Author: relatively curious (Page 1 of 3)

Question for the genealogy "hive" mind

Hive-Mind Research Request #1

July 12, 2020 /

Can you help find the parents of Milo Allen?

Our first genealogical mystery was submitted by SLVGS member Genie Weezles. Let’s put our heads together (like a “hive mind”) and find the answer!

GOAL: Determine the parents of Milo Allen.

REQUEST: Looking for a list of suggested resources that that might help.  (Wouldn’t you know, just as I was writing this up, *this* showed up in my email… but sadly only contains information that I have added.)

BACKGROUND: Milo Allen (1814-1888) is my 3rd great grandfather, but I have no family information on him.

WHAT I KNOW/HAVE (Verified):

  • Born 18 April 1814 in New York
  • Died 25 Aug 1888, Southington, Trumbull, Ohio
  • Married Clarissa Marchant (also Merchant) 16 Feb 1841, Akron, Summit, Ohio.
  • Children:Eliza Mary Allen (1846-1912) married Orson Samuel Thompson. Remained in Trumbull County Ohio
    • Lot W. Allen (1849-) married Cordelia E. Wildman, and he moved to Nebraska.

FALSE HOPES:

Possible parents – Tryphena and Elihu Allen.  I had researched that possibility and have discovered that unfortunately, it can’t be correct.  Tryphena and Elihu’s son, Milton/Milo appears in the 1850 census still in NY when “my” Milo is already married and in Southington Ohio (since before 1850).   I suspect that Tryphena and Elihu’s son Milo may be the one who ended up dying in the Civil War in Pine Bluff Arkansas (possibly). However they are *not* the parents of Milo Allen who married Clarissa Merchant/Marchant.

HINTS:

  • After collecting the low-hanging fruit of data from 1850+ censuses, and available birth, marriage, and death certificates for known folks, I moved on to the Unknown folks. I started by mapping out things like the Allens in the 1840 census in the Ashtabula/Trumbull county area, where Milo was married and ended up residing to try to get a visual on the “possible” places he might have been in 1840.

  • My great aunt, the daughter of Milo Thompson (Milo Allen’s grandson), had in her possession a book that contained the “Minutes” of the Eaton Allen Reunions” from 1900 to about 1940.  The surnames are extremely familiar, but most of these individuals are not in my known-family database. This book has provided me with ancestors that I believe MUST be related, else how would this book have stayed in our family?  Milo Thompson did marry an Allen descendant as his second wife, but that was several years after he was noted as having attended this reunion (see mention of his daughter being born toward the bottom of the page) — therefore his connection to the Allen family had to have existed long before his second marriage. (Perhaps he met the Allen widow at a reunion?)

  • I’ve started a database extracting the names dates and events listed (though sadly lacking a lot of detail other than how much money they collected for ice cream that year).

 

  •  I created a mind map with the information gleaned from the Reunion book to better visualize these folks and their possible relationships. This has actually been EXTREMELY helpful, especially considering I can see the verified relationships and the unverified relationships.

WHERE I’M AT:

I believe that Milo is the brother of Chester and/or Edward Allen (bright yellow), who both married sisters who were daughters of Joshua Eaton, but I have yet to verify their parents of the Allen boys who could well be brothers.

MY DILEMMA:

I’ve become overwhelmed and too easily fall down rabbit holes, so to stay on task,  I really need to create a checklist of specific sources to search that may help me establish Milo’s parents.  To give you an idea of what I’m looking for, I’ll start this list with questions:

  • Are Chester Allen and Edward Allen related? Who are their parents?
  • What other records might exist pre-1840 that would document parents/children?

What should Genie do next?

Please share your research suggestions in the comments.

Thank you!

Two Helpful Programs for Genealogists in SecondLife

February 4, 2019 /

SecondLife Virtual Genealogical Society February Meeting

We’ve got an excellent program for our February meeting on Sunday, February 10 at 5:30 pm SL (Pacific).  Craig Scott, CG, will be answering questions and helping solve your brick wall problems. Not only is Craig a genealogy expert, particularly in the are of military research, he is also one of the founders of the Just Genealogy area in SecondLife.  Here’s more about Craig:

Craig R. Scott, CG, FUGA is President and CEO of Heritage Books, Inc., a genealogical publishing firm with over 6.300 titles in print. A researcher for more than thirty years, he specializes in the records of the National Archives, problem solving, genealogical skill building and publishing. He has been lecturing steadily since the 1990 National Genealogical Society Conference in Crystal City at local, state, and national levels. He has coordinated lecture tracks at IGHR, SLIG and GRIP. He was awarded the Grahame T. Smallwood, Jr. Award by APG in 2008 and the UGA Silver Tray Award in 2009. A nationally known lecturer and educator he has appeared in the Ancestry Show and the Neil Leherer News Hour. He brings enthusiasm and a wealth of knowledge to each engagement.

