The Forgotten War: Researching Connections to the Korean War

As my husband and I have been watching M*A*S*H together on Netflix because I've never seen it, my thoughts have turned to my grandfather and the Korean War. Like most Americans, I know almost nothing about the Korean War. I've wanted to change that for a long time, but doing so poses some challenges I haven't known how to confront.

In addition to many Korean War era records being destroyed in a fire at the National Personal Records Center decades ago, many current privacy laws restrict me from requesting any information about my grandfather. He was discharged from the army on 9 December 1953, and the privacy laws mandate that his information will be restricted until 62 years past that date.

But in case you're just now joining me, you should know that that I'm incredibly lucky and the universe loves me to bits. When it comes to genealogy, I always seem to be the person who is descended from the group of people whose entire existence was erased, except for the one piece of information I needed.

And, as it turns out, my grandfather's service in the Korean War is no exception.

At 17, my grandfather Raymond Doyle joined the Army in 1947. He served for the duration of the Korean engagement, being discharged in December of 1953. Looking at his military headstone application and the Veteran's Affairs BIRLS index, that's all I would be able to gather. And I'm not sure I can expect much more from whatever the NPRC can give me.

But that's okay. Because even if they have nothing at all, I have an ace up my sleeve.

My grandmother knows I value old papers and photos, and gave me a huge haul of stuff right before I moved out west with my husband. Included in the swag was my grandfather's resume--a good portion of which lays out his military career.

Raymond Richard Doyle (Middle)
circa 1947-1953, Korean War

My grandfather seemed to understand that the military was a great place to get free training and education, and took advantage of every opportunity to better his prospects. He was trained at Fort Holabird, a counter-intelligence facility where he specialized in Industrial Security Management. He became an Administrative Specialist, eventually attaining the rank of Sergeant Major.

As a non-commissioned officer, I'm assuming he would have qualified for additional training opportunities while stationed overseas. Not only did he complete a leadership training course while in Tokyo, he also received a Certificate of Administration from Keio University in Japan. 

If these are the only facts I ever have to work with, I'm hoping they'll be enough to piece my grandfather's experience back together. And a great tool fill in the details are radio broadcasts from the early 1950's. These are available in great abundance on the Internet Archive. You can explore what they have generally via their Korean War, 1950-1953 subject tag. Some specific items include:

• Radio Broadcasts: see broadcast 68 and 69 on this list
• Books: What's Happening in Korea? by Richard Morris
• Photos: While the submitter of these photos is named as Margie Burke, the nurses are not named or labeled. If your relative was a nurse in the Korean War, checking for photos of Korean War nurses may help you to find photos you've never seen before
• Video: stock footage, home front reels, training reels
• Operation Guides: Specific to each branch of service. This guide outlines the operation and actions of the U.S. Marine Corp.

Researching Korean War veterans and their service isn't a popular pursuit, especially in comparison to other conflicts like the Civil War or World War I and II. This plays a large role in how the Korean War came to be known as the Forgotten War. As this generation of veterans continues to pass away, it's important to record and preserve their memories while they are still with us, and we can do so. Once they pass away, there may not be a second chance to obtain that information.

My grandfather died when I was 5, and I never got the chance to ask him about his military service. I think it's safe to say that it isn't possible to understand the civilian life of a veteran without understanding their military service. 

So, we wait; for answers to come, and privacy laws don't restrict those with the greatest right to know those stories. Because in a situation where I have no choice but to work without records, I can choose to proceed anyway with patience and determination. 

As genealogists, we always have that choice.

AncestryDNA: A Year Later

As some of you may recall, I did a post about my initial experience with the AncestryDNA test. That post is more than a year old now, and AncestryDNA has undergone two major changes since then. There are new features to consider, and how they have fundamentally changed my experience with their DNA test.

Like last time, I wanted to give myself ample opportunity to use these new tools before doing a follow-up review. And unlike last time, I have something else to which I can compare my experience. Not only have I been using GEDmatch.com, I’ve also uploaded and unlocked my free trial matches at Family Tree DNA. While my experience with these sites have informed my perspective, I will try to save my comments on each of these sites for their own respective posts.

I won’t be reviewing the Ethnicity Estimates again, because my opinion of them has not changed.

Cousin Matching: C-

My experience with cousin matching has improved significantly. The first impact my DNA test has had on my tree came from using the tools at AncestryDNA. I began the process using the surname search, which is one of the best tools on AncestryDNA. It allows me to search through my cousin matches’ trees for a surname, a location, or both at the same time.

An example of the surname search, using the surname Halsey

I reached out to one of my cousins, then decided to compensate for her lack of response by researching her family tree for her. Thanks to what little information she provided on her parents, I was able to use obituaries and newspapers to trace her family until I arrived at our common ancestors. I never knew where they went after the 1920 census, and the answer was with her line of the family. They moved to Somerset County, Maryland. Her ancestor was the youngest sibling in a family I’d never realized had more children—the only ones still living with them ten years later at the time the 1930 census was taken.

The names and new census records were added to my tree—and my cousin is none the wiser. Which is probably for the best, because I don’t know how to explain to her what I did without using the words, “Don’t freak out, but I stalked you a little bit.”

A general lack of communication is still one of the predominate issues with DNA testing. This was my chief complaint in my previous review, and over time I've come to understand that this isn't a problem unique to AncestryDNA. With every DNA testing service to which I've been exposed, responses to inquiries are rare and wait times are long. It's the human element of the equation that no DNA testing company can control.

The surname search, plus some extra elbow grease, was enough to find the match between us. AncestryDNA deserves credit for that--and the maps, surname lists, the search functionality, and all of the other tools they've come up with to analyze your cousin match. But the set of tools AncestryDNA provides is still incomplete. The single greatest thing they can do to improve the cousin matching experience would be to have a chromosome browser. I still believe it's unadulterated stubbornness that perpetuates their refusal to build one. A chromosome browser, together with the other tools they provide, would make their DNA test a tour de force of unstoppable discovery.

