthday. We didn't plan many activities but mainly figured out where 30-40 people were going to eat a couple times a day and where we were going to stay. Year two took us to Kansas for several activities and some down time for naps for kids, socializing and swimming. Year three we were back in Nebraska which included a trip to the cemeteries to visit some ancestors, and I brought (some of) my genealogy info to share. Now my immediate family is in charge for year four, so we will see what that brings.

Some things to consider with a family reunion:
1. Location, location, location (for food, activities and hotels we find a good-sized city is needed)
2. Activities for all ages: we've had swimming, shooting guns, shopping, bowling, cemetery tour, roller skating
3. Some down time: several of us still have young children who "need" naps, plus usually we just want to talk and catch up with our family
4. Traditions: Our family would be disappointed if my mom didn't bring chocolate angel food cake, I didn't bring mint brownies, and Aunt Mary didn't bring her sugar cookies.
5. Date and duration: Some people stick with the same weekend each year. We tend to try to find a weekend that fits with most of the family. Some reunions are just a few hours around lunch or dinner; we usually do most of the weekend, Saturday morn through Sunday noon. People usually don't have to take much time off work then.

That's about all I have. Feel free to add your suggestions. We don't have a very large family reunion, although we now are over 40 members if everyone attends. I think each year there has been one family not come, which is disappointing but the schedule doesn't always work for everyone.

Hope you take some time this summer to enjoy your family and have fun together!

What's in a Name?

How did we get our name? What is the most popular first name in your family tree (program)? Have you found any unusual names in your research or other research? How did/do you select a name for your kids? These questions recently came to me, so I thought I'd jot them down to discuss.

My first name is Beth (not Elizabeth, just Beth). I am not sure exactly how I got my name (maybe I should ask my mother), but my conjecture has been that since my mother's name is Betty, they picked Beth because it is similar. Yes, we both get asked if our full name is Elizabeth. Neither of us is Elizabeth. Sometimes I wish my name was Elizabeth, because then I would have nickname options. Not many nickname options for Beth. 

We selected the name Kirk for our first child because we like it, and after a Christian evangelist (and former child actor) Kirk Cameron. My husband also likes Captain Kirk of Star Trek, and I kind of like Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN so it seemed like a good name. We chose his middle name after my dad; my son has my dad's middle name. So now (if you didn't know) I am pregnant with our second child, and we have to select names again. We have two girl names in mind, but are having trouble with a boy name. My husband has a couple of ideas on boy names, but I'm not sure I like them. You are welcome to leave suggestions in the comments. We don't like "popular" names; we'd like him not to have the same name as several others in his class (or our town). It needs to be slightly unusual, but not extra weird if you know what I mean. One name my husband likes is Experience, which is the name of one of his ancestors. I don't like it, so there's very little chance our child will have that name. When I was pregnant with Kirk, he liked to tell people we were going to name him Abimelech, which means "my father is king".

Of course I and at least my mom and my sister-in-law are hoping we have a girl so then the boy name won't matter. My husband wants another boy, which might be easier as we already have boy clothes and toys. I think my two nieces (one almost 9 months old and one going to be born in September) need a girl cousin to play with. My closest girl cousin in age was over 3 years younger than me, which is not a big deal now, but when you're growing up it seems bigger. 

In certain cultures, they use naming patterns. For instance I learned in Germany they often use the same first name and then go by their middle name or one of their middle names. I have found several Johanns (Johns) in my family tree. Sometimes a child is named after a relative. Often they name the first son after the paternal grandfather, the second son after the maternal grandfather, the third after the father, etc. That makes for confusing family trees. Also I learned just because he is John Jr. does not mean he is the son of John Sr. He may be the younger John in the family. 

Hopefully you learned something from this post or it at least got you to thinking of your names. 

Ways I Use One of My Favorite Sites, Findagrave

10 WAYS I USE ONE OF MY FAVORITE SITES, FINDAGRAVE

Findagrave.com is one of my favorite genealogy web sites; it probably is the one I use the most. I am by no means an expert, but having been a member for almost 10 years I have explored it quite a bit. 

