Cluster Theory Clues – Godparents and Collateral Lines

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The Library will be CLOSED Tuesday, December 24, Christmas Eve. and December 25, Christmas Day. We will reopen on the 26th

 

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Genealogy tip for today: Cluster Theory – Godparents and Collateral Lines

 

Yesterday we looked at friends who move and people who will co-sign contracts, or sign as witnesses on documents. These are virtually always people that were important in someone’s life. It would be advantageous to track these folks when tracking the original person isn’t so beneficial.

 

There are some other folks we can look at as well. The ancestor that you are working on, but wants to play hide and seek, may have attended a church that does infant baptisms. It would be helpful of course if you can find out what church they were affiliated with. This once again can be easy or it can be hard.  If you are successful in finding some kind of church association, check and see if the church or denomination baptizes their babies.

 

If you are lucky, or maybe I should say, fortunate – you may find baptismal or christening records. The people that stand as witness to the event are also close and trusted friends, or family members. If you find this kind of a document start working on these people and see if, in the end, your ancestor pops up in other places where the witnesses may have been at one time.

 

Another ‘cluster theory’ possibility is to track collateral lines of the ancestor. This may be siblings, or they may be cousins, or they could be anyone who is related to them. Some times you may find a lot more on the cousin, or sibling than on your own person. If you can find Uncle Bob in Virginia, then maybe your Grampa George will be there too.

 

Throw your net a little wider and see who else you can catch, and who along with them that will open up here-to-fore locked doors and solve the mystery you have been banging at ‘forever’!

 

 

 

“History – it’s who we are; Genealogy – it’s who I am” sg

 

 

If any of these posts are helpful drop us a line in the comments section below. We just want to know if the information we provide to you is helpful in anyway.

 

 

Henry II of England

 

Today in History

 

1154		Henry II is crowned king of England.
1562		The French Wars of Religion between the Huguenots and the Catholics begins with the Battle of Dreux.
1793		French troops recapture Toulon from the British.
1862		Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest begins tearing up the railroads in Union generals Grant and Rosecrans rear, causing considerable delays in the movement of Union supplies.
1900		The French Parliament votes amnesty for everyone involved in the Dreyfus Affair.
1909		American socialist women denounce suffrage as a movement of the middle class.
1941		Japanese land on Hong Kong and clash with British troops.
1941		Adolf Hitler assumes the position of commander in chief of the German army.
1942		The British advance 40 miles into Burma in a drive to oust the Japanese from the colony.
1944		During the Battle of the Bulge, American troops begin pulling back from the twin Belgian cities of Krinkelt and Rocherath in front of the advancing German Army.
1945		Congress confirms Eleanor Roosevelt as U.S. delegate to the United Nations.
1950		The North Atlantic Council names General Dwight D. Eisenhower as supreme commander of Western European defense forces.
1959		Reputed to be the last civil war veteran, Walter Williams, dies at 117 in Houston.
1974		Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as vice president of the United states after a House of Representatives vote.
1982		Four bombs explode at South Africa's only nuclear power station in Johannesburg.
1984		British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang sign an agreement that committed Britain to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 in return for terms guaranteeing a 50-year extension of its capitalist system. Hong Kong was leased by China to Great Britain in 1898 for 99 years.
1998		President Bill Clinton is impeached. The House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment against President Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton was the second president in American history to be impeached.
2001		The highest barometric pressure ever recorded (1085.6 hPa, 32.06 inHg) occurs at Tosontsengel, Khovsgol, Mongolia.
2001		Rioting begins in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the country's economic crisis.
2012		Park Geun-hye elected President of South Korea, the nation's first female chief executive.

Philip V of Spain

 

Birthdays today

1683		Philip V, the first Bourbon King of Spain.
1820		Mary Ashton Livermore, a temperance worker, women's rights activist, lecturer, and writer. Founded her own suffrage paper, the Agitator, in 1869.
1906		Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet General Secretary of the Communist party and President of the Supreme Soviet from 1964 until 1982.
1915		Edith Piaf, internationally famous French cabaret singer, best remembered for her songs "La Vie en rose" and "Non, je ne regrette rein."
1933		Cicely Tyson, actress, best remembered for her role in The Autobiography of Ms. Jane Pittman.
1940		Phil Ochs, singer, songwriter, producer; best known for his protest songs of the 1960s.
1941		Maurice White, singer, songwriter, musician, producer; founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire; member of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
1943		US Marine Corps four-star general James L. Jones Jr.; Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (2003–2006); Commandant of the Marine Corps (1999–2003); National Security Advisor (2009–2010).

