Invitation

 I invite everyone related to me to visit my WikiTree family tree https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/O'Dell-121#Ancestors and find the branch  that they're related to and leave comments and add more branches and profiles.  

I'm currently working on my Wormuth branch fleshing out profiles on branches that are not my direct branch.  I'm aiming to fill in the basics of each individual already there and to find their children and bring those branches forward to identify living relatives whose profiles their family members can add to.

I'm from Joseph's branch and I'm intending to fill in the branches of his siblings and bring those branches forward so living relatives can contribute.  Right now, I'm working on Joseph's brother, John's, branch and Alfred Wormuth's family.  

The thing that's most frustrating about the Wormuth branches is that there are so many given names that are repeated.  I don't know how many Peter Wormuths we've identified so far but many of the names are repeated.  It's probably the same in other families.  Les Wormuth has been working with me to try to connect our Wormuth branch to the branch in Montgomery County or get further back than the Peter Wormuth who was in Montgomery County.  We think we're almost there.  But, there's the prominent Peter Wormuth/Wormwood in Montgomery County and there's our Peter Wormuth who lived in Callicoon.  He had a son, Peter, Jr. and his son, Stephen, had a son, Peter; that's 4 right there.

So, visit my tree @ WikiTree and add your family, if you can and leave a comment.

            

Ancestral Profile

Ruth Ann Butler was my Second Great Grand Aunt, daughter of Barney Butler and Hannah Chase Butler, sister of William Butler, my Great Great Grandfather, namesake of my Great Grandmother, Ruth Ann Butler Mattice. She was born, probably in Roxbury, Delaware County, New York in about 1833.

She's an example of a large number of ancestors for whom there is little information.  She was born way before vital records had begun to be officially kept.  And, in the rural parts of the country, even then many births were not always registered.

The only documents I have of her life are census records.  The first time that the names of all family members were enumerated on the U.S. census was in 1850, so the first record of Ruth Ann's existence is on the 1850 U.S. Census in Roxbury, New York and she was already 17 years old.  She also appears, with her parents and siblings, on the 1855 New York State Census and the 1860 U.S. Census, still in Roxbury.  In 1860, she was 27. I have found no record of her after that.

This is not unusual, not just for my family branches, but for thousands of families.  Think about it; you're born, you live and you die and, except for a handful of family members, there is no record of your life.  It's one of the reasons I do this; to record all of these people who I'm related to.

In order to write this post about Aunt Ruth Ann, I've done some recent research.  Whether she died shortly after the 1860 Census or got married, I've found no record, yet.  My research always includes searching online family trees, official records, old newspaper sites and various other genealogical sites.  So far, I've found nothing.  Had she married and had children, there may have been mention of her in a variety of records; but I've found none, so far.  This is one of the frustrations of family history.  She existed; there are a few census records, but nothing else has been found.  

I revisit these ancestors from time to time because you never know where you'll find some little bit of family information, but I'm researching ALL my family branches and each individual so revisiting specific individuals who have little documentation is rare.

And, it's sad that someone in the family lived and died and we know little about her:  Ruth Ann Butler was probably born in Roxbury. She was last seen, age 27, in Roxbury.  She was my Great Great Grand Aunt on my father's side.

That's it for now.

                                     

Catching Up

News:

I haven't been working on family history lately.  The truth is I'm addicted to video games on my phone.  It's too easy to get caught up.  In any case, I'm trying to get back to it.  I posted some family photos in family tree order a couple of days ago and it gave me the idea to include profiles of individual family members and ancestors with photos here in this blog.  In some cases, I have photos of ancestors from when they were children throughout their lives.  You can also see my family tree and profiles of individuals at WikiTree.  

Profile:

William Joseph Odell was my paternal grandfather.  

He was the son of George Odell and Fannie Flowers born in Delhi, New York, January 5, 1900.  His mother died when he was about 7 months old and he was raised much of the time by his grandparents:  Joseph and Minerva.  His father, George, married Ella Zurner about 2 years after William's mother passed.  

William lied about his age and joined the Army when he was 17 and was part of the U.S. Army control of the Panama Canal during its construction.  I think this is the earliest photo of I have of my grandfather; he was with his pet monkey at the Canal Zone.

This might be a younger photo of him but it looks like he might have been in uniform:

Grandma said they met at a barn dance in Gilboa.  They married in April 1921 in Roxbury.  

I don't know a lot of their history after that.  They had seven children together.  They lived a frugal life.

