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ManyRoads Update- July 2010

Mark Rabideau — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:41:18 +0000

A lot has gone during the past month or so. Not only have we added a lot of new material to ManyRoads but we have achieved some important milestones, as well. Rather than bore you with a lot of details, I will outline most of the key happenings. But before I do that, a couple of important personal items have transpired. Firstly, even though I’m not much of a joiner I have taken membership in both the National Genealogical Society and the Association of Professional Genealogists (here’s more). I have also decided to offer more services and tools to the genealogical community (more specifically the ManyRoads readership). (here’s more and still more).

Now on to the other major items or changes to ManyRoads:

I completely restructured the ManyRoads Menuing system (hopefully making it easier to get at things). It even seems to work in Internet Explorer!
I have added over new 30 postings to ManyRoads covering Wales, Quaker, Mennonite, German, Quebec ancestors (they’re all here)
I have added over 5 GB of new source documentation to our online libraries, much focusing on Mennonites and Quakers (more here) and Switzerland (more here)
Added about a dozen new photos to Elbing Damals (Elbing Back Then)
We passed a significant readership milestone… our 25,000th unique visitor dropped by this past month; also July will top our highest monthly readership number ever (we may hit 5,000 unique visitors!)
I fixed (using a new tool) over a 175 broken links… sadly most of the links were to sites where useful information evaporated. (more on my lament is here)

I think that hits most of the highlights.

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Here today…gone tomorrow

Mark Rabideau — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:48:36 +0000

Grab the data while you can. I guess that is what every online genealogist needs to have as their motto these days.

Today I uploaded a very useful (helpful) WordPress plugin called:

Broken Link Checker- It checks your blog for broken links and missing images and notifies you on the dashboard if any are found.

Well much to my dismay and surprise when I installed and ran the plugin, it found nearly 175 out of 1055 links ManyRoads to be broken or redirected. That seemed like a lot to me. I had been running several ‘free’ services to check my site for broken links and every week; they were reporting ‘happily’ that everything was ‘just fine’- zero broken links. Obviously, these checkers were not doing their job very well!

In addition to noticing that a site as large as ManyRoads needs good automation, I think I can safely conclude you ought never to trust that another website will either stay online or keep reference information, which you need, intact. I even discovered lost links to lengthy articles from Wikipedia. They were simply removed!

My recommendation for self-protection is that when you find something useful and relevant do the following:

take a copy (keep it offline)
ask permission to publish (Keep it offline if you must); do not violate copyright laws!
check your sources periodically to see if they are still alive
if not… well then I really do not know what to advise. On ManyRoads I am simply stating that the material is no longer available where I found it, placing a date on the text and removing the link (Since WordPress keeps backups of my Pages/Posts hopefully I can find an old link if I need it.)
clean up your dead links; you need to do that in order to keep your search engine optimization in good health.

More later….

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John Hall- Revolutionary Mysteries

Mark Rabideau — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:16:23 +0000

I am currently working on a portion of the Henss family and am ‘visiting’ Virginia/ Maryland at the time of the Revolutionary War. The person I am closely examining is a Mister John Hall; his wife is Mary Magdelene Smith. I just love it when the names are so incredibly unique!

So here goes, I have three mysteries!

Please use our Contact page to let me know if you have any firm data or information to help solve these!

Mystery 1

I found a document (located in the National Archives) addressed to ‘some guy’ named George Washington.

The document is transcribed as the following in Letters to Washington and Accompanying Papers. Published by the Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton:

Sworn to this 27th. day of August 1757 –

BALTIMORE COUNTY SS The Deposition of Thos. Hudson, taken before me the subscriber one of his Lordship’s Justices of the peace for the County aforesd. in the Province of Maryland; who being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists declares. That he this Dept. was present with Mr. Nathaniel Gist & John Hall when the said John Hall was going to sign his assent to being Enlisted in his Majesties Service; That the said John hall on taking the Pen in his Hand, said I will not sign for any more than Six months, Upon which said Mr. Gist made answer, Thats what I want; (or thats what I desire) but which of those words this Dept. can’t exactly remember. That Mr. Saml. Owings a Magistrate for this County was then also present; and on the said John Hall going to sign as aforesd.–Said unto the aforesd. Nathl. Gist, this Boy is too Young; to which the said Gist made answer he was the highth of their Standard; and farther Saith not –

… before
… BUXTON GAY

A Brief Look at John’s Genealogy

The genealogy I have for John Hall and Mary Magdelene Smith is:

John Hall

b:1732 Chester, Pa.
d:1794 Bedford, Va.
m:1759 Bedford, Va.