But first!!

But before next Sunday’s meeting, we’re starting what will hopefully continue a couple times a month — for now the first and third Monday — a very informal get together at the Just Genealogy Fire Pit, to answer questions about SecondLife and help new folks get more comfortable in the virtual world.  We’ve all been newbies at one time!  Everyone is welcome to attend and we’ll try to cover some of the basics as needed, depending on the needs and questions of the attendees.  Sign up for a free account, sign in and head on over to the Just Genealogy Fire Pit. You can teleport there by either using the Search option, or use this link – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wollah/48/82/68

genealogists in second life meet and greet

Hope to see y’all there!!

December news!

December 9, 2017 /

At our last meeting, in October, the vote passed to hold our meetings every other month, so that they now alternate with the SL Chapter of the APG group. Our next meeting will be this coming Sunday, December 10, at 5:30 pm SecondLife Time (Pacific), at the Just Genealogy Fire Pit

For our December meeting, we hope everyone is able to attend what will be a short, but exciting meeting. Elections for next year’s officers will be held, and we’d love to have you participate in the leadership process, either by running for an office or even just voting on those nominated.  We’d also love to hear your ideas on our next choices for book club/study or any other special discussion groups. Please plan on attending!

Dues for 2018 should be paid by the end of this month as well, and it is easy and quick to do so when you’re in SecondLife. Our Clubhouse now has a sign out front that will accept Linden payments with a simple click! Dues are 1200 Lindens, which is roughly $5, for the entire year.

December 18 at 5:30 p.m., Dee and Sherlock are hosting a Genealogists in SecondLife Christmas Dance, with our fave DJ J
affee Gaffer and his fine collection of Holiday music! They always go all out on the decorations, and I excited to see what all they’ve come up with. Past years have included ice skating and snowball fights! Watch the Facebook page for more information, or IM another genealogy group member when in SecondLife for a teleport to the party.

A SL Christmas Dance

 

 NGSQ (National Genealogical Society Quarterly) study group will not be meeting in December. Watch for the schedule and topic list for 2018 to be posted soon.

Ellington recently posted this article from December issue of  The Atlantic “The Digital Ruins of A Forgotten Future.” A long read, but well-written. Of course, there are many views on the pros and cons of SecondLife.

As always, everyone is welcome to our meetings; however, only members may vote in elections.  Membership has its privileges 🙂  Our society is a member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, so our members have access to all of the benefits of FGS membership as well, including discounts! It’s easy to join, and our dues are the lowest of any I know of. See the About section for more information on joining our society.

I look forward to seeing everyone December 10!

August president’s message

August 3, 2017 /

It’s August and the end of summer is almost in sight! For some of us that means life may settle down again to a normal pace soon. (One can hope, right?).   At our July meeting we discussed possibly switching to an every-other-month meeting schedule, that would alternate with the SL-APG group meetings.  Then we completely forgot to send out notices so that there could be 30 days prior to the next meeting to vote on this at our August meeting. So! Watch for an email or in-world notice in the near future, so that we may vote on that at our September meeting instead.

Our August meeting will proceed as usual, on the second Sunday of the month, August 13th at 5:30pm Second Life Time (Pacific).  Ellington Sweeney, our VP will be giving a presentation titled  “Lineage Society Checklist: Increase Your Chances of a Successful Application!” 

You’ve finally decided that this is the year you will apply to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Mayflower Society, or other lineage society of choice. But… how do you begin? Find out what steps you can take to prepare a successful application before you start filling it out.

August 6 & 20: Also this month we are picking up our study of Blaine Bettinger & Debbie Parker Wayne’s book “Genetic Genealogy in Practice.” We’re at chapter 6, ‘Genealogical Applications for X-DNA.’ Feel free to come listen in, or better yet participate, on the first and third Sundays at 5:30 p.m. SLT at the Family History Centre in Second Life. Everyone is welcome, no matter what your knowledge of experience level.

August 24:  Looking for a nice rousing scholarly discussion? Plan to attend the NGSQ (National Genealogical Society Quarterly) study group on Thursday, August 24 at 6pm SLT.  Ellington leads this casual group monthly. You can see this month’s reading here.

Have you got an idea for a one-time or monthly group discussion? Let us know!

As always, everyone is welcome to our meetings; however, only members may vote when one is called.  Membership has its privileges 🙂  Our society is a member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, so our members have access to all of the benefits of FGS membership as well, including discounts! It’s easy to join, and our dues are the lowest of any I know of. See the About section for more information on joining our society.

I look forward to seeing everyone August 13!

