Thursday 19 July 2012

Lions and tigers and brick walls..oh my

It happens to the best of us, almost every genealogist has had one of these very frustrating "brick walls". Unfortunately I have had the opportunity of running into some in my tree, and after hours and days of hacking away at it, I finally can break through a few discovering so much I never knew about my family.

One of the most common reasons for hitting that "brick wall" could be the spelling of names. Double check your current spelling and consider other spellings. Through the years names can change in different ways, or you could have read a document with writing that you could not understand.

There are many other reasons you could run into this horribly frustrating walls in your tree, but you will feel so accomplished once you eventually get through them. Make sure you also check different websites before taking a break from the wall. Alot of websites sometimes have more information than others. Ancestry.ca and Family Search are my favorites for digging around in. Also if you are doing searching closer to home, your local library would be your best bet. If you are stuck in other countries on your tree you can always check to see if that country has a genealogy society of some sort or a historical society that you could email to request help. I've done this also.

My last and most important tip on "brick walls" Do not get frustrated and don't give up. Maybe just take a break from that part of your tree and work on another area for a while.

Cyndi's list has some good info on hitting brick walls





Wednesday 18 July 2012

Schenectady massacre

I decided to write on this topic after my discovery of being a relation to the late Vrooman family of Vrooman's Land, Schoharie, New York, USA. So I guess this Canadian Genealogist has some American roots as the Vrooman family were one of the first settlers of New Amsterdam.
 Engeltie Barentse Blom was born to swedish parents in  New york on May 12, 1652, she married Adam Hendricksz Vrooman. They had at least 6 children with at least one young one being killed in the massacre.

Here is a list of those killed or kidnapped in the attack  (taken from another website) I highlighted and underlined  the ones I am related to. Are you related to any of the first settlers of New Amsterdam?

Settlers Killed and Captured
This is a list of people who were killed and captured by the French and Canadian Indians who invaded Schenectady, NY on the 9th of February 1689/90 that was posted on the Dutch Colonies Mail List.

YE PEOPLE KILD AND DESTROYED BY YE FRENCH OF CANIDA AND
THERE INDIANS AT SKINNECHTADY TWENTY MILES TO YE
WESTWARD OF ALBANY BETWEEN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY YE
9TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 1689/1690


Aertse, Jorls shott and burnt 1

Alexander, Robt souldr of Capt. Bulls shott 1

Alolff, Mary wife of Cornelis Viele Junr Shott 1

Andries, Daniel & George 2 souldiers of Capt Bull 2

Bratt, Ands Arentse shott & Burnt & also his childn 2

Christoffelse, David & his wife with 4 Children all burnt in there house 6

Church, Serjt of Capt Bull's Compy 1

de Goyer, Jan Roeloffse burnt in ye house 1

Gerritse, Sander ye sonne of Hysbert Gerritse kild & burnt 1

Grant, Ralph a souldler in ye fort shott 1

Harmense, Frans kild 1

Hessellng, Robt shott 1

Jansse, Barent Killd & Burnd his sonne kild 2

Janz, Antje doughter of Jan Spoor kild & burnt 1
Marc ellis, Gerritt and his Wife & childe kiled 3

Pleterse, Wm kild 1

Potman, Joh: kild his wife kild & her scalp taken off 2

Schaets, Reynier and his sonne kild 2

Skermerhoorn, Johannes ye sonne of Symon 1

3 negroes of Symon Skernerhoorn 3

Talmidge, Enos Leift of Capt Bull kild & burnt 1

Tassemaker, Dome Petrus ye Minister kild & burnt In his house 1

Teunise, Sweer shott & burnt his wife kild & burmt 2

4 negroes of ye said Sweer Teunise ye same death 4

Van Eps, Jan and his sonne & 2 of his chilkren kild 4

a negro of dito Van Eps 1

Viele, Mary wife of Dowe Aukes & her 2 children killd 3

and his negro Woman Francyn 1

Vroman, Engel the wife of Adam Vroman shot & burnt her child the brains dashed out against ye wall 2

Vroom an, Hind Meese & Bartholomeus kild & burnt 2
2 negroes of Hind Meese ye same death 2


Wemp, Myndert killd 1
a french girl Prisoner among ye Mohogs kild 1

a Maquase Indian kild 1
In all 60

LYST OF YE PERSONS WHICH YE FRENCH AND THERE INDIANS HAVE
TAKEN PRISONERS ATT SKINNECHTADY AND CARIED TO CANIDA
YE 9TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 1689/90

