Goal-Oriented Genealogy

Looking at my last post, I realized it had been over 8 months since I last sat down to this blog. I've thought many times about posting, but haven't for one reason or another. Well, today is different! (Although I can't tell you why...)

I thought it might be a good idea to write down some of my genealogy goals - some of the things I hope to accomplish that will lead to a better documented, better sourced, and clearer understanding of my ancestors. Here are my goals:

1. Clean up the data I've already entered into my genealogy software, RootsMagic. I've gone back and forth over the years between different genealogy programs, starting with Reunion for the Mac in the 1990's, then to Family Tree Maker, then Legacy Family Tree, and finally RootsMagic. A lot of data has been changed, lost, re-entered, etc. over the years, and I've finally decided to get everything right in RM, then use that to export to other programs such as Legacy as needed. I need to concentrate on event/fact data and sources and citations, identifying what events/facts and sources are missing and inconsistent between family members that share those events and sources.
   
2. Enter the digital data I've collected and stored over the years into RM. Some of it is already entered, but most is not. I find it much easier to collect the data (and more fun!) than to enter the data into a genealogy program. It would be great if collecting and entering was all done in one step! Also, this goal is perturbed a little by storing data in multiple places - I need to make sure it is all centrally located and back up regularly.
   
3. Enter the paper data I've collected and stored over the years into RM. I have 8 notebooks, divided along great-grandparent lines, containing documents that need to be entered. These documents include newspaper articles, wills, funeral cards, etc. Some documents have provenance information. Some do not, and I will have to attempt to establish provenance to make sure my source citations are correctly entered. I'll evaluate each piece to determine whether I will scan it and maintain it as digital information, or leave it in the notebook.
   
4. Scan the photos that I got from my Mom last summer and add them to my Picasa albums, both on the computer and online. There are over 100 photos to scan, and she can provide lots of background information about them. Some of these photos will also be entered into RM and linked to ancestors.
   
5. Interspersed with goals 1-4, keep working on my brick walls and "light" areas of my genealogy research. Brick walls I'm currently working on include: my great-grandfather, Austin W. Leitch, and what happened to him after 1927 (the last date I have any documented information about him); my ggg-grandfather, Elias Todd Sr., and his ancestors (I can find nothing about his parents or siblings). "Light" areas include several family lines, such as the Terry, Harbour, Wash/Walsh, Massey lines.

That's it - quite a set of goals!

The Leitch Family in Augusta County, VA

One of the brick walls I mentioned in my first post is my maternal grandmother's father, Austin W. Leitch...at least, I think that's his name. You see, in the documents where I've found records for Austin, he uses several different names. In the 1880, 1900 and 1920 U.S. Censuses, for example, his name was listed as "Austin W. Leitch". In the 1910 census, it was "Auston W. Leitch". His World War I draft registration states his name as "Auston Wilford Leitch", and his marriage record that I found years ago (and forgot to include the source citation) had his name as "Williamsford Austin Leitch". To top it all off, when he married his second wife sometime in the 1920's or 30's, he supposedly changed his name to the maiden name of his new wife. I say "supposedly" because it is a family rumor told by my grandmother, who refused to ever talk much about him. He and her mother divorced when she was a teenager.

Austin's not alone in being difficult to find information about. I've tried to find clues to where he was by looking up his siblings - 4 sisters and 2 brothers - in the U.S. censuses. Other than one brother, I have not found any record for any of his siblings in any census. I know his parents died when he was a teenager in 1893 from typhoid fever (another undocumented source) and that supposedly an older brother took care of the surviving family for a few years - information from a distant cousin in the Leitch line years ago. I can understand not finding the sisters in the censuses, particularly if they married and changed their names. But, the older brother - the one who took care of his brothers and sisters after their parents' death - seems to have disappeared as well.

Recently, I started corresponding with Lee, a friend of one of Austin's grandchildren now living in Michigan. I heard from Lee when he replied to a post I had put in the Leitch mailing list on Rootsweb back in 2002. Lee has found a couple of possible leads. Austin's grandson also doesn't remember if Austin changed his name or when he remarried, but he did remember a family tale that Austin moved with his second wife to Lynchburg, VA to start an orphanage. My grandmother's side of the family, as far as I know, had never heard that rumor. But, at least it's a new place to start looking. Also, Lee has been contacting another of Austin's grandchildren to see if she remembers anything about her grandfather. Hopefully, some new information or leads will come out of that.