Mary Magdelene Smith (wife)

b:1734 Bedford, Va.
d:1833 Bedford, Va.

My thoughts are that since Baltimore, Maryland is in a straight line between Chester, Pa. and Bedford, Va (and is approximately in the middle), well you get the point; this could be my John Hall.

The real question is: Does anyone have any hard information on this subject?

And..as if that were not enough, I also have the following for a John Hall (again any firm data or ideas are most appreciated).

Mystery Two

Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 18 March 1, 1781 – August 31, 1781 John Hanson to John Hall

My Dear sir Philadelphia June 4th 1782 I inclose you the two last papers-the Accounts given of the battle in west Indias are upon the whole rather unfavourable yet there are some Circumstances that render their Authenticity some what Doubtful. No official Account is yet come to hand at New York and it is reasonable to suppose if their Account be true that a Communication of a matter of Such Importance, to their Commander in Chief here would not have been so long delayed. There are other favourable Circumstances and I hope for the best, but am afraid the french have received so much damage in the Action, as will prevent the intended Attack on Jamaica at least for a time. An embarkation of Troops at New York is talked of, and a number of Transports it is said are going from thence to take of the Garrison at Charles Town. We hear nothing from Sir Guy. I very Sincerely wish you may Adopt the five per Ct Duty in the manner recommended by Congress, because I think an impost on all imported goods is a mode of Taxation the easiest that can be proposed. The Merchants in the first Instance pay, the people insensibly refund, every man pays in proportion to what he Chuses to Consume. The Extravagant man pays for his folly and the foreigners And strangers Among us are made to Contribute.
I sincerely wish you health and happiness, being my Dear sir, your friend & most humble Servt. John Hanson

RC (MdHi: Gilmor Collection).

…AND…

Mystery Three

Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 5 August 16, 1776 – December 31, 1776- Benjamin Rumsey to John Hall?

Sir (1) Joppa 19th Decr. 1776 Engaged in the Commission and the Business thereof in which we met with great Difficulties & Interruption I never attended Congress till this Day Week and should not then as the Business remained unfinished had I not heard Mr. Tilghman and Mr. Carroll had gone Home and left the Province unrepresented.(2)

When I got into Congress where I came determind to stay ’till the last Extremity, altho exceeding inconvenient to me, I found that Congress had two or three Days before that determined by the Advice of their Generals to remove from thence to Baltimore, Upon a presumption that the Enemy being possessed of the Jersey above by marching Parties opposite the City might make a push in the Night in Conjunction with the Tories and seise the Persons of the Congress, and this might have been done with great Facility as the City Militia had all marched to join General Washington.

The Enemy are posted on the Banks of the Delaware at Trentown and from thence have pushed their parties as low as Burlington and as high as Penny Town. They are commanded by General Howe who has with him it is supposed the whole Brittish Force that can be spared from their Conquests and are thought to amount to about thirteen Thousand Men.
General Washington had not when we came away above 5000 Men with the Junction of the Militia posted on the opposite Banks with forty Peices of Cannon. Genl. Lee was posted about 25 Miles in the Rear of the British Army at a place called Chattam about 3 miles from Morris Town with a large Body of Forces composed of a Detachment from the Northern Army Troops returning from Ticonderoga and encreasing daily with the Jersey Militia Numbers unknown to me but between 5000 and 12,000 from whence he has positive Orders to march and join Genl Washington very injudiciously in my Opinion but the Slowness of the coming in of the Militia in the State of Pennsylvania possibly may justify the Measure.
If the Militia would join Genl. Washington in such Numbers as to make him strong enough in Front to prevent the Enemy’s crossing Delaware and taking Philada. Lee by strong Detachments may cut off all their Supplies and destroy the British Army without striking a Blow or if they decamp expose them to two fires in Front and Rear.

My Colleagues Colo. Contee and Mr. Hanson have just parted from me after finishing our Business as far as we could to lay before your Honours and this in some Measure will account to you for my not writing.

