Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Theresa Snow Hill, Author

As I was straightening up some bookcases last week I came upon this small book that I'd purchased several years ago "Stories from the Book of Mormon" by Theresa Snow Hill. I bought it after I had determined that there was a genealogical connection between me and the author. From the information in my RootsMagic database, I was able to prepare this chart showing how I'm "related" to Theresa Snow Hill. 
This chart shows that Johann C. Streit is my 7th great grandfather. The author (Mary) Theresa Snow was married to Reuben Hill, who was the 5th great-grandson of the same Johann C. Streit. Theresa and Reuben had a daughter Cornella, who would be my 7th cousin once removed. The chart also shows that my 3rd cousin 5 times removed, Sarah Strait married Richard Hill and they are the great- grandparents of Theresa Snow's husband Reuben Hill. 


Pictured at left are (front row l to r) George Richard Hill II (1884-1971), George Richard Hill I (1846-1927. Standing left to right: William Richard Hill (1896-1961), John Shelton Hill Sr. (1884-1944) and Reuben Lorenzo Hill Sr. (1888-1953). 

Author Theresa Snow Hill is pictured at top left of this photo. 



This chart shows that Theresa is also my cousin, specifically my 6th cousin 3 generations back. 



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

An Old Book In My Library Intrigues Me

As I was rearranging books last weekend to fill some new bookcases, I discovered this little book of poems that I'd forgotten about. It's "A Bank of Violets" by Fanny H. Runnells Poole, published 1895 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. It's a book of verses written by Fanny Poole, and shares this opening verse:
Were Poetry the sweet south breeze,
To breathe upon my violets,
Delight would thrill the neighboring trees
Of Helicon; and Fancy ease
Her heart in far-heard triolets,
Were Poetry the sweet south breeze
To breathe upon my violets!  F.H.R.P.

I was intrigued as I opened the book and turned its stiffened, yellowed pages. The first page I came upon was a tissue page that had this name embossed on it:
However, the page was glued upside down and backwards. It faced a page that had this portrait of Fanny, obviously as a young girl.
Notice that a green and a blue border have been drawn in with crayon. The portrait had been cut to the oval shape and size it is in, and glued to the page. On the reverse of this page is another piece of paper glued in that contains this brief poem:
On the reverse of the Title Page is this portrait of the author, which is also glued in, along with her signature.
As I turned the pages to inspect the book, I found a loose piece of paper in it, with another poem by Fanny Runnells Poole, that was written on a piece of "scratch paper", as the printing on the reverse indicates it was a letter requesting funds to help the Tilton School Loyalty Club. 
Two questions immediately formed in my mind as I perused this old book. (1) Who was this Richard J. Oglesby and (2) What was his relationship to Fanny Huntington Runnells Poole.

Of course I immediately did a Google search on each of these individuals form the late 1800s. I learned quite a lot about Fanny from Janice A. Brown's "Cow Hampshire" blog! This blog post even contains some genealogy of Fanny, showing that one of Fanny's grandmothers was Caroline Stearns. I have that Stearns lineage in my genealogy database, so I was even more intrigued.

I next did a search for Richard J. Oglesby, about 1893. Many links appeared, but one that I was drawn to tells of the Richard J. Oglesby who served his country as a U. S. Senator, a Civil War Union general and a three-time Governor of Illinois. Click on the photo below to see a fascinating site about the Governor and his mansion in Decatur, Illinois. 
This may not be the correct man whose name is printed on an inserted tissue page in the book, but I'm inclined to think it is, because of his prominence at that same time period. 

I still have a lot of research to do and a lot of questions to try to answer. When books like this fall into my hands and contain interesting clues, I'm drawn to the challenge of solving a puzzle. I often don't believe it's happenstance, so I have to study this until I have a better idea of the relationship (friendship?) between Fanny Poole and a Richard J. Oglesby, and have an accurate picture of her relationship to me, since her ancestry is in my genealogy database. The hunt has only begun. I'd be interested in anyone's ideas....just leave a comment.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Flip-Pal cases are now in PINK!

How I love PINK! And I'm excited that the Flip-Pal mobile scanner carrying case that has a pocket and strap is now available in pink! 

