Saturday, June 26, 2010

Surname Saturday - GAINES - Kentucky

Who are you Gaines people and why are you in my Grandfather Allen's photo album? What is the relationship connection???



The bottom photo says "Sister and J.S. Gaines". The sister is Ora Gaines Allen, Allen is her maiden name and Gaines is her middle name. I have been unable to find any connection between the Allen's and Gaines or the Scott's (Ora's mother's maiden name) and the Gaines.

What am I missing?

UPDATE!!! It's 3 hours later and I may have my answer. I found the death certificate for Clyde Gaines. His mother's maiden name is Scott, same as Ora's mother. Are these Gaines first cousins to my Allens?? It's looking that way!

UPDATE UPDATE! You can see in the comments section below where I got some great help, found more information and was able to put a few pieces together. However, I now have another question...why would a mother give their child a middle name that was their sister's husbands last name?

Anna Pearl named her daughter Ora Gaines, Gaines is her middle name. Gaines is the last name of the man that Anna's sister Cassie married. Seems just a little odd to me. More than odd, that is downright strange.

Friday, June 25, 2010

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge 25

Write one good, solid comment on at least one genealogy blog every day for a week. Sometimes we get busy and the genealogy reading we should be doing just piles up. The same thing happens with blogs. This week, take some time to read genealogy blogs. Select at least one post a day and establish communication with the author. Offer a compliment, a question or genealogy information you may have. This challenge provides a little love to bloggers and some new perspectives for researchers. Authors of genealogy blogs can use this opportunity to comment on comments, so to speak.

Just finished the last of my blog reading for the week, my Google Reader count is down to 0.  But a few minutes have past so I am sure that 0 has been replaced!  Blog posts are like rabbits, they multiply like crazy!!  That is fine with me though as I never lack for something to read.

I did make a dedicated effort to read AND comment on more blog posts than I usually do this week.  There are so many informative and entertaining blogs out there on such a wide range of subjects.  Even though I've been reading blogs regularly for almost a year now, I am still surprised at the topics chosen and the volume of material there is on what I would have once considered obscure subjects.  Blog reading has certainly expanded my horizons!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge 23

Come up with a personal genealogy challenge of your own. Each person has different research goals and experiences. Use this week to come up with your own challenge, and then take the steps to accomplish it. Genealogy bloggers are encouraged to share their ideas and challenge their own readers.


When I first read the entry for Week 23, I thought "nooooooo, I don't need challenges to my challenges!"  But after thinking about it, I realized I was actually going to have a hard time deciding which of my challenges to blog about.

My challenge for this installment is to clean up my data in my genealogy database.  Initially, this sounded like a huge endeavor that would take weeks and weeks to complete not just one.  Not necessarily so if you are using a genealogy software that can create a Potential Problems Report for you.  Currently my genealogy data is housed in Legacy and I do have the option of generating just such a report.

When creating this report, you have the option of specifying what potential problems you want the program to look for.  You may only be interested in looking at potential problems with birth dates.  In that case, on the problems tab you would only select items that relate to birth dates.  The same goes for name standardization issues.  You may not care, at this point, that a middle name does not have a period after an initial.  Just uncheck that line on the standardization tab to turn off that check feature.

There are a total of four tabs with criteria you can select or unselect for review.  This can make your database clean up more manageable.  You could review all date type issues one week.  The next week you could review all standardization issues etc.  However you choose to run the reports, just be sure you do.  Having invalid dates and/or minor discrepancies in our data can create a lot of wasted hours of research.



Friday, June 4, 2010

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy - Challenge 22

Spending some time at Find-A-Grave.com and seeing what it is all about is our challenge of the week. I have been visiting Find A Grave for a little over a year now. I am a contributor and a photo volunteer. My time as a photo volunteer is short, only a month. I think I chose the wrong month to start...requests by the twos and threes were coming in daily the week before and after Memorial Day!

To date I have been able to add 13 memorials, 23 photos and fulfill 10 photo requests. It has been an interesting experience and I had no idea how isolated some cemeteries are. I also am hoping some of my photo requests will be fulfilled soon by volunteers in other areas of the country.

I haven't been using Find A Grave to it's potential. The volume of memorials and photos continues to grow and I wasn't tapping into that resource. I had been at a stand still on my Allen and Gaines lines in Clark County Kentucky. Find A Grave has me moving again! Don't miss the opportunity to add to your family history research, visit Find A Grave soon.