 

 

Word for the Day

importune

PRONUNCIATION:

(im-pawr-TOON, im-pawr-TYOON, im-PAWR-chuhn)

 

MEANING:

verb tr.: To ask someone, repeatedly or annoyingly, to do something.

 

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin importunus, from in- (not) + portus (port, refuge). Ultimately from the Indo-European root per- (to lead, pass over), which also gave us support, comport, petroleum, sport, passport, petrify, colporteur (a peddler of religious books), Swedish fartlek (a training technique), Norwegian fjord (bay), and Sanskrit parvat (mountain). Earliest documented use: 1530.

 

USAGE:

"José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, has cast dignity aside and importuned all and sundry with a request to be invited to a conference."
After the Fiesta; The Economist (London, UK); Nov 6, 2008.

Quote for the Day

Love truth, but pardon error. -Voltaire, philosopher and writer (1694-1778)

 

 

 

Today’s Recipe

Holiday Cooking

Christmas Stollen

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast 2/3 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) 1 large egg 1/3 cup white sugar 1/2 tablespoon salt 1/3 cup butter, softened 2 1/2 cups bread flour

1/3 cup currants 1/3 cup sultana raisins 1/3 cup red candied cherries, quartered 2/3 cup diced candied citron 6 ounces marzipan 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1.	In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2.	In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the egg, white sugar, salt, butter, and 2 cups bread flour; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has begun to pull together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead in the currants, raisins, dried cherries, and citrus peel. Continue kneading until smooth, about 8 minutes.
3.	Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
4.	Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the marzipan into a rope and place it in the center of the dough. Fold the dough over to cover it; pinch the seams together to seal. Place the loaf, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
5.	Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), and bake for a further 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow loaf to cool on a wire rack. Dust the cooled loaf with confectioners' sugar, and sprinkle with the cinnamon.

 

 

ENJOY!

 

Now You Know!

 

 

 

Cluster Theory Clues - Witnesses to Wills & Co-signed Loans

Computer Classes every Sat. mornings 10-12. "Open House" Whatever you need. Drop in anytime during those two hours.

The Library will be CLOSED Tuesday, December 24, Christmas Eve. and December 25, Christmas Day. We will reopen on the 26th.

Genealogy tip for today: Cluster Theory - Who witnessed the will?

When you were a kid, did you ever run over to a group a kids that were looking at – wow – something special??? You and your friends all clustered around to see the ‘whatever’. You would ooh and aah over the found treasure!

As adults we still do the same thing – just maybe in more subtle ways, more ‘adult’ ways! You see this a lot in the 1700’s and the 1800’s probably more than in the last century or so. With this in mind, sometimes it is easier to find one person if you can find the other friend. One person may be hard to track, someone else much easier.

In the pioneer days, friends often moved with friends, or at least followed friends. Someone would find the Promised Land and come back and tell all his neighbors and off they go.

How can you tell when this happens? There are a variety of ways. This is a trick that I have used. See if you can find a will on the person you are researching. Now, when you get it, look at the names of those who witnessed the will. Folks do not take any ‘joe blow’ off the street to be a witness to their will. They will find a trusted friend or relative to do so.

Some folks have to have a co-signer for a loan. This, too, would be someone trusted, and most often a relative. If you are lucky and have found papers on a co-signed loan, check to see who co-signed with your person of interest. If you can do research on the co-signer it may help you find information on your ancestor who seems to escapes notice. Look for any other document or contract where there could be additional signers and see if that helps in your search.

Here's an example: Omar Crandall witnessed my proverbial Caleb Trask on his will. They were living in Pennsylvania at this point. I found where Omar Crandall came from in New York, and it is in the same ‘neck of the woods’ where Caleb Trask had once been.

