Genealogy Software

I started researching my family history back in 1990. At that time I didn't have a home computer. That changed in 1994. I was working and attending college(yes I've made a career out of going to school) so I didn't have much free time. The first software I used to organize my research was the "blue screen" version of what would become Family Tree Maker. Over the years I have only upgraded my software 3 times. I really couldn't see buying each version as it came out when the version I had did what I wanted it to do so basically I stuck with that version until I upgraded my Operating System and the software wouldn't work on it. I think I went from the Blue Screen version(I can't remember what number that was), to FTM 3. Then I had FTM 6 forever and a day. From that I went to FTM 10 which I've had for about 4 years. This software does everything I want to do(and more that I don't bother doing). I've tried other software through their free version or their demo and just never really liked them. The ones I recall right off the top of my head are Legacy, Brother's Keeper, TMG and PAF. None of them were as easy to follow as FTM. TMG was nice in the fact that you could customize it provided you had the free time to do that. I plan on staying with FamilyTreeMaker 10 until I have to change from Windows XP. Not sure what I will do then as I do not like any of the FTM versions after FTM 10.
FTM versions after FTM 10 feel like more of a marketing tool than anything else.

Elisha Miller Robinson(1825-1896)

In my search for a subject for my blog I began looking over photographs of stones in the Arkadelphia Cemetery here in Cullman Co. Alabama which I'd photographed several years ago. My daughter has several paternal ancestors resting there(mostly Hoglands). As I walked through the cemetery, the gravestone of Elisha M. Robinson had caught my eye and I made sure we got a picture of his and his wife's gravestones. Later while reviewing the photographs I noticed another Robinson. I had taken a picture of Emma Robinson McAnnally's stone(the McAnnally surname is another from this area in my daughter's paternal lines). Emma, as fate would have it, was the daughter of Elisha & Nancy E. Duncan Robinson.


With the information from Elisha's stone I went looking for records online so that I could learn more about him and his family. There is a good bit online about him though some of it is hard to follow.


Elisha Miller Robinson was most likely the son of Joseph A. Robinson & Betsey Miller of South Carolina. He is enumerated in Chattooga Co. GA in the 1850 census with his 1st wife Emily Caroline Stamper and 3 of their children--Jacob A. Robinson, Joseph Taylor Robinson and James Peyton Robinson.







His first wife Emily died in 1853 according to files at WorldConnect


He married Nancy E. Duncan 17 AUG 1854 in Floyd Co GA and moved the family to the town of Arkadelphia Alabama which at that time was in Walker Co. AL.(present day area of Cullman Co.). They are enumerated in the 1860 Walker Co AL census in Arkadelphia Alabama






You can read more about Elisha Miller Robinson's Civil War Service at
the following link.


Elisha Miller Robinson's life in Civil war Prison Camp--


Story from Archaeology.com magazine about Elisha Miller Robinson's life in a Civil War Prison Camp--as told by Dr. William B. Gresham, Jr., Birmingham, AL



A bit of info in the images at Footnote.com list the following

Elisha Robinson Civil War AL 13th Infantry

Description 5'10"

Fair Complexion

Dark Hair

Dark Eyes

Captured in Vicksburg Miss July 4 1863


Just doing a quick search I did not find the family in 1870 though they were in Blount Co. AL in 1880.






Pictures of gravestones relating to this family online at my SEROOTS site.


Elisha Miller Robinson

Born:    26 Feb 1825

Died:    08 Jan 1896

Buried: Arkadelphia Cemetery 



1st Wife--Emily Caroline Stamper

Born:   11 April 1827

Married:  29 Jan 1845 Chattooga Co GA

[source: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/chattooga/vitals/nzbride.txt]
Died:   19 Jan 1853



Children of Elisha Miller Robinson & Emily Caroline Stamper

Jacob A Robinson
          
B 19 Nov 1845

D 15 Jan 1895



Joseph Taylor Robinson

B 19 May 1847

D



James Paton Robinson

B 24 Jan 1849

D 14 Apr 1929 Cullman Co. AL

[Source: Film number: 1908465 Reference number: cn 10177
Collection: Alabama Statewide Deaths 1908-1974 ]



2nd Wife--Nancy E Duncan

Born:    8 Jan 1829

Married:  17 AUG 1854 in Floyd Co. GA

[Source: Vol. A (2nd volume) 1852-1873 FHL US/CAN Film 282712 ]

Died:  26 Sept. 1897

Buried in Arkadelphia Cem.



