My 2023 Research Year In Review

January
The Best of ESM series at LegacyFamilyTree Webinars began.  It was offered as a members-only series and it is worth every bit of the price of membership and more.  I have learned so much from this series.
Breakthru in my Cook research
Continued with to grow my collection of books for my personal library focusing on the sicknesses my ancestors faced--Tuberculosis, Influenza etc.

February
Did a LOT of cluster research:  Harrisons, Lightfoot/Deberry, Hights
Discovered more documents about George Solifelt's time in the State Penitentiaries of PA

Wm & Elvira Cooper Harrison's Rev War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant File
https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2023/02/elvira-harrisons-bounty-land-warrant.html

March
RootsTech 2023
Did a lot of reading thru records at FamilySearch.org with great success.
Was able to find my maternal Great Aunt's divorce records.
Studied my Grandparent's neighbors from their Charlotte Street years.

April
Celebrated 19 years of writing this blog!
Found another mention of George Solifelt in a newspaper.


May
Worked in Fold3 records a good bit and was busy with life outside of genealogy much of May.

About two times a month for the past several years, one of my fellow researchers has been hosting a Zoom Genealogy Chat. I try to attend as many as possible.

June
I transcribed the affidavit of Wm Harrison which detailed his Revolutionary War service.  I really need to work on an outline of his Pension file.

Purchased more genealogy books and worked on organizing and cataloging my library at LibraryThing
Ordered and Received the Court Martial File of George Solifelt from Gopher Records

July
Apparently the theme for July was LAND as I worked on land records for each of the Adcock, Frizzell, Harrison, and Putman families.
Found a pre-nuptial for the widow of a Great Grand Uncle.
Transcribed George Solifelt's Court Martial File

August
More Land records research. This time the focus was on the Jakes Coffee Co TN land.
Tinkered with MyHeritage's PhotoDater tool using a few photos from my collection.
Found a Wm P Cook listed as a witness in 1817 Rutherford Co TN.
Found Wm C Cook in District 10 of Bedford Co TN 1846

August was a tough month health-wise as I had multiple scans which determined that my breast cancer had metastasized.

September
I focused mainly on research in the newspapers in September.
It was the month I was receiving radiation treatments so that played a big part in my productivity.

October
Revolutionary War Records was the them for this month's research. I finally made the time to go thru Nathan Frizzell's file and found a few other pension files which helped with collateral research.

Looked at a Mystery DNA Group of matches using DNAPainter

November
Had some really great research time in the Franklin Co NC Probate & Deed records at FamilySearch.org which was cut short when a "system change at FamilySearch restricted access to images in several United States historical collections." They hope to have that issue resolved soon.

I tested out ChatGPT 3.5

Ordered and Received a copy of my 2nd Great Grandfather's Federal Court Records
from NARA-ATL

December
Found a cancelled Land Transaction that could potentially be that of my 2nd Gr Grandfather. I ordered it from Gopher Records and had a great turn around on the order. Still working with analysis of the documents to try and determine if it is my Wm C Cook and if not, the identity . I see a blog post on this coming in the new year.  

Reviewed George Solifelt and all the records I have on him.
https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2023/12/george-and-his-amazing-paper-trail.html

Test Driving Ancestry's Pro Tools to see if they add enough value to my research to justify the the extra $120 a year.  So far I've tested:  Tree Checker,  Charts & Reports and Map View,


Even with the health challenges I have had a pretty good research year.  I look forward to 2024 and hope that it will bring many more research discoveries for us all.

Image by DALL E 3   on Bing

Trying Ancestry's Pro Tools Suite: Map View

I'm continuing my test drive of Ancestry's Pro Tools Suite.  This post is focusing on the Map View tool.  You can find this tool in a number of places: in the Tree menu, or from the LifeStory tab of a Profile page .  I believe if you are not subscribed to the add-on you will still see the option but with a locked icon to the right of it.  As of this writing the Maps feature is still showing as in BETA testing.  

Map View from Tree View Menu

If you have the add-on subscription to the Tools clicking on map will bring up the map for the current tree.  From what I have noticed, the Direct Line Ancestors and Any Events seem to be on by default when you open the Map tool each time.  I wish the filters would hold until cleared in this tool which is something I also think would help the filters in the other tools as well.  You may notice that there are issues with non standardized place names especially if you see any locations marked that are not locations where anyone in your tree has ever had a life event.  I saw several of these in mine.  Some where because I had failed to put a country name and the software was trying to figure out what I meant.  Also, some of the military files just had USA and created a cluster of those in the middle of the US.

Using filters, I modified the map to show anyone in my tree with any events from 1700-1775 so I could see anyone who was in the US before the Revolutionary War.  I do not have any direct ancestors who arrived after 1775.

Filter For Map Tool
Name:
Location:
Time (range or exact year)

Events:
    Birth
    Marriage
    Death
    Burial
    Lived In
    Any Event

Family Line:
    Direct Line Ancestors
    Paternal Line
    Maternal Line

Direct Line is selected by Default. You can turn off Direct Line and focus further by specifying Paternal or Maternal Ancestors . It will show both sides if you do not specifically select one of them.