June President’s Message

June 25, 2017 /

June has slipped through our hands, and between board members travelling, working, and holidays, we’ve really gotten off our regular meeting schedule! But, we’re determined to jump right back in!

Our society meetings have been the second Sunday of the month, and July will be no exception. Everyone is welcome to our general meeting on July 9 at 5:30 p.m. at the Just Genealogy Fire Pit.  We’re going to have a brief business meeting, followed by a presentation on “Using Airtable for Research Logs.”

Airtable is a completely free, incredibly useful organization tool — it’s kind of a spreadsheet, kind of a database, but better than any you’ve used before, and absolutely wonderful for genealogy research logs!

Everyone is welcome to our meetings; however, only members may vote when one is called.  Membership has its privileges 🙂  Our society is a member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, so our members have access to all of the benefits of FGS membership as well. It’s easy to join, and our dues are the lowest of any I know of. See the About section for more information on joining our society.

I look forward to seeing everyone July 9!

February President’s Message

February 13, 2017 /

RootsTech has officially come and gone , and those of us that went are still trying to recover.  What an amazing week! It was great to meet some of our members in person!

Thank you to the group members who have paid their dues and are now official members of both the SLVGS and the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS)!  For those dues-paying members, we now have a private section of this website  (Members) which will include the FGS newsletter and other benefits.  If you are a member and would like instructions to register, see your SecondLife notices for the SLVGS group, or contact Ellington Sweeney, MilesAMeyer Resident, or me, Genie Weezles (Tami Osmer Mize) for more information.  Our SecondLife Virtual Genealogical Society dues are 1200 Lindens (roughly $5 US) annually, paid in-world, and cover a full calendar year, Jan-Dec.

COMING UP!

  • Monday night, February 13, Clarise Beaumont is hosting a Valentines Day dance for the Genealogists in SecondLife at Just Genealogy, with our favorite DJ, Jaffee Gaffer. Everyone is invited. There will be prizes for best costumes/outfits.  Please don’t hesitate to come and join in the fun. SL dances are a great time for conversation, and “dancing” is as simple as clicking on a dance-ball – no talent or coordination needed!
  • Next Sunday (the third Sunday of the month), February 19, at 5:30 pm, we begin our DNA study group study of the NGS book by Blaine T. Bettinger & Debbie Parker Wayne “Genetic Genealogy in Practice.” As I mentioned last month, the plan for this group is to help extreme beginners get an understanding of DNA .  For me, up til now, it pretty much has stood for “Don’t kNow Anything”  🙂  If you’ve been wanting to figure it out, but felt a bit overwhelmed, join us! The book is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle edition, and through the National Genealogical Society’s website.
    Please read CHAPTER ONE thoroughly prior to the meeting so we can discuss our thoughts and learn together. We will meet on the porch of the Family History Centre for this.
  • The fourth Thursday of the month is the National Genealogical Society Quarterly NGSQ study group which is open to anyone, to discuss an article from the NGSQ, led by Ellington at the Fire Pit. You can find the reading list here.
  • The fourth  Sunday of February will bring a fun, entertaining, and educational FIELD TRIP led by Ellington Sweeney. We will meet at the Fire Pit at 5:30 pm SL time, and then teleport for a short 3-5 minute tour of our SLVGS Clubhouse, and from there, on to a very cool site that Ellington has found for us to explore. The details and a Landmarks will be at the fire pit for latecomers to follow.

In March:

We will start holding our traditional “Meet & Greet,” a very informal and casual get together to help newcomers to SecondLife with basic functions – walking, clothing, focusing, etc. – on the first Sundays of each month at 5:30 pm (SL / Pacific time) at the Just Genealogy fire pit, possibly other locations in the future. Everyone is invited to bring their questions. We’ve all been newbies!

All of these events can be found on the Calendar here on the website.

Hope to see you soon! Leave a message here or on the Genealogists in SecondLife Facebook page if you’d like more information, or need some SecondLife help.

January Notes

January 17, 2017 /

The SecondLife Virtual Genealogical Society is off to a great start already this year! We held our very first meeting of 2017 on January 8, the second Sunday of the month at 5:30pm – our regular meeting time.  With bylaws, elected officers, and several dues-paying members, we’ve been able to join the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) already!

The SLVGS now has a Clubhouse just a bit away from the fire pit, with information cards in the bookcase. Just touch the bookcase and choose the information you’d like. Our bylaws, officers, and meeting minutes are currently available.

