I recently had a lengthy email correspondence with another transplanted Logan County native. We have different backgrounds and no ancestors in common but when we started talking our ancestors, collaterals and their families brushed at so many spots that I learned new things.This indicates to me it would be worthwhile to expand our somewhat limited view and see what turns up.If you have any connection to these lines or think you might – or know anything that might be interesting…
Billion Graves is a relatively new web site which attempts to photograph tombstones and locate them on a cemetery map using GPS codes. This is a great idea. They also plan to transcribe the stones, either by the photographer transcribing or by a volunteer coming along later and transcribing stones from photos online.Billion Graves support told me the GPS is so “other people can know the distance they are from the cemetery.” I tend to think it is more useful…
Joseph A. Bozarth wrote his will on February 28, 1896. He died April 18, 1897, in Illiopolis, Sangamon County. I got it through IRAD because it less expensive. Also, the interns at IRAD are more experienced at finding the entire file. It’s their job. It is not the primary job of the Circuit Court Clerk. Documents from IRAD are generally copied in the format in which they exist, ie, double sided pages are copied double sided. Joseph Bozarth was born…
William Henry Downing’s probate file came from the Logan County Circuit Clerk. Parts of it could be found at IRAD and the whole probate would be in the FamilySearch files. On December 2, 1903, in the typhoid epidemic, William Henry Downing died. He was the only child of William Nelson Downing, who died in the Civil War, ironically of “typhoid pneumonia,” and Delilah Downing Downing. He was 40 years old, not expecting to die and had no will. His heirs…
Delilah Downing Downing Shellhammer was the youngest child of Robert Downing whose probate was previously discussed. I had never considered that she had a will or probate but I found it in the probate records posted online at FamilySearch. These probate files are more work to collect, not being word searchable, but they are also free. Help with the records. Delilah died June 22, 1909. She first married William Nelson Downing who died in the Civil War. She then married David…
7 cloud services compared: How much control do you give up? | ZDNet If you are considering cloud storage you need to read this. Ancestor Hunting
If all goes as planned I will be taking a trip and there will be research. Since my last trip my toys have changed.My new phone is an old smartphone. It’s a Nokia E71, their version of a Blackberry. It has a camera and internet, some apps but it is an older phone. It has built in free GPS. It has built in tethering [which I have not tried]. The best part: unlimited talk, text, internet – everything – is…
This is the first of several planned posts on probate. This probate file was obtained in the standard way from the Logan County Circuit Court Clerk. On June 14, 1887, Robert Downing died. The War of 1812 veteran and one of the earliest settlers in Logan County, Illinois, was 93 1/2 years old. He died without a will. Letters of Administration were not issued to his eldest surviving son, Robert Harden Downing, until January 3, 1888. As he died with…
This isn’t an original idea but its a good one. I’m posting mystery pictures to a web album. Naturally since I have the pictures I must know someone in them but often that’s it, I know one person. Any information on the pictures is welcomed. Free free to share the link. Mystery Pictures – Cheryl Rothwell – Picasa Web Albums Ancestor Hunting
Say you want to store some genealogy files online where you can easily get to them with your laptop, iPad, smartphone, Android device, etc. Maybe you want to backup, show relatives, share, refer to while at a research site. What can you do? There are multiple options but this is about cloud storage. To know what cloud storage is best for you really need to know what you want. Do you want to store, sync, collaborate, backup? I have used…