You can also choose filtering by MyTreeTags™ and can use your custom tags as well as the standard ones offered by Ancestry.

To find the map tool from a profile you will need to look under the LifeStory tab of  your person of interest.

Once you select the LifeStory tab and click on the map you can zoom in and see events on the map. You can toggle the Location content(preview) off on the map by selecting the Location Content tab and unchecking that option. That way you only see the location events in the side panel and not on both the panel and the map.  The circle of events at a specific location can be expanded as shown in the screenshot below which also has the Location Content enabled.

I wondered if this too would be changing the View DNA matches by location map, but didn't see any obvious change there.  I also checked from the Match pages for the Ancestor Birth Locations and found nothing to imply that there would be a change there either.

The map view was the tool that I had been looking forward to using the most.  While it does have some cool features I am somewhat  disappointed with the zoom feature and it was more than a bit hard to tell how to find the filters once you had clicked on a zoomed in location.  It's still in BETA so it's not overly user friendly.  I'm sure there will be changes which will hopefully improve how this works. 

I don't feel like it is something I HAVE to have.  It would be a nice addition to what they currently offer but only in bringing it more up to what it should have had in the first place.  That's purely my opinion and it may be more valuable to others who don't have access to software outside of the site that will do the same thing and more.  

Trying Ancestry's Pro Tools Suite: Charts and Reports

I'm continuing my test drive of Ancestry's Pro Tools Suite.  This post is focusing on the Charts and Reports tool.  You can find this tool in a number of places:  in the Tree menu, on a Profile page and from the view menu while viewing a tree.  I believe if you are not subscribed to the add-on you will still see the option but with a locked icon to the right of it.

From Tree Menu

  

From Family Tree Chart View

From a Profile

I believe I may have included some of the Insights or Filters in my blog post about the Tree Checker .  If you missed it you might want to check that out.  

Reports

The Reports Tool looks something like this.

Customization of Report

• Document Type: Descendancy, Ahnentafel, Register, or Family Group Sheet
• Document Style: Pine or Birch(I guess in sticking with the tree theme)
• Total of Generations: 2-7
• Focus Person (select/change)
• Output: Download or Print

I selected Print and then Print to PDF out of habit rather than downloading the report. Selecting download would accomplish the same thing.

4 Generation Descendancy Report of Wm Clifford Cook
Using the Pine Style

I was not overly impressed with the Reports part of Pro tools.  I can see how it might have value for someone who doesn't use desktop tree software.  However, FamilyTreeMaker, RootsMagic, Legacy and most other tree building programs all have  a charts and reports option.  I would love to see sources added to the reports and also a stand alone source report or listing.

Charts

I am including a bit about the fan chart features which are for the most part new and are likely what they are referring to as Charts. Ancestry lowered the mount of generations we could include in a fan chart  to 5 generations unless you have the Pro Tools add-on.  If you have the add-on then you can view 7 generations and some cool features.  There is a heatmap view of Hints, Photos, and Sources which is pretty cool but not something I'd consider purchasing an add-on to use.

Fan Tree Views

Sources Heatmap View

Of course more is not always better in terms of sources.  The quality of the sources mean so much more.  For all you know, my sources could all be  Ancestry Trees.  Thankfully that is not the case.

Trying Ancestry's Pro Tools Suite: Tree Checker

Ancestry recently introduced their new Pro Tools which is an add-on subscription. As a current subscriber to Ancestry with a US Discovery Membership, I was given the option to add the tools which I did for a monthly fee of $9.99. My plan is to cancel the Pro Tool add-on before next month's charge.  This will allow me to test drive the tools and see if they are an option for which I can justify spending money. 

I have a good number of trees with my main tree containing 18000+ people.  It took it awhile to index my main tree.  

Tree Checker--I am all for anything that allows us to make corrections more easily.  Possible Errors had only two tabs on mine:  Possible Duplicates, and Other Possible Issues.  You can further filter the list by clicking on More Filters 

Family Line
    Direct Line
    Paternal Line
    Maternal Line
    End of Line

Events & Places

    Birth 
    Marriage 
    Death 
    Lived In
    Any Event

Possible Errors

    Possible Duplicates
    Other Possible Issues
Hints
    Has Hints

I noticed that once I corrected or merged I was given the option to View All Errors.  This was not helpful.  It had opened the selected issue up in a new tab(I'm on Chrome.) An option to close this window and refresh the previous screen would have been more helpful for the process. 

Beyond the duplicates, the error that I noticed the most in my tree was caused when I'd added the 1940 census.  Some of the children who were under 5 in 1940 had gotten a residence fact associated with their profile.  I believe this was corrected at a certain point and it's no longer necessary to remember to uncheck that box when adding those under 5 from the census record.  It would be nice if there was a way to work on specific errors other than have them all lumped in the "other possible issues" category.

It discovered a "floater" in my tree and displaced this error when I clicked on the  "!"

Sometimes my floaters are intentional--other times they are from me sloppily deleting a parent, spouse or child of that person and losing them within the database.

We can expect to see changes in how the tool works these next few weeks errors and bugs in how it works are reported and modified.  It is hard to get a workflow going for the error connection process. I don't feel that the Tree Checker should be part of a paid tool suite, mainly because of the value it brings to Ancestry's tree database when people use it and make corrections. It should be available to anyone who is building trees at Ancestry because the accuracy of those trees help to improve the Hints, Thrulines and Suggested Records etc.