I understand that people take DNA tests for different reasons. Based on my experience with reaching out, I'd say that more than half of the people with any genetic connection to me have no interest in collaboration. That means that more than half of the messages I send will never amount to anything. This makes me think that some people come into this relationship already knowing they don't wish to contribute. But rather than wasting my time lamenting about it, I'd rather we simply created a way to be upfront with each other.

What reaching out to DNA cousin matches feels like

In my mind, this situation could be handled with a single check box--either as part of the registration process, or a prompt to every person who is part of the AncestryDNA system. “I am currently interested in collaborating with other researchers for the purpose of finding our common ancestors.” Check yes or no. I envision this as a status update type of feature, where we all can act like grown ups and communicate our intentions from the outset. I'm even envisioning that after a person hasn't been active on AncestryDNA for more than 3 months, that status is automatically changed to "No."

Imagine being able to filter your cousin matches by the people who are actively using their DNA tests. No more wasting time sending messages to people who never had any intentions of responding to them. If we can't change other people's behavior, we can at least communicate the behavior we all intend to exhibit.

DNA Circles: C

This was the first of the two newest features to the AncestryDNA test since my last review. A DNA Circle is where AncestryDNA points out the people who share DNA with you, as well as a common person in your trees.

I questioned this feature when it first launched, because all it takes to throw it off is for several cousins to have the same wrong information in their trees. While the DNA Circle links people together with shared DNA, the DNA Circle does no good if the ancestor it claims to represent is wrong.

However, this is not entirely AncestryDNA’s fault. Relying on member trees as part of this process is necessary. Research will always be a part of genealogy, including genetic genealogy. It’s on us to do a better job with our research, so the matching algorithms can do a better job of connecting us together. Being more exact is a necessary part of that process.

Moving forward after my DNA test, I made a lot of changes to the way I used my Ancestry member tree. I created a second tree in which I placed biological relationships only. I removed all extraneous information, including photos, to streamline my work with this DNAonly tree. I expanded the scope of my research for this tree to include all descendants, all siblings and half siblings, second marriages--anyone with a biological link to my direct line ancestors. At the same time, I cleaned up the dates and places in the Facts section, since these drastically improve the Map tool for the cousin match tree comparison. If we want better quality DNA Circles, we each need to participate in some aggressive housecleaning.

What I dislike is how the DNA Circles come with a page for the common ancestor, and that page is a random assortment of stuff from the trees of everyone in the Circle. Photos, Stories, Facts, dates, and names become an unattractive, oftentimes inaccurate jumble of ugliness.

There are no source citations, no criteria for anything that is placed automatically on that page. Being able to clean up and correct these DNA Circle pages is a much needed feature. Unless we're trying to create the world's largest (and worst) Ancestry member tree.

Rather than seeing an assemblage of what everyone has collected on the DNA Circle, I’d rather start with a blank slate, to which my cousins and I may add information. Provide us with the ability to collaborate, allowing us to choose what to add to this ancestor's page. Make valid source citations a requirement for submitting anything to an Ancestor's DNA Circle page. Otherwise, it becomes a compounded source of ignorance instead of providing genuine insight.

In fact, increasing the quality of the DNA Circle ancestor pages and Ancestry member trees could go hand-in-hand. Ancestry.com currently provides shaky leaf hints to member trees, which have a certain reputation for being garbage. These hints and copying data from other member trees is how errors spread and become entrenched in the family consciousness. Instead, why not hint everyone to the DNA Circle page? Let it become the single, authoritative source for researchers as they assemble their trees together--whether they've taken a DNA test or not. I'd much rather be introduced to cousins who haven't tested yet this way. If/when they do take an AncestryDNA test, I'll already know who they are!

I'd also like to see some better communication tools for the purposes of DNA collaboration. With each DNA Circle page, I envision a Google Hangouts-style interface which would foster online meet-ups/family reunions, group research discussions, and individual conversations between descendants. These meetings could be private, or publicly stored as part of the DNA Circle page.

A DNA Circle as it stands now seeks to reconstruct the identity of the dead. In order to do the greatest good, it should foster communication and a sense of kinship among the living.

Ancestor Discoveries: C+

Of all the new features on AncestryDNA, this one has me the most excited. This feature has done great things for me already, despite the accuracy shortcomings of the DNA Circles. Over time, I imagine this being one of AncestryDNA’s biggest assets—the thing that sets them apart from other testing services and websites.

So imagine a DNA Circle has been formed for an ancestor. It’s well established, and there are plenty of cousins all matched together. The only thing missing is you, because you share the same DNA as everyone else in the Circle. But the matching algorithm hasn’t matched you to the Circle, because you don’t have the ancestor in your tree yet.

Bummer, right?

Not anymore!

Ancestor Discoveries is intended to do exactly that. It has already done this for me. My Greene family is a hot mess. That’s what happens when the courthouse that services your ancestors burns down… Twice. I was stuck on Henry Greene for ages, until the Ancestor Discovery for his grandparents came along. I did the research to back up the information, because I know better than to believe people on the Internet. I had to go into some unusual places to find the evidence I needed, but finding it was a direct consequence of my Ancestor Discoveries. In terms of results, it really has delivered.

Part of why I like the direction AncestryDNA is going with Ancestor Discoveries is because the lovely so-and-so's with private trees are included. If they fit into a DNA Circle, they become a part of my potential Ancestor Discoveries. Everyone else with a private tree that isn't connected to a DNA Circle can be triangulated via the Shared Matches tab on their cousin match page. I now expend less effort on figuring out where these people fit into the puzzle, and move on to other research problems. AncestryDNA is figuring out ways to avoid giving me an inferior product because of someone else's privacy settings. As one of my chief complaints from my first review, the privacy settings of other users is one of AncestryDNA's areas of greatest improvement.

