One mystery solved

 As I wrote a couple of blogs ago.  I have 2, apparent, death certificates for one of my ancestors, Minerva Odell, but, on closer inspection I began to think they were death certificates for 2 different people.

Generally, when researching family history, you go backwards looking at each person on a direct ancestral line: maternal or paternal.  After a while, though, you look at family groups, the children of each couple.  After that, you can start to look at the family group for each of those offspring; cousins, etc., and, your family tree grows and grows.  You don't always get to each individual in a family; there isn't always a need nor an interest.

So, as I previously wrote, I had immediately emailed the Meredith town clerk about my mystery and I got a response.  Thanks to Liliane Briscoe, Town Clerk of the Town of Meredith, for solving the mystery.  What she found was that Minerva June Odell, was the daughter of Ancel Odell and Gertrude "Florence" Gransbury.  She was born in 1928 and lived only 3 days; very sad.  Ancel was the grandson of Minerva A. Odell so little Minerva, her name sake, was great granddaughter of Minerva A. Oliver Odell.  2 death certificates for 2 different family members.

There was one other family member that had a baby for which I have no name.

Historic Note:

I decided to include these historic notes, from time to time, because I occasionally read or refer to local history books that have been written about the geographic areas where my family branches lived.  These local histories are usually written by people living in the area who have talked to people about their memories and who often have access to local documents.  Many history books cover major historical events that affected the country's economic and political landscape with little attention to how those events affected local towns and individuals at the time.  Local histories are, generally, just the opposite; they begin with local historic events and have details often missed in more general writings.

I often run across interesting things in these books that relate to towns and people I'm familiar with that I think might be of interest to other family members and others researching in the same geographical area.

Because of copyright restrictions, I can only include small quotations but, hopefully, if you're interested, you can get a copy of the book quoted and read more. Brackets [] are usually mine, for clarification.

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    "...Less than 200 miles south of the Mohawk lies the Minisink Valley and the Wyoming Valley, both of which have also received much historical recognition for the battles which transpired there.

    The territory between the two, though less familiar, is of no less importance in the total picture of the border wars of the American Revolution in New York State.  The same brutal fighting that characterized the two places also erupted in the area between, in the midst of which was the former trading center and missionary outpost called Onaquaga [Oquaga].... 

    ...The name Onaquaga was also used for an are[a] of the river valley, an expanse of perhaps twenty miles running in a north-south direction, as well as the village itself.

    ...Its exact location is 1 1/2 miles north of present Windsor.

    ...This important carrying place went to Cookhouse, now Deposit, on the Delaware River, a favorite haunt of Indians and fur traders.... Cookhouse, or Cookose, meant "Owl's Nest" or "Place of Owls", and then contained "Two Huts of Delaware Indians...

    ...Heading up river from Onaquaga, at the junction of the Susquehanna and the Unadilla Rivers, was the white settlement of Old Unadilla or Johnstone Settlement, present day Sidney.  This village, like Onaquaga, also became a prominent base of operations for the Tories and Indians...."

from Onaquage: Hub of the Borders Wars by Marjory Barnum Hinman, self published, 1975.

Joseph Brant set up operations there.  It was a very interesting area.

News

I continue to work on the family tree at WikiTree.  I joined a couple of projects there and I think I need to back out of one because I don't have access to records outside the U. S.  And, I think I've taken on more than I can do.

I continue to digitized documents which has been helpful in taking another, closer look at them and finding more information, or, more questions.

Once you get bitten by the family history bug, it's an endless process; I'll never be finished.

I'm at brick walls just about on every branch.

I'm about to send out 2 new documents requests.  It's always interesting to see what comes back.

Names

 Once you've been researching your family history for a while, you begin to notice the names, mostly surnames, but also unusual or antiquated names. I know that both surnames and given names usually, or originally, have a meaning; they're not just letters thrown together that, when spoken make a sound.  So, for instance:

The name Rufus is, from Latin, means red-head.

Girls can be named for flowers: Daisy, Iris, Rose, Laura (for Laurel).

Given names differ in various cultures and their origins can be specific to a particular culture or language, but, sometimes a given name has an equivalent meaning in a different language.  So, for instance:

James, in English, means supplanter or he who replaces; in Spanish, Diego; in Italian, Giacomo; in French, Jacques; in German, Jakob; in Dutch, Jacob.

Put your given name in any browser followed by name meaning and you'll find what your name means, unless, of course, it's just a modern contrivance and there appear to be those.

I find the meaning of my given name to be highly contrived while I understand how it's meaning was derived; but I think it's stretching it.  My father says I was not named for the nickname of his military unit, 79th Infantry Division (Cross of Lorraine) but the origin actually remains the same. So:

Lorraine is derived from the French region of Lorraine, in German Lothringen.  The name comes from the medieval kingdom of Lotharingia which was named for either Emperor Lothair I or King Lothair II -- Wikipedia.  Because either or both of the Lothairs were considered warlike, the name Lorraine is now given the meaning of warrior.  