1. Check Findagrave before going to a cemetery anywhere for requests. I am a photo volunteer; I take photos anywhere in my county and sometimes a bit beyond. However even when travelling, if I go to a cemetery, I check Findagrave before I go for photo requests. I have fulfilled requests all over Nebraska. I have been known to spontaneously stop at a cemetery and check the requests on my phone.

2. Virtual Cemeteries: I use virtual cemeteries to split up my families. I have one for my dad's line (Jorgensen), one for my mom's line (Seggerman), one for my husband's dad's line (Sparrow), one for my husband's mom's line (Patterson), one for my step-mother-in-law's family, one for one of my uncle's family. I may use more. You can put anyone's memorial into these and divide however you like: by family, by location, by military service, etc.

3. Transcribing cemeteries: I am working on photographing ALL the cemeteries in my county and putting them on Findagrave. Currently I have about 5 done. I started this 3 years ago when my son was little in an effort to lose weight. Well it's been fun, but the weight hasn't gone anywhere. You can put your info into an Excel template and then submit it, or you can submit one-by-one. I don't like to duplicate memorials that are already there, so I go one-by-one. A bit more time consuming, but worth it I think. I also periodically download my transcriptions to a tab-delimited (Excel) file. Under your contributor tools, you can download data from any cemetery saved as "My Cemeteries" or any Virtual Cemetery to a tab-delimited file which then you can open in Excel (or some other spreadsheet or possibly database).

4. Request photos: I live in the middle of the USA and rarely (if ever) get to either coast. Therefore I make photo requests for relatives so someone closer might fulfill them. Gravestones can have valuable info on them besides DOB (birth date) and DOD (death date). Some have place of birth, relationship to others, military service, time of immigration, etc. If I don't have (or don't think I have) a photo, I try to request it right away while I am on that memorial; otherwise I may forget. Also if another person has already requested one, you cannot also request so you may want to review all your memorials periodically in those cases. I wish there was a way you could request it too, so Findagrave would also notify you and the original requester. Maybe if they read this, they will. (Hahaha)

5. Obituaries from newspapers you receive or peruse online: Usually by the time I get to checking, someone else has already posted the obituaries on a memorial on Findagrave. There are a few of these people who seem to do this VERY quickly. It's still a good idea if you subscribe to a newspaper or read one regularly online to check to see if there is a memorial on Findagrave, and if not, create one and put the obit as the bio. Note: I don't include the survivors listed in the obit on Findagrave for privacy reasons; you can suit yourself. Some people do NOT want their info online, especially if this might include their mother's maiden name, etc which might be used as security questions. NOTE 2: I NEVER EVER use mother's maiden name as a security question and would advise that to everyone else.

6. Famous people: When visiting a cemetery, I also click on the famous people to see if their gravestone photo has been added. If not, I go look for it. I have added gravestone photos for 3 "famous people" that I can remember, and possibly more. There are many things you can do under the Famous Grave section on Findagrave's homepage. You can search born on this date, died on this date, interesting monuments, interesting epitaphs, etc. I have seen the one interesting monument in Nebraska in person, and it is deservedly in that category.

7. Suggest a correction: If you have more info on a person or want it transferred to you, I suggest using this feature. I (personally) have over 5000 memorials so I don't remember them all, and I am NOT related to them all. (See above about transcribing cemeteries.) I am not in the top contributors, so there are people with more than that. Findagrave's policy is that a relative have a memorial if possible, however do not go into great discussion with your 4th cousin whether you should have it or they should. Then use the Virtual Cemetery feature and let by-gones be by-gones. However if the memorial is your parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent then you or a close relative should have the memorial. I am happy to transfer to a relative or add info. When I request I usually say, please consider transferring if this is not a relative and then I state my relationship to the person. Most are considerate about transferring.

8. Virtual Flowers: I don't leave many virtual flowers and usually just on my family, but this is a nice feature by which one can remember a lost loved one. Some people "randomly" leave virtual flowers on many memorials, which somewhat annoys me, as if they leave one on mine, sometimes I check later to see if that's a relative that I need to offer to transfer the memorial.