My only complaint regarding the Ancestor Discoveries is one specific place I've seen it fall apart. To put it delicately, I come from Southern communities in which endogamy was a common practice. I'm one of the lucky ones whose ancestors moved away before the family tree got too tangled, and our current generation is far removed from it. But some of my cousins who are still living in these communities haven't been so fortunate. I connect to them in a multitude of places. We have multiple sets of common ancestors. How well do the Ancestor Discoveries reflect situations like these? Because I know just enough about the science of how the relationship estimates are calculated to know this effectively hoses the entire thing. And some of the Ancestor Discoveries I'm getting suggest the matching algorithms are struggling.

And don't y'all go making fun my endogamy. There are two types of people in this world: people who are inbred, and people who don't know it yet.

In situations like these, having segment data matters. I need to see the exact length of the DNA segment. Comparing it to standard genetic inheritance estimates is crucial to properly calculating my relationships to my cousins. I can't judge how skewed my inheritance is without the numbers--data that AncestryDNA does not display as part of its test. While I'm able to use GEDmatch.com to get this information, I would love so much more to have it as part of my Ancestor Discoveries. Localizing these connections, as well as analyzing them for accuracy, would be so much simpler with the segment data than it is without it.

Final Grade: C

AncestryDNA has made promising progress. I no longer consider it the worst $99 I ever spent. I still encourage anyone who is planning to take a DNA test to consider all of their options before purchasing one from AncestryDNA. Understand that you are making sacrifices of functionality no matter which testing company you choose, so be sure you choose the one that aligns with your reasons for testing.

Regardless of which testing service you use, your plans should also include uploading your results to GEDmatch.com. As a more open source option, it provides many of the analysis tools and data AncestryDNA is currently lacking. While there's a bit of a learning curve to using GEDmatch, it's time and effort well spent. If you need a beginner's guide, be sure to also check out our Genetic Genealogy for Beginners video series.

Good luck, and happy testing!

Missing Daughter: Grace Darling Pinheiro

No matter how much you think you know about a family, always be prepared to discover more. And also be prepared for that knowledge to come after you've spent several hours making a tribute video, which is not easily edited.

In my last post, I shared a video I created about the Charles Pinheiro/Lester Ince families of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After entering into contact with the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia and the city of Halifax, I now have to make substantial edits to that video.

Why? Because Charles and Rose Pinheiro had another child I knew nothing about.

Camp Hill Cemetery, 1879

Their daughter's name is Grace Darling Pinheiro. She was 5 years, 3 months old when she died. She doesn't appear in the vital statistics records from the city of Halifax. She doesn't appear on any of the census records with her family. The only place I've been able to find her so far is in the burial records of Camp Hill Cemetery. Apart from the certainty that she was born and raised in Halifax city, I knew next to nothing about her.

Or did I?

Sometimes what you don't see is it's own clue!

Closer inspection of the birth and death registers of Nova Scotia reveals the problem. From 1877 to 1908, there was a lapse in birth and death registration in Nova Scotia. Halifax city deaths are the only exception, having kept their registers from 1890 to 1908.

I pulled out an index card and drew out the ranges. I had a feeling I could figure this out.

First, I drew out the window of conception for Grace's mother, Rose: beginning in 1882 with her marriage to about 1897. Then, I drew brackets around the time it was possible for Grace to have been born within that window of time, and not show up on the 1891 census. Two ranges of possible birth years emerged: 1882-1886, and 1891-1896. I didn't exclude 1886 as a birth year, even though that was the year her sister Ethel was born, in the event that they might have been twins.

Using her age at death, I created two possible death year ranges: 1886-1891, and 1896-1901. Because the death registers are intact for Halifax city from 1890 onward, and Grace is not recorded therein, we may logically presume that she did not die in or after 1890. The second range and the latter part of the first range therefore becomes unlikely. If she died no later than 1890, she could be be born no later than 1885. This eliminates the likelihood of her having been a twin sister to Ethel.

Calculating in the earliest possible birth for marital conception, Grace was likely born some time between 1883 and 1884, and died between 1888 and 1889. She was buried in a segregated part of Camp Hill Cemetery. Her parents, sister, and nephew would later join her in that same plot.

I've submitted the plot information to FindaGrave.com--Division 1, C-S plot 43--and still have hopes that the photo request will be answered. I confirmed with Halifax city that there is a grave stone.

It may not be in the best condition. It may not even be legible anymore. But knowing it was a tribute, purchased by Charles to honor and remember three generations of his family makes it incredibly special to me. That alone makes me eager to see it someday.

The Historical and Genealogical Society of Tomorrow

As a child, I grew up watching old school cartoons--especially those by Tex Avery. I remember sitting on the floor in my grandparent's second story apartment in rural Maryland, eating carrot sticks and watching the bizarre antics of politically incorrect animals. Among my favorites was the World of Tomorrow, the satirical look into the new century through the lens of the 1950s.

It's in that same tongue-in-cheek, yet curious spirit that I find myself asking what the historical and genealogical societies of tomorrow will look like. This question is largely inspired by my interactions with many different genealogical and historical societies over the past few months. I've had experiences both good and bad--both of which indicate where these societies will strive and struggle to find their place in the future.

With that, I present to you... The Historical and Genealogical Society of Tomorrow!

Updates

If a genealogical society is still spending money on sending paper newsletters through the mail, their organization is trapped in 1998. And if their website hasn't had any sort of major overhaul since then, I rest my case.

Social media, blogging, and email will take the place of paper newsletters in the genealogical society of the future. There are too many other important, meaningful ways their financial resources could be used than by sending out paper. Because paper newsletters are usually disseminated monthly or quarterly, to be heard from so infrequently is a losing battle for relevance. And as conserving natural resources grows in importance, unnecessary uses for paper will become increasingly unconscionable.

Throughout the years, many societies have tried to cut costs with low budget websites, and have avoided making real investments in their web presence. But it isn't enough to stick a Facebook badge on the old website and to call this the future. The HTML relics of yesteryear, complete with technicolor Comic Sans font and Clip Art bouquets, need to be given a proper burial. Today and tomorrow these websites need to be replaced by smarter solutions, especially for storage and security.