Children of Elisha Miller Robinson & Nancy E Duncan



Thomas Franklin Robinson 

B 18 July 1855

D 14 April 1926



Thomas Franklin Robinson's Bio from Notable Men of Alabama

--


John Robinson

B

D



Emily Robinson (wife of Allison Cicero McAnnally)

B 11 Oct 1858

D 12 Nov 1912

Emma Robinson McAnnally is enumerated in the Bryce Hospital for the mentally ill in Tuscaloosa AL at the time of the 1900 census. One of the stones located at Arkadelphia cemetery is that of her infant son, Elisha McAnnally. No doubt that played a big part in her mental state. She also lost several family members during the time period from 1895 to 1900.



Very interesting family to follow across the years.

What's in a name?

My favorite names from 18 years of census research.

• Male: Hugh Askew


• Female: Fannie Pack

Looking for Leonards

	This is a known picture of Margaret Jane Leonard Buchanan( daughter of Thomas H. Leonard & Jane McHugh)
	I believe this is Margaret from the picture shown below.

This picture is most likely that of the Thomas H. Leonard family. The notes shown on the pic were made by me with info from their census entries. Click on the picture for a larger version. I am trying to locate a descendant of Mary Leonard Bassett who posted to the Rootsweb message boards in 1999 but have yet to get a current email addy on her. (her name is Tammy Meyer of the Dearborn Heights MI area.

Brickwall Monday

Days like yesterday(Monday) make me realize how lucky I am. Not that anything bad happened..far from that. I awoke at 5a.m. Monday morning and started through my usual routine. Make coffee, check email, do a little genealogy before it's time to get my daughter up and ready for school. Jim and I will be married two years in mid Feb. I've been researching his family history for about a year now. While we have lots of pictures of the older generations we don't have an inkling who most of the older ones are. I'd been thinking about that and feeling like the only way I could find out who those people were was to get back a generation or two on his Sutherland & Irving lines. These are the lines of his great grandparents: James Sutherland and Anna Gertrude Irving. We have pictures of Anna in her wedding dress and several others taken around the same time which have photographers markings or identification from Ontario Canada. Most of them are from the Woodstock area so I had a fairly good idea of where the family was from but given the popularity of the surname and nothing to go on to help identify that I had the correct family it seemed a bit hopeless. I typed the search terms Sutherland, Irving, Woodstock and Oxford into Google Search.

The result was pretty amazing. The 2nd listing was the link to
The Ontario Vital Statistics Project
and the marriage info of James & Anna. I'd known from their 1910
census entry that they were married in 1903. So not only did I get the exact date, but also the names of James parents and Annie's as well. From there I've found census entries for both families and will be working my way back. I posted a few queries yesterday to another researcher who seems to be looking at the same lines earlier on but since their post is from abt. 10 yrs ago I don't hold much hope in hearing anything back from them.

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maryc/oxford03p2.htm


014784-03 ( Oxford Co) James SUTHERLAND , 26 , machinist , Woodstock , Hamilton , s/o William SUTHERLAND & Elspeth MILNE , married Annie G. IRVING , 24 , Drumbo , Woodstock ,d/o Pierce IRVING & Anna KEELER , witn: W.J. SUTHERLAND of Woodstock & Margaret McKAY of Hamilton , 30 Mar 1903 at Woodstock.

1881 Blenheim, Oxford North, Ontario  Canada Dist 166 Sub-dist  G  Div  2 Pg 80 HH # 380
NA Film Number      C-13268
Piercie IRVING   M   Male Scottish   40  Scotland  Farmer C. Presbyterian
Annie IRVING   M   Female Scottish  36  O.         C. Presbyterian
Robert IRVING        Male   Scottish   12  O.         C. Presbyterian
Arthur IRVING         Male   Scottish   7  O.         C. Presbyterian
John IRVING         Male   Scottish   4  O.         C. Presbyterian
Annie IRVING         Female Scottish   2  O.         C. Presbyterian
George KEELER         Male   Scottish   21 O.  Farmer C. Presbyterian

1901 Woodstock, Oxford North, Ontario Canada (#101) F-9 Page 10
37 104     Irving Piercie M  Head     M     Aug 2     1839     61    
38 104     Irving Anna F     Wife     M     Jul 13     1839     61
39 104     Irving Arthur W. M  Son S     Apr 29     1876     24
40 104     Irving John B. M Son     S     Nov 15     1878     22
41 104     Irving Anna F     Dau     S     Oct 10     1880     20

Time is flying....but my research seems to be standing still.

I have been so busy with the holidays, school projects(mine & Brittany's) and with finals coming up haven't had much time at all for Genealogy. I'm hoping that during the time between semesters I can write up some reports on some of my brickwalls so that I have a mission plan. Writing a synopsis of what I have and where I'm at in research on a specific line has helped me several times to think through things and come up with new ideas on where to search. Two things that have helped me most are researching a direct ancestors siblings and looking at the neighbors from their census entries. Hopefully I will be kicking some idea around over the holidays.