Our first new discussion group was formed as well. Anyone interested in learning about DNA and how to use it in genealogy research is welcome to attend our book study of “Genetic Genealogy in Practice,” by Blaine Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne.  The plan for this group is to help extreme beginners get an understanding of DNA .  For me, up til now, it pretty much has stood for “Don’t kNow Anything”  🙂  If you’ve been wanting to figure it out, but felt a bit overwhelmed, join us! The book is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle edition, and through the National Genealogical Society’s website.  The book study group  will meet on the 3rd Sunday of each month, at 5:30 pm at the Family History Centre in SecondLife. The first meeting will be Sunday, February 19. Please read Chapter 1 prior to the meeting and come prepared to discuss, share, and learn together!

Coming up in January on our monthly calendar on Thursday, January 26 at 6pm at the Just Genealogy Fire pit, is the National Genealogical Society Quarterly Study Group, led by Ellington Sweeney.  As always, everyone is invited to attend. This month’s discussion will be on Elizabeth Shown Mills’, “Frontier Research Strategies—Weaving a Web to Snare a Birth Family: John Watts (ca. 1749-ca.1822),” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 104 (September 2016): 165-190. Optional listening, Elizabeth Shown Mills, “Reasonably Exhaustive Research: The First Criteria of the Genealogical Proof Standard,” NGS 2016, F302, available at PlaybackNGS: http://www.playbackngs.com/2016-family-history-conference.

Our next SLVGS meeting will be Sunday, February 12 at 5:30 pm. We realize many people may be travelling or just plain exhausted after RootsTech, but do try to join us for our “RootsTech Rehash,” while it’s all still fresh in our memories. What were your favorite moments/classes/vendors? Come share your thoughts, or see what you missed.

The next evening, Monday, February 13, Clarise Beaumont is graciously hosting a Valentine’s Dance for the genealogists in SecondLife, at Just Genealogy. Our favorite DJ, Jaffee Gaffer, will be playing the music, and there will be prizes for best Valentines-themed costumes. Dances are great fun, and in SecondLife, everyone is a Fred Astaire and/or Ginger Rogers! Our social events like this are wonderful opportunities to get to know one another better, and share our research challenges and triumphs.

Hope to see you soon! Leave a message here or on the Genealogists in SecondLife Facebook page if you’d like more information, or need some SecondLife help.

Something Special for August!

August 9, 2016 /

This Thursday, August 11 at 5:30 pm SL time (Pacific) ALL genealogists in SecondLife are invited to a very special meeting followed by a summer dance, at Just Genealogy.

The meeting will be held to discuss the organization of an official SecondLife Genealogical Society. Yes, we already have an award-winning chapter of the APG (Association of Professional Genealogists), but this new group will be for genealogy enthusiasts at any level of skill – beginners to experts, hobbyists to professionals. We can learn a lot from one another!

One hope for this group is  to have this new group become a partner society of FGS (the Federation of Genealogical Societies), which would provide our group members with the benefits of FGS membership: discounts, webinars, and more.

Following this meeting at about 6:30 pm will be a fun, summer dance, with our favorite DJ Jaffee Gaffer.

Please plan on joining us at 5:30 p.m. SecondLife Time (Pacific Time) to share your ideas for this new group!  And of course, you can’t miss the dance – They are always a great opportunity to chat and share our summer genealogy research stories and successes.

Hope to see EVERYONE there!!

May Meeting of the SL chapter APG

May 10, 2016 /

This Thursday night, May 12, is the monthly meeting of the award-winning SecondLife Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Following a short business meeting, our guest speaker will be Gena Philibert-Ortega, who will be presenting “Women’s Lives in the Newspaper.”

Women’s lives are well documented in the newspaper but how do you find mentions of your female ancestor. We’ll discuss the types of articles they can be found in and the best ways to search.

Gena holds a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Psychology and Women’s Studies) and a Master’s degree in Religion. She is a popular speaker at groups across the US as well as virtually, speaking on many genealogical topics including researching female ancestors. She is the author of the books, From The Family Kitchen (F + WMedia, 2012), Cemeteries of the Eastern Sierra (Arcadia Publishing, 2007) and Putting the Pieces Together. She also writes regularly on her blogs, Gena’s Genealogy and Food.Family.Ephemera.

SL-APG meetings are regularly on the second Thursday of every month, at 6 pm SecondLife time (which is the same as Pacific Time). We meet at the Fire Pit in Just Genealogy.

If you’re new to SecondLife, you might be interested in the Tutorials section, or join our Facebook Group – Genealogists in Second Life to ask questions as well.

April’s Tech Tuesday Postponed

April 5, 2016 /

I’m postponing Tech Tuesday to next week, Tuesday, April 12th at 6:00 pm, still at the Just Genealogy Fire Pit. What I’ve got to share is just so dang cool, and I’m not quite finished with the presentation — It’s just too neat to share half-baked!  Teaser: It involves maps, family history, stories, photos, and did I mention maps??? I know you’ll love it, and thanks for your patience!

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