Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – A Fearless Female Blog Prompt

It’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with genealogy extraordinaire – Randy Seaver — and tonight’s mission, should I decide to accept it is to blog about a “Fearless Female” in my family tree in celebration of Women’s History Month! Well, I’ve accepted the mission and here is my assignment (so cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) Read Lisa Alzo’s blog post – Back for a Fourth Year: Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month on her blog, The Accidental Genealogist.

2) Choose one of her daily blog prompts from the list (this is March 9th, do that one if you don’t want to choose another), and write about it.

3) Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, in a Facebook post or a Google+ post.

So I chose  . . .

March 2 — Post a photo of one of your female ancestor(s).

Who is in the photo?
My paternal grandmother, Louise (Newsome) Hubbard

When was it taken?
During the mid to late 1950’s

Why did you select this photo? 
I actually had the pleasure of virtually introducing my paternal grandmother, Louise (Newsome) Hubbard, to the World Wide Web community in my Sentimental Sunday post on 7 October 2012 (click here if you would like to read that post). But the reason I selected this photo is because it is one of the last professional photos I have of my grandmother before she died of breast cancer 4 July 1975. This photo was done by The Teal Portrait Studio, an influential African-American photography studio that was established in 1919 and operated in Houston for more than forty years. [1]

I LOVE this candid shot of my grandmother standing by the classic Dodge from the 1950’s that my father gave her to drive from Austin to Houston and back to Austin for her chemotherapy treatments. That’s right! This fearless female did not let her sickness with the chemo treatments after her breast cancer surgery keep her from living life to the fullest and hitting US Highway 290 every chance she got! Quiet as it’s kept, my grandmother had a very heavy foot and would put the pedal to the medal wherever she went. One day she backed out of our driveway headed for her home in Austin so fast, all my father could do was shake his head, wave good bye, and pray that his “hot-rod momma” (a nickname he gave her) made it home safely!

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Source Citation:

1. Curlee, K., & Texas State Historical Association. (n.d.). TEAL PORTRAIT STUDIO.The Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved March 09, 2013, from http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kjtwc

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – The Music of My Ancestors

Okay it’s Sunday night and not Saturday night, but being the techie that I am, I simply could not resist exploring last night’s Genealogy Fun activity by genealogy extraordinaire – Randy Seaver. Last night’s mission was to create – “The Music of Our Ancestors” – an activity suggested to him by his facebook friend M. Diane Rogers.

So out of curiosity, I decided to accept this mission and my assignment was to:

1)  Go to www.p22.com/musicfont/ and enter a text phrase or sentence into the P22 Music Text Composition Generator.  Enter a file name, the beats per minute you want (120 is slow, 1200 is really fast), and the instrument (from the dropdown list).

2)  Play your music text composition.  Can you find a way to put it on your blog?

3)  Tell us about your musical text compositions – what did you try, what sounded great?  Have fun!”

So here goes . . .

1. I went to the website and typed in just the first 15 surnames from my pedigree chart with a space separating each surname [taylor chapple taylor newsome chapple smith taylor green newsome moten chapple blanton smith white].

2. I gave my composition the unique file name – ClaimingKin – in upper and lowercase letters with no spaces as the website directed.
3. I set the beats per minute (BPM) to 300
4. I selected the cello as my instrument. Why the cello? I like the sound of this instrument and remembered one of my nieces learning to play it while she was in Middle School.
5. I clicked “Generate your music” and this is what “The Music of My Ancestors” looked like:

I was able to download the instrumental version of this melody but this download happened to be a .midi music file instead of the popular .mp3 or .mp4 music file I wanted it to be. So for me to get this file uploaded and working properly on my blog, I had to use my WavePad Sound Editor from my old literary podcasting days to covert this .midi file into the .mp3 format that I needed. Since I self-host my own WordPress blog, I simply installed the Compact WordPress Audio/Music Play plugin, uploaded my .mp3 to my webhosting server and entered it’s location in the embed code associated with this installed player and . . . .voilà . . . this is what “The Music of My Ancestors” sounds like . . .

Music of My Ancestors:

[sc_embed_player fileurl=”http://www.claimingkin.com/audios/ClaimingKin.mp3″%5D

Hmmmm . . . . is this music to my ears? Nope, not at all — LOL! Still, it was fun just creating this melody, converting it, and installing it on my blog. Who knows, with a few more notes and instruments this just may be a musical score that  my ancestors truly would love!

So create the music of your ancestors and let me know what you think!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – What Type of Genealogist Are You?

It’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with genealogy extraordinaire – Randy Seaver — and tonight’s mission, should I decide to accept it is determining: What Type of Genealogist I Am!

I’ve decided to accept this mission and here is my assignment (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) Read Lorine McGinnis Schulze’s blog post “What Type of Genealogist Are You?” (25 August 2012) and determine which type best describes me:
The Hunter or Detective
The Gatherer or Ancestor Collector
The Ancestor Finder
The Hoarder
The Junkyard Collector
The Scholar
The Analyzer
The Planner

2) Answer the question, and write about it!!”