I learned that Grandpa had worked as a foreman for the NYS Highway Department in highway maintenance.  This photo is from his driver's license:

Later he owned a billiards and card hall in Delhi.  That was around the time I saw him the most often.  My father told me that Grandpa had played against Willie Hoppe in one of his exposition tournaments.  They both favored a particular form of billiards, apparently.  Grandpa lost, of course.  I'd hoped that I could find a newspaper record of the match but I haven't, so far.

Grandpa made a point of keeping up with most of the family.  He had a couple of great aunts who lived nearby, including our black blood relatives, the DeWitts.  Grandma said he checked in with relatives regularly.

I regret that I didn't have more time to get to know Grandpa; I was 12 when he died.  I know he could have told me a lot about our family.

That's it for now.

                                     

News

 I think I'll occasionally use this News feature to make diary-like posts on what I'm working on.  This will be the first of this type of post.  So:

This morning, I posted a couple of photos to Dead Fred.  If you're not familiar with this site, it's a lot of fun browsing through the name index to see if there are any photos of people you know.  I added an unknown photo that I particular like and one of a couple I'm very familiar with.

This morning, I also looked through family tree @ Ancestry to see if anyone has posted photos related to Henry Flower, my great great grandfather and his immediate family:

Henry Flower, 1842-1923

married to

Martha Hayden, 1857-1919

children:

Nellie Flowers, 1874-1951, married to Albert Sager, 1873-?.

Mary Flower, 1876-?, married ?

Fanny May Flowers, 1881-1900, married George Odell, 1879-1918.

I found one obit for Henry Flower that I hadn't seen before.  

I left several messages for family tree owners to let them know about the Flower/Flowers One Name Study and the blog.  

The day before, I emailed the Town Clerk of Rockland, Sullivan County, NY, to let her know about the One Place Study of Rockland and the blog and to ask that she spread it around.  You can only ask.

Les Wormuth and I are planning a trek into Montgomery County to do some research at a couple of collections.  The "other" Wormuth family was there.  Our Peter may have been born there.  We'll see what we can find.  I have a lot of prep work to do before we go up there; it's quite a drive for me.

That's it for now.  Does anybody read this?  Please leave a comment.  Thank you.

New Feature/New Page

I'm adding a new feature and a new page/tab to this blog.  I will also, eventually add it to my other blogs.  You can see the link to the new page at the top of the page menu, next to last item.

I'm currently taking medication that is causing symptoms that makes it difficult to travel any distance or any length of time because access to a public bathroom is necessary.

So, not easily discouraged, I've decided to identify public bathrooms in my area of research.

My area of research is most of New York State, parts of eastern and northern Pennsylvania and very northwestern New Jersey.

The information about bathrooms I'm familiar with appear on a page with D for definite and P for potential after the name and address.  The Ps are those I assume would be available but I haven't verified that they are.  These will, hopefully, change as I verify their availability.

It may seem odd, weird or silly but age and other causes make access to public bathrooms a necessity for some of us to be able to travel.

A woman's concern

 For some time I've had the inkling that many of my female ancestors had been baby-makers whether coincidentally or of their own choice.  As a single mother of a single child, I have my opinions about childbearing and the status of women.  I also have strong opinions about population numbers. I knew that many of my ancestors had many children.  I also knew that at least one of my ancestors died very shortly after her last baby was born.  I knew that one of my grandmothers had her last baby quite late in her life.

We now know that childbearing include risks to the mother, if not the fetus, that increase as the age of the mother increases although women still have babies into their late 30s and early 40s.  I was curious about the age of my female ancestors when they had their last baby.  This is what I found:

This is, of course, not all my female ancestors but those I was able to collect these facts.

Thinking about the various aspects of these facts can be interesting:  the time period of the last births, the ages of the mothers, the number of children these women had, how the age of the mothers might have affected their children.

My grandmother, Ida Mattice O'Dell, told me that her doctors didn't think she could carry a pregnancy to term because she was small, 4' 11", yet she had 7 children and didn't seem to feel that giving birth was difficult.

Note that Mary Hendrickson Hulse died shortly after giving birth to her last child; generally thought to have died in childbirth.

Note that Anna Hendrickson was 54 when she had her last child.  I can't imagine.

Note also that Mary Hogancamp Vandermark gave birth to 16 children.  I can't imagine.

The lives of many of our ancestors was quite different from ours and not that long ago.

This was an interesting exercise. 

