Binley Family Mystery

I am currently working to extend the line of William and Anna Binley forward through their ten tally-marked children in the 1820-1840 census enumerations. I have done a lot of traditional genealogical research on this family (16 counties & 9 states) and still have plenty more to do. However, the DNA evidence is confirming the documentary research completed so far.

I am still looking for DNA matches who will let me view their Shared Match list on Ancestry so I can look for connections to the family. JKS received very little Binley DNA and does not match MR. However, MR matches descendants of eight of William Binley's kids including some of the same matches that JKS matches.

The most interesting part of this project is that I have seen hints of William & Anna's parents in individuals who match others in the group but don't match anyone else until the line gets back into Virginia and Pennsylvania in the 1750s!

The amount of shared autosomal DNA is too small to really tell the level of relationship, but sizable shared segments denote that there's a genetic relationship from a common ancestor somewhere back in time. The process is documentary research, then DNA analysis to point in the direction for more documentary research.

British Research Notes

This is mainly for my convenience, but you can play along, too. I want links to various databases, so I can just check them off one at a time.

Find each known individual in every census throughout their life. They may have been visiting family on the night of the enumeration - the directions told the enumerator to count everyone in the home on that evening. It's worth it every time.

England and Wales 1841 Census, FamilySearch, Ancestry

England and Wales 1851 Census, FamilySearch, Ancestry

England and Wales 1861 Census, FamilySearch, Ancestry

England and Wales 1871 Census, FamilySearch, Ancestry

England and Wales 1881 Census, FamilySearch, Ancestry

England and Wales 1891 Census, FamilySearch, Ancestry

England and Wales 1901 Census, FamilySearch, Ancestry

England and Wales 1911 Census, FamilySearch, Ancestry

Census, Land, & Substitutes, FindMyPast

U.K. & Ireland Census, MyHeritage

After 1837, check the BMD or civil registration. This can be done in many places.

FreeBMD

LancashireBMD - just Lancashire and easily ordered.

UKBMD for all the counties.

Before 1837, check parish registers. Every parish is not in every database. I think FindMyPast had the best collections of bishop's transcripts and parish registers the last time I checked.

Birth, Marriages, and Deaths (Parish Registers), FindMyPast

If you cannot locate your person in a parish where they were supposed to be, try non-conformist records and a radius search five miles from the parish. The maps.familysearch.org map was once a helpful tool but seems to be malfunctioning as of 16 February 2019.

This book from 1865 will help you get your bearings on the town and its surroundings:

A topographical dictionary of England comprising the several counties, cities, boroughs, corporate and market towns, parishes, chapelries, and townships, and the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and Man, with historical and statistical descriptions; illustrated by maps of the different counties and islands, a map of England, showing the principal towns, roads, railways, navigable rivers, and canals; and a plan of London and its environs, and embellished with engravings of the arms of the cities, bishopricks, universities, colleges, corporate towns, and boroughs; and of the seals of the several municipal corporations / By Samuel Lewis.

DNA Testing

My father was adopted as an infant. He was able to learn of his mother's name from court documents. She lived close to my family's home -- I often rode my bike past her neighborhood. She gave a few possible names as fathers, so my dad had his DNA tested. I am still learning (a lot) about DNA research.

I watched a video here: http://www.genealogyjunkie.net/dna-tips-tools--managing-matches.html that explained many details about DNA tests and finding common ancestors. I highly recommend it.

Almost done & some helpful links!

My family history will never be completed, but I am almost done with my family history degree! I have adopted a get-her-done attitude and am making steady progress. In just over two months I will be able to walk across the stage as a college graduate. I am thrilled!

I want to find some way to share all of the discoveries that I am making. Technology has certainly simplified parts of the family history process, especially education.

• BYU's Family History Library is one of the largest. They have made many videos about research appealing to a wide variety of skill levels. Here's the link to their youtube channel.
• RootsTech 2016 was amazing. I attended 14 sessions and watched several more when I returned home. This website includes over 20 hours of archived class videos for 2016. I especially enjoy Paula Williams Madison's talk about the benefits of indexing for her family.
• I love digitized newspapers. Wisconsin's Door County newspaper website is amazing. I love the partial word completion that helps me find alternate spellings. I have spent many productive hours learning about the comings and goings of family members (Madoche, McDermott, Jergeson/Jorgenson, and others) through the weekly newspaper. Englebret and Mary Jergeson had fourteen children, but only five survived well into adulthood. The others all died of diseases that we are now immunized for, including seven deaths from tuberculosis (consumption), plus others from scarlet fever, and diphtheria.

Useful Links & Random Blatherings

I am still continuing my pursuit of my bachelor's degree. I have three classes through BYU Independent Study, including British sources, paleography, and Historian's Craft. I am trying to gain every bit of knowledge that I can from these classes. Ultimately, I end up rereading my notes and learning more each time.