Because genealogical and historical societies of the future will take their place on the front lines of digitization, their websites need to become robust repositories of information. Becoming an online community trust means providing original records, transcribed indexes, photos, maps, better catalogs and directories for newspapers, books, periodicals, and vast collections of other records. Becoming the first providers for all legally available records is a market just waiting to be created.

If historical and genealogical societies want to participate in that market, they need to prepare themselves by stepping firmly into the future with their technology.

Collaboration

Preserving local history is a community affair. It requires interaction between organizations of all kinds, at every level. The historical and genealogical society of the future knows how to be the bridge between these organizations. Schools, colleges and universities, libraries and archives, courthouses and public offices, civic organizations, and businesses, and government offices of every kind, each play a role in this mission. Finding, protecting, digitizing, and sharing a community's history is a shared responsibility. Anyone can play a part, and successful societies recognize they can reach out to anyone.

Military participating in cemetery cleanup in Hawaii

Historical and genealogical societies of the future know how to create volunteer opportunities, both online and offline. They identify and exercise every resource at their disposal. If creating a new index means paying for scanning services, they're the ones to create and promote the GoFundMe campaign. Then they reach out online for volunteer indexers. When it finally comes time to build or expand the website for a new collection, they find the college students in web design who need an internship to graduate. These societies understand that when they unite diverse groups in a common love of family and history, they make their communities better places to live.

Collaboration in historical and genealogical societies of the future also means looking beyond immediate geography. Various historical records are no longer kept in the places that created them. Some of the most passionate historians do not live anywhere near the places they study. Societies will expand their reach to these places and people. Because these societies are looking to adapt, they will find ways to expand their membership offerings to those outside their communities, both online and offline.

Meetings are Old News

Gone will be days where the only way to attend meetings of these organizations is to actually live nearby. The genealogical societies of tomorrow will accept that the newest generation, in order to adapt to an ever-changing economy, has become one of the most transient in history. Their first cross country move is a rite of passage, their first experience living abroad a must-have. Especially for the minimalist urban living which defines the Millennial generation, the thought of a meeting that cannot be attended remotely is incomprehensible. Yes, including for genealogy, because hardly any of us live in the communities where our ancestors lived.

Webinars, Google Hangouts, and live YouTube events are the meetings of the future. It's what the new generation expects from any organization to which it gives its paying patronage. Attendance is not limited by geography, time zone, or day of the week. The most experienced researchers for a community may not actually live there, but they can be engaged and participating with the genealogical community who does. Because all that is required to create a YouTube channel is a computer, an internet connection, and a device that records video, anyone can do it. Google and YouTube have made all of the investment to make the software, the interface, and hosting the video available for free.

The only limitations for historical and genealogical society meetings of the future are a lack of imagination, and willingness to learn.

Generational Culture Clash

Historical and genealogical societies of the future understand that reaching my generation is crucial to their survival. Embracing new technology means bringing us into their organization by default. The environment the society creates by the activities they engage in will determine if we will choose to stay.

Reaching and retaining our generation is summarized in one word--inclusion. We want to feel included in every part of the society--decision making, leading projects, organizing events, spending funds, all of it. Our voices need to be heard, and have an impact. At the same time, we need to feel everyone else is included, too.

The most compelling way to attract our crowd in the future will be by preserving a more inclusive history. As the genealogical and historical societies of the future become the force behind creating new record collections, they need to include all types of people in these collections. Millennials are interested in minorities, the underdogs, the "forgotten" history not included in the history books. In many communities, the history of African Americans, Latinos, the LGBT community, and even women have received almost no attention by their local historical and genealogical societies. By collecting and preserving the records from these populations of their community, these societies choose to be inclusive. They become inviting places for my generation and our values.

Paywalls

The place where inclusiveness will fall apart most often for historical and genealogical societies of the future is the Paywall. Paywalls have made their way into the genealogical community, and their place has been unquestioningly embraced by many historical and genealogical societies already. 

But my generation hates paywalls. We hate them because they are not inclusive--they exclude someone from information, services, and a community based on their ability to pay. Because Millennials are the greatest consumers of digital media, we're the ones most affected by Paywalls. In staggering economies where we're also the ones most affected, we're the ones with the least disposable income. We resent paywalls both on principle, and out of self-preservation. 

But that doesn't mean our generation isn't willing to part with money. We prefer to donate and give based on the value of what we feel we have received. We embrace payment options that allow us to give according to what we have. Where we can't give money, we're often willing and able to work, trade, or barter. 

More than anything else, we delight in proving that you can accomplish more by being less concerned with money. In order to appeal to the Millennial generation, embracing this philosophy will be a necessary part of organizational growth and transition.

As a matter of demographic disclosure, I am 25 years old. I have been actively researching my genealogy for ten years. I consider myself an advanced non-professional. I am a paperless genealogist, and I do the vast majority of my research online. As part of the first generation to grow up in the Digital Revolution, there was never a time where I had to do genealogy without the Internet. To put it bluntly, I am incurably hard wired to share because to me, that is what genealogy has always been.

I have also never joined a historical or genealogical society. I have nothing against them. But I have also never come across one that was interested in the communities I research, who also has much to offer as I have to give.

My most recent experience with a genealogical society demonstrates how much adapting there is to do--both for these groups, and for me and the denizens of tomorrow. I contacted a genealogical society, in search of plot information for a cemetery which has not been well digitized. It will take years to identify all of the people, especially those of African descent, who are buried there without headstones. This society's is the most comprehensive database that exists online for that cemetery. However, it is also behind a paywall. 

I attempted to negotiate, offering to trade information with them. If they had no information about my family's exact location in this cemetery, that confirmation alone would be helpful. At which point, I would gladly give their names, death and burial dates, and my original sources--to add to the database. My instinct is to share.

The person I spoke to insisted at first that I buy a membership in order to access the cemetery collection on my own. The society only offers an annual membership, priced at $30. Their website has no other collections pertinent to my research. I live hundreds of miles away, and cannot attend any of their meetings. The bulk of that expense is to create and send a paper newsletter I don't want, and is not relevant to my research. But this is the way things have always been done. 

