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.

Pioneers Identified

I just got an email today letting me know that Family Search had identified some of my ancestors as Mormon Pioneers. They sent me a link to a page with each ancestor listed along with the company that they had traveled with across the plains and a link to trail stories for that company.

Great to see they are pulling this information together for us just in time for Pioneer Day (July 24) in Utah. Maybe they got the idea from me? :-)  I created a site with the same kind of information back in 2010.

http://ourpioneerheritage.wikispaces.com

It has had a few additions over the years and still isn't quite finished in my mind but it shows my 21 ancestors - along with the years, where they began their journey from (including the ships they emigrated on if I could find them), images, dates and specific quotes about them if the company records or some other member in the company included them. Family Search only identified 11 of the 21, and is having some issues with the trail experiences link (which I'm sure is getting sorted out as I post this). But it is a great start for many who don't have someone in their family who decided to spend a Sunday afternoon (and a few more after that) to create a site like I did as part of my Personal Progress when I was a Young Woman's leader in the Richmond Ward.

If you have an account on Family Search (it is FREE), you may receive an email like mine. Go and check it out. If you don't see all the ancestors you think you should have, you may need to link up some families to get back a bit further. But if you are in my family, please do check out the wiki above and explore the pages and the stories.

Part of the grand design was to add the following:

A larger quiz / did you know? section of the site
Some Family Home Evening ideas (or lesson)
An interactive map
A slideshow presentation
A section of Faith-promoting anecdotes suitable for using in lessons or talks

Anyone have some free time and want to help with these?  Or you can all just wait - maybe tell me in the comments what would be most useful or interesting for you and it might be next on the agenda! If the Family History Centre is quiet tonight, I may get started.

That reminds me, I work every Tuesday night at the Family History Centre on 17th Avenue SW in Calgary. If you are interested in learning more about researching your family tree, please drop by and we can get you started. Or if you just want a place to work where you can ask a question once in a while, come and use one of our computers to add some names to your tree. Or if you want to look at some old records not even available online yet (while a lot if online - there is much that is still only available on microfilm), we can help you do that too!

Pioneer Day

Pioneer Day
Originally uploaded by David B.

In honour of July 24, Pioneer Day.

I have made a wiki with the names of those ancestors on the Toone and Puzey lines that crossed the plains to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley. Mostly a list and links now but hopefully this will continue to be a place to make their stories come to life.
http://ourpioneerheritage.wikispaces.com/

Family Search Labs

The Calgary Family History Center held a workshop last week to review the tools at Family Search Labs. Some are currently available and others are in development. The tool I was particularly interested in was the Family Search Research Wiki. I didn't find too much on first glance in a specific way but the fact that all the research guides and general tools are found in one place is a great start. As links and resources are added, this will be a rich resource. Going to the workshop also reminded me that I want to get back into the indexing project. Anyone can volunteer to help digitize the archival records to assist in search efforts. The site has really improved since I first got in and tried it out. More research helps in deciphering the writing and a lot more projects are underway. We spent some time with the Standard Finder with mixed feelings. I like the idea that I can see variations on spelling - not to correct but to assist in my own searches. I don't see it as a correction tool and agreement on a standard may be difficult in some cases, but it will at least allow you to see what has been used by others. I have a hard time being consistent in my own records and this is something I need to be more conscientious in my record keeping.

For now, I find these tools are designed to be very useful in the future but other sites like Cyndi's list and tools available with my Ancestry.com subscription meet most of these needs now.

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!!

The Hunter Family Home

Task number one on Wednesday - Locate the Hunter residence

I realized looking at my list for the upcoming visit to the Salt Lake Cemetary is that this final resting place means there was also a residence before ending up there. I already knew the address for Emma Prosser Toone and have found the home and taken photographs on previous trips. But I had never thought to locate the Hunter home. So that was the goal. I didn't ask any questions (I have lost my voice and charades wasn't an appealing option). I just started searching for something that might lead me in the right direction. Maybe there was some family sketch or history for this family. No luck. Maybe I could find a directory or list of early residences. Well, that possibly exists but nothing I was searching could lead me to what I wanted. I just kept looking - ended up on Ancestry.com and this is where I found a record for 1880 that listed Elizabeth Hunter (widow of Adam Hunter) and her address as 703 East 1st South. I tried to look for this on Google map - found what I thought might be the address and changed to Street View but it didn't look like the houses remained in that location.



Today - I drove over, hopeful as I got closer and saw a number of homes that appeared to be from the same period. No such luck. This is what I found!


This is where 703 East 1st (100) South would be. No Hunter home standing.

Random Searching

One drawback of having as many files and good intentions but no system of organization is that I didn't exactly know what I wanted to accomplish on Day 2 of being at the Family History Library. Okay - no system of organization isn't exactly accurate, what is really going on is multiple systems of organization with at least 1/3 of my material in a "need to file" state. But how should I file something that could go in multiple locations and with my binder/file/digital systems, I don't really know what I ought to be doing next. I have used binders successfully in the past but nothing was ready for me to grab in this way for this trip. So I found myself with a day at the library and a few ideas and hoping that I would be inspired to do what was useful.

It all ended up with some success. I'll post a few things I did separately for searching purposes, and I ended up happy but motivated to do better the next time. Time at this library is valuable and I hate to think I wasn't as productive as I could have been but it is all a part of the process for me. I'm excited about attending a class on Organizing here at the library that may solve some of my problems!

Post practices

• I will try to line photos up with a bit more finesse.


• I will try to post weekly since my goal is to engage in some kind of family history activity at least that often.


• I will try to represent all four family lines and tag them appropriate so you can follow your own line of interest.


• I will gladly accept suggestions and content! (and considering the haphazard nature of my first post - CORRECTIONS).

I just hope that this is a way for me to motivate myself to do more and hopefully to clarify with others what might need some attention.

Bonus picture: Champion grain elevators (photo effect - watercolour)