I understood that as the Pennsylvania Militia rather moved slow the Congress had come into a Resolution to request the Militia of our State to march to the Assistance of Genl. Washington. I understood too Col. Ewing undertook voluntarily to bring them up and rode away without any written Orders; my Intelligence was from One of the Officers of our Army. You know Colo. Ewing (I presume the Congress do) and eer this or at their first setting at Baltimore You will receive a written Requisition.

I heard Mr. Chase tell Mr. Robt. Morris that all our sick, the Baggage of the Congress and even Mr. Morris’s Effects which are pretty considerable would be removed with Ease as he had wrote for Vessells to transport them but none were at the Head of Elk as I came by, at least they pressed Colo. Aquila Halls Vessell for that purpose. How Mr. Chase has transacted this whether in a public or private Capacity I cant tell, he can best answer it.

I had just received Orders from the Brigr. Genl. to give my Battallion Notice to hold itself in Readiness (If I am yet a Colo. which I doubt of from Report) and in Letters to the Officers was communicating that Intelligence when the Express brought to me your Letter directed here by the honorable John Hancock Esqr. on his Way to Baltimore. I much approve of your giving the Militia Notice to hold themselves in Readiness but I now tell you that will be totally useless without more, that they are without Arms, Blanketts many of them & Baggage Waggons with a numerous &ca. that ought to be supplied them before or on their March, and that they ought really to be better supplied than other Troops especially at this severe Season. I have advertised the 8th Battallion that if I am still their Colo. I will with the greatest alacrity do myself the Honour to march at their Head if the Province is represented without me.

A Doubt may arise with You respecting the Reason of the Tardiness of Pennsylvania. You know great Part of Philada., Bucks and Chester are Tories and the Councill of Safety of Pennsylvania have cried Wolf, Wolf two or three Times falsly to the back Counties and now the Wolf is really come they think it still a false Alarm. They are distracted too abt. the State of their Governmt., People being of various Opinions about it.
I have opened Mr. Presidents Letter (3) but shall seal and send it by Express to Baltimore to Mr. Chase who I expect by this Time is there. Seamen were much wanted and your Orders in sending the Seamen will be very agreeable to Congress. For if Philadelphia should ever be taken by some Coup de Main of the Enemy, wch. by the by a well manned Frigate will render much more difficult, there being no Ships of the Enemy in Delaware Bay, the Frigates and a great Quantity of Stores may be saved thereby.
You are also requested by me to inform Mr. President that it has not been either with my privity, Consent or Knowledge that Individuals have been applied to, that I am exceedingly sensible it rather tends to delay Business and that he and the whole Board I hope will acquit me of any Design in being Wanting in Respect to the cheif executive Power in the State, the Dignity of which I was always strenuous in supporting while I had the Honour of Seat there and still am ‘tho I have not thot I am (besides my Love for my Country), added to other Motives, actuated- by a Friendship and Esteem for the Individuals of that Board that will always induce me to treat them with the Utmost Respect, Esteem and Regard.
I am Sir, Your most humble Servt. Benjamin Rumsey

RC (MdHi).
1 Perhaps John Hall, vice president of the Maryland Council of Safety. Rumsey obviously directed this letter to a member of the council of safety and in the course of it twice mentions “Mr. President,” Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer.
2 Matthew Tilghman and Charles Carroll, Barrister, are known to have been in Philadelphia as late as December 9, the day they and Samuel Chase requested money for the removal of sick troops to Maryland. Tilghman and Carroll apparently left soon afterward, leaving only Chase and William Paca to represent Maryland, which until February 15, 1777, required the presence of three delegates to cast the state’s vote in Congress. See William Paca to the Maryland Council of Safety, December 7, 1776, note 3; and JCC, 7:111.
3 Probably the council’s December 15 letter to the Maryland delegates. See Md. Archives, 12:530-31.

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Free Genealogy Forms, Software, etc.

Mark Rabideau — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:45:36 +0000

Genealogy Free Stuff!