We spend all of this time trying to figure out how to tear down our brick walls, and now we're finding better ways to build them between each other. 

And maybe it was foolishness, maybe it was desperation, but I asked the person on the other side of the wall if perhaps there wasn't a better way.

I didn't get an answer right away. I didn't expect to get one at all. But the person--a woman, come to find out--took a brick out of the paywall, and passed me a name for a missing daughter I had never seen before. She even threw in some contact information for the caretakers of the cemetery and its records--a contact I never would have found on my own. And true to my word, I sent the names, dates, and sources for the rest of my family members buried in that cemetery.

I tried to be an example of the change and collaboration--the future--I believe in. Part of envisioning the future in genealogy is being part of the changes you hope to see. And my greatest hope is that this type of common sense cooperation becomes the rule of the future, not the exception.

Charles Pinheiro and the Caribbean Diaspora

A diaspora is a spreading of an entire generation or population from its home into foreign lands. Many nations throughout history have experienced diaspora, including many of the Caribbean islands throughout the mid-to-late 1800s. In the generations following the fall of slavery, many African-Caribbean freedmen left the islands, in search of a new home.

Cities throughout Canada became attractive places for men and women alike from the Caribbean. Two of my ancestors, Charles Henry Pinheiro and Lester Edgar Ince, decided to settle in Halifax, Nova Scotia between 1875 and 1900. From what I can tell, neither of them ever returned to Barbados--but both of them surely left family members behind.

I made this video to honor them, to tell their stories. But I'm also hoping to connect with their relatives and descendants in Barbados, if any exist. 

Fun fact: I just realized that Lester Ince lived to see the day in 1966 when Barbados created this flag!

Pinheiro is a rare name to find in Barbados because it's a Portuguese name, likely dating back to the European Jews of that name who kept slaves. I'd be interested in connecting with anyone in Barbados, black or white, with that surname.

Lester Edgar Ince was born 5 August 1881 to Frederick and Mary Ince in Saint Peter, Barbados. He lived an incredibly long life in Canada, dying on 15 January 1974 in Montreal at the age of 92. If he had any siblings and they lived anywhere near that long, someone somewhere might remember him or his family. 

I would love to connect with anyone in Barbados with information about either of these two families. If you're in Barbados and interested in helping me find members of my family, please reach out and let me know!

Free DNA Discoveries from GEDmatch.com

DNA testing is among the many technological revolutions taking place in the genealogical community. With a little help from AncestryDNA, 23&Me, and Family Tree DNA, you can connect with other descendants of your ancestors to increasingly remote corners of the globe. By collaborating with them, many genealogists are tearing down long standing brick walls and making incredible discoveries.

However, there are limitations to genetic genealogical testing--and not just the 8 generation window the technology gives us at this present time. These limitations instead come from expense, and the boundaries between testing companies. If the descendants to whom you need to connect have tested with a different company than you have, you may not see that match until one or the other of you takes a second test with the right company.

But does it have to be that way? In our day and age of open source software and good digital citizenship, there are no necessary boundaries between testing companies anymore.

Introducing GEDmatch.com

GEDmatch.com is a website which allows users from each of these testing companies to upload their DNA test results. No matter where you live or which of the testing companies has performed your test, GEDmatch.com is free for you to use. You are then placed into a database, which includes users from each of the major testing companies.

Learning to use GEDmatch requires a little more than the average sit-down to learn how to use it. Because of that, we've provided a beginners guide with our Genetic Genealogy video series. This final video in that series provides a beginners introduction to GEDmatch, and the three most essential tools on that site: the One-to-Many match list, the One-to-One analysis, and the Admixture utilities.

Have you taken a DNA test and are still waiting to make the right cousin match? Check out GEDmatch.com and see what you can discover today!

AUTHORS NOTE: This is not a compensated endorsement. I receive nothing from GEDmatch for writing this post.

Lester Edgar Ince, Died Age 92

FindaGrave.com, Lester Edgar Ince, Sr, digital images (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=108173529 : 8 Jul 2015) headstone image for Lester Edgar Ince, Sr., taken by FindaGrave volunteer Graceti.

So excited to discover that Lester Ince lived a long life! He had me worried there for a while, seeing as he up and disappears after he returned home from World War I. I had no evidence at all to support that he survived the Halifax Explosion, and was working on the theory that his was an unaccounted death.

But no! He relocated with his children to Montreal, and was buried in the same cemetery as his daughter, Muriel Ince Michaels. In fact, when I searched the Mount Royal Cemetery database for her, I recall checking at some point to see if other family members were also buried there. I came across Lester's name, but had no way of confirming who he was because only the death date was given. For all I knew, someone in the family might have named a child after him. And I refuse to make assumptions.

Once the wonderful volunteers at Find a Grave fulfilled my photo request, I had the confirmation I needed to say that was my 2x great grandfather. I'm so grateful that his age is on his headstone, because that little bit of basic math is what provides the confirmation!

Now all I need is his military service file, which is in the process of being digitized by Library and Archives Canada. Waiting for them to reach box 4688 is making me lose all kinds of diplomacy.

I won't comment on anything else until I get it. Because whatever the rest of his story is, I know it's worth the wait!

Reuben Pomp Fenity

"Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014," database, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9278), entry for Reuben Pomp Fenity; citing Virginia State Board of Health, death certificate 23146 (1917), Reuben Pomp Fenity; Bureau of Vital Statistics, Richmond.

Reuben Pomp Fenity, son of Pomp and Annie Gertrude Fenity. Died of ileocolitis on 7 July 1917 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia.

Using Microsoft Access for Genealogy

Let's be real for a minute. As genealogists, one of the worst mistakes we can make is being our own worst enemy. Many moons ago, I did this through being disorganized. But as I wrangled my digital files into submission and limited all of my papers to a single binder, organization became one of my greatest strengths.

Now that I'm organized, my new enemy is inefficiency.

Inefficiency: The Genealogy Edition

Let me set a scene for you. You find a family group sheet or a report you really like to track certain information about a family. Maybe it's your research log, or tracking vital records for a family, or any type of family group sheet--anything you use to analyze your research. Naturally, you have copies of those reports for different ancestors. So the number of them begins to grow exponentially.

