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Saturday, May 12, 2012

Happy Mother's Day Grandma Nifong


LORINDA (WATSON) NIFONG (1809-1912)

In honor of Mother's Day I thought I would share a compilation of interviews published in Marshall County, Indiana newspapers with Lorinda (Watson) Nifong on the occasion of her 100th and 102nd birthdays. She was my 3x great-grandmother and a very strong pioneer woman.

The oldest person at one time residing in Marshall County, and probably in the State of Indiana was Mrs. Lorinda (Watson) Nifong. Born in Ohio in 1809 to William Watson and Sarah White, she lived an exceptionally long life and passed away at the age of 103.

The average mind cannot grasp the meaning of a hundred years when it is applied to the life of a human being. To sit in the presence of one that old, to talk with them, to study the features that father time has plowed furrows in from year to year, seems like a dream to the one who has experienced this long life, and to the young it seems like holding conversations with someone from another world.

Unlike most elderly people, who when they attain over eighty years, live merely a shadow of an existence, Grandma Nifong, as she is called, is very able. She was well informed on the happenings of her lifetime. She could relate much of what had made the history of the last century. Enjoying perfect health, with all of her senses excepting her sight intact, perfectly able to make her way about the homes of her children, and grandchildren, quite able to carry on a conversation, not only with her kin, but any stranger, and with a memory that would put a person younger by fifty years to shame, the case of this woman is most remarkable.

On the occasion of her birthday anniversary, Mrs. Nifong sat in her chair, gently rocking to and fro, she talked pleasantly and most entertainingly of her life here and recalled incidents that happened years and years ago with the utmost precision. She was one of seven children, all of who have passed away. She was born in Liberty township, Delaware county, Ohio, February 7, 1809. When 36 years of age, she was united in marriage to John Nifong, a resident of Marion county, Ohio. Her husband was thirteen years her junior. The couple lived in Ohio for three years. Their occupation was farming a small tract which they rented from a landlord. At the end of this time the little farm was sold, and the couple with two children found themselves without a home. Upon the advice of an uncle, they determined to come to Indiana. Accordingly a man with a wagon and team was employed. In 1844, the little family packed all their earthly belongings and started for Indiana.

When they were three days journey along the way, Mrs. Nifong grew homesick and wished to return, but the driver of the team, bent on earning his $20.00 for moving them, paid more attention to Mr. Nifong and they continued the journey. At last, after about ten days of travel, over roads good and bad, and some roads that were not roads, every mile taking them into a more lonesome region, they arrived at the place that was to be their future home. They purchased eighty acres of land for which they paid the government $200.00.

Mrs. Nifong grew so homesick she could not eat, and her youngest daughter added to the mother's lonesomeness by a continual cry for a return to the old haunts. But the new abode soon began to assume the appearance of a home, and time brought contentment and happiness. From that time until the present she has lived there and seen the waste of swamp and underbrush supplanted by a land of great plenty.

The reminiscences of the old lady, particularly those about the county when she first came here, are most interesting. At the time of her coming here, she said, the county was largely woodland. Many Indians were here and the stores and residences were built of logs. She recalls some of the events that marked President Washington's times and the stirring events of the years that followed. The accidental crippling of her husband by a stray buckshot, he being mistaken by a careless neighbor for a deer, is remembered even to the minutest details. The first ride she ever took on a railroad train was in 1860. It was during the great political campaign when Lincoln and Douglas were candidates for president. Senator Douglas spoke at Fort Wayne and, with her husband, she went there on the railroad to hear him. In her last years she has enjoyed several automobile rides.

The secret of the wonderful longevity of Grandma Nifong is her great inherited vitality, strong constitution and her adherence to health rules. Throughout her long life she has had little sickness. She has not been visited by a physician in the past fifty years, and in her entire lifetime suffered only one serious illness. Her doctor bill was $12.50 made when she had a severe fever and paid to an old school doctor, who she soon dismissed and whose place she supplied with an herb, or "botany" doctor as they were called then and who soon cured her. The loss of her sight, which although was not complete, makes her unable to distinguish persons and colors, yet she is able to distinguish daylight from darkness, was the result of a lifetime spent of heavy reading, and needlework.

Unlike most people who have reached old age, very many who have passed the four-score of years mark, Mrs. Nifong is contented and happy in what must be the very few last years of her life. As the old lady states it, she has nothing left to live for, yet she is grateful that old age has been so kind to her, leaving her with full possession of her faculties and not an invalid to be a burden upon her children, and so she is always prepared for the end of her long existence, whenever the time comes.

"I'm ready when the call comes," she said to the newspaper scribe. "I am grateful to God for the long life he has given me and the many blessings he has bestowed on me. I am thankful that in my old days my children feel that I am not a burden and that I have a deep place in their affections. I call them all my children - my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There are fifty in all now living. A pretty big family," she continued, smiling, "I am proud of them."