I am finally starting to grasp the concept of a research plan and a research report. I have started to write a compiled lineage as I work, adding appropriately formatted sources at the bottom (Whoa!). Working this way has made my research more direct and thorough. I found a blog that explains research plans in many ways: genealogycertification.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/research-plans-ii/

My two current research projects are the Barnes family in Cheshire, England and the Binley family in Holmes County, Ohio.

I am currently super distracted as I attempt to work on classes. I did a lot of research while I was in Utah in June, and I am delaying typing up my research logs & writing research reports. My laptop is a 17' functional dinosaur. It works but it is way to bulky & weighty to carry around. Hopefully, I can find a  reasonably priced, smaller version before my next outing. I tried just using the ipad but it was not good for anything beyond transcribing short texts.

I felt compelled to research a friend's family after seeing a pedigree from 1991 in circulation on my desk several times throughout the last month. I tried back in the day but did not have enough knowledge about British records. I was able to discern relationships and find data to reinforce the feelings. 

I strongly believe that life continues beyond the grave, and once we begin the great work of gathering the dead, we are given heavenly help to find those who wish to be found.

Happy searching!

Court Cases

For one who's frequently confused about the legal system, the course "History and the Law" has been a challenge. I am trying to learn all that I can for my next midterm & processing documents that I have already seen.

John Buck signed an indenture with his (uncle?) Moses Donaldson. Tonight, I found the meaning in Bouvier's Legal Dictionary (1856):

INDENTURE, conveyancing. An instrument of writing containing a conveyance or contract between two or more persons, usually indented or cut unevenly, or in and out, on the top or, side.
2. Formerly it was common to make two instruments exactly alike, and it was then usual to write both on the same parchment, with some words or letters written between them, through which the parchment was cut, either in a straight or indented line, in such a manner as to leave one-half of the word on one part, and half on the other. The instrument usually commences with these words, "This indenture," which were not formerly sufficient, unless the parchment or paper was actually indented to make an indenture 5 Co. 20; but now, if the form of indenting the parchment be wanting, it may be supplied by being done in court, this being mere form. Besides, it would be exceedingly difficult with even the most perfect instruments, to out parchment or paper without indenting it. Vide Bac. Ab. Leases, &c. E 2; Com. Dig. Fait, C, and note d; Litt. sec. 370; Co. Litt. 143 b, 229 a; Cruise, Dig t. 32, c. 1, s. 24; 2 Bl. Com. 294; 1 Sess. Cas. 222.

I haven't checked to see if there was really an indenture on the land records.

Writing a Narrative History

I have taken two different classes that have required taking lots of little facts and details and translating them into a narrative biography. The process that I learned makes it "simple" to take anyone's facts and make a story.

• (Before the first step): Talk to living descendants. What stories do your family members already know about an individual?
• The first step for me in writing a simple biography is to check for an obituary that gives dates and details about an individual's life and values. Also, perhaps someone has already written a short biography about the person. Check with family members and societies for these records (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers for example).
• Next, trace each individual in the family through the census records until his or her death -- as far as is reasonable. I record everything on a family group sheet and/or in a timeline. Many times the solutions to family mysteries are found in tracing their children.
• Then, check county or state vital records for births, marriages, and deaths. Once again everything is recorded and analyzed.
• Find a map that shows the area at the time of the person's life. David Rumsey Historical Maps has wonderful resources.
• Check out local and county histories for each area the person lived. Many books have become free of copyright restrictions and are now posted online. Archive.org and books.familysearch.org are two sites with many historical publications. For example, I could search for "Franklin County Ohio" and come up with several books.
• If you haven't already, make a simple timeline to see how events and people fit together. This was an especially useful tool in my great-grandma Helen's life. 

Dorothy, York, Helen, baby Donald, and Harold Donald Martin (from previous marriage)
1929

• Helen (Keeler) Martin lived in Lewiston, Idaho with her husband York Martin. On 17 July 1929, she gave birth do a baby Donald. He lived for about five months and then died on 15 Dec 1929 of marasmus (a form of malnutrition). Meanwhile, York Martin became ill with liver cancer and passed away on 3 Jan 1930. Talk about major life stressors! Grandma Helen gave birth, struggled with a sick infant and husband, and then lost both of them in about two weeks. York was allowed to go home for Christmas before he died; Grandma Peggy was conceived during this visit and born nine months later. (Yay!) Before making the timeline, I did not know how each individual event played together in the story of Helen's life.
• Look for major events that happened during your ancestor's life. What about the Civil War? the Great Depression? Read in the local and county histories for ways that events affected your ancestor.
• Lastly, if your ancestors were part of early Mormon pioneer history, check out the links in the sidebar for amazing resources. 

Once I began writing the first history, I found the amount of information overwhelming. The Door County Library digitized many early newspapers, so it was possible to view many details about the lives of family members. I had to decide how long I wanted the story and what information to include. 

Please note that I don't like feelings put into stories. If I don't know that John Doe smiled when he looked around his farm, I don't want to write it. Once I read "The Secret Life of a Developing Country (Ours)," I realized that my values and thought process is very different from someone several hundred years earlier.