Richard Sperry in Puzzilla

Puzzilla Ancestral Chart

January 8, 2019 - I'm back at the Family History Centre for my Tuesday evening shift - our first shift after the Christmas break and everything is breaking down on us. Makes for some excitement. My computer lost the network connection and none of my shortcuts or Chrome work. The lightbulbs in the computer room were burnt out and now the printer is offline.

But I'm busy with my latest discovery. I haven't looked at Puzzilla for some time and thought I would see how things were looking these days. I typically use this site to link to my FamilySearch tree and then explore the descendancy lines to fill in more of the collateral lines - cousins, aunts and uncles along my direct line.

This time I went directly to my Dad's line and looked at the ancestral chart.  Just a quick glance and it is obvious where I may need to do some clean up of duplicate relationships/names. (circled in green above)  This represents the families of the Richard Sperry (1606 - 1698) and his son Richard Sperry (1652-1734). I did some searching on this name as it was familiar and spent the next hour reading multiple websites recounting the history of the family in early America and the connection to two of  the 59 judges who signed the execution order for King Charles 1 and escaped to America to avoid a rather nasty execution - at some point taking shelter in what is now called "Judges Cave" near their home and being sustained by Richard Sperry or his son.

If you want to learn a little more, check out these two genealogical pages.

Richard Sperry in WikiTree
Richard Sperry in the Evans Family WebPage
Richard Sperry in CommonHeroes3

So instead of successfully cleaning up this issue with my tree, I enjoyed my time learning more about my ninth great grandparent.

That is okay because I am looking forward to learning more about how to clean up issues (merging records, restoring records and cleaning up the attached sources) in my FamilyTree on FamilySearch at the January 24th community class put on by the Family History Centre. Cleaning up records that have been duplicated, merged and have multiple links and problems is one of the most time consuming and often frustrating parts of dealing with a common family tree. A little extra help and information can help me avoid adding to the confusion. The class begins at 7:00 pm if you are interested in coming along. You can register ahead of time at http://genwebworks.net/cfhc.htm or just show up - you will be welcome!

If you are interested in learning how to use Puzzilla and setting up your own FamilyTree with a free FamilySearch account, drop by the Family History Centre - there are friendly volunteers here to help you.

The Story of Us: the Root Family

Jasper and Lillie Root on their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

Ernie, Margie, Ray, Glen, Russell, Gordon, Viola, Jessie, Jack with their parents Jasper and Lillie Root. 

An amazing collection of stories and history of the Root Family compiled by Roy, Leon and others making contributions. You can order the books from the Lulu self publishing website.

"In the Beginning"  The history of the Root family and Gray family from their beginnings in England, and their role in the early history of the United States and on to Canada.  This is volume one with 247 pages.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/roy-root/the-story-of-us/hardcover/product-21364556.html

"Alberta: a time to reflect"   The stories of the family of Jasper and Lillie Root collected through interviews, photos and documents.  This is volume two with 515 pages.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/roy-root/story-part-2/hardcover/product-21386578.html

Why I really need the class Thursday!

Task number two...



After finding the Hunter home, I wanted to update my searches for any printed family histories related to the names in my line. I found 5 possibilities to pull off the shelves and explore to determine if there was a connection.

I quickly eliminated 3 of the books. The fourth I was sure I had previously looked at and had the same information in my own records.

The last was a history of the Gray family. It was clearly a match with the Grays in my line - through my Root family line. Jasper Edward Root had married Lillie Cora Gray. These were my great grandparents. Lillie had remarried later in life with Harry Bly and had done some good work on her family line. Some of her records were passed down to my father and then to me.

But as I turned the pages, scanning the contents and noting which sections of the book I wanted to make copies of, I realized I have a Gray family history at home. Much thinner. Different looking? Or was it just the format that was throwing me off? I don't know what I have. And I should because how will I ever move forward and make progress if I just keep finding what I already have and should know.

Well, I considered not copying the pages but I figured that $4.50 was not much to ensure that I take home what I found and if duplication occurs, I'll just count it as a back up copy and lesson learned. I hope.

One thing I discovered was the possibility that the Gray line is really a line with a different surname! The last Gray listed on the line was apparently orphaned and adopted by Gray and it isn't clear whether he was a relative with the same surname or not. More to learn about this!!