How and why people are given specific names can be interesting, although it can just be random, as well.  

There are several Kings in my Odell/Oliver family branch; not as first names but as middle names.  Middle names are often, noticeably, the maiden name of the mother.  I have found no King family related to my Odell family, so far.  There were Kings living nearby.  I have a Joseph King Odell; a Wesley King Oliver and my father's given name, Leroy, is derived from French, le roi, for king.  Just an interesting naming pattern in one family.

Nicknames can also be interesting.  In my family tree I have at least 2 people nicknamed Dutch; one nicknamed Dude; one nicknamed Bus.  Nicknames are usually shortened forms of their full given name like Rob for Robert, Joe for Joseph, etc.  Sometimes someone prefers their middle name to their first name and that's what they're called, to the point that, sometimes, there are arguments, much later, after their deaths, about what their real given name was.  So, Thomas James became James and I still have to correct people who insist that his name was James.  William Marcus became Marcus.

The most interesting given name I've found is Permelia.  I really disliked the name when I first saw it but it's beginning to grow in me.  It was used in colonial and 19th century America then seemed to die out.  It is Latin for "by sweetness", so it's actually a sweet name.  It is not related to the name Pamela.

Surnames are just as interesting as given names.  Surnames can be derived from the given name of an ancestor, from an occupation, from a geographic location.

Cartright - cart maker

Schoonmaker - literally, clean maker; cleaner

Sawyer - sawyer

Odell - possibly, depending on origin, from Dell

Mac whatever - son of

Our Beismer surname, the name of my maternal grandfather and his father, began, apparently with that generation; my great grandfather's father's surname was Beesimer.  Or was it? There are, reportedly, between 42 and 52 variant spellings for the surname alone.  I personally have recorded more than 24 spellings.  Our surname is pronounced either Beez mer or Beez e mer.  I was told by someone at a genealogy conference that, if pronounced as we pronounce it:  Beezmer, it means beekeeper, but, if pronounced Bayzmer, it means broommaker.  I don't know.

And, that brings up spelling in general. We have only recently, maybe in the past hundred years, developed English spelling rules (more or less).  Many of my ancestors in the past hundred years had little education and could barely read or write.  In addition, ALL of the "official" records that define our ancestors' life and history were filled in by other people: census records, birth, marriage and death records, etc.  Unless we have an actual signature of an ancestor, we have no idea how they wrote their name; how they identified themselves.  Within our family, as mentioned, the Beismer spelling began only 2 generations before mine and continues forward.  

The pattern of name usage within families can be interesting.  Our Beismer surname seems to have begun in Sullivan County, NY.  There are other variants there.  Some of them seem to have origins in Ulster County; Sullivan County in part formed form Ulster County.  The farther out from where our immediately family began, the more variant spellings there seem to be.  Since I don't have a European origin yet, I don't know what the spellings might have been outside the U.S.

The study of proper names is Onomastics; origin, history, meaning, use.

Anthroponymy is the study of personal names; Greek for "human name".

Toponymy is the study of place names.

People like: Cher, Prince, Cleopatra, Thayendanegea are mononymous people, having one name; although they usually had regular given and surnames; not sure about Cleopatra.  Some, like Thayendanegea later took Anglicized names, Joseph Brant.

There are entire societies and organizations formed around studying names:  American Name Society; International Council of Onomastic Sciences.

One-Name Studies are projects that are researching the origins and history of specific surnames.  I'm stupidly considering beginning 3 such projects for surnames in my tree that are problematic either because of the number of variant spellings or because the name appears so infrequently that it's difficult to fine:  Beismer, Platner, Wormuth. I'll keep you posted if I actually decide to do such a study.  There's even a Guild of One-Name Studies to join.

So, what's in a name.  Lots.

Having fun

Historical Note: 

"There were many Munsee villages, each with a population of a few hundred people, located along streams and in places where brooks flowed into the Hudson, and on bays and harbors. The communities of the Esopus and Warranawankong stretched from the Catskills to the Highlands of the Hudson, while along Haverstraw Bay were those of the Haverstraw. From Nyack south to the Atlantic Highlands and the Raritan were the Tappan, Hackensack, Navasink and Raritan, who were also called Sanhican. To the south and west in New Jersey were the Aquackanonk, around Paterson, the Pompton along the Passaic, and Whippany and Muscenetcong further south. To the east of the Hudson were the Wappinger, Kitchawanc, Siwanoy, Wiechquaeskeck, and Rechgawawank, whom the Dutch called Manhate. On Long Island were Canarsie, Rechowack or Rockaway, Massapequa, and Matinecock. Other Munsee bands lived in Orange County, north-western New Jersey, and along the upper Delaware River in New York and Pennsylvania. In colonial times their principal village was on and near Minnisink Island in the Delaware just below Port Jervis. While over the years these have been called separate tribes, all were Munsee-speaking and Munsee-related peoples. The name Munsee is primarily linguistic and its literal meaning is "person from Minnisink"." -- from Indians of the Lower Hudson Region: The Munsee, by Julian Harris Salomon, Historical Society of Rockland, County, New City, NY, 1982, pp. 14-15. 