The Status of the One Name Studies and the One Place Study - A Report

I'm either a member or coordinator of the following One Name Studies and One Place Study:

The Beismer Name Study and @ WikiTree

The Wormuth Name Study and @ WikiTree

The Swartwout Name Study and @ WikiTree

The Flower/Flowers Name Study and @ WikiTree

 The Butler Name Study @ WikiTree - There's a wealth of information there that I haven't begun to look at.

and

The Rockland, NY (Sullivan County) Place Study and @ WikiTree

Over the past few months, for various reasons, I haven't been working much on any aspect of my family history research, including these projects.

I'm the only member of the Beismer and Wormuth ONSs so work on both will be slow unless and until there are other researchers.  I was able to finally find the origins of my particular branch of those families which I attribute to the process of a One Name Study.  Still there is much to to in all these projects.

In addition, there is just the constant addition of family members, relatives, ancestors to my family tree, corrections and improvements to the profiles.  I love it.  It's what I wanted and planned to do in retirement; it's a very good way to spend my time.

Please comment when you read this post so I know if people are interesting and better, what you're interested in.  Thank you.

My Family History Research Resolutions for 2025

 1. There are quite a brick walls in my family tree; people where I’m stuck and can’t find much information and can’t get back to the previous generation.  I certainly can’t get past all of them but there are a few that have blocked me for a long time.  I will be working on those this year:

Harriet Barecolt Wormuth; Eleanor Debeck Wormuth; Joseph Odell; Ezra Oliver; and Catherine M. Odell.

2. WikiTree has standards.  When you create a profile there, the web site lets you know if you’ve made a mistake.  It also creates a list of “suggestions” that let you know that something in a profile is not quite up to standards.  These can be as simple as mis-formatting something to something serious, like entering a “unique” name, meaning that name is nowhere else in the database, like Barecolt.  The suggestions can sit there, you can try to fix them or someone else might fix one.  Once you’ve made a correction, you indicate that and it’s reviewed and either disappears, is altered, or remains until it’s fixed.  I will be working on as suggestions regularly this year.

3. That brings me to workload.  Family history is work and I had planned for it to be that before I retired.  It hasn’t quite worked out that way but, this year, I will create a schedule for regular research activities so I can get a little done on most of my projects throughout the year.

4. The schedule:  

• I have a lot of family photos, they’re mostly all over the place.  I need to scan and organize them I will try to scan at least 5 photos a day.

• Review all of my WikiTree profiles to be sure that I have at least birth, marriage and death information; parents; and children; and that my profiles each conform to a style that I have developed.

• Further define my research schedule with daily, weekly and monthly tasks.

That’s it.  It’s a lot but it’s mostly trying to be organized and routine so things get done and I know what’s been done and what still has to be done.

Wish me luck.

                                         

Happy 2025

This will be a post filled with opinions.

I'm at an age and, this past year, I've face a serious medical issue, both of which have caused me to look at my priorities and where I should focus my attention and activities.

Family history is one of my priorities.  My next post will be resolutions I am formulating to coordinate everything I'd like to accomplish in the coming year.  For now, in this post, I have some thoughts about family history, local history and the organizations involved.

Support Local History:  You can do that just by visiting your local historical society, if there is one.  Local historical and genealogical societies operate mostly with volunteers.  Volunteer, if you find something interesting.  Donate.  It doesn't have to be just money.  May you had an ancestor who was a local official or teacher or who participated in some local historical event or started a local business that was important in the community.  Maybe you have paraphernalia that you no longer want to store and can donate it to your historical society.  Do some family history; make some charts, copy some family photos and donate them to local organizations.

If you are a local historical or genealogical society, be separate from the official municipal operation.  While towns should support the local historical and genealogical organizations in various ways, they can be controlling and stifle the activities of those organizations.

If you are a town official, support local history and genealogical by naming a town historian; through a process of working with local organizations who will know best who that should be; it's NOT about politics.  A town can provide a space for a museum or historical society; even if it's a shared space.  A town an add a link to local organizations on their web sites.  Towns can be supportive by not dictating the activities of local organizations.

If your are a local library, collect information and published histories and genealogies of your community.  If you have meeting space, you can provide it, even part time, to local organizations.

Local history and genealogy belong to the citizens and residents of the local community; not to officials.

Local history and genealogy can provide details of larger historical events that make history, in general, more interesting and provides connection to our larger shared history.

Some historical societies become snooty, elitist.  It's a mistake.  Local history is not just about officials and the wealthy, it's about people, all people who had and have lived in the community.  Local history should celebrate the people of the community and the changes in the community over time.

