Day 1 of our cruise was spent driving to New Jersey, checking in and having a quick safety drill.  We followed this by dinner and an early bed time after a long day.

Day 2 was a full day at sea.  For me, this meant a full day of genealogy classes.  The first class, given by Geoff Rasmussen of Legacy,  was on timelines.  A key item in any genealogists toolbox, timelines give hints of how to further research your ancestor in a way just looking at a family group or pedigree chart cannot.  Looking at a chronology report can show you possible problems, such as if an ancestor had a baby at 11 (unlikely) or which piece of conflicting information looks to fit in better than another.

Looking at this piece of the chronology report for my great-great grandfather, I can see that I am missing the birth place for two of his daughters and one son.  I can assume that they were born in Buffalo looking at when the other events in his life occurred.  This gives me a starting place for research into their birth records.

 Timelines can also be interesting when you insert historical data around your ancestors life.  What happened when great-great grandpa was 7?  Using Our Timelines, a site Geoff recommended, I found out that the telephone was invented, the Battle of Little Big Horn was fought and Colorado entered as the 31st state in the Union all during the American Centenial year of 1876, which also happened to be when my great-great grandfather Jacob Gress was 7.

The timelines lecture was followed by one titled “Sources Made Simple, Standard & Powerful”, also by Geoff.  He discussed why sourcing is important and how to write a good citation.  The easiest way to create proper citations in Legacy is by using the SourceWriter.  SourceWriter offers templates using Elizabeth Shown Mills’ Evidence Explained.

What most excited me about this class was learning about the source clipboard.  In the past, I have gotten extremely frustrated entering the same detail information for a family of 12 in a census record.  Using the source clipboard, I can enter the information once and then easily apply it to every person in the record.  I am glad I learned about this prior to entering in all of the census records of my father’s family, as they all had a lot of children, and this would have been very time consuming!

In the afternoon, we learned about “managing your genealogy data” and “building a research toolbox” with Thomas MacEntee, then had our first formal night.  I will post on these tomorrow!

May Gress McMahon. May 30, 1911

Joseph & Michael Gress

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, I have the newly-found Civil War Draft Registration of my great-great-great grandfather, Joseph Gress:

• Residence:  Eden [Erie County, NY]
• Name: Joseph Gress
• Age 1st, July 1863:  22
• White or colored: White
• Profession, occupation or trade: Farmer
• Married or unmarried: Unknown
• Place of Birth: New York [sic: Germany]
• Former Military Service: [Blank]
• Remarks:  [Blank]

and Joseph’s brother Michael:

• Residence:  Eden [Erie County, NY]
• Name: Michael Gress
• Age 1st, July 1863:  25
• White or colored: White
• Profession, occupation or trade: Farmer
• Married or unmarried: Married
• Place of Birth: New York [sic: Germany]
• Former Military Service: [Blank]
• Remarks:  [Blank]

Source (Same for Michael, who is 1 line lower): ”U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865,” database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 Apr 2011), Joseph Gress, Class I, Congressional District 30, Erie County, New York; citing Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registrations, 1863-1865. NM-65, entry 172, 620 volumes. Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), Record Group 110. National Archives, Washington D.C.

In honor of National Women’s History Month Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

March 19 — Have you discovered a surprising fact about one of your female ancestors? What was it and how did you learn it? How did you feel when you found out?

When I was beginning my genealogy search, I order birth and death certificates for all of my know ancestors.  There were no surprises until I saw the birth certificate of my great-grandmother, Vera Gress^[1]

I had long know that her full name at birth was Vera Julia Gress.  My mom, Julie, was named for her.  Or so we thought.  It turns out that at birth, Vera’s middle name was Louise, after her Aunt Louisa (I am guessing).  When did she change it?  Prior to her marriage when she was 20^[2]

My grandmother and her sisters were all surprised and my grandmother says Vera never said anything when my mom was born and named for her.  My mother wasn’t quite sure what to think, as she apparently was named incorrectly, which was quite a shock.  We will probably never know when and why Vera changed her name, but it is definitely an interesting story.

1. ^[1] City of Buffalo, New York, birth certificate no. 148 (1900), Vera Louise Gress; New York State Department of Health, City of Buffalo, Buffalo. ↩
2. ^[2] Tom Tryniski, “New York State Historical Photos & Newspapers 1817 Thru 2007,” database, Old Fulton Post Cards (http://www.fultonhistory.com : accessed 23 Jun 2009), Whitehead-Gress; citing The Illustrated Buffalo Express, 30 January 1931, p. 4, col. 2. ↩

In honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogistblog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

As both of my grandmothers are still living and probably wouldn’t want this information on my blog, I will focus on my great grandparents for this post.

Alfred Marco Casell and Lillian L. Eichhorn married 11 July 1928 in Buffalo, Erie County, New York.  Al was 22, Lillian, 19.  Witnesses were Al’s father Marco and Frank J. Condon.

William Herbert Whitehead married Vera Julia Gress 28 March 1921, also in Buffalo.  He was 24, she was 21.  Witnesses were Bill’s brother Hobson and Alberta Suess.  Their wedding announcement was:

Whitehead-Gress.  The marriage of Miss Vera [piece ripped off] daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. [also ripped; Gress] of Forest avenue, to Mr. William H. Whitehead , took place Easter Monday night at 8:30 o’clock at the home of the bride’s parents, the Rev. J. Ward officiating.  The attendents were Miss Alberta Suess and Mr. Hobson Whitehead.  Mr. and Mrs. W. Whitehead will be home at 173 Forest avenue after a trip to New York, Washington and Baltimore.

Florian Dana Acquard and Stanislawa Frances Karpinski married 28 December 1932 in Bennington Center, Wyoming County, NY.  Florian was 33, Stella was 16.

Albert Emil Nuwer married Edna Agnes Roll 22 June 1932 in Alden, Erie County, NY at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church.  He was 26, she was 21.

Al and Edna's Wedding

This is the only wedding picture I have for my great grandparents.  I love the “Just Married” sign on the car.  I had calla lilies as my wedding flowers,just  like they did.

Sources

Erie County marriage certificate (short form), 4024 (1921), Whitehead-Gress; Erie County Clerk’s Office, Buffalo.

New York State Department of Health, marriage certificate 2251 (1928), Casell-Eichhorn; WNYGS Erie Co. Clerk’s Office Marruage Licenses microfilm 132.

“Whitehead-Gress,” (Buffalo) Unknown Newspaper; Article owned by Barbara Mueller.  Copied from her home by Amanda E. Perrine 23 May 2009.

In honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

March 2 — Post a photo of one of your female ancestors. Who is in the photo? When was it taken? Why did you select this photo?

Sophia Passel Gress

This is a tintype of my great-great-great grandmother Sophia Passel Gress.  Born in 1846 in Germany, this picture was probably taken around the turn of the century in Buffalo, Erie County, New York.  This is one of my favorite photographs of my ancestors for a variety of reasons.  I love how regal she looks; that it is a tintype that has been handed down in the family through the generations; that if you didn’t know better you could think it was my great grandmother or my grandmother or one of my great aunts, due to the stong facial resemblance.

Here are the oldest 5 of 7 children of Jacob and Elizabeth (Fink) Gress: Chester, May, Walter, Elsie, Howard.  It was taken approximately in 18671868, prior to the birth of Beulah in 1898 and Vera (my great-grandmother) in 1900.  I darked the photo as the original is quite faded.