Free Genealogy Forms, Clip Art, Books, and more

Free Genealogy Clip Art : Images, graphics, templates, fonts, backgrounds, photos, etc.
Free Genealogy Forms and Charts : Pedigree Charts, Family Group Sheets, Census Worksheets, Fan Charts, Cousin Charts, and more.
Free Genealogy and History Books Online : United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia.
Free Online Tools for Genealogists : Geographical location tolls, calendar tools, historical and economical context tools, and more.
FamilyTree Magazine: Getting organized and knowing how to address government agencies and organizations can help you get quicker, more effective results. Family Tree Magazine has created forms that can help you access and organize your family history information. They’re available in two formats: text and portable document format (PDF). The text versions give you the basic form structure in files you can open in your word-processing software. You can print, edit or even type your information right in the file. The PDF versions are read-only files with snazzier designs—they’re suitable for displaying or sharing your research with others.
ProGenealogists Free Stuff
FREE Creative Ideas For Displaying Your Family Tree Google Group
Free Downloadable Genealogy Forms FamilyTreeMagazine.com
Free Electronic Census Spreadsheets
Free Family Tree Wallchart Ancestors.co.uk
Free genealogy charts Genealogy-Mall.com Site is dead.
Free Genealogy Forms
Free Genealogy Forms and Charts GenealogySearch.org
Free HTML Pedigree Chart Site is dead.
Free Genealogy ChartsMisbach Enterprises

Free Software

GRAMPS- This is the software we use at ManyRoads! Gramps is a free software project and community. We strive to produce a genealogy program that is both intuitive for hobbyists and feature-complete for professional genealogists. It is a community project, created, developed and governed by genealogists.
Family Tree Builder- Family Tree Builder is a genealogy software for Windows. It offers excellent quality, supports 12 languages and is one of the best genealogy software programs you’ll ever find. It’s available for you to enjoy for free!
GedMark – Free Download!-A utility used to secure author information on every individual in a GEDCOM file during import and export. No longer Free.
GeneWebGenealogy software program with a Web interface. It can be used off-line or in a Web environment.
GenFinder Freeware- Bring the world of Genealogy to your Desktop
TimeLine Maker™ Free Download!-A handy utility that lets you record and chart histories, print color charts and publish as HTML documents.

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Technology for Genealogy

Mark Rabideau — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:21:21 +0000

Communicating your genealogical facts to friends and family can be both rewarding and important.

At eirenicon and ManyRoads, we pride ourselves in the quality and professionalism of our websites. Hopefully, you can appreciate the results of our more than 40 years of software and web development experience on our site here.

If you would like to have a ‘affordable’ genealogy website built using techniques and ‘Created with Free Software ‘ technology like those you see on ManyRoads, we are very happy to help. Please use our Contact page to begin a dialogue.

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Personalized Genalogical Research Services

Mark Rabideau — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:27:34 +0000

ManyRoads (an eirenicon llc group) is excited to announce that we now offer personalized, professional genealogical research services.

Our areas of focus historically have been on those areas were we have researched for our own family genealogy and family history including:

East & West Prussia (pre-1947; we have special expertise in the area formerly known as Kreis Elbing and Freie Stadt Danzig)
Quebec (especially in the areas of Quebec City and Montreal down to Vermont/ New York)
New York State (especially in the Champlain Valley to Canada)
Western New England
Iowa (especially in Henry, Des Moines and Washington Counties)
Mid-Atlantic region of the US

If you are desirous of a more complete family history, stumped in your genealogical research, or just looking to ‘kick start’ your genealogy efforts, please use our Contact page to initiate a discussion on our service capabilities and fee arrangements.

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25,000 plus Visitors!

Mark Rabideau — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:34:16 +0000

ManyRoads just passed our 25,000th unique site visitor; we began counting on: 13 December 2009.

Thank you! Thank you!

We hope you have found the information, pointers, etc. on ManyRoads to be of value. I know that I have learned a lot, made many new new friends, found ‘new’ (not ‘lost’) relatives, and kept very busily entertained. By way of sharing a few additional points of interest, the ManyRoads site now has:

11.3 GB of data on-line
75MB WordPress Database
9GB of Genealogical Documents
6GB of Elbing-Prussia-German documents
600MB of Maps
~1 GB of Iowa documents
~1 GB of Quebec documents

So as you can see we are growing. Please use our contact page to share your ideas and notions with us, or leave a comment here.

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Anabaptist Mennonite Tradition & Background

Mark Rabideau — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:26:52 +0000

Much of the Robert Henss family background is rooted in Swiss and Iowa Anabaptist Mennonite traditions. Many of our forebears were active participants and members of the following congregations. [Please note that this post will be updated as more information is uncovered].