Next time:  my resolutions and family history goals for this year; what I want to accomplish.  Still working on the list....

 

New Resource

 Today, I was lead to a new resource that should keep me busy for a long, long time.

Ancestor Hunt is a free web site that provides links to a variety of resources and records important for family history research.  Some are better than others.  I just spend about an hour looking through quite a few church records and found a few things.

I recommend taking a look at the web site to see if there's anything there for you.

That's it; just a quick note to let you know about this resource.

Enjoy!!

-

                            

Ebay and family history

Ebay can be a source of interesting family history treasurees.  Think about it.

There are bibles, photos, postcards and a variety of paaphernalia.

I last bought the following from a book on the history of Onondaga County:

I'm conducting a One-Name Study on the Wormuth family, with variant spellings.  I don't know if I will find a family connection or not but it will illustrate and enhance the Study's blog.

I've found photos and various things that provide tiny clues for various branches of my family tree.

I bought this wonderful photo years ago:

Amanda Mattice

She's not a relative but I rescued her photo and will send it to anyone who is related to her.  I did the same with this photo and this is actually my Great Great Grandmother, Mary Jane Hogancamp.

So, if you like collect things, and you're interested in family history, you can sometimes find things on Ebay to satisfy both interests.

Have a good day.

                      

Long time -- But I'm not finished

I can't believe it's been so long since I wrote a post to this blog.

But I've been busy; getting poked and prodded, examined, x-rayed, biopsied, cut and irradiated.  The worst is over; I'm in remission and feel fine.  The second round of treatment begins shortly for a prolonged period to try to prevent the cancer from returning.

I'll see.

I've been working on the family histories, on and off, the whole time.  Now I'm trying to get my focus back and put in a regular schedule with blogs as something interesting turns up.

There are several One-Name Studies going and a One-Place Study.

This is going to be a quick note just to let people know I'm still at it.  There are lots of branches on my tree and I'm related to all of them so they all get attention from time to time.  

Definitely visit my WikiTree tree where a lot of the activity takes place.

See the side menu for links.  Thanks for visiting; leave a comment.

Latest Trek

             

 After months of crazy weather and other distractions, I finally drove up to visit my cousin, Michele.

The plan was to make a couple of stops along the way to get a couple of family history research things done.

I had stumbled onto a Findagrave memorial that I hadn't seen before and a cemetery I had never heard of:  The Old Liberty Cemetery, also called Liberty Soldiers Cemetery, maybe.  The graves identified are  of some of my Odell ancestors, particularly Joseph Odell.  Joseph is the furthest back ancestor I've found in that branch.

I wasn't sure what the weather would be.  I wasn't sure if I would want to walk around in a wet cemetery so the cemetery stop was iffy.

The other quest for this trip was to see the actual death record for Joseph Wormuth.  I have a transcription of it but, as many of you know, the name of his mother, Harriet Barecolt, is problematic.  That surname can't be found -- anywhere.  I'm guessing that, since the majority of people, of that era, could neither read nor write, and their names were written by people who could, the name was written as it was heard.  

I could be wrong but, no, I do not believe it's a Native American name.  I believe it's most likely a German name like Burkholtz or Baraclough or Berkholdt or something very similar; there are way too many possibilities to spend time trying to figure that out.  

However, I had hoped that, because what I have is a transcription, if I could see the original, which would, undoubtedly, be hand-written, I might have a different idea of what the actual surname was.

There it is, clear as day.  There's nothing to figure out.  It's still not a surname that can be researched.  It had to be something else.  But, now we know that's how it was written in the actual record.  BTW, Joseph is recorded to have been born in PA.

I decided to stop at the Liberty cemetery on the way home, if I felt like it.  I did.  The old section of the cemetery had not been mowed in a while and the grass was still wet.  Headstones were over-turned everywhere.  It's a mess.  You can't really fault anybody; cemeteries are a lot of work and don't have very good budgets.  I didn't find the graves.  I was actually a little worried about ticks, etc. so I left and came home.  

I did discover a blog about the cemetery and sent an email.  The blog posts are old so I don't know yet if the group is still functioning.  I hope so.

I'm hoping to drive up again in a couple of weeks.  This is the season to do get in-person research done.  I will get in touch with whoever takes care of the cemetery in Liberty and see if they have a map so I don't have to spend too much time trying to find the graves.

I have heard from the Town Clerk in Callicoon, about the Wormuth cemetery.  I will be calling her on Monday to hear what she has to tell me.  Elyssa Olsen will show me where the cemetery is and we'll work out a time when she can do that.  I'll keep you all posted through these blogs.