But then what happens when it's time to update them? Do you hunt down each one of them, and update them individually? When it's time to delete the outdated ones or backups, there's no easy way to do that. And what happens if you find a new report you like more, or want to make changes to the one you've been using? Do you copy and paste all of that information from your old form onto your new form? That takes forever!

The moment I have a blank document where I'm typing information I already know, about people I've already discovered, that to me is inefficiency. For a long time, it seemed like a necessary evil because I didn't know of any programs that could avoid that needless repetition.

Then I discovered Microsoft Access.

Introducing: Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access is a great source of untapped potential for genealogy. In terms of a learning curve, the transition is minimal--it uses the same menu and command structure as the Microsoft Office ribbon. Learning the unique functions of Access was simple. Everything I needed to know, I learned from YouTube. Creating a fully customized database is no more difficult than creating a PowerPoint presentation.

Looking at you, Evernote!

No coding, no tinkering with new platforms or websites. No more apps bricking up my phone. No more wondering if some website is going to get hacked and all of my data is going to disappear. And no more sacrificing functionality because a website like Evernote seems to think that fully functional rich-text editing is some kind of luxury.

For me, Microsoft Access's single greatest strength was how it unified my research tasks. I don't have research logs, document tracking, DNA matching lists, repository contact information, and other such documents and information scattered all over my computer and different platforms anymore. All of that information is organized and working together in the same stand-alone program.

How else does it help my productivity? In Microsoft Access, the data entry mode and creating reports from that data are two different steps, not one. If I create a family group sheet in Microsoft Word, the only way for the information to end up on that family group sheet is if I type it on there. The same is true of Excel, OneNote, and Evernote. To create a new document or page means I have to copy and paste, or type, for every additional report I create. The creation of the form and the data entry and pretty much the same step.

In Microsoft Access, the form on the left creates the report on the right

 In Access, this is not the case. It allows me to create forms for data entry. I enter the data, and it saves that information into a spreadsheet. Once that information is on the spreadsheet, it's there until I delete it. So I enter the data ONCE--for any person, from any family line--on the same data entry form. It will store it all that data together on the same sortable spreadsheet, which I can export in a variety of formats. But I'm not just limited to displaying that information on a spreadsheet.

When I want the information on a specific individual or family, I can easily create a report from Microsoft Access. It takes the information from my spreadsheet, and will create any combination or number of reports that I want it to create. It will sort, organize, or reorganize the data on that report in whatever way I wish. I can change the report content or design without having to retype any information I've already entered. It simply pulls all of the same data from the spreadsheet, and enters it for me on the report.

No more hunting down a specific document to update, which is already outdated the second I finish it. I don't even create reports until I need them anymore. Every document I create is up to date, existing in real time with the rest of my research. All I have to do is backup my database, and it backs up literally hundreds of forms--all at the same time.

If the definition of efficiency is only having to do something one, Microsoft Access is the only program I've found that allows me to be efficient in everything I do.

NERDGASM!

If you're spending more time tinkering with documents and websites than getting your research done, maybe it's time for a change.

And maybe that change should be Microsoft Access.

Family History Library: Crushed by a Waterfall of Knowledge

I recently took my first trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

I have wanted to make that trip for so long, and I finally got a chance to go. I'll be the first to tell you that I expected a Shangri-La of records, where I would not be in want of discovery because it would simply be everywhere. I imagined my most productive day magnified a thousand times. I couldn't wait to be crushed by a waterfall of knowledge.

As usual, how little my fantasy resembles reality was a comedy of errors from start to finish. I never imagined I could be so prepared for an experience, yet be so entirely unready.

How I Prepared

I use Microsoft Access 2013 for all of my cataloging, list making, and report generating needs. This includes creating a research list of books and microfilm specific to the Family History Library. I generated this list over a long period of time, until the cost of requesting all of the microfilm for use in my local family history center exceeded the cost of a trip to Salt Lake City.

I checked every roll of microfilm to make sure it was stored on-site at the Family History Library. A certain portion of their collection is stored off-site at the Granite Mountain Records vault, and needs to be requested in advance. My research was focused primarily on verifying vital statistics of my father's lines in Virginia and North Carolina. Nothing exotic or difficult. While the volume of stuff I wanted to look up was probably beyond my grasp for a first time trip, nothing I desired was exotic enough to present a real challenge.

No. It all fell apart... because I am human.

This could have been us, Family History Library, but you playin'

Mistake #1: No Experience Using Microfilm

My first mistake was focusing the bulk of my day on microfilmed records, when I have only used microfilm twice in my entire life. The first time I was 16 and especially helpless because I was having my first real repository experience. The lady who brought me to the Cecil County Historical Society looked up the obituary for me, and that was the end of it. The second time I looked up an obituary for my grandfather at the public library when I was 17, which I don't remember being at all strenuous.

But then again, I'd never seen a demon in my life quite like this machine.

My version of genealogy hell is having to load and unload one of these contraptions for eternity

The missionary at the desk showed me how to load the reels onto the machine, and it couldn't have appeared more simple. But I swear, I found every wrong combination of ways to insert microfilm into that accursed machine. In a choice that should have been a 50/50 shot, I somehow turned the odds against myself even more. If I was lucky enough to get the film loaded onto the machine, the images would be backwards, upside down, or both, and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.

So I'd try to pull the reels off, and they'd be on there so tightly I'd have to give them a good tug. One or both of the ends of the reel would fly out of my hands and tumble to the floor. I'd pick them up and try again. I spent more of my time loading and unloading the stupid machine than actually finding records.

Once I'd find a record I wanted to copy, I'd have to pull it off of the infuriating the machine, take it over to the ScanPro, a slightly less infuriating machine, and somehow get the reels onto it. Then I'd have to find the image I wanted all over again. Then scan the record, print it, and rewind the film. Walk back over to my little microfilm cubby of darkness... then go back to get my microfilm spool I left on the ScanPro... every... single... time. Without fail.