News: 

    I recently rejoined WikiTree. I hadn't even visited the site for a long, long time. When I rejoined most of my family profiles were still there but orphaned so I adopted them back. And, there were a couple of glitches that the volunteer staff there fixed for me. 

    Despite my reservations for posting family trees online, I highly recommend WikiTree. It's free -- completely. I still have my reservations. While there are privacy settings, it's still possible for the information to be collected and used and sold by others. 

    Still, I've already "met" a couple of previously unknown actual relatives there. 

    The standards for profiles, if I try to meet them, is making me more organized and meticulous in my research and recording keeping. 

    There are some really nice features like combining the output from several DNA testing sites and matching to members; like being able to collaborate with other researchers of your family; like being able to add tags and categories to your ancestors' profiles so other people searching in geographic areas or for Civil War veterans, for example, or in cemeteries, will find your ancestor. 

    I'm having a lot of fun trying to get my ancestors' profile just right and all the best information and sources added. In trying to do so, I've been digitizing my documents and will get back to doing the same with my photographs. I've also come up with some, hopefully, more useful revisions to a variety of indices I need to keep myself organized and to find things again. Keeping up with and organizing correspondence has always been difficult for me, partly because I'm researching ALL my family lines, but also because, despite being a librarian, I'm not a very organized person by nature. Slowing down to make a record of what I've done and how to find it again, is just not in my nature -- but I can do it; and I need to do it. 

Visit WikiTree and search for your ancestors. See what's there. 

A New Mystery: 

    Discovered while digitizing documents and entering data in WikiTree.

    Minerva A. Odell, formerly Oliver, was one of my paternal great great grandmothers.

Pretty, huh? I don't know how young she was in this photo. 

    I have her death certificate, 2 copies actually, and was in the process of digitizing and indexing it when I discovered something. I'm not sure if my 2 copies are 2 copies or 2 separate death certificates of 2 different people. 

    The copy that I know is for my grandmother (it's just easier at some point to call all my various degrees of grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. a shortened version of the title, in this case, grandmother) has her name, dates, husband, parents, undertaker, place of burial and name of family informant. All of which are familiar. 

    This document is a transcription signed by the registrar of Meridale, NY. Many, maybe most "official" vital records that you receive from town, county and state offices are transcriptions because many, maybe most "official" records are in thick bound books that are very difficult to copy and there is, of course, huge resistance to dismantling those books in order to digitize or photocopy the records. 

    he problem with transcriptions (as well as the original, actually) is human error. Transcriptions are usually supplied on a pre-printed form that may change over the years. Recent transcriptions I've paid for have caused me to call whichever official to ask if there is any additional information on the original that is not on the transcription. In many cases, there has been. In this case, everything looks fine. 

    The other "copy" is also a transcription, signed by a deputy registrar of the Town of Meredith.

NOTE: Meridale is a small village in the Town of Meredith. Some villages have their own village clerk, some have not, in which case the records are kept in the Town. 

    This 2nd "copy" is on a green safety paper form supplied by the State of NY, with a small box of information: some official numbers, name, date of death, date of filing, place of death, official town or village. That's it. Sometimes, the local official completing the form will add more information to the side of the form's boxes. 

NOTE: When I started all this research over 40 years ago, copies of "official" birth, marriage and death records cost about $5, depending on where you requested them. They are now, "officially", $22 dollars -- for a photocopy or a transcription. Some local village and town clerks are more reasonable and send them out for $10. Documents, of various kinds, from historical societies, etc., from the DAR, from the National Archives, range from that $10 up to more than the NYS cost of $22. The costs for National Archives documents depend on the size of the file you request but I've never found it to be any more than NYS's price. 

    In any case, this 2nd "copy" has the name Minerva JUNE O'Dell, not Minerva A., which is what her name is everywhere else - so far. It also has a different death date; almost 2 years before the document that I know is for my grandmother. 

    So what's up? I have no idea. 

    I've already emailed the Town Clerk of Meredith (the village and the town are now one, administratively). I supplied a lot of information from the documents. It will be interesting to see what I get in response. 

    I also did a little online searching to see if I might find a Minerva June O'Dell living in Meredith, the same time as my gg grandmother, Minerva. I did not. I don't know the age of Minerva June at death. Could she have been a child? I have no record of my relatives having another child. 

    While writing this, something else occurred to me and I checked, quickly, through the families of the children of my gg grandmother, Minerva, and I have found 2 possible children that it might be but very little information about either.  I'll wait and see. 

So, that's it this time. 

Wear a mask. Get the shots. Let's do all we can to nip this virus in the bud and get back our lives.