In the meantime, it's also the season, for me, to have a bunch of medical checkups that are scheduled and coming up.

That's it for now.  Check my other blogs as well.  Leave a comment.  Thank you.

                          

This and That

 I've discovered continuing problems with my database.  I haven't contacted the software company to see what they suggest.  I think I first need to replace my computer and I'm waiting for my tax refunds to do that.  My database software is outdated; I haven't kept up with the newest editions but the problem (I suspect) is the age of the computer.  Memory problems begin at some point in the age of any computer.  It's definitely time for a new machine.

News of the one-name and one-place studies can be found in those blogs: Wormuth One Name Study, Beismer One Name Study and Rockland One-Place Study.   I have been working on the one-name studies most recently.  

In addition to the one-name studies, at WikiTree, I've been adopting orphaned profiles that are surnames in my family tree.  Orphaned profiles are profiles that were created by someone who is no longer there.  There are a lot of them.  Where the one-name studies include profiles of people with those surnames, wherever they may be, the profiles I'm adopting of other surnames are only in New York State where my families lived.  So far I've been adopting Odell, O'Dell, Flower and Flowers profiles, but, as I encounter them, I will be adopting profiles with any surname of my direct line ancestors.  Sometimes I do a search on just a familial surname and adopt any, in NYS, that are orphaned.  Since I have definitive origins for only one of my family lines, and I'm at brick walls on most of my family branches, it makes sense to adopt profiles with surnames that might lead to getting back another generation.

Because of my age and the increasing toll it's having my physical body, I've been preparing for the inevitable.  I highly recommend that everyone begin thinking about that beginning in your mid-30s, when it doesn't feel morbid; don't leave it to your family to deal with after you're gone.

It may feel distasteful but it's a gift to your family, if you take care of things like a will, burial arrangements, etc.

I will address this more later but, in this blog post, I want to say that I would be happy, if any of you reading this, would be interested in continuing this family history research.  I will be making arrangements to send various pieces of my documents, database, etc. to various historical and genealogical organizations.

I was just thinking, in the past couple of days, about all the blood relatives in my family tree and that pieces of them are in me; in my DNA.  Family history research reveals, if you will, the good, the bad and the ugly of families.  Family historians learn all kinds of things about individuals in their family tree.  I have identified, I think, some of the origins of some of my physical characteristics; at least, I'm guessing where they've come from.  Of course, that's only those from relatives and ancestors I've met or have photos of.  Going further back there's little chance of knowing.  Most of what we think of as ourselves is learned behavior; it can be unlearned and altered at will. Height, hair texture and color, color of our irises, etc. are inherited or hybridized from past generations.  Just that process is amazing.  I'll leave you with that.

Leave a note to tell me you've been here.  Thank you.

                              

Updates

 The Wormuth Name Study now has 235 profiles included, up a few from the last count.

The Beismer Name Study now has 238 profiles included, not much of an increase.

Nothing new on the Rockland One-Place Study.  

Most of the details about the studies will appear in the blogs, listed in the right-hand menu here.

I don't have a new computer and printer yet.  I waste too much time every day.

Upcoming plans for research are still on hold until it gets, consistently in the upper 50s or lower 60s and there are some spaces between rain.  I'm too old to want to run around the coutryside, outside, in the rain.

But, here are some things that I need to do over the next few months.

* find out what happened to the headstones in the Wormuth cemetery in Callicoon.

 * find out about burial in the Vandermark Family Cenetery in Debruce.  That's where I want to be, finally.

* find out about ground sonar/xray: how much it costs, if towns have their own equipment, etc.  I would like the Vandermark and Tyler Cemeteries to be done as part of a cleanup project.

* Visit the Old section of the Liberty, NY cemetery to find Joseph Odell's and Stephen Wormuth's burial places.  Good idea to call ahead to see if anyone there knows if there is a marker.

* Visit the town to see the actual death record for Joseph Wormuth where, so far, the only record of Harriet Barecolt, his mother, is found.  I have a transcription of the record, but I want to see the original and have been told that I can.

* Visit Craigie Clare in Rockland, Sullivan County, NY.

There are so many more things to do.  These are things that need doing away from here, where I live.

Please keep me in mind for copies of older family photos.

Please ask questions about the family histories.  If I don't know the answer, I'll try to find out.

Please leave a comment when you visit any of the blogs, if only to say you've read the latest blog.

Thanks.