One of the Geanealogy Guys, Drew Smith, offered to help out with finding more information about Austin. Drew found his World War I draft registration that I mentioned above with the new name variant. Drew also suggested I contact the Virginia Vital Records office and obtain a copy of Austin's birth certificate. I sent in the form with $12 and heard back after 6 weeks that they could find no birth record for Austin in the 1867-1879 time range.

My next steps will be to try and locate the source for the unusual name on the marriage certificate, and search Google Books to see if there are any Augusta County books that might help. Hopefully, Lee's interviewing of Austin's two grandchildren that he is contact with will yield some interesting information.

Brick Walls

All who do genealogical research eventually reach the point where they think they can go no farther in their research. I've reached that point, called a brick wall, in at least a couple of my family lines.

One of my ggg-grandfathers, Elias Todd, Sr., is a good example of a brick wall. I cannot find any information about the parents of Elias. According to U.S. Census information, he was born in Virginia in 1807 and died in Virginia, probably the Wythe District of Elizabeth City County, sometime in 1884. I don't know if he had any siblings, and I haven't been able to find any birth record or death record. Family legend has it that he was a "sea captain" before he became a farmer and was possibly related to the Todd family from Smithfield, VA. I have a lot more information about Elias that I will put in a future post.

Another brick wall is one of my great-grandfathers, Austin W. Leitch. He was born in 1877 in Augusta County, VA and died sometime in 1954. My grandmother never talked about her father, other than to say he divorced her mother when she was a teenager and later remarried. I have a picture of him with his second wife that has the date 1940 written on the back. I've been able to trace him through the 1920 U.S. Census in Warwick County, VA, but have been unable to find him in the 1930 U.S. Census. I haven't done an exhaustive search yet, just the indexes on Footnote.com, HeritageQuest Online, and Ancestry.com. One thing that makes this brick wall even more difficult is that family legend has it that he changed his surname when he remarried to the surname of his new wife. I'll put more information about Austin in a future post also.

I've tried some of the usual approaches to get around these brick walls - variations on spelling the surname, looking at the records of family members and neighbors, searching less obvious records like tax records - but so far, no luck. I don't plan to stop trying anytime soon, though!

Virginia Is For Me

Nearly all of my ancestors - more than 99% that I've found so far - come from Virginia. I have one line in my family from Pennsylvania, and although I have researched this line, I've concentrated on Virginia. I was born in Virginia, in fact, and most of my relatives live there. Of me and my three brothers, however, only one still lives in Virginia. I and one brother live in Florida, while my other brother lives in Tennessee. So, we're all pretty much Southern to the core!

I've traced several family lines back to 18th century Virginia, but in most cases have not gone back far enough to find those ancestors who braved the extreme conditions and traveled to the New World. I hope to eventually get to that point, but records get more sparse the further back you go, and I'm not sure the information is there.

When I started doing genealogical research in the mid-80's, I was living in northern Virginia and was fortunate enough to be able to take full advantage of the National Archives and Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. I had a researcher card at the Archives and spent many hours there going through the microfilm reels. I even requested and reviewed additional material for things like Civil War records. After moving to Florida, I used the resources of the nearest LDS Family History Center to continue my research. It seemed so much slower than viewing the records at the Archives - having to place orders for microfiche and waiting weeks for the fiche to arrive. I was able to continue doing some research, but in the mid-90's I pretty much stopped and concentrated on other things.

A few years ago, the genealogy bug bit again. Online sources were becoming more available, in fact, I found out my local library had access to HeritageQuest Online, and even better, I could access it from home! I got an iPod for Christmas one year and discovered the world of genealogical podcasts, from great experts such as the Genealogy Guys. The Genealogy Guys podcasts really got me going again in my research; it was as if all of the sudden I had a lot of catching up to do and I couldn't wait to get started!

I've worked for an electronics communications company here in central Florida for over 30 years. Some weeks I have time to work on genealogical pursuits, other weeks (the worse weeks) I don't have time. With the economy the way it is now, I'll be working for a few more years before retirement comes along. Until then, I hope to continue this research...but you can guess what I'll be doing more of when I retire!