The Tree Checker is just one of the tools in the Pro Tools suite.  I will be trying out some of the others in the next few days and share my thoughts on those.  I am excited about the Map Views but that's a topic for another day.

Holiday Traditions and Memories of Days of Our Lives

Image Generated using DALL-E-3 on Bing

The holidays are upon us and I am reminded of family traditions. I have always fixed a pan of roast beef hash on Christmas morning(and Thanksgiving) and my daughter gets to open one present(preselected by me) on Christmas Eve.  What Holiday traditions do you have? 

In the late 70s and for many years after that my Aunt watched Days of Our Lives(DOOL), a soap opera which at that time aired on NBC. I began following the stories on it and a few other soaps as a teen. Each generation had it's favorite super couples.  My fav will always be Patch and Kayla.  Each year at Christmas I always think of Tom & Alice Horton from Days of Our Lives and their Christmas tradition.  They would hang ornaments with their family member's names on their Christmas tree during the episode of the soap that aired nearest to Christmas.  MacDonald Carey and Frances Reid played the Hortons and were on the soap opera for many years. So as a genealogist I couldn't help but look for Frances Reid in a census record.  I got her details from FindaGrave and used that to do a search in the 1940 US Federal Census where I found her living in a boarding house with other actors and actresses.  The man she married that same year is also living in the same boarding house.  The entry was even more amusing to me because the person listed just before them had the given name of Horton.  

1940 US Federal Census of New York City, NY, Enum District 31-906 Manhattan Borough Dist. 10 Sheet 1B Line 72.

Link is to the FamilySearch 1940 US Federal Census while the image below is from Ancestry.

I also found a picture of her as a teenager in the 1930 yearbook of Berkley's Anna Head High School.  In looking at some of the Ancestry Indexing there is an error.  The error is probably generated because AI was used to make the index.   She and Phillip divorced in the 1970s but the name it indexed was Tom, the husband of the character she portrayed on Days.

George and His Amazing Paper Trail

I have written about and studied the life of George Solifelt for several years.  Below I've listed the page counts from a number of his most memorable "footprints,"  the majority of which were from the National Archives(US) and ordered thru document retrieval services.  I didn't include his birth, marriage, death and census records in this listing although statements in his pension and book mark files give further details on all but the census records.  A list of previous residences is included and somewhat helpful in locating census records although certain timeframes are vague and questionable.  My blog posts about the records can be found by clicking on the link for each in the listing.  Just when I think I have found all of the documents I could possibly find that deal with George, he proves me wrong.  George Solifelt is the ancestor we all wish we had.  He left an amazing paper trail. 

Carded Service Records 

George Sullivan____Co C 2nd PA Inf Apr 1861 - Jul 1861     3 pages

Theodore Sullivan__Co N 126th PA Inf Aug 1862 - May 1863  9 pages

George H Solifelt___Co C 1st PA Prov Cav Jan 1864 - Jul 1865       3 pages

George H Solifelt___Co E 20th PA Cav         Jul 1865     20 pages

Carded Medical Records NIL result for George & his aliases (0 pages) he never sought medical attention for any injuries he incurred during his service.  I do have the images of the front of the boxes

that would contain the CMR for George or any of his aliases.  

Court Martial Case Files, MM-2557   19 pages

Eastern & Western State Penitentiary Mentions  9 pages(so far)

George Solifelt Pension  application no. 580,089 359 pages

George Solifelt Book Mark Document 1387-C-1885      17 pages

Sources:  

Compiled service record, George Sullivan, Pvt., Co. C, 2nd Regt Pennsylvania Inf.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s–1917;  National Archives, Washington, DC. Digital images were delivered via Dropbox without citations of source; the citation is made using the information shown on the images as well as the collection series and RG data from the catalog listing for the Civil War compiled service records.

Compiled service record, Theodore Sullivan, Pvt., Co. MH126th Pennsylvania Inf.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s–1917;  National Archives, Washington, DC. A Digital image showing the front of  via Dropbox without citations of source; the citation is made using the information shown on the images as well as the collection series and RG data from the catalog listing for the Civil War compiled service records.

Compiled service record, George H Solifelt, Pvt., Co. C, 1st Regt Pennsylvania Prov. Cav.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s–1917; National Archives, Washington, DC. Digital images were delivered via Dropbox without citations of source; the citation is made using the information shown on the images as well as the collection series and RG data from the catalog listing for the Civil War compiled service records.

Compiled service record, George H Solifelt, Pvt., Co. E, 20th Regt Pennsylvania Cav.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s–1917; National Archives, Washington, DC. Digital images were delivered via Dropbox without citations of source; the citation is made using the information shown on the images as well as the collection series and RG data from the catalog listing for the Civil War compiled service records.

Carded Medical Record, George Sullivan, Pvt., Co. C, 2nd Regt Pennsylvania Inf.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s–1917;  National Archives, Washington, DC. Digital images of Digital image of 2nd Pennsylvania: Smith, John -- to Sweetwood,  J.,  Box 2981 was delivered via Dropbox without citations of source to show a result of NIL; the citation is made using the information shown on the images as well as the collection series and RG data from the catalog listing for the Civil War carded medical records.