                                                                      

Orthography - Spelling and Surnames

 Why am I writing a blog post about spelling in a blog about family history?  Because it's important. 

Throughout all the years that I've been researching all the branches of my family tree, I encountered variations in the names of ancestors.  Sometimes the number of variations of a person's name were so many and the time it took to look up every spelling that it was exhausting.

But, the fact is that the spelling of American English was not standardized until the early 1800s.

In addition, most people were not educated and were unable to read or write in our United States until the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Even then most did not attend school past a few years in elementary school.

The result is that the names in most early records were written by someone other than the person the records is about.  You will find records that were written by someone else and signed with and X that is indicated as "their mark".

Surnames, and even given names, were written as they sounded to the person writing them.  I often ask myself why they didn't ask how the name was spelled but they probably didn't ask because most people didn't know how their name was spelled.

I've begun to keep my eyes open for actual signatures of people but they don't appear that often and certainly not usually before the 1900s.

Even within a single document, written by someone whose job it was to write the document, even legal documents like wills, ordinary words, as well as names, can vary in older records.  If you look at a transcription of our own Constitution, you will see such variations.

Spelling could vary depending on the amount of education of the writer, the geographic area that the writer came from, the historic time frame of the document and personal spelling quirks of the writer.

So, a surname, in particular, can vary over generations, within a family.  

Why does it matter?  Because, being social animals, we need to understand each other when we attempt to communicate with each other.  

Most modern languages have a standardized orthography, so everybody understands how a word is spelled so everybody knows what word is being said or written so there is as little misunderstanding as possible.  Certainly, in terms of names, it can be very important to know who is being spoken or written about.

Also, originally, names meant something.  They were just a collection of letters strung together to make a sound.  They often told something about a person without actually seeing them.  The given name Rufus, for example, means red and was usually given to a male child with red hair.  

In the case of surnames, some told what occupation someone had, some were derives from a parent's name, from where the family lived, some on their physical appearance, etc.  That's a much longer subject and one that I'm not that interested in writing about but anyone can research that online.

My interested in this topic is that when we research our families, we need to remember that names, surnames and given names, vary in documents and sticking to the spelling that we're most familiar with is a mistake, if we really want to learn about our families.

I started the 2 one-name studies I'm conducting:  Beismer and Wormuth, because I've been frustrated with the variants and I'm hoping that researching the names will reveal more information about the various families and how they may be related or not.  

I don't have the origins of either family in my own family tree.  I have already learned, because of the variant spellings, that those variants often exist because of where those specific families were from.  If or how they were related will, undoubtedly, take much longer to determine.

Given Names

While you have every right to write your own name anyway you want (even though it may bug me), a name usually means something.  You may even have created a unique name for yourself, again, you have every right.  Does your name mean something, if it's a creation of your own?

Cultures vary in their treatment and their conventions of both surnames and given names.  I know what my given names mean; they suit me.  Interestingly, I know that I was to be called something else.  When I think about that name; it doesn't suit me.  I can't say why but it matters to me.

More about this in the blogs for the one-name studies, when I get to them.

News and Updates

Computer Issues:

A few weeks ago, maybe a month or more, I opened my genealogy software to work on something and found that my database was empty.  😂

Whenever I add things or make changes and close the database, I'm asked if I want to back up the database and I'm pretty good at doing that and I have a series of backups saved on the computer.  So, I systematically started restoring backups, one after another, starting with the last one.  I found one after another empty or only partially there.

I don't know what happened.  I have no idea but there are many possibilities.  

I, needless to say, was very upset, confused and frightened.  That's about 50 years of work.  It's one thing to lose the database but multiple backups as well....

I left it alone for over a week.

I was finally able, on my next try to find a backup that seemed recent and seemed normal.  So I restored it and renamed the database, saved the new database and backed it up with a new name.  But, I have no idea how much work I've lost.  So, I'm going to do what I've had to do once before when I backed up my database in preparation for upgrading the software to a new edition and found, after doing all that that I had completely duplicated every record in the database.  It took me 6 months to go through every records, systematically, to determine actual duplicates and merge them, as opposed to records that appear to be dups but are not.

I have begun a similar process tonight but will not continue until I have replaced this computer.  It's old and I'm finding other issues with it so best to start afresh with new hardware, an updated version of the software, etc.  I also need a new all-in-one printer because this one has had compatibility issues for years, especially with the scanning software.  I looking forward to a new set up in the next few weeks.

