I run a regular search for specific family names online, and recently it popped up with a website about an antique family Bible. Hmm, I think, what’s this? I go to visit the page, and it describes some of the ancestors as Wills, Cobb, Moore and Massie. Well, the first three are my direct lineage! As I read, it says that the Bible is listed on eBay and I’m thinking, oh no! eBay!!! run run run and bid on it. But it sold on the 19th of May. *sigh* That’s the BAD thing about eBay, often listings don’t get picked up by the search engines until AFTER the sale is over.

Now, eBay doesn’t let you see who purchased things… but you sometimes get lucky. In this instance, the buyer left feedback for the auction! So from there, I could email them using the eBay system – and left my name and email address thinking they might be cousins or some form of kinfolk. ACTUALLY.. they’re a couple starting a new business because they want to see family stuff returned to families, and eBay listings are just not long enough. So they purchased it hoping someone in the family would come along who wants it!

That would be me.

I’m waiting on it to get here, but from the pictures it appears that it went of with the sister of my great-grandmother. How it ended up in West Texas, I’ll have to try to figure out, but for now, I’m not only getting the Bible, but it also has obituary clippings from 1909 and 1912 in it, as well as a few other articles. I can’t wait!

Tags: Cobb, eBay, family Bible, luck, Massie, Moore, search engine, Wills

Today in their mail out, the National Archives wrote:

On this date in 1802, Washington, DC was incorporated as a city. Since that time, our nation’s capital has hosted some of the most historic events in American history. From the arrival of the B&O Railroad to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the District of Columbia has a rich history. What is your favorite moment in DC history?

Well, I have to say, my favorite moment is being born in DC! For so many years, when filling out forms, trying to explain I had no state to use, or no city if I used DC as the state, was an adventure! Times have changed, and at least most of the time, I can claim my birth city. But DC isn’t a state, even though they function like one in many ways.

Like any other state (even though DC isn’t one), you have to go through them to order vital records. The address in DC is:
Department of Health
Vital Records Division
899 North Capitol Street, NE, 1st Floor
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 442-9303

Also, DC doesn’t process requests online. Like many other states, you have to go through VitalChek at vitalchek.com if you want to place your request online.

Tags: birth certificate, death certificate, vitalchek, Washington DC

Proven information! In a nutshell, there’s a TON of information out there in the societies.

Now, you still need to verify the information, especially if it’s fairly old. Organizations 100 years ago didn’t ask for documents to prove you were descended from somebody – normally you only had a letter from someone saying that Joe’s cousin Sally was your grandmother’s sister.. or something along those lines. So, you have to use a good dose of skepticism when you look.

My paternal grandmother is a line I know little to nothing about. In 1928, her DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) application was hand-written and while it does have her address on it, and it does state that she’s married to my grandfather, it does NOT tell us when she was born or married! The DAR at that time only asked where you were born: “I was born in _______, County of ________, State of ________.” That’s all. Her “proof” for her information consisted of “Family Bible” “Heitman’s Historical Register, page 299″ and “See National Number #145919″ After the application was verified, it was stamped, “Verified By National Number 145918″ Not a lot of information to help us out!

But I had two new applications to look at: numbers 145919 and 145918. 145918 – the ‘earlier’ application – was Rebecca Moore Darden Snow, whose grandmother was Rebecca Moore. Since the patriot for this line is Peter Moore, you can see there may be a naming pattern going on. But, this application does the same thing that my grandmother’s does: it only gives us names and years of birth, death, and marriage – no dates, no places. But certainly not a dead end!

On the later pages of the application, it tells me that Peter Moore was married twice: to Sarah Littleton at Franklin, VA in 1775 and to Mary Ellis at Franklin VA, in 1795. So searching on Sarah Littleton online, I found this information:

Peter Moore. b @1750; d 1820 Southampton County, VA
Married Sarah Littleton: children by her
  Elijah (no wife known)
  Littleton m Margaret Daughtery
Mary Ellis about 1795 in Southampton County, VA
  Sarah, m. Jason Gardner
  Mary, (never married)
  Nancy, (m Joseph Buxton)b @1798; d 1870
  John, (Delilah Edwards)
  James, (no information)

Nancy Moore m Joseph Buxton: children
  Elmina Cephus Buxton m Allen Hardy Cotton (1826; d 1894)
  Lydia Marian Buxton
  Margaret Buxton
  George Edward Buxton
  Joanna Buxton
He has two other wives and 4 more children

So by using the resources available to you through lineage societies, you can often find good leads to help you fill in your own genealogy. I’m off to follow up on this information and see what I can learn about this branch of the family tree.

Tags: DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution, documentation, family research, my family, Peter Moore, proof, research, Sarah Littleton, sharing information

One thing I discover is I’ll often have to clean up after myself on the computer. And that can be really tedious. You know what I mean, we go out and shoot a bunch of digital gravestone photographs, and the camera names them DM308393.jpg, DM308394.jpg, DM308395.jpg, etc. Once I get home, I save and scan through them for the best ones for my personal use, and will then rename them JohnPaulJones1831-1898.jpg so I can see what each photo is easily. Sometimes I resize them down to smaller images. But the end result (besides some great documentation!) is that I end up with multiple copies of the same file on my computer.

Have you ever downloaded your pictures one weekend, then the next time you use the camera, it downloads the old ones again along with the new ones? Again, another easy way we end up with multiple copies of the same file.

Normally, I want to keep just two: the original, which is stored in folders sorted by date the image was taken, and the renamed one I’m using as my source within my research. Invariably, I end up with three or four copies, and that can really clutter up your hard drive.

Along with the other regular maintenance I do on my computer (yes, you SHOULD be doing computer maintenance!) I’ve been checking out duplicate finder software, which does just what it sounds like: it scans your system, looking for duplicate images. Not only can it search and compare by file name or size, but also by visual similarity. But a word of warning: DO NOT run these programs expecting them to scan your system while you wait! The scan can take quite some time, especially the first time you run it. These is an excellent tool for someone who takes a ton of pictures and wants to easily find the best ones to keep or print. WARNING: if you take three or four photos of the same headstone, just at a slight angle of difference or distance, these programs may tell you each photo is a duplicate, when they are actually slightly different. These programs allow you to choose the best one for your purpose and remove the others, if you want to. Easy to use, and they certainly free up disk space on your computer. Simply search on Google for “duplicate photo cleaner” or “find duplicate photos” – be prepared to sort though quite a few. Just remember there is no “right” program for everyone – other than the one you will actually USE!

But, you’re asking, what if I have duplicate files on my computer that are not photographs? Can I do anything about those? You might want to look at WinMerge, another free open source program. WinMerge can compare both folders and files, and it shows you the differences in a visual text format that is easy to understand and handle. When it compares files, it can actually show you the differences within the files – so it’s showing you line by line what’s changed. This may be more than you want to know, but it may also help you not to delete that file you worked on and found all the typos in last week! WinMerge will also allow you to merge changes between different file versions. This program provides a little more than just finding extra copies of files – and it’s free! There are othr

Ever copy emails from one folder to another in your computer and discover you have two or three copies of those as well? If you use Thunderbird for your email, there’s an Add-On called (strangely enough) Remove Duplicate Messages.

I strongly recommend that you consider adding duplicate files to something that you include in regular maintenance on your computer.

Tags: computer maintenance, duplicate files, duplicate finder, duplicate photos, file cleaner, file maintenance, maintenance, PC, Thunderbird