Basel-Holee (Basel Switzerland)

Basel-Holee, a Mennonite congregation with a meetinghouse at Holeestrasse 141 in Basel, Switzerland, formerly called Basel-Binningen, the Amish congregation mentioned in the article Basel. The origins of the congregation go back to the middle of the 18th century, a church book containing records of births, marriages, deaths, and baptisms (probably maintained at the request of the state) having been kept from 1777 on (with an interruption 1880-1910). Throughout its existence a majority of the families of the congregations lived on the Alsatian side of the nearby border and the congregation belonged to the Alsatian Conference. In wartime this caused considerable trouble, particularly in World War II when the Alsatian part of the congregation could not cross the border into Basel and had to meet in near-by Bourgfelden. The first meetinghouse in the village of Binningen (now incorporated in the city of Basel) was built in 1847 and continued in use until the new meetinghouse was built on the same lot in 1932. The membership remained fairly constant for several decades, with considerable losses by emigration to the near-by Mulhouse region and to the United States. The 1952 membership was 185 and 50 children; in 2009 the membership was 100. Most common family names have been Roth, Widmer, Wenger, Würgler, and Goldschmidt. Elders have included Hans Jacob Schmuckli, 1777-?; Hans Freienberg, 1787-?; Johannes Kaufmann, ca. 1800-?; Fritz Steinbrunner, ca. 1830; Hans Steinbrunner, d. ca. 1843; Johannes Kaufmann, ca. 1845; Hans Schmuckli, ca. 1860; Christian Klopfenstein, ca. 1870; Joseph Klopfenstein, d. 1878; Jacob Zimmerman; Jacob Widmer, 1874-? emigrated to America; Michel Widmer, 1893-1924; Christian Roggy, 1896-1904; Daniel Roth, -1927; Jakob Widmer, 1924-1942; Fritz Goldschmidt, 1927-; and Daniel Wenger, 1951-. In the 1950s services are held every two weeks alternating with Schänzli. The congregation has had an organized chorus since 1896. As late as 1915 it still practiced feetwashing. The Ausbund was used as hymnal until into the 20th century.

source: Goldschmidt, Fritz and Harold S. Bender. (1953). Basel-Holee (Basel Switzerland). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 12 July 2010, from http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/B37574.html.

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William Henss & Katharine Kaemmer

Mark Rabideau — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:47:03 +0000

William (Wilhelm) Henss and Katharine (Catharina) Kaemmer probably both came from Hesse in Germany and were born around 1830 (according to the 1900 US Census records Dec 1831 for William and Nov 1829 for Katharine) . I am looking for any historical documentation regarding their births or marriage. Photos of graves or life would be most appreciated, also.

I have a fairly well established genealogy and history for their lives in the US. They lived and loved in Wayland, Henry County Iowa. What I am most ardently attempting to establish is a clear link for them back into Germany before 1853- I have a tentative information set with which I am not completely comfortable. I do know that Katharine Kaemmer (name originally spelled as Catharina Kaemmer) came to the US from Lumda and through Bremen through port of Baltimore – all according to a metal tag on her trunk. She is reported to have come to the US in 1854 and William in 1853; both immigration dates are from US Census information.

Their 1880 and 1870 Census data is also missing from my records. I hope to find copies of those as well as images of the 1895 Iowa Census.

Any help, leads or pointers are most appreciated; you may use our contact page to get in touch with me directly.

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Free- Basic Family Tree Service

Mark Rabideau — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:29:07 +0000

I just stumble upon a free service for those looking for a simple online Family Tree website. To quote the service itself:

Family Tree Guide

Family Tree Guide is about convenience.
Placing your family tree online with your own website and website address could never be simpler then what we offer. Our goal is to make this as easy for you as we can. All work that involves the website setup and maintenance will be handled by one of our capable staff, leaving you to handle only the research into the genealogy for your family. Because your family tree is web-based you will be able to access and edit your genealogy from anywhere in the world. And we do all of this for free!

Family Tree Guide is about choice.

With each website you have the ability to provide visitors unlimited access to your genealogy, or restrict their access. You decide! Enable users to view information on living people, add, edit and/or delete from your family tree. Enable a user to download your GEDCOM. Or don’t allow any of it! The choice is yours!

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