So this is one trick you might try when tracking down someone elusive. Think ‘detective’! Try to pick up on every and any kind of clue you can think of to track down your family.

“History – it’s who we are; Genealogy – it’s who I am” sg

If any of these posts are helpful drop us a line in the comments section below. We just want to know if the information we provide to you is helpful in anyway.

Alfonso the Battler

Today in History

1118 Alfonso the Battler, the Christian King of Aragon captures Saragossa, Spain, causing a major blow to Muslim Spain. 1812 Napoleon Bonaparte arrives in Paris after his disastrous campaign in Russia. 1862 Nathan Bedford Forrest engages and defeats a Federal cavalry force near Lexington in his continued effort to disrupt supply lines. 1862 Union General Ulysses S. Grant announces the organization of his army in the West. Sherman, Hurlbut, McPherson, and McClernand are to be corps commanders. 1865 Slavery is abolished in the United States. The 13th Amendment is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution, ensuring that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." 1915 In a single night, about 20,000 Australian and New Zealand troops withdraw from Gallipoli, Turkey, undetected by the Turks defending the peninsula. 1916 The Battle of Verdun ends with the French and Germans each having suffered more than 330,000 killed and wounded in 10 months. It was the longest engagement of World War I. 1925 Soviet leaders Lev Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev break with Joseph Stalin. 1940 Adolf Hitler issues his secret plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union–Operation Barbarossa. 1941 Defended by 610 fighting men, the American-held island of Guam falls to more than 5,000 Japanese invaders in a three-hour battle. 1941 Japan invades Hong Kong. 1942 Adolf Hitler meets with Benito Mussolini and Pierre Laval. 1944 Japanese forces are repelled from northern Burma by British troops. 1951 North Koreans give the United Nations a list of 3,100 POWs. 1956 Japan is admitted to the United Nations. 1960 A rightist government is installed under Prince Boun Oum in Laos as the United States resumes arms shipments. 1965 U.S. Marines attack VC units in the Que Son Valley during Operation Harvest Moon. 1970 An atomic leak in Nevada forces hundreds of citizens to flee the test site. 1972 President Richard M. Nixon declares that the bombing of North Vietnam will continue until an accord can be reached (Operation Linebacker II). 1989 The European Economic Community and the Soviet Union sign an agreement on trade and economic communication. 2002 California Gov. Gray Davis announces the state faces a record budget deficit; the looming $35 billion shortfall is almost double the amount reported a month earlier during the state's gubernatorial campaign. 2005 Civil war begins in Chad with an rebel assault on in Adre; the rebels are believed to be backed by Chad's neighbor, The Sudan. 2008 United Arab Emirates holds it first-ever elections. 2010 In an opening act of Arab Spring, anti-government protests erupt in Tunisia.

Ty Cobb

Birthdays today

1879		Paul Klee, Swiss abstract painter.
1886		Ty (Tyrus Raymond) Cobb, American baseball player, first man to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1913		Willy Brandt, German political leader. Mayor of Berlin and Chancellor of West Germany.
1946		Steven Spielberg, film director (E.T., Jurassic Park, and Schindler's List).
1963		Brad Pitt, actor (12 Monkeys, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
1978		Katie Holmes, actress (Dawson's Creek TV series, Batman Begins).

Word for the Day: Blandish

PRONUNCIATION:

(BLAN-dish)

MEANING:

verb intr.: To coax with flattery.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin blandiri (to flatter). Ultimately from the Indo-European root mel- (soft), which also gave us bland, melt, smelt, malt, mild, mulch, mollify, mollusk, emollient, enamel, smalto, and schmaltz. Earliest documented use: 1305.

USAGE:

"In his first speech in the Parliament, Mussolini insulted and blandished the legislature by turns."
Thomas Bokenkotter; Church and Revolution; Doubleday; 1998.

Quote for the Day

A person usually has two reasons for doing something: a good reason and the real reason. -Thomas Carlyle, historian and essayist (1795-1881)

Today’s Recipe

Holiday Cooking

Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

 1 ½ c butter, softened

2 c white sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

(tsp=teaspoon)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface ¼ to ½ inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6-8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. Ice and Decorate.

ENJOY!

Now You Know!