I was reaching Infomercial levels of stupidity, and it was only 11 o'clock in the morning.

Mistake #2: Numbers are my Enemy

Anyone who has used FamilySearch.org is probably aware that they are super at providing the roll numbers for their microfilm collection. If you've ever found an indexed entry for a family member, and wanted to look up the original on microfilm, you're in luck. Check the bottom of the page, and there will usually be a film number and a reference ID number to help you do it.

The film numbers on the U.S. and Canada film floor range from 5 to 9 digit numbers. For someone like me who has a hard time reading numbers without transposing them horribly, digging through those drawers was not a pleasant experience. I'm still trying to figure out how the numbers of the outside of the drawers corresponded to what was in the drawers, because it was never all that clear to me. I tried to figure out a range as best I could and started yanking two or three drawers open until I finally found what I wanted.

It was a slow, cumbersome process in which I ended up pulling three wrong rolls by accident, and having to put them all back. Which on its own is not a huge deal. But all of these mistakes were starting to add up in terms of lost time.

Mistake #3: Fine Print

Once I plowed through every single roll of microfilm I had on my list, I'd been in the library for five hours already. I hadn't eaten, which was a huge mistake. I had about an hour or so left to look at books. So I headed up to the third floor where the books are supposed to be...

SPOILER: True to her word, my name was actually in the book

I was searching for this book. As I headed over to the 929 section on the third floor, I saw they were all reference books. I knew I had to be in the wrong place, so I asked a missionary. He said to head to the first floor. Back to the elevator I went...

So I head over to the shelf where the book is supposed to be. As soon as I get to the shelf, I can tell something is wrong. There are too few books on the shelf for this to be the right place. So I go to find someone to help me.

We pasted the call number I had copied from the FamilySearch catalog back into the website... and for whatever reason, the computers in the library were bringing up every book but that one I wanted. I've never seen a call number cataloging system like theirs, and I wasn't impressed by how difficult it was making a very simple process. I also had to spend a good five minutes convincing the woman helping me that I wasn't nuts, the book I wanted existed, no that other book there is not it, and no it wouldn't be digitized because it was published in 1996.

Eventually, however, she did arrive at the cause of the problem:

If the book you want is labeled as High Density, it means the book you want is stored in a part of the library you are not allowed to access. You have to head down to floor B1 and ask someone at the window to retrieve the book for you. Give them the number in the green circle. My example here is 0293154. Trust me. There's no less than 20 minutes of my life I could get back had I known this information. They will pass you a clipboard and ask you to sign out the books you're using. When you're done, take the books back to the window.

Mistake #4: Budgeting Time

I knew this was going to be difficult for me the entire time I was planning this trip. Time management is a particular weakness of mine. But I recognize that the only way I'm going to get better is by gaining more experience in research settings.

Current Status: This

That said, I honestly wish I would have gone after the book first. I wouldn't have gotten as many copies from the microfilm, but the microfilm records didn't provide any additional insight like I thought they would. Had I gotten less accomplished, I'd still be in the same place I am right now. Now I know that the indexes from FamilySearch haven't left anything out. What you see on the index is what you get on the original image, at least for every record I tried find.

This one book ended up being the best find of my whole trip. But I had already been on so many goose chases that by the time I had the book in front of me, I only had 30 minutes to use it before I had to leave.

So I whipped out my new camera and started taking photos of the pages. It did a fantastic job. It was the first thing I was able to do without a struggle all day.

The book was massive. I didn't have the time or the desire to photograph the whole thing. So I checked the index and copied the other sections of the book most relevant to me. It was a good decision.

Overall, I'm glad I put myself into this situation. All of it gave me experience, and served to make me savvier than I'd been before. Knowing what I would do differently now is exactly what is going to make next time so much better.

Until then, I need to go recover...

Them's Fightin’ Words: Researching Feuds of the Appalachian South

Sneedville, Hancock County, Tennessee
Image from Tennessee State Library and Archives

I confess that myth busting family narratives is one of my favorite things to do. This round, we’ll be exploring the Greene-Jones feud of Hancock County, Tennessee.

I descend from a long line of Greenes native to east Tennessee. When I recently became aware of a feud that gripped Hancock County and involved the Greene family, I had to know more about it.

Instantly my cursory Google searches took me to the message boards—my old frenemy Rootsweb, as well as Genealogy.com. For better or worse, most web searches take us to these sites first. And I want to make it clear that I don’t have a problem with checking RootsWeb for ideas of things to research. It can be a really helpful way to get started. What I have a problem with is when people copy things from RootsWeb without following up with more research. They take someone else’s word as gospel, not realizing that some of this information has never been verified.

What is a feud?

Feuds are family conflicts which create a backdrop for the post-Civil War South. Reports of such conflicts were common among many states during this time period, and the Appalachian regions of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee were no exception. Sometimes conflicts in regions outside of the Appalachian South found their beginnings in others states. The Greene-Jones feud was such as example, as members of the Greene family moved to Texas to escape incrimination or incarceration. Ultimately, arrest and violence ended up following many key players regardless of where they went.

Because feuds are inseparable from embellished folklore and hearsay, I won’t attempt to determine the cause of the Greene-Jones feud. Revenge plots for Civil War actions, violent reactions to Reconstruction policies, hogs overturning whiskey stills, men insulting each other’s wives—the problem with these stories is that there is no such thing as a reliable primary source. Even if the memory of a person who fought in the feud was recorded, it’s the testimony of an unreliable narrator at best. Determining motives for an entire movement of illegal, unjustifiable violence does not help us to establish historical fact.

What we can do as family historians is nail down the causes and effects of events, and root out the myths as they've been left behind for us in anecdotes and written records. These are my two primary focuses today.

Step One: Outline Events that can be Proven

I've read people calling the Greene-Jones feud the second largest feud in American history, second only to the Hatfield-McCoy feud. If that is true, there should be plenty of information to be had in the newspapers about it. Using the Chronicling America database and my public library’s access to Newspaper Archive, I began constructing a timeline of the events of the feud.