 The Studies:

As you may know, in addition to working on my own family history, as a member of WikiTree, I joined several projects of various kinds.  My profile there, shows a list of the projects I'm a member of, including those I'm coordinating myself.

My parternal grandmother, Ida Mattice O'Dell, was descended from Palatine immigrants who came from Germany, through England, to the American colonies in 1710.  I joined the Palatine Migration Project because of that.  

I started two one-name studies and a one-place study because of obstacles in the research that I thought learning more from those studies might overcome.  I work on all these different projects as I'm able and as I find information.  The point is to collect and report on information.  Each of those studies have their own blog as well.  The one-name studies are registered at the Guild of One Name Studies and the one-place study is registered with the Society of One Place Studies.  My membership in the former has lapsed and I have to renew.

The Beismer One Name Study now has a total of 239 profiles in the Study at WikiTree.  That means that there are that many profiles but each profile is not uniform in what information is included.  If I stumble on a name, anywhere, I search for it @ WikiTree.  If I find it, I add a sticker for the one-name study on that profile which automatically adds it to the list of profiles in the study.  I don't necessarily go into that profile and work on it.  I may not have visited it since I added the sticker.  If I don't find that name @ WikiTree, I have to create one, right then, on the spot, before I forget it or where I found it.  I usually use Ancestry to find out what I can about the person and add information to the new profile @ WikiTree.  I go back and work on profiles when I can.  The idea is always to have valid sources for information and to include basic information like birth, marriage, death, children, a photo, if possible, etc.

The Wormuth One Name Study now has a total of 229 profiles in the Study @ WikiTree.  The same process hold true of the Wormuth Study.  I am still working on the whereabouts of the headstones of the Wormuth cemetery that is in Callifoon.

I am, currently, the only participant in each of those studies.  It's a lot of work.  I tend to work in spurts.  Sometimes somebody tells me something and I get energized and get some work done.  

I'm also a member of the Flower One Name Study and the Swartwout One Name Study but I haven't worked on them in a while nor have I received any reports from those studies but I will report on them next time.  

I get daily feeds from WikiTree related to general news about WikiTree and notifications specific to topics I've tagged like these projects and surnames.  When I get a notification about a surname of a study that I'm a member of, I immediately go to the link for that notification and, if appropriate, add a sticker to a profile for that study.

I haven't done any statistical analysis of the 2 one name studies I coordinate.  I'm not fond of statistics as far as collecting them but I like to see them.  I haven't found a good method, yet, do that.  I supposed I can just create a spreadsheet for each that I leave open while I'm working on them and tick off the stats I want to collect as I go, then et up automatic totals, etc. so I get the stats each time I do some work.  I think I just solved that - except that I have to create the spreadsheet and go back and go through all the profiles that are already in the project...Aargh!

Finally, for right now, the Rockland, New York, One-Place Study, has been interesting recently.  There are now 3 participants though I have not been able to get in touch with the third person since she joined.  Communicating with the 2nd person has inspired me to find new resources and references.  There are currently 77 profiles in that Study. Those are mostly profiles of people who were part of the town's history.  There is also a blog connected to that Study and I've been working on profiles of the various hamlets within Rockland.  Rockland is an interesting place.  A lot of interesting things have happened there.  In my travels this Spring and Summer, I will be visiting the various parts of Rockland, the cemeteries, etc. and taking pictures which will appear on the blog.

Just a bit more

That's almost it.  I did discover that the Liberty Cemetery has a section that used to be called Old Liberty Cemetery and there appears to be a burial site for one of my "brick wall" ancestors, Joseph Odell, my 4th great grandfather on that branch.  I will be very, very happy if I find that is true.

Zoom meetings

We've had a couple of Zoom family gatherings.  Scheduling 2 consecutive meetings, one after the other, works to expand the time limit for free Zoom.  It looks like Saturdays and some work day evenings around beginning @ 6:30 or 7 pm, might be the best times to schedule.  I'll schedule these when I can and vary the times so different people can participate.

WikiTree

Despite ongoing concerns, I am a big fan of WikiTree.  There is a learning curve.  It is FREE.  If you join and put a tree there and need help, I can help.  I took the WikiTree PIP (Profile Improvement Project) Voyage, where they give you a mentor and you improve 2 profiles you've already created.  So, I can also help you in return.

That's it.  Whew!!

                                                           

News and Updates

 Just a couple of quick notes:

We had our first Zoom Reunion yesterday, Saturday, February 3, at 3:00 pm.  Our next will be Monday, February 5, at 6:00 pm.