Carded Medical Record, Theodore Sullivan, Pvt., Co. H, 126th Pennsylvania Inf.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s–1917;  National Archives, Washington, DC. Digital image of 126th Pennsylvania:  Alexander, George W  to 127th Pennsylvania:  Zimmerman, Joseph,  Box 3324 was delivered via Dropbox without citations of source to show a result of NIL; the citation is made using the information shown on the images as well as the collection series and RG data from the catalog listing for the Civil War carded medical records.

Carded Medical Record, George H Solifelt, Pvt., Co. C, 1st Regt Pennsylvania Prov. Cav.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s–1917; National Archives, Washington, DC. Digital image of 1st Pennsylvania:  Smair to Waldermire, H., Box 2965 was delivered via Dropbox without citations of source to show a result of NIL; the citation is made using the information shown on the images as well as the collection series and RG data from the catalog listing for the Civil War carded medical records.

Carded Medical Record, George H Solifelt, Pvt., Co. E, 20th Regt Pennsylvania Cav.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s–1917; National Archives, Washington, DC. Digital images of 20th Pennsylvania: Hubbard, John to Thompson, Nathan J. Box 3075 was delivered via Dropbox without citations of source to show a result of NIL; the citation is made using the information shown on the images as well as the collection series and RG data from the catalog listing for the Civil War carded medical records.

Court Martial Case Files, MM-2557; Record Group 153; Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General(Army); National Archives, Washington, DC. [Case of Sgt Garrett & four others Co. "E" 20th Pa Cav.]

George Solifelt(Pvt., Co. E, 20th PA Cav., Civil War), pension application no. 580,089,

certificate no. 950,395, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications, 1861-1934; Civil
War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National
Archives, Washington, D.C [George used the aliases George Sullivan & Theodore Sullivan both of which are noted the Pension Index Cards. He also served in  Co. C 2nd PA Inf., Co. H 126th PA Inf., and Co. C 1st PA Prov. Cav.]  

Book Mark File, George Solifelt(Alias Theodore Sullivan),  1387-C-1885, Box 3190, Enlisted Branch Letters Received, NAID 607910, RG 94, National Archives, Washington DC.

Eastern State Penitentiary of Pennsylvania,. “Eastern State Penitentiary Warden's Daily Journals_Image00001”. Eastern State Penitentiary: Wardens’ Daily Journals (Roll 6608), Warden's Daily Journals (PA) 1829-1961, 01856.  https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/psa/islandora/object/psa%3Awdjpa_2630.

State Penitentiary for the Western District of Pennsylvania,. “Western State Penitentiary: Warden’S Daily Journals (Roll 7788)”, Wardens Daily Journals (PA) 1869-1875, 1875. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/psa/islandora/object/psa%3Awdjpa1860_521.

State Penitentiary for the Western District of Pennsylvania. “Western State Penitentiary: Descriptive Register (Roll 412)”, Descriptive Register (PA) 1826-1876, 1826. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/psa/islandora/object/psa%3A537669.

A Cancelled Land Transaction in an Arkansas Tract Book

Over Thanksgiving break, I found an entry in the US Bureau of Land Management Tract Books for a William C Cook. The transaction is noted as cancelled on Oct 14th 1881. This makes sense as Wm C Cook passed in January of 1882 and his wife Elizabeth died from a fall in September of 1880. William & Elizabeth's older sons traveled to Arkansas in the early 1880s. Cass B Cook, youngest son of William Clifford Cook received the family bible which contained several clippings that seemed to suggest that might have been planned to travel to Arkansas during the 1870s.  I was able to come up with that date by finding digitized papers which contained the ads using my Newspapers.com subscription.

"United States Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, 1800-c. 1955," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9W3-7QR8?cc=2074276&wc=M7W3-VM9%3A356162401%2C356168701 : 12 June 2023), Arkansas > Vol 10 > image 161 of 313; Records Improvement, Bureau of Land Management, Washington D.C.

At Newspapers.com

I've placed an order with a document retrieval company for the Case Entry File of the cancelled transaction of William C Cook.  Hopefully, the file can be found.  While I'm waiting I took the time to look at the transactions surrounding the cancelled one of Cook as well as to note the names and locations of those on adjacent land.   I did this using the search at Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office Records search.

HistoryGeo,com makes it easier to see the earliest land owners.

Section 12
Township 18N Range 3W

One interesting find so far is the Benj. F Austin.  I am familiar with him.  In 1850, the ancestors of several of my DNA matches were living in Dickson Co TN.  These matches have ancestry in common with the Hall, Estes, Cathey, Marsh and Goodwin lines of that area.  I've yet to determine the exact connection but can tell my connection to those matches comes from my PGF's ancestors. At this point I feel like they are more likely in the King / Manire line judging by the shared matches rather than in the Cook line. but with tangled roots it's hard to say for sure.  😀

I would recommend the book Land and Property Research in the United States by E. Wade Hone for anyone who is researching ancestry in the US.  It was very helpful in finding answers about where to look and what documents to expect.  You should be able to find it at several of the online bookstores and maybe even at your local library. Consult WorldCat, Bookfinder, Thriftbooks or your favorite search engine.  If you use the Chrome Browser, you might also find the Library Extension useful when searching for books.