After reading Lorine’s excellent blog post, I would have to say that I’m definitely:

The Ancestor Finder (aka The Genealogy Enthusiast)
This genealogist loves it all – doing the actual research and finding that elusive ancestor. But they only enjoy researching their own family tree, not the ancestry of strangers.

Yep, I ABSOLUTELY love the ancestor hunt — woo-hoo!! But, I’m not into researching for others just yet (notice I said yet) because I don’t feel comfortable doing so. Why? I’m more of a self taught genealogy enthusiast than one who has taken formal classes and training in genealogical research. I’m an avid reader and have quite a few genealogy books in my personal collection that I use with my own family research. BUT, I am currently taking online genealogy courses offered by the National Genealogical Society in hopes that I will one day have the solid knowledge and skills to assist others with their family research and more!

One other category that I would add to Lorine’s list that describes me is — The Collaborator! This genealogist does lots of research, finds new things about their ancestors and resources and loves sharing that information with others. This is in contrast to — The Hoarder (which is so not me)  – a genealogist who does lots of research, finds new things about their ancestors but refuses to share any of the information.

Areas that I can stand improvement are source citations (The Scholar) and being a faithful keeper of research logs (The Planner)!

So what say you? What type of genealogist are you? Let me know your thoughts!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Who has the most Census Records?

It’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with genealogy extraordinaire – Randy Seaver — and tonight’s mission, should I decide to accept it is:

Determine which of your ancestors has appeared in the most census records – any census!”

After reviewing my Ancestry family tree online, it seems that my paternal great-great-grandmother, Mary Magdalene (Allen) Moten (1869-1951), has appeared (consistently) the most in U.S. census records than any of my ancestors. Her entries are:

1870 U.S. Census:  Brenham, Washington County, TX she was living with her parents  Samuel and Lucinda (Flowers) Allen and her siblings – Joseph, Jennie, Ben, and Peggy; Mary Allen was 1 yrs old, born in North Carolina.

1880 U.S. Census:  Justice Precinct No. 4, lying south of the Old Brenham and Evergreen roads, Washington County, TX with her parents Samuel and Lucinda (Flowers) Allen and her siblings – Joseph, Zina, Benajmin, Louis, Davey and Jonas:  Mary Allen was age 11.

1890 U.S. Census: These records were either lost, or destroyed by fire in the National Archives in 1921.

Click to View

1900 U.S. Census:  Burton, Washington County, TX, wife of Eli Moten and children – Isaac, Olivia, Rose, Emma, Joe, Cornelius, Lucinda, and Amanda:  Mary (Allen) Moten is 31 years old.

Click to View

1910 U.S. Census:  Burton, Washington County, TX, wife of Eli Moten and children – Cornelius, Joe, Lucinda, Amanda (Mandy), Willie, Mariah, Eli, Jr., Jennie, Phillip, and grandson Ben Williams; Mary (Allen) Moten was 41 years old.

Click to View

1920 U.S. Census:  Brenham, Washington County, TX wife of Eli Moten and children – Maria, Eli, Lela, Phillip, Ruby and grandchildren – Maggie and Lillian; Mary (Allen) Moten was 51 years old.

Click to View

1930 U.S. Census:  Brenham, Washington County, TX wife of Eli Moten and children – Phillip, Meeky, Ruby and son-in-law, Ben McBride,  and granddaughter Lillian Solomon; Mary (Allen) Moten was 61 years old.

1940 U.S. Census: The indexing for Texas is not complete at this time, but I feel fairly certain that I would find her listed when they’re ready. And since she passed away 19 December 1951, it’s a good possibility I may find her listed in the 1950 U.S. census records if I’m around when those are release to the public too!

If you have a — Mary Magdalene Allen Moten — in your family tree from the Washington County, Texas area, let me hear from you because –  I’m Claiming Kin!

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – My Genea-Bucket List

It’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with genealogy extraordinaire – Randy Seaver — and tonight’s mission, should I decide to accept it, is:

Knowing that a “Bucket List” is a wish list of things to do before death:

What is on your Genea-Bucket List?  What research locations do you want to visit?  Are there genea-people that you want to meet and share with?  What do you want to accomplish with your genealogy research?  List a minimum of three items – more if you want!”

My Genea-Bucket List consist of:

1. Attending and completing Boston University’s Online Genealogical Research Certificate Program, then seek certification through the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

2. According to recent mtDNA test results, my Haplogroup origin is Ghana. Therefore, I would love to travel to the Western Region of the Republic of Ghana where the Ahanta people that I descend from are located. I would especially like to visit during celebration and festival times . . . woo-hoo!

3. Publishing a historical fiction children’s picture book that I started a few years ago that tells the story of Quakertown — the removal of a thriving African-American community by 1923 to make way for a Civic Center Park in Denton, Texas.

Do you have a genea-bucket list? Feel free to share it with me!