Baptist, Jan sonne of Jan Van Epps 1

Bouts, Stephen adopted sonne of Geertje Bouts 1

Burt, David belonging to Capt Bull's Compe 1

Gerritse, Stephen ye sonne of Gysbert Gerritse 1

Groot, Abraham, Claes, Dyrck, Phillip & Symon

all 5 sonnes of Symon Groot 5

Harmense, Claes sonne of Franse Harmense 1

Janse, Arnout sonne of Paulyn Janse 1

Marks, Joseph of ye Capt Bull's Compe 1

Purmurent, Lawrence sohne of Claes Lawrence Purmurent

Switts, Isaak Connellse & his eldest Sonne 2

Teller, Johannes and his negro 2

Vedder, Albert & Johannes sonnes of harme Vedder 2

V iele, Arnout ye sonne of Arnout Corn Viele ye Interpr 1

Vroman, Barent ye sonne of Adam Vroman & ye neger 2
Webb, John a souldier Belonging to Capt Bull 1

Wemp, John sonne of Myndt Wemp & 2 negroes 3

a negro of Barent Janse
In all 27

Tuesday 17 July 2012

My discovery of Bernard of Italy

Hey folks, its been a very hot busy summer this year I missed my weekend website review. I'll return to that this coming weekend.

I am currently looking for some good genealogy books, so if you have any recommendations please feel free to comment and let me know. I'm looking for one that deals with online genealogy. I love learning and I collect alot of genealogy books.

Okay so I've been sitting around working on my tree and discovered I am related to Bernard of Italy. He seems to be an interesting fellow. And I can't even imagine what life would have been like in 797. I am glad I was not born then! Apparently poor Bernard was blinded because it was believed that he was plotting against family members. Poor guy died is agony from being blinded with a red hot stiletto to the eyeballs. 
And yes folks, it is possible to get that far back in your tree if you work hard at it. It takes time and patience as well. 

Saturday 23 June 2012

Weekend Website Review & Rating

Well I was gonna wait on this review and see if things would get better for my genealogy friend concerning this website. Todays rating and review is Geni.com

If you are looking to keep your information private on that site, forget it. They have some sort of status for people called curator. A curator can basically do whatever they please on the site including changing dates, names etc of people on your tree without your permission they can also merge profiles in your tree with other profiles without your permission. They can also recreate/restore your entire tree and pictures after you have deleted your tree. Which goes against Geni.com's Terms of Service agreement. Anyone can be a curator. Your neighbour or the strange man down the street can be one and get all of your information. This website is also not registered with TrustE

I do have a friend who has experienced a true horror story concerning this site and I will write about it one of these days soon.

I took a look at this website myself for genealogy purposes. It does have a nice layout, easy on the eyes and easy to navigate. You can also get your own gedcom exported at this website. Unfortunately the fact of the curators on the site going against Terms Of Service and privacy rules, it looks to be a nice site that can draw any genealogist in. I would not trust alot of the stuff that is posted as this site does not have listed census records and such.

I rate this website on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being awesome....a 2!

Sorry folks, when it all comes down to it, you want to work on a trusted website that lists actual facts and good admin to help when needed and not forced. Genealogist do like privacy for the living relatives and this site looks to have a block feature but like I said Curators are above any other user there and can access the private stuff on anyone's tree. Becareful.

Saturday 16 June 2012

Weekend Website Review & Rating

Ancestry.ca has got to be my favorite genealogy website. Its excellent in many different ways but I find it great for people just starting off. Its easy to navigate, and easy to expand your tree in very little time. To all you new people out there, just dont rely on hints. Looks for actual records with proof of that family member you are searching I came across a few of my actual living relatives on ancestry. This is a very excellend website and they also offer a DNA service that Im on a waiting list for.

So I give this website a 9/10 for experts and beginners alike.



Monday 11 June 2012

My Passion

Well, I've seen alot of blogs on genealogy so I figured I would try my hand at it and see how it goes. Let me introduce myself and how I got started.....

I am a  Canadian Genealogist, my passion in genealogy all started in my grade 9 history class when my teacher became very interested in my background due to my last name. He engaged me in conversation about my last name being Polish. Little did I know then, I was far from Polish. We did family trees and talked in class about our backgrounds. This teacher made everything about history and where we came from very interesting to learn about. History became one of my best classes. Today I often wish I would have continued on with school and became a historian instead of health care. I also wish I could track down that teacher from long ago and tell him all that I have discovered, I think he would be very impressed.
I love genealogy, I love learning about where we came from, I think its amazing how all of these people came together and eventually came together to make you. I love the different stories that you can discover about each family in your tree. I love learning how they came to North America. Your family tree is like your own personal non-fiction story. Its also something special that generations after you can appreciate and hopefully continue on.

In this blog I will write about different things concerning my genealogy, like different websites, stories, current searches I am doing and other things.