David Pitman goes to court charged with Illicit Distilling

A week ago I sent an inquiry to the National Archives in Atlanta asking about the best way to request records relating to a Federal Court case(and possibly cases) in which my 2nd Great Grandfather was involved. I was pretty sure that the case was heard in the TN Middle District Federal Court.  I heard from them this morning with a quote on the cost of scanned copies.  I made payment as soon as I could get to my desktop computer and it was delivered to my email before lunch time!  How amazing is that?

This was my listing of Newspaper clippings mentioning David Pitman court case(s)

Newspapers.com - The Tennessean - 19 Nov 1873 - Page 4 David Pitman Federal Court  Continued
Newspapers.com - Nashville Union & American - 25 Nov 1873 - Page 4 David Pitman Continued to next term
Newspapers.com - The Tennessean - 25 Oct 1874 - Page 4 David Pitman Federal Court Illicit Distilling
Newspapers.com - The Tennessean - 21 Oct 1876 - Page 3 David Pitman Federal Court Illicit Distilling no action taken

U.S. Circuit Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Case #1152 US vs. David Pitman 

digitized by National Archives Atlanta Georgia 

delivered as a PDF file to Marie Cooke Beckman's Gmail acct. (Nov 28th, 2023)

Below is my transcription of the affidavit from the file that tells David Pittman's account of what happened that led to him being arrested and in court for illicit distilling.  

Affidavit(from Case # 1152)

US vs David Pitmon 

The United States vs David Pitman
In this cause the defendant David Pitman makes oath that he cannot go safely to trial at the present term of the court for the following reasons he has no Witnesses in attendance for the reasons that owing to his poverty he did not have the means to procure subpoenas for his Witnesses and have them executed affiant got Deputy US Marshal J Armstrong to summons one of his Witnesses, Isaac Cantrell, and he promised to summons  CB Cantrell but he was in the South trading and has been for several months and has not yet returned.  He can prove as he believes by both of said witnesses that he is not guilty of the charge against him he can prove by both said witnesses that he has never owned or had under his controls any still or stilling apparatus or been concerned? in any still since the war nor had no intent in any still nor has not been able to own any still or interest in a still. Affiant is very poor a wife and eight children and without means of support except by his daily labor.  He can prove the same facts by William Potter and John Terry that he can by C B Cantrell and he can further prove as he believes and in part as he knows that at the time of the alleged offenses he was hired to C B Cantrell to work on his farm.  He Cantrell owning a large farm and he Cantrell was also carrying on a Distillery and Mrs. Cantrell was unwell and requested affiant  go out and kill her a squirrel he got the gun and went out in the direction of the still house Thinking that direction was the surest way to find a squirrel but found none and when he came near the Still house there was no person there the doors was shut and he set his gun down by the door opened it and went in the still house to get him a drink of beer and just as he stepped up to where the beer was, the dogs he had brought with him came barking and J Armstrong and others came up Armstrong broke his gun and arrested him this is the truth of the transaction and affiant states that C B Cantrell, Isaac Cantrell, William Potter, and John Terry are witnesses whose evidence is material to his defense and he cannot go safely to trial without them or three of them that he expects to prove the above facts by them that they are within this district and that he has not possessed of sufficient means and is actually unable to pay the fees of such Witnesses therefore affiant prays that his cause be continued until the next term of this court and that he have the aforesaid Witnesses summoned to appear at the next term of this court as provided in section 878 of the revised statutes of the United States this application is made for justice and not for delay 

David Pitmon
April 25 1876

Characters:  

Calvin Bennett Cantrell--1st Battalion Co C Colm's 2nd Lt David's Father in Law also served in Colm's

Mrs. C B Cantrell--Amanda Lee married C B(his 2nd Wife) in Dekalb Co TN on 27 Nov 1870

Isaac Cantrell--Not sure which one this is but all of the Isaac Cantrells from Dekalb Co are kin to David's wife Mary Adcock.

William Potter--kin to Cantrells thru his mother's ancestry

John Terry-as far as I can tell he is NOT related to the Cantrells or Adcocks

Testing tasks using ChatGPT 3.5

I've been experimenting with ChatGPT today. I tried testing it to see if I could get it to automate some tasks for my research.  I fed it my outline of the George Solifelt Pension file.  It had an error occur after getting a little over half way thru the 7 page outline which I had copied and pasted into the chat.   I was using ChatGPT 3.5 and I haven't upgraded to a paid version because I can't justify the expense for something I rarely even think of using.   I reviewed the timeline that it had generated to that point and it appeared to start hallucinating and repeating one of the names mentioned as the person associated in all generated text after that point.  There may be a better way to do this in this version that would produce the desired results.  Upgrading might also produce better results. 

Another task I tried was asking it to list the names of persons mentioned in the text and how many times they appeared.  While it did a much better job of gathering George's FAN club from this outline it did not include every name but did make me aware that it hadn't included every name.  