Step Two: Slaughter Myths

Don't move, Myths. This won't hurt a bit....

After glancing through the folklore as recorded on RootsWeb, Ancestry Member Trees, and Genealogy.com, I’ve made a list of claims I want to explore and verify. With the sources in my timeline, the problems with some of these will become readily apparent. By comparing the folklore with what I've been able to establish as objective fact, many times the fiction tends to fall apart on its own. Whatever is left tends to be a much closer approximation to the truth.

• The feud was of extended duration, up to 25 or 30 years.

From February 12, 1888, with the first death of the feud, to the suicide of Richard Greene is a period of 14 years.

• Reported incident of a Greene participant who shot his wife, then killed himself

This piece of folklore refers to Richard Greene, one of the senior-most proponents of the feud on the Greene side.

• Robert Greene fled to Sanger, Texas and is buried there.

This Find a Grave entry, complete with photo, should answer this question

• Reported instance of the death of a small boy in one of the skirmishes
• The boy was 14 year old Anderson Greene who died when shots were fired upon Hamp Greene’s house. He was killed while he was hiding under a bed.

The young child who was killed was a 5 year old, whose gender was not revealed in the evidence I found. He was killed in an attack on Hampton Greene's house, which took place some time before July 6, 1888. The child was not named. 

I did find an account that an Anderson Greene was killed in a skirmish after Western Gilbert's trial, which took place in late 1889. While Anderson Greene may have been a 14 year old boy, he did not die hiding under a bed in Hamp Greene's house. 

• Governor Taylor enacted martial law in order to regain control over the feud. He made use of the Tennessee State Militia to accomplish this purpose.

This is the most common piece of folklore about this feud I've come across, and it simply is not true. First of all, martial law is unconstitutional in the state of Tennessee. Article 1, section 25 forbids the use of martial law by any government official--including the Governor.  Article 3, section 5 also expressly limits control of the state militia to the General Assembly, not the Governor. If the militia were to be activated and sent to Hancock County to restore order, it would be by majority vote of the General Assembly. Any action on the Governor's part to contradict these limitations would be impeachable offenses.

In which case there should be evidence of public outcry, which I also didn't find.

The activities of the Tennessee legislature are preserved in records called Acts of the State of Tennessee. They are publicly available and searchable on the Internet Archive and Google Books. Having researched the Greene-Jones feud extensively in newspapers, the time when such intervention from the militia would have been necessary was between 1888 and 1891. I checked the Acts books for 1887, 1889, 1890, and 1891 and searched for any mention of feuds, the activation of the Militia, and Hancock County. There was no record in legislative records of the Militia being sent to Hancock County during the feud. While I could be concerned that I could not find an 1888 Acts book to search, the fact that I also found no mention of the Militia being activated in any newspapers satisfied my mind on the question.

If anyone has actual evidence that the Militia was called to Hancock County, I invite them to make it known. Because all of the places where evidence of such action should be, it is conspicuously absent.

• Sheriff Greene brought the suspicion of the Governor when he ordered so many firearms for his family that they arrived in Rogersville on a boxcar.

I couldn't find any evidence to substantiate a "boxcar" of weapons. While many articles stated that one or the other side was ordering more weapons, never was there a number or quantity given. Anyone who can substantiate this story is also invited to do so.

Step Three: Get Lucky

In addition to getting lucky that my ancestors did not die in the feud, I realize that the feud itself comes with a strange kind of luck. Hancock County has some of the most severe record loss I've ever encountered. Their courthouse had not one, but TWO fires. And given that this feud straddled the early 1890s--a period of time in which most other researchers are completely out of luck--the Greenes managed to make themselves unforgettable. Their names are in newspapers all over the country for a period of fifteen years. I could probably make it a research project to discover all of the newspapers that covered this feud, and I would never finish it. My efforts over the past few days, in the dozens of newspapers I've found, probably don't begin to scratch the surface.

Luck is the bulletproof vest that saved my ancestors from losing their lives to this feud. Luck is the reason I'm here and able to research their lives today. And luck, more than anything else, is the reason I succeed at it. And if not luck, then definitely providence.

My example from this round of research is the only thing of my ancestors' that I've found from researching this feud.

Henry Lee Greene has been a dead end in my tree for years. Any birth record that existed for him was lost in one of the Hancock County Courthouse fires. I've been trying for years to find, and prove, who Henry's parents are. Thanks to the new Ancestor Discoveries from AncestryDNA, I had a clue that William Trent Greene might be his father. But if the only record I have to go on is the census and a glorified Member Tree hint, how could I be sure? How was I ever going to get past this obstacle?

Virginia Chronicle, digital images, Library of Virginia, (https://archive.org/stream/actsstatetennes13unkngoog#page/n16/mode/2up : accessed 26 April 2015), Chapter 154, County boundary change for William T. Greene, citing Albert B. Tavel, Acts of the State of Tennessee (Nashville: Printer of the State, 1891) p. 329.

William Trent Greene petitioned for a county boundary change, so his land could be in Hancock County with the rest of his family. This was probably one of very few transactions of which the record would not have been kept in the Hancock County courthouse. And only because I was searching for government intervention in "Hancock County" in the 1891 Acts book did I discover this. Without this research project, I'm more than fairly confident that I never would have found this in any other combination of circumstances. And while the record does not state directly that Henry Lee Green is the son of William Trent Greene, it corresponds harmoniously with what evidence I do have in every point. It provides the second witness to their relationship that I desired.

Researching feuds requires a level of impartiality, thoroughness, and curiosity that is bound to make us better researchers. By taking the time to fact check, your search will take you to new sets of records that may just be what you've needed all along.

As a genealogist, the only wrong answer is to give up on the search.

Genetic Genealogy for Beginners, Part 2

For part 1, click here!

This round, we'll be talking about:

• How to read chromosome browsers
• What matches looks like
• False matches (IBD vs. IBS)
• Matching criteria from different testing companies

Next time...

Introduction to GEDmatch.com!