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.

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.

                          

I very recently purchased another genealogy software package, about $40.  It got me started thinking about the expenses I’ve had over the years, doing family history research and I thought it might be of interest just how much some of us obsessed with this put into it.

I’ve been researching ALL my families since my mid-20s, over 35 years.  I research All my families because we are all related to all the families we are genetically linked to, not just our father’s direct line.

I used to have to run around to various libraries, Mormon family history centers, historical societies, cemeteries, and relatives and, if you think about it, that costs money as well; gas.

I’ve “borrowed” (rented) microfilm and books from various collections.  I’ve occasionally stayed overnight in order to visit some library or historical society.  I paid vacation time driving to some place to find out something.

I’m a paying member of Ancestry.com (just the US material) and that costs a lot.  I’m a member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society even now, years after they gave the bulk collection to New York Public Library (heartbreaking for me).  I have and still occasionally travel into Manhattan (not cheap) to visit both collections.

I’m a member of a few historical societies in New York state as much to support the organization as to hope to get any useful information from them.

I’ve purchased a number of vital records of family members, the cost of which has nearly quadrupled during these research years.  I just sent for Stephen Wormuth’s military records; $30.

I’ve had copy negatives made from borrowed family photos, including quite an expensive one from a tintype of Grandma Margaret “Maggie” Wormuth Beismer.  I’ve printed copies of scanned photos I have and given them to relatives.

Grandma is front left and it occurs to me that it's Charles, front right, and that might be one of the older sisters behind them.

I’ve written to more relatives and other researchers than I’ve kept track of; postage, paper, ink.

Over the years, I’ve probably spent a few thousand dollars doing all this.  I don’t mind, I love it.

However, every once in a while you encounter someone who makes you stop and think about what they’re asking for and how much time, effort and expense you’ve invested.  Every once in a while you realize that most of your relatives are not nearly as excited and interested as you are.  Every once in a while you wonder if anyone realizes how much you’re interested in this and how much you’ve put into it.  That’s all.

See new post on Wormuth Page.

Historic Note:

Hancock - "Settled before the American Revolution, the town was formed from Colchester in 1806. The East Branch of the Delaware River crosses the town and meets the West Branch in the Village of Hancock, which became a major lumbering and rafting center.  In the mid-19th century,  French Settlement was created by selling small lots of land to French and German settlers.  The Erie and Ontario and Western [O&W] Railroads aided the growth of the village, which was incorporated in 1888.  After Delaware Co's first wood acid factory was built at Kerryville in 1878, the wood chemical industry flourished, with more than 10 plants in the town.  This, along with tanneries and bluestone quarries, drove the economy in the late 1800s.  Railroad service declined in the 1950s and the reconstruction of Rte. 17 (I-86) as a four-lane highway in the 1960s reduced the tourist business.  In 2003, lumbering and quarrying supported the economy." -- Dorothy Kubik, in The Encyclopedia Of New York State , Syracuse University Press, 2005.

I thought some of you might enjoy this: 

In the box of stuff sent to me from Georgiana Swartwout was a little 2x3" sepia reproduction of Millet's Potato Planting with "Anna & George" written on the back; meaning Anna Wormuth and George Swartwout. 

I think it's cute. I don't know who wrote it but most likely Georgiana, their daughter. I found this sepia repro online: 

I remember Aunt Anna and, maybe, vaguely, George. Oddly, I don't remember Georgiana. I also remember George's brother, Guy, who used to arrange the baseball games at the reunions. I think I might have a photo of him in a baseball uniform. 

I remember one reunion (I think at Shinhopple) in particular when all the Wormuth women were together: Nancy, Anna, Maggie (Grandma)(our Wormuth branch); the others were probably there as well, it was a big one, over 100 people. Aunt Mary must have been there because I think that's the day that she was giving Grandma such a hard time at her house. 

The reunions were started by Elias and Phoebe and it was the Wormuth-Hulse reunion because those 2 sisters (Fannie and Phoebe Hulse) and those 2 brothers ([Thomas] James & Elias Wormuth) married each other but the other Wormuth brothers' families were always there as well. 

Aunt Anna and her daughter, Georgiana, were very beautiful.

Can you identify these two?

I thought this was 2 of my cousins but it's stamped "Nov. 1939" by the photo developer on the back and they aren't that much older than me and I'm told it's not them, in any case.  Please contact me, if you know them.

"Genealogy: Where you confuse the dead and irritate the living."  - no author given, from Family Tree Quotes