For me it would have probably been just as fast to extract this information myself since doublechecking the results is a must.  

I do like how AI can help with indexing even if it requires human verification. That alone in the FamilySearch search experiment (no longer active search) back several months ago helped me to find documents that I'd I would not have found so quickly.  I would love to see that return given that the current search is broken at best there.  

I do plan to try and read up on using ChatGPT and catch a few webinars and YouTube videos that might be helpful in getting them to work for me.

Hathitrust: A Wonderful Resource At Your Fingertips

As someone who loves books and history I really appreciate the Hathitrust website. It is one of my go-to sites along with Ancestry, FamilySearch and GoogleBooks.  If you aren't using it to further your research, you should.  Try it out and check back from time to time. There are several options for logging in to Hathitrust. If your library or institution offers access, you will be able to use that option. Otherwise, you can log in as a guest by way of your Google, LinkedIn or Microsoft account.  

You can do quick searches for phrases about items of interest as well as build collections.  If you love sharing your finds, Hathitrust has options for sharing a link to a specific book in its collection or even a specific page in that book..  

I like to build collections.  Normally my collections are focused on People, Places or Things, but you could set up your collection however you want.  That is the most important part--that it's functional for you.  My "North Carolina Laws" collection has the Acts of the General Assembly of North Carolina books. These books contain information about early divorces, name changes or anything else that would require a ruling by the state.   That can be particularly helpful for research in the years prior to 1850 when an age group and gender might be all the information you have.

I've been adding web links in the profile pages of my Ancestry tree.  Most of the time it is a link to a website on which that person is mentioned or to a blog post that I or another researcher have written about them.  I also do this with links to pages or books that are available thru Hathitrust.

I knew that users could choose to keep collections private or make them public but I had not realized that there is also an option to generate a link to transfer a collection to another user.  

Clues in Franklin Co NC Wills & Inventory Volumes

I've read thru the record book listed below and wanted to mention a few of the items that I found listed in the volume.

Will and inventory records, and index, devisor and devisee, 1785-1964 (Franklin Co. NC)

Franklin Co NC Wills, Inventories, 1804-1812, Vol. C  Film # 18904
Filmed by The Genealogical Society of Utah in 1943 Louisburg NC

Digitized by FamilySearch.org    DGS # 4755060

The account of the sale of the property of Absalom Rush deceased which took place on 9th of October 1807, begins on Image 205 of  630.  I noticed William Cook listed as a purchaser of Iron hooks.  Another purchaser at the sale is John Cook who purchases 1 trumpet & rule.  There is a notation after his name which says " (of Wm.)". Does that mean he is the son of William Cook?   I don't know but it's something to investigate.  Other purchasers' surnames include Bower, Perry, Denson, Pulliam McLemore and of course many of the Rush family.  John Hornsby is also mentioned.  John is the son in law of William Cook(John married William's daughter Sally.) 

The sale of the property of John Nicholson deceased (Sold 25th Nov 1807) begins on Image  211 of 630 lists Wm Cook who purchases a heifer and Pope Cook who purchases a sow & 5 pigs.  This is the first time I've noticed the name Pope Cook rather than just Wm P Cook. I believe William Cook is Pope's father and that his middle name may have been used here to keep the accounts from being confused.  Other purchasers at the sale were Bowers, Denson, Fuller, Hester, Kimball, Gill, Perry, and of course Nicholson.  Many of the purchasers are those enumerated near William Cook and William P Cook in the 1810 US Federal Census of Franklin County, North Carolina.  

William Cook also purchases 5 barrels of corn from the estate of John Gholson in 1808 as shown on 285 of 630.  The widow Gholson is the Mrs Fanny Gholson listed one page over from William Cook in the 1810 US Federal Census of Franklin County, North Carolina.(Image 285 of 630)

Looking at some of the family trees I noticed that Fanny Gholson's maiden name is listed as Tourman.  The trees also list John Gholson as son of John Gholson Sr. and Esther May Cooke.  Esther Mae was born about 1720 in Orange Co. Virginia.  There were no sources so could be nothing but I do need to check in to that.

Interestingly enough the Mathew Dickenson who is the witness on the Gholson Estate papers must have been a lawyer and a lover of books as his estate inventory & sale is a fascinating look at books of the early 1800s.  These are just a few of the many interconnections I found between the families who were listed in the volume of records covering the years 1804-1812.  Do yourself a favor and read thru a few of the volumes of unindexed books which cover areas and time periods where you have a research interest.   You never know what you may find.

Joseph Cook Registers a Land Purchase in Franklin Co NC(Sept. 1803)

I've found yet another mention of David T W Cook.  This one is as a witness to the sale of land to Joseph Cook with whom he frequently appears around the time period of the early 1800s. 

Franklin Co NC Deed Book 12 was microfilmed by North Carolina Dept. of Archives and History in 1964.  FamilySearch has it and the other deed books in their digital film collection as Franklin County, North Carolina, Deed records or real estate conveyances, 1779-1951, and index, grantor and grantee, 1776-1949.  Film #427052 contains Deeds, book 12-15 1783-1811.  I wanted to see Deed Book 12 page 96 which the index said contained the recorded deed for land conveyed from Robert & Bennett Duke to Joseph Cook.  That page was Image 137 of 797 hosted on FamilySearch. The land is "on the waters of the Tar River. " The deed mentions Kelly's line and Mill Creek along with more specific measurements to the land which contains 140 acres. The Dukes sold the land for 635 Spanish milled dollars.

See:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L96M-W3DB?cat=181225

Signed sealed & delivered & acknowledged

In presence of
David T W Cook
John Hayes
J Cook 
By 
Robert Duke (seal)
B. Duke  (seal)
Franklin County(NC)
September Session 1803
The foregoing deed was exhibeted and
duly proved by the oath of John Cook
and on th Motion ordered to be Registered
This Deed is Duly Registered 
Test    G. Hill C C
Test    J Hill P R

 I have several other posts about David T W Cook some of which include several occasions where he was a witness for Joseph or Joseph was a witness for him.  You can find these by doing a search of posts using the search box in the upper left corner of this blog.

This is the first time that I have noticed another Cook other than Joseph listed along with David T W Cook.  Not sure if that means anything or not.

When a Named Executor Refuses to Qualify--Benj. Cooke's Will

The probate files for Benjamin Cooke of Granville Co NC were well worth the read.  I knew that an executor named in the will could refuse but seeing how things played out when that happened were enlightening.  When a named executor refused, someone would be appointed by the court who would be an administrator rather than an executor. This was confusing to me because I had always associated the term administrator as what you have when someone dies without leaving a will.  That is not the case.  An administrator is anyone appointed by the court to handle an estate.  This can happen when someone dies without a will, doesn't name an executor in their will or when the one named declines to be the executor.

Below is my attempt at transcribing Benj. Cooke's will and list of purchasers at his estate sale.

Digital Copy of Granville Co NC Will Book 7  pg. 494 & 495
North Carolina, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9061/images/007639740_00515
Granville  > Wills, Vol 7, 1808-1816 > 515 of 710

Will
I Benjamin Cooke of Granville County & State of North Carolina
being of sound mind but ___?__ with the uncertainty of human
life do make and ordain this to be my last will & testament  Item
The first it is my will & desire that all my just debts shall be justly
and honorably paid and my executor hereafter named is authorized 

and impowered to sale such part of my property as he may think 
most expedient to affect that object.  Item the second I give and 
bequeath unto my sister Salley Cooke my molly long legs filly
and my watch I wish her to keep as remembrance 
her life time and to descend to her eldest son  should she ever have
one at her death.  Item the third I give & bequeath unto my
sister Martha my Harry Long legs colt.  Item the fourth I give and
bequeath unto my brother John my Rifle.  Item the fifth it is my
will and desire after my debts and the above legacies are paid that all
my remaining property shall be equally divided between my two sisters,
Salley and Martha thinking fit at the same time to declare that this disposition of my property is and ought not to be considered as evidence of my feeling a particular partiality for those of my relations who are to share my beneficences over and above those who are not,
my intention being to give to those I considered most needy.  Lastly
I appoint Woodson Daniel Executor of this my last will
& Testament in witness whereof I have hereto set my hand & seal

this 11th day of December 1814
signed & acknowledged in the presence of 
TEST
John C Courtney
Thomas P Downey            Benjamin B Cooke (Seal)
State of N Carolina
Granville County
February Court 1815

The execution of this will of Benjamin B Cooke dec was duly proved in open court by the oath of John C Courtney and Thomas P Downey the two and only subscribing witnesses thereto and ordering to be recorded Woodson Daniel the only person named in said will as an executor came into court and refused to qualify. As such Samuel Dickins is appointed administrator with the will annexed who after giving bond in the sum of seventeen hundred & fifty pounds with William Dickins and William Robard his sureties by law his qualification as such 
Witness Step. Sand Clerk
Digital Copy of Granville Co NC Will Book 7  pg. 494 & 495

Inventory

North Carolina, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9061/images/007639740_00542

Granville  > Wills, Vol 7, 1808-1816 > 542 of 710

Estate Sale 17th February 1815

The inventory lists items as well as purchasers.  I have included a list of the purchasers below. Please consult the digital image for full details as to which items were purchased by each person. Several of the purchasers names are listed multiple times and I have listed them as shown but am unsure if this is two separate persons by the same name or an additional listing.

Purchasers

Thomas Pool

Wm Smith

John Cuth

Absalom Kimbro

Woodson Daniel

Joseph Sneed

Wm Griffin

Joseph Norwood

Wm Norwood

Robert Norwood

Dudley Mingy

Wm Smith

John Elliot

Absalom Hunt

Wm Robards

Wheeler Grissom

Morris Smith

Allen Morgan

Salley Cooke

Saml S. Downey

Martha Cooke

Wm Mallany

James Hunt

Patsey Hunt

William Bullock

William Stovall

John Burriss

Thos B Littlejohn

Jesse H. Cobb

John Cuth

Howel Satterwhite

Mat Nichols

Cluster Research in the Revolutionary War Pension Files

I've been digging in the Revolutionary Pension files at Fold3 lately and reading some of the files of the FAN club of my ancestors.  There is much information in those files about when the soldier and his family moved on to other areas.  Kimbrough Ogilvie's(my 4th great granduncle) file contains details of his move from Granville Co NC to Bedford Co TN and then on to Kentucky.

