Blog Ramblings

Determing Age from Census

How to you calculate the age of a ancestor from limited information. What do I have available to calculate the age? Census records for 1841, 8151 and 1861, death certificate, Bishop Transcripts, Parish Records. Using the census records I have the following information:

Option #1
* 1841 – 50 years old. Math calculation: 1841 – 50 =  1791
* 1851 – 62 years old. Math Calculation 1851 – 62 =  1789
* 1861 – 72 years old. Math Calculation 1861 – 72 =  1789

Taking the median of my math calculations: [1789, 1789, 1791]. He may have been born in 1789. This calculation is based on my genealogy course work using the median for calculating the age. I have considered the other two options before making a decision.

Option#2
Death Certificate – reports age to be 77 years old. Died in 1864. Math calculation: 1864 – 77 = 1787.
Parish records and Bishop Transcripts show age of death to be 77 years old.

Option #3
Date of Birth Calculator located at http://www.f-tree.org.uk/index.php . The birth calculator is used for English genealogy. Using the birth calculator from the above stated census, death certificate and parish records the calculator shows the birth to be between 31 March 1786 and 06 June 1791. This calculation fits the Option 1 & Option2.

The above stated options provides the birth year to be between 1786-1791. I chose option #2 for stating the birth year and will consult other sources.
 

Methodology – How to Prove It

Where has the time gone? Today, I completed 4 of 5 genealogy methodology courses and have one course left to complete. This concludes the Methodology courses. This last course is titled "How to Prove It".  Part of my genealogy is Irish and Métis . Ancestors from both these lines are difficult to prove since the records have been either destroyed or do not exist. I look forward to the challenges this course provides since it deals with Theory, Technique and Problem Solving. Hopefully with the help from the course material I can crash through some of the roadblocks I have encountered in my Irish and Métis research. Bring on 2011.

Origins from a Swab

Synonyms for a swab. A swab could be a mariner, sea dog, seafarer, shipman, sailor or navigator. In my case a swab is a wad of absorbent material usually wound around one end of a small stick and used especially for applying medication or for removing material from an area. To be specific in relation to genealogy, the removing of material would be my DNA.

I had the opportunity to attend the 2009 National Genealogical Society (NGS) Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is the 1^st NGS conference I had attended.  I was impressed with the entire conference.

I had the opportunity to visit with FamilyTree DNA at the conference and participate in genealogy by genetics. I provided them with my DNA and have been recently examining the results from my DNA test. Wow, this is exciting stuff.  There is a huge learning curve here since I am not a geneticist.

I have been road blocked in my genealogy for several years. I have been down a few roads that were dead ends. My 3^rd great grandfather reported he was born in three different places and two different countries. One of the results of the DNA test is that I belong to Haplogroup R1b which is Western Europe. This confirms my genealogy finding as my origins could be from England, Scotland or Ireland. The DNA results have trickled in slowly and I am now at the point where I have a few matches in Canada, USA, England and Scotland. Hurray there may be light at the end of the genealogy tunnel. Stay tuned as I continue to learn more about my genetics.

Links for more information:
The Genetic Genealogist
URL: http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/

genetealogy.com
URL: http://www.genetealogy.com/

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Are you barking up the wrong tree? I decided to place my genealogy on ancestry.ca. My decision was based on viewing my genealogy online and finding it was grossly incorrect. I have challenged a few individuals on providing me with the source citation for each member of my ancestral family that they had added to their family tree. I did get a reply back from a few individuals and they stated they "copied the genealogy" from someone else. I asked who they copied this genealogy from and they could not remember.

Your research work MUST bear credibility. You must be able to properly cite the sources for your family documents and information that you provide. The source you cite informs the reader about its relative value and quality of your statement. Are you barking up the wrong tree?

For further details on this subject, see Elizabeth Shown Mills book titled "Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace or"Citations for Canadians" by Alison Hare, CG at URL: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onapg/ One great website that explains citations and provides some cut & past examples is URL: http://www.progenealogists.com/citations.htm