FamilySearch & Ancestry.com

I have mixed feelings about the collaboration of FamilySearch & Ancestry.com. Sure it is exciting in some ways...but in others its a let down.

Personally, I feel it was a move on Ancestry.com's part to keep from having a competitor who was giving away what Ancestry.com was selling. Granted the census records are only a small portion of what Ancestry subscribers get, they are probably the most valuable in that the census records cover the largest area. Some yrs back I had an Ancestry.com subscription but the most valueable part of that subscription was the census records. This might have been because most of my ancestors were in TN early on and they really don't have alot to offer for that area database wise. I no longer have the need for an Ancestry.com subscription as I have access to HeritageQuest census images. I would hope that this venture will allow FamilySearch to get the indexes online alot faster than they would have had this not been an option. While I've been helping with indexing for FamilySearch I am not sure if I will continue. I will most likely be one of those who will be checking the index at FamilySearch and then locating the Images at HQ.

More on Jim's Michigan Ancestry

I've been working on Jim's Leonard lines with another Leonard researcher. We both feel there is a connection though we've not been able to narrow it down just yet.

Thomas H. Leonard has his Uncle John living with his family in the 1900 Cheboygan Co. MI census. I believe I may have found Thomas Leonard & brothers(if this is him) living with his father in 1880 census. It also appears given the age that this Uncle John & wife were living next door. If this is him then finding the names of John's parents on his death records from 1901 in Cheboygan should give me John & Thomas's Dad's parent's names. Now to write for that.

I received Irving Piercie Sutherland's Naturalization papers. While it wasn't overly revealing it did feel in some blanks we had and verified information.

More Breakthrus on Jim's Michigan Lines

Still working with Jim's Michigan lines(Shallow & Buchanan) and have made major finds with the help of two great sites:

• Family Search Labs


• Searchme.com

At the Family Search Labs site
Michigan Births 1867-1902
Michigan Deaths 1867-1897
Michigan Marriages 1868-1925
Washington Death Certificates, 1907-1960
Also brought up a transcription of the Allice Shallow Wm Buchanan Marriage.

The Searchme.com site helped me to find the death date of Oliver Shallow listed on a WIGenWeb page though he died in MI and had lived in Arkansas. I was also able to find census entries for Oliver's daughter who lived in WI.

Michigan research today(yes I know that's not southern.)

Very productive day. I had gotten an email from Karren Salminen who is researching a William Buchanan. Karren went on to explain that she had a marriage record which showed that her William Buchanan must have married Allice Shallow before marrying her grandmother but that the age for William Buchanan was off by six yrs or so on the marriage certificate. I wrote explaining that Jim's Gr Gr grandfather Frank Buchanan who married a Julia Shallow had a brother named William and asked if Wm. Buchanan might have had a brother named Frank. I had not really done any research on who Wm Buchanan had married or what children he might have had. Karren replied that her grandfather didn't have any brothers. I received another email from Karren with a copy of the marriage entry which showed that this Wm. Buchanan's parents were John Buchanan & Ellen Lincoln. This meant that this Wm. Buchanan was indeed a brother to Frank as that was also Frank's parents' names. Then just below that it showed the name of Allice's parents. Allice's parents were also Julia Shallow's parents!! So two Buchanan Brothers married two Shallow sisters. I'd not had any luck with the census entries for the 1900 census for Frank's mother(she remarried) or Frank...but with this new info I was able to find census entries for the both of them and also for Wm. 's family. Allice never appeared in a census with her parents because she was born in 1883 and was living with Frank & Julia in 1900. Seems that by 1910 Wm's family had moved along with his Mom & Stepdad to Washington State but by the 1920 census Allice was widowed and again living with her sister and brother in law in Oakland Co. MI. Without having gotten a copy of that marriage I probably wouldn't have been able to find Frank and may have never pursued research on his brother William so I'm doubly in debt to Karren for sending me that info. I don't believe that this Wm. is the one which Karren was looking for but I do intend to try and help find him. I also want to know what happened to William Buchanan and family in Washington.

Unclaimed Persons --Rootstelevision

I absolutely love this idea and it shows that genealogist have skills beyond seeking out their own ancestry.

Genealogy Researcher uncovers Hoax

Genealogy in the News
This is a sad story but shows that genealogy research
is just more than a hobby and can be used for seeking out
truths.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080229/ap_on_re_us/holocaust_book_hoax