I will vary the times so  people who can't make it to one might be able to make it to another.

Right now these are just general gatherings and include people from all my family lines.

I'm aiming to have one general meeting a month and the other meetings will vary according to interest and schedules.  Right now they will be a little more frequent until it just changes.

Later, I will have Zoom meetings for more specific family history topics like my one-name studies.

If you're interested in any of it, email me at familytracker@yahoo.com.

Recently doing a quick search for some Hogancamp ancestors, I encountered many of the variant spellings of the name so I thought I'd post here the spellings I'm familiar with, so far:

Hogancamp

Hogencamp

Hogankamp

Hogenkamp

Hovancamp

Hovencamp

Hovankamp

Hovenkamp

Even those single differences in letters can mean a great difference in search results depending on what web site or datebase you're searching.  It's very tedious and time consuming.

I'm almost always interested in getting more family pictures.  I'm always happy to share and hope others feel the same.  Right now I'd like to find photos of the following people:

Fanny Flowers Odell

Joseph W. Wormuth, Jr.

Nettie Reeves Wormuth

Nettie Winner Beismer

Rachel Odell Beams

Benny and Sally Beams

William Marcus Wormuth

Reginald Houck

Beatrice Odell Dempsey 

Adelia Odell Ingraham

Lena Ingraham Tyler

Jesse Odell O'Dowd

Bertha Odell Kniffen

Joanna Odell DeWitt

Louise Odell Oliver and George Oliver

Anna Odell Ward

Catherine Odell Merritt

Rosa Odell Vandermark

Minnie Odell Lowe

Nora Beismer Eronimous

Mary Beismer Conklin

Elizabeth Beismer Bossley

Alameda Wormuth Kelly

Sarah Wormuth Edwards

Henry Flowers

If you're looking for a family photo, let me know; I have a lot.  A lot of people have shared photos with me and have left me photos.

If you want to know more about my ancestors, ancestors that we might share, be sure to check out my family tree at WikiTree.  It's free.  

That's it for now.           

                                                                                       

Happy 2024

 It's been a while.  I've been very distracted and haven't been working on family history research much.

But, this is a new year and I'm going to try to be organized (never a natural thing for me).

In Memoriam:

We lost a family member during the Christmas holiday.  William "Willie" Beismer

https://landersfh.com/tribute/details/2297/William-Beismer/obituary.html

In Memoriam:

Aunt Betty Hall, Elizabeth "Betty" Hall, born Elizabeth Odell, passed in September 2023; the last of my father's siblings.  We just learned about her passing during the Christmas holiday.  We have not yet found an obit.

NEWS

I will be starting virtual reunions very soon.  

I just have to do a little planning and scheduling.  I will be using Zoom.  So, if you're interested, you'll have to get Zoom.  It's relatively safe, as software goes.  I have not hosted before, only participated, so I have to learn a few things first.

What is Zoom?  Zoom is a video chat app that's free.  I've used it many times.  You need a computer with a camera and microphone which are usually built in to your computer.  You're sent a link for the session.  Somebody (me) starts the session and click on the link to join the session.  You can be visible or invisible.  Everybody who's joined will be able to see whoever else is in the session, if they have made themselves visible. I will spend some time in our first session explaining anything you need, that I know, about Zoom.

The purpose of the virtual reunions will be to discuss family history ONLY.  I will set up separate reunions for specific families that I'm related to.  I will email the Zoom session link ahead of time, usually a day ahead.  I will also post a announcement of the reunions in various social medias. 

You can just listen and watch or you can participate.  I hope you'll join.  

Later

Updates

 I've been working away @ WikiTree.  I'm working just on my own family history but I also participate in several projects: Native Americans; Civil War; Palatine Migration; my 2 One Name Studies; and a One Place Study.  

In addition, I've adopted a bunch of orphaned profiles with surnames that are in my family.  When I do that, I try to quickly find basic information for each person:  birth, marriage, death, children, with good sources.  I don't always go back to get into details for every person. When I can I add a photo.

I'm really enjoying myself.

Because I have a bad habit of trying to do more than I possible can, I've worked out somewhat of a routine where I rotate what I do so I get a little bit done on each of those projects over time.  That also works because I get stuck on one thing and can't move ahead to I switch to something else.

In the past couple of weeks, I've been working on the Wormuth and Beismer One Name Studies.

I just posted a report on the Beismer One Name Study on its blog.  Each of the ONSs have their own blog where the details of what I've been doing and what I'm finding will be posted.  Take a look.