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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Two New Free Genealogy Indexes

EVERY NAME INDEX TO THE HISTORY OF COLES COUNTY, ILLINOIS

This new index compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, © 2012.

Containing a history of the county - its cities, towns, etc.; a directory of its tax-payers; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics; map of Coles county; History of Illinois, illustrated; History of the Northwest, illustrated; Constitution of the United States, miscellaneous matters; etc., etc.

Original text by William Le Baron, Jr., 1879.

This new index contains over 13,300 entries.


EVERY NAME INDEX TO A HISTORY OF PENDLETON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA

Compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, © 2012.

Original text by Oren F. Morton, 1910; reproduction by Regional Publishing Company, 1974.

This index contains over 26,500 entries.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

A Poem ~ It was the first day of census . . .


It was the first day of census, and all through the land
each pollster was ready ... a black book in hand.
He mounted his horse for a long dusty ride,
his book and some quills were tucked close by his side.

The woman was tired, with lines on her face
and wisps of brown hair she tucked back into place.
She gave him some water ... as they sat at the table
and she answered his questions ... the best she was able.
He asked her of children. Yes, she had quite a few
the oldest was twenty, the youngest not two.

She held up a toddler with cheeks round and red;
his sister, she whispered, was napping in bed.
She noted each person who lived there with pride,
and she felt the faint stirrings of the wee one inside.
He noted the sex, the color, the age...
the marks from the quill soon filled up the page.

At the number of children, she nodded her head
and saw her lips quiver for the three that were dead.
The places of birth she "never forgot"
was it Kansas? or Utah? or Oregon ... or not?
They came from Scotland, of that she was clear,
but she wasn't quite sure just how long they'd been here.

They spoke of employment, of schooling and such,
they could read some and write some though really not much.
When the questions were answered, his job there was done
so he mounted his horse and he rode toward the sun.
We can almost imagine his voice loud and clear,
"May God bless you all for another ten years."

Now picture a time warp ... its' now you and me
as we search for the people on our family tree.
We squint at the census and scroll down so slow
as we search for that entry from long, long ago.
Could they only imagine on that long ago day
that the entries they made would effect us this way?

If they knew would they wonder at the yearning we feel
and the searching that makes them so increasingly real.
We can hear if we listen the words they impart
through their blood in our veins and their voice in our heart.

~ Written by Anonymous

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Grandma Climbed The Family Tree

There's been a change in Grandma, we've noticed as of late.
She's always reading history, or jotting down some date.
She's tracing back the family, we'll all have pedigrees,
Grandma's got a hobby, she's Climbing Family Trees.

Poor Grandpa does the cooking, and now, or so he states,
he even has to wash the cups and dinner plates.
Well, Grandma can't be bothered, she's busy as a bee,
Compiling genealogy for the Family Tree.

She has not time to baby-sit, the curtains are a fright.
No buttons left on Grandpa¹s shirts, the flower bed's a sight.
She's given up her club work, the serials on TV,
The only thing she does nowdays is climb that Family Tree.

The mail is all for Grandma, it comes from near and far.
Last week she got the proof she needs to join the DAR.
A monumental project - to that we all agree,
A worthwhile avocation - to climb the Family Tree.

She wanders through the graveyard in search of dates and name,
The rich, the poor, the in-between, all sleeping there the same.
She pauses now and then to rest, fanned by a gentle breeze,
That blows above the Fathers of all our Family Trees.

Now some folks came from Scotland, some from Galway Bay,
Some were French as pastry, some German all the way.
Some went on West to stake their claims, some stayed there by the sea,
Grandma hopes to find them all as she climbs the Family Tree.

There were pioneers and patriots mixed with our kith and kin,
Who blazed the paths of wilderness and fought through thick and thin.
But none more staunch than Grandma, whose eyes light up with glee,
Each time she finds a missing branch for the Family Tree.

Their skills were wide and varied from carpenter to cook,
And one, alas, the records show was hopelessly a crook,
Blacksmith, farmer, weaver, judge, some tutored for a fee,
One lost in time, now all recorded on the Family Tree.

To some it's just a hobby, to Grandma it's much more.
She learns the joys and heartaches of those who went before.
They loved, they lost, they laughed, they wept - and now for you and me,
They live again in spirit around the Family Tree.

At last she's nearly finished, and we are each exposed.
Life will be the same again, this we all suppose.
Grandma will cook and sew, serve crullers with our tea.
We'll have her back, just as before that wretched Family Tree.

Sad to relate, the Preacher called and visited for a spell.
We talked about the Gospel and other things as well.
The heathen folk, the poor, and then ­etwas fate, it had to be
­Somehow the conversation turned to Grandma and the Family Tree.