9. Link relationships: I love this feature and love when they added it. I remember the older days of Findagrave it wasn't there. This is great when tracing a family. If you know a person's parents or children, try to link them with the link relationship option. Sometimes I will be tracing a family and when those links are there, I can get 3-4 more generations back. If I am not sure, I don't add the relationship. Most times when two people are listed on a gravestone and one is/looks male and one is/looks female, they were probably married. However as soon as I "guess" on that relationship, I will probably guess it wrong, so I just don't connect them. If someone who knows the family or has the info via an obit or other source contacts me via the suggest correction, I am happy to add those relationships.

10. Questions?? I am by no means a Findagrave expert but I have been a member for nearly 10 years, about as long as I've been doing genealogy. If you have questions, first I recommend checking the FAQ (frequently asked questions), then contacting Findagrave by email.

Hope you enjoyed this and that it may have helped you in some way.

Review of NSGS May 2011

May 15, 2011
Should probably have posted this last week, but I just didn't get around to it.

Last weekend I went to Nebraska State Genealogical Society (NSGS) annual meeting and conference in Nebraska City so I thought I would summarize my weekend.
I arrived in the nick of time on Friday morning as I rushed out of my house that morning to give last minute instructions to my babysitter (my mom/his grandma). They were just beginning the conference.

First up was a welcome and we had a short history of the remarkable building, the Methodist Church in Nebraska City, which is the oldest Methodist church in the state. Then they introduced the main speaker, Gail Blankenau and she began speaking on German parish records. Almost every attendee had German ancestors so this was very pertinent. I learned a few German words and more about how to research my German line, and a few good web sites. Next was a break for wonderful treats and to visit the (5) vendors! Okay maybe it was a few more than five, but there weren't many. Then we had an overview of what's available at the Nebraska State Historical Society Library in Lincoln. Check out their web site www.nebraskahistory.org to check out databases and records. Then we had a wonderful lunch, and a few awards were presented.

After lunch, we tried to Keep Up with the Jones....and Smiths...and..... We learned techniques for researching common names. Two useful tips were researching the WHOLE family and remember LOCATION! Much easier to research a Rufus Smith than a John Smith! Last on Friday, we were graced by the presence of Barbara (Kagi) Mayhew, an early settler of Nebraska City. That was quite informative and interesting, but probably not of interest to anyone reading this. We were done by 3:30-ish. Many of us went to check in, and a few went shopping. Later than evening at 6 pm we took a tour of Wyuka Cemetery in Nebraska City, the oldest cemetery in Nebraska. Prior to the tour I spent about an hour walking around the cemetery, taking photos. The tour was very interesting and my favorite part of the weekend. At 7:30 pm I was ready to leave the cemetery and get some supper and rest.

Saturday Gail spoke 3 times on Using Land Records, Rich Resources for Poor Ancestors and Dating and Identifying your 19th century photos. We also had Dean Podoll speak about Notable Nebraskans During the Civil War. Gail remarked how land records have helped her when many other records give dead ends.

It was good to talk and socialize with others who enjoy the same thing I do. I learned a lot and had a good time. This would be a long post if I summarized everything I learned. Now I am excited to get back and research and try to identify some old photos. Next year we will be in Grand Island May 2012.

The most interesting gravestone in Wyuka Cemetery, Nebr City
(It is correct in my files but gets rotated when I upload to my blog.)

Saturday (Night) Genealogy Fun

It's not quite "night" where I am yet, but I am doing this Saturday "Night" Fun by Randy Seaver (geneamusings.com)

1)  Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.

2)  Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.

3)  Tell us how many surnames are in your database and, if possible, which Surname has the most entries.  If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5!  Or 10!

4)  Write about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a status or comment on Facebook.

1-2. I am using The Master Genealogist; I went up to Reports and down to Distribution of people. My trees are also online on Ancestry.com and worldconnect.rootsweb.com so I could try there and see if they have reports.

3.  I have 2 databases/projects: one for me and one for my husband's. There are a few people who overlap in both. I could not find how many surnames are in either database, but I know how many people and how many people with each surname.