Source: https://www.fold3.com/file/25355335/kimbrough-ogilvie-page-1-revolutionary-war-pensions
Veteran: Ogilvie, Kimbrough  Service: N.C.  Pension Number: S. 14050
Record Group 15: NARA M804. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files.

Blackwell researchers might be interested in the Revolutionary Pension file of John Blackwell. I'm interested in his file because Blackwells married into the Shem Cook(e) YDNA line and that line is the one our Cooke YDNA most closely matches. According to John Blackwell's statement he was born abt 1755 in Culpepper Co VA.  When he went into service during the Revolutionary War, he was living in Burk Co NC.  He moved from Burk Co NC to Abbeville Co SC in 1784 and from there in 1797 or 1798 to Franklin Co GA.  John's statement which was given in 1836 says that he removed from Franklin Co GA to Hickman Co TN about 18 years ago which would make the move about 1818.

Source:  https://www.fold3.com/image/12026579/john-blackwell-page-1-us-revolutionary-war-pensions-1800-1900

Veteran: Blackwell, John   Service: N.C.  Pension Number: S. 2083

Record Group 15: NARA M804. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files.

Check out the Revolutionary War page of the FamilySearch wiki.  The time period prior to 1850 Census records can be difficult to research but finding where your family was in the early 1800s can help you to locate more records and further your research.  

Cooke family info in Rev War Pension of Harwood Pope's Widow

Sworn statement by Shemuel Cook of Franklin Co NC August 4th 1843 which was included in the Revolutionary Pension Application File of Elizabeth Bowers Pope(widow of Harwood Pope)

Source:  https://www.fold3.com/image/25885037/harwood-pope-page-25-us-revolutionary-war-pensions-1800-1900

This 1840 US Federal Census Entry for Franklin Co NC shows a Shemuel Cook who is likely the same one in the above affidavit.

From page 27 of the previously mentioned pension file at Fold3 is a letter from Wm H Strother to Mr. H. W. Brummell  (transcribed below)

Source:  https://www.fold3.com/image/25885063/harwood-page-27-us-revolutionary-war-pensions-1800-1900


Mr. H W Brummell Louisburg 12th Aug 1843

Sir

Annexed is the certificate
of Shemuel Cooke relative to the marriage of
Harwood Pope. Mr. Cooke was that the marriage
but is unable to state the precise time but is
confident it took place within the time specified
on the certificate. The marriage can be established
by three other persons one of them Claiborne
Cooke the brother of Shemuel who resides in Granville
County. The other two are Rhody Jones & Katherine
Hill both of the county. Should the certificate
of Shemuel Cooke be insufficient I will attend
to the taking of the others immediately after hearing
from you. I shall however be absent from home
about three weeks--neither of the three above
mentioned recollect the precise time when the marriage
took place but were all present and witnessed it.


Mr. Shemuel Cooke is a man of good
character and his statement on oath would not
be questioned where he is known. My Mother was present but of tender years she has no particular
recollection of the time further than she was told that she
was eight years old. I concluded not
to take her certificate. present me to my Aunt


Yours Respectfully
Wm H. Strother

Using DNAPainter for analysis of a Mystery DNA Group

Within my families DNA match results, my siblings and me have shared DNA with the descendants of John William Jones and his wife Lydia William Jones.  I've not yet been able to determine the exact connection but I have used the WATO tree tools at DNA Painter to get a visual of the matches and the amounts at which they match us.  I used my shared cM amounts in the image shown below and have edited out the names of the matches. We match thru 4 different children of John and Lydia(at least...these are all that I have found represented so far).  I should note that Leona(Oliver's sister) married the brother of Oliver's wife.  By looking at shared matches I can tell that the connection is somewhere in the ancestry of my paternal Great Grandfather, William Green Cook(1854-1944).  It looks likely that it is on his mother's side(the Putmans) likely two or more generations further back.  

Also if I look at the shared cM chart I can get an idea of what relationships that amount of shared DNA might represent.

Comparing my own tree and those of this group of matches I can rule out anything closer than 3rd Cousins and I feel like the most likely would be somewhere between 4th Cousin thru 7C1R.  

Using the chromosome painter tool at DNAPainter I can further see that the shared DNA is with the Putman & Tyler Descendants.  This is shown here in their comparison with the DNA they all share with me but holds true for their comparison with my other siblings as well.  The marked painted segments below contain Cook / Putman cousins, Putman / Tyler cousins and several of the Jones / Williams DNA matches who have uploaded their DNA to sites which have a chromosome browser.

I hope to do more research on the mystery matches Ancestral Couple(& their ancestors) to see where they cross paths.  I'm wondering if it might be a Quaker segment.

These are just some of the tools which I find very useful that are available at DNAPainter.  There are many great resources for DNA analysis located there. I am a subscriber and find it very useful to my research(especially since I manage multiple tests.)  I would recommend at least setting up a free account there and trying it out to see if it is helpful to your research. For more information on DNAPainter and the Shared cM Project please visit the site.  The site help tools are wonderful and there is also a Facebook group as well as a blog.