We tried to change the subject, we talked of everything,
But then in Grandma's voice we heard that old familiar ring.
She told him all about the past, and soon etwas plain to see,
The Preacher, too, was neatly snared by Grandma and the Family Tree.


Written by Virginia Day McDonald, Macon, GA

posted on rootweb at
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tracers/limerick.htm


Monday, February 13, 2012

Free Access to 500 + pages of transcribed Bible Records



Ancestor Hunt now offers free access to over 500 pages of Bible records and images transcribed from old Family Bibles. Whenever possible census records have been added to each transcription when there was enough information to locate the family in a census search. A Master Index of all the Surnames in the Bible transcriptions is also available on the website.


Ancestor Hunt also pays $1.00 per scanned image for good legible, full page scans from antique and vintage Bibles that contain family records inside. Click here for more information.


Do Your Genealogy Queries Get Ignored?



Social media pages such as those on Facebook can be a great way to get free help with your family tree. I am a fan of a number of genealogy pages on Facebook. I enjoy browsing through them and reading the posts and will often try to help someone if I can. Deciding whether to try to help depends on one key point - easily understanding what information or help the person is looking for.

When posting a query online we all hope for a quick response to receive helpful information or suggestions on what to do next. There is a great wealth of knowledge in the online genealogy community just waiting to be accessed. People like to share their experiences and are happy to explain how they found their answers. But unfortunately, I see so many queries that never get acknowledged and go unanswered. The reason? Readers have no idea what the person is looking for.

A query a such as "Looking for information on John Smith" will likely be skipped right over because it is such a broad question. It tells nothing about John Smith to give anyone a starting point to try and help. With a little thought and effort, an effective and clear query can be written.

First, take a few minutes to research which Facebook page is the most appropriate place to post the query. A query placed in the wrong community will generally bring no response.

The most important thing is determining one question are you trying to answer. A response is more likely when the query is narrowly focused. Too many names or questions in a query can be confusing to someone that does not know your family line. Asking a simple question regarding one individual will likely get a response.

It is easy to draft a good query. Be as brief as possible but include helpful details. Give the name of the full name of the person and some basic data such as b/m/d dates, place of residence, and spouse's or children's names. Try to provide a time frame and location. If the exact date or place is not know try to give a good estimate.

"Need parents of" or "What is the maiden name of" are good examples of how to begin your query. It tells the reader up front exactly what you are looking for. Make sure the reader can easily contact you.

Be patient and don't get discouraged if you do not get an immediate response. Someone may read your query a week or more later and have just the information you are looking for. If a volunteer tries to help but fails to get the information you need, be sure to thank them anyway for their efforts. They will appreciate the acknowledgement.

Kindness like a smile can be contagious. Grandpa often said, "Remember, one good turn deserves another." Much of the genealogy community runs on volunteers and their willingness to share their family information, knowledge and skills to help others.

Are you willing to share your data? Are you willing to help? If you are lucky enough to benefit from the genealogical kindness of strangers, consider a doing a random act of kindness of your own. Pass it on to others and pay it forward.

Friday, February 10, 2012

National Archives You Tube Channel




National Archives Puts Popular Records Workshops Online for First Time!

The National Archives has now released online videos of its most popular genealogy how-to workshops on the National Archives You Tube Channel.

Some of the newly released videos include:

* Genealogy Introduction: Military Research at the National Archives: Volunteer Services. Archives specialist John Deeben discusses compiled military service records at the National Archives.

* Genealogy Introduction - Military Research at the National Archvies: Pension Records. Archives Specialist John Deeben discusses how to research military service using pension records dating from 1775 to 1916. Deeben shows samples of both Revolutionary War and Civil War pensions.

*Genealogy Introduction - Immigration Records at the National Archives. Archives Specialists Katherine Vollen and Rebecca Crawford provide an overview of immigration records from 1800 to 1957, including Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization records, as well as records of ports and border crossings.

* Genealogy Introduction - Census Records at the National Archives. Genealogy expert Constance Potter shares tips and strategies for researching U.S. Federal Census Records 1790 to 1930, and explains how they can be used for genealogical research.

You can find up to date public news and information about upcoming event on the official National Archives Facebook page. The National Archives is also on Twitter.





New Genealogy Index - Henry County, Virginia

Every Name Index to A History of Henry County, Virginia

Compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, © 2011.

With biographical sketches of its most prominent citizens and genealogical histories of half a hundred of its oldest families.Original text by Judith Parks America Hill, 1925; reprinted by Regional Publishing Company, 1976.

This index contains over 12,400 entries.

New Genealogy Index - Halifax County, Virginia

Every Name Index to A History of Halifax County, Virginia

Compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, © 2011.

Original text by Wirt Johnson Carrington, 1924; reproduction by Regional Publishing Company, 1975.