MINE (total of 620 people):
1. FOSTER, 51 people, 8.23%
2. JORGENSEN, 40 people, 6.45%
3. REGNIER, 33 people, 5.32%
4. (empty, blank), 31 people
5. FLORA, 22 people
6. HOWLAND, 19 people
7. SEGGERMAN, 18 people
8. ALLISON, 13 people
9. KIRKPATRICK, 13 people

HUSBAND'S (total of 990 people):
1. THOMPSON, 66 people, 6.67%
2. SPARROW, 51 people, 5.15%
3. FORESMAN, 42 people, 4.24%
4. (empty, blank), 25 people
5. SMITH, 25 people
6. PATTERSON, 23 people
7. WHITACRE, 23 people
8. CAPRON, 20 people
9. RAMSEY, 17 people
10. RICHART, 17 people

Interesting that #4 in both is people with no last name. Guess I need to work on finding those out, probably women that I don't know their maiden name. If you recognize these surnames, please contact me if you are interesting in comparing info.

Family Recipe Friday: Chocolate Angel Food Cake

Family Tree Magazine is publishing a book of family recipes with stories. (I can't find it on their web site now so go to this blog site for more info.)
http://networkedblogs.com/goupQ

Here is what I hope to submit for my entry. The photo at the bottom is me, my grandma and my mom at my wedding about 5 years ago. My grandma has since passed away.

Chocolate Angel Food Cake

My grandmother, Pamelia (Regnier) Seggerman, made this recipe and it is legendary in my family. Then my mom learned to make it. Consequently through my family genes, I had to learn how to make it. One week about 8 years ago or so, my cousin from New Mexico visited and she and her dad had THREE chocolate angel food cakes that week made by THREE generations.

My mom's version is a bit different than my grandma's, and I think my mom's is better. Here are both of them:  

CHOCOLATE ANGEL FOOD CAKE

Grandma (Pamelia) Seggerman

3/4 c. cake flour

5 T. cocoa

3/4 c. sugar

1 3/4 c. egg whites, room temperature

1/2 tsp. salt

1  1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sift cocoa, flour and 3/4 cup sugar at least 5 times. (The more you sift, the better the cake.) Beat egg whites and salt till frothy. (Use electric mixer.) Add cream of tartar and beat until egg whites stand in stiff peaks. Add remaining 3/4 cup sugar, a little at a time and fold in after each addition. Add vanilla. Sift flour mixture over top, 2 tablespoons at a time and fold in lightly with rubber spatula. Bake in ungreased tube pan in 325 degree oven for 1 hour. Invert and cool overnight. Frost with Yummy Frosting.

Yummy Frosting:

2 c. sifted powdered sugar

1/2 c. shortening (Crisco is okay)

1 egg

1 1/2 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients together in electric mixer and beat thoroughly until fluffy. Frost cake.

CHOCOLATE ANGEL FOOD CAKE

(My Mom), Betty Jorgensen

3/4 c. cake flour, sifted

1/4 c. cocoa

3/4 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. (12) egg whites

1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 c. sugar

Sift flour with 3/4 cup sugar and cocoa 4 times. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar, salt and vanilla until stiff enough to form soft peaks. Add the remaining 3/4 cup sugar, a little at a time, while still beating until stiff peaks form. By hand, fold in flour mixture (1/4 of the mixture at a time), continually turning bowl and using up and down folding. DON'T STIR. Bake in ungreased 10-inch tube pan in 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Cracks on top of cake should be slightly moist. Invert pan to cool before removing. Frost with Chocolate Satin Frosting. Serves 16 pieces.

Chocolate Satin Frosting:

3 1/2 (1-oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate

3 c. sifted powdered sugar

4 1/2 T. hot water

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 c. soft butter

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Melt chocolate over hot water or in microwave. With mixer, blend in powdered sugar and hot water. Beat in egg, then butter and vanilla. Place bowl in ice water and continue beating until of spreading consistency. Frost top and sides of cake. If there is leftover frosting, use on graham crackers or cookies. Store in refrigerator.