This index contains over 13,500 entries.

New Genealogy Index - Caroline Co, VA

Every Name Index to A History of Caroline County, Virginia

Compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, © 2012.

From its formation in 1727 to 1924. Compiled from original records and authoritative sources and profusely illustrated.Original text written by Marshall Wingfield, 1924; reproduction by Regional Publishing Company, 1969.

This new index contains over 11,500 entries.

New Genealogy Index - Monroe Co, WVA

Every Name Index to A History of Monroe County, West Virginia

Compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, © 2012.

Original text by Oren F. Morton; originally published in 1916; reprinted by Regional Publishing Company, 1974.

This new index contains over 19,900 entries.

New Genealogy Index - Buncombe Co, NC

Every Name Index to A History of Buncombe County, North Carolina

Compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, © 2012.

Two volumes in one; original text by F. A. Sondley, 1930; reproduction by The Reprint Company, 1977.

This new index contains over 2,800 entries.

New Genealogy Index - Edgar Co, Illinois

Every Name Index to History of Edgar County, Illinois

This new index compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, © 2012.Containing a history of the county - its cities, towns, etc.; directory of its tax-payers; war record of its volunteers in the late Rebellion; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; general and local statistics; map of Edgar County; History of Illinois, illustrated; History of the Northwest, illustrated; Constitution of the United States, miscellaneous matters, etc.

Original text by William E. E. Baron, Jr. & Company, 1879; reproduction by Unigraphic, Inc., 1968.

This new Every Name Index contains over 14,900 entries.



This year, 2012, is a Leap Year. We will have an extra day in our calendar with February 29th falling on a Wednesday. Being born on February 29th is special but can also present some challenges most of us never experience. For instance, the National Honor Society of Leap Year Babies has identified a computer glitch they call "invalid birthday bug". The probability of someone being born on February 29th is about 1 in 1461.

Leap Day and Leap Year has always had some superstitions and legends surrounding it. An old Irish legend suggests that St. Bridget made a deal with St. Patrick to allow women the privilege of proposing to men every 4 years. In Greece it was thought to be unlucky for a couple to marry in a Leap Year. In Scotland it used to be considered unlucky to be born on February 29th and Leap Years were never good years for sheep. It was legend that beans and peas planted in a Leap Year would grow the wrong way. It was once thought that a baby born in Leap Year would be sickly and a difficult child to raise.

A leap year has 366 days instead of 365. One year is actually about 365.25 days long, so every four years an extra full day is added to the calendar. During leap years that extra and special day is added on February 29th. Leap days were added to adjust our calendar to stay in alignment with the Earth's revolution around the Sun.

Leap years were introduced into the calendar in the days of Julius Caesar about 45 B.C. The Julian calendar was used until the 16th century when in 1582 the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar used today, was introduced. The Gregorian calendar has been in effect since February 24, 1582, and February 29, 2012 will be the 104th Leap Day since.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII to correct an error in the Julian system. The error had caused the Julian calendar to be out of sync. The Pope realized that continuing to use the Julian calendar would cause the date of Easter to fall not in the spring but closer and closer to December 25th. Ten days were dropped to bring the calendar back in alignment with the solstices and restore the equinox to its proper place. Pope Gregory XIII decreed that the day following Thursday, October 4, 1582 would become Friday, October, 15, 1582.

Have you found an ancestor born on February 30th? I was surprised to find out for a period of time Sweden and the Soviet Union actually included a February 30th date in their calendar. The day February 30, 1712 was added in Sweden when the country was still using the Julian calendar. In 1753, Sweden converted to our Gregorian calendar. In 1929 the Soviet Union attempted to change their calendar to 5 day weeks / 30-day months. The change to a five day week was intended to improve their industrial efficiency. February 30th existed in the Soviet Union in 1930-1931.

For a period of time after most countries converted to the Gregorian calendar, some people continued to use the Julian calendar in some countries. Dates were recorded in different manners in the 16-18th centuries depending on the calendar used. Dates recorded in the Julian calendar were labeled "O.S." for "Old Style". Dates in the Gregorian calendar were labeled "N.S." for "New Style".

If you are lucky enough to document your family way back in time, you may also find "double dates" in some of your family bibles and other documents. Dates were often written for instance as "died 1703/1704". Be aware that these dates are recorded in this fashion because of the change from the Julian to Gregorian calendar. Double dates occur in typically in old English documents only before 1752 and only in January, February and March and never in any other month.

You can easily find out which years were leap years in the past by searching online for a Leap Year Calculator. You can also find a brief article from Family Tree Magazine about converting Julian dates to Gregorian dates at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/ConvertingJulian-Genealogy-Dates/ This article also includes a link to an online Old Style-New Style Julian Converter.