If you place an order that totals $100 or more for a Flip-Pal mobile scanner or any accessories by June 11, you can use the promotion code father12 and save 10% on your purchase. Just click the Red Square at right that says "Flip-Pal" to go to Flip-Pal.com!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Family History Expo Afterglow

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Colorado Springs, Colorado
I look forward to the Family History Expos for so many months and the two days of the conference go so quickly that it all seems to be a blur. But I can still feel the "Afterglow"! The thing that draws me to the conferences as much as the opportunity to learn is the time I get to spend among others who share my passion and with whom I can discuss GENEALOGY! Nobody's face freezes over, nor do eyes roll when we mention our recent research successes while visiting with other attendees at this conference. It's a little bit of heaven on earth. 
More than 400 people attended this year's Expo at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Colorado Springs. We enjoyed a very upbeat opening address by Don Anderson, Senior Vice President of FamilySearch. Don discussed "the steady drumbeat of publishing by Family Search in the last two years". FamilySearch currently has 4 billion names on the site, has published 560.6 million images on the site, and has 1,164 collections online now. 400 million new records are published annually.
James Tanner, teaching the Google class
I attended the class taught by James Tanner titled "Using the Google Gold Mine for Genealogy". I was delightfully impressed by Mr. Tanner's congenial personality and friendliness with the class members. He gave a very thorough tour of the Google site and its many offerings to the students in the packed classroom.
Another of my favorite speakers at this Expo was Tim Cross, Product Manager at FamilySearch. He gave a great tour of all the new features at FamilySearch.org, which are quite abundant. 
Timothy G. Cross, Product Manager, FamilySearch
Other classes I attended and enjoyed were "Using Evernote for Genealogy" by Anna Hopkins-Arnold (all my notes at the Expo were taken using Evernote so I can email them to my friends and other Family History Consultants here in Canon City), "Census Research" by Amy Anderson, which my husband identified as his favorite class at the Expo, another Family Search class for Family History Center Consultants, taught by Steven Brey, "Ancestry.com for Experienced Users" by James Tanner (standing room only!), "The Naturalization Process" by Carol Cooke Darrow, "FamilySearch Tree in 2012" by Tim Cross.
Here are random photos that I captured throughout the Expo.
The view from our hotel room. Pretty inviting, huh? 
The "browsers" and buyers at the Family Roots Publishing area.

Family History Expo President, Holly Hansen at right.
My husband Larry Jamison at left visiting with an Expo attendee. 

FamilySearch staff assisted people with research throughout all the Expo hours.
Time out for a good relaxing massage by the staff of Heuser Chiropractic in Colorado Springs. 
A rare moment of rest for Expo Blogger and Speaker Ruby Coleman. 
Genealogy Wall Charts had a very large display of their chart offerings. 

My friends Judy Buchholz and Lureen Orchard, 2 of the 16 attendees from Canon City. 
Carol Cooke Darrow, visiting with her class prior to the start of her presentation on the Naturalization Process.
Ken and Lureen Orchard, Co-Directors of the Canon City Family History Center, with my husband Larry C. Jamison

Friday, June 1, 2012

Day One FHExpo Colorado Springs

James Tanner presents an excellent class on "Using the Google Gold Mine for Genealogy"
We arrived at the Colorado Springs, CO Crowne Plaza hotel early enough today to have to wait for our room to become ready for occupancy. The first person I saw at the Registration desk was my "cousin" Sharon Landers Koleber, who is more accurately the wife of my dad's cousin. I wasn't surprised...it was at a FHExpo in Loveland, CO a few years ago that I first met Sharon.
Holly Hansen, President of Family History Expos, opened the conference about 5 minutes early, explaining that Registrations were processed almost before 1:00pm, the time designated for registrations to OPEN! We must be an eager bunch!  The Keynote Speaker, Don R. Anderson of Family Search, was quite entertaining and offered a lot of information about all that is new at Family Search. I took a lot of notes (into Evernote, using my netbook) and will post a recap of those highlights in another blog post, when I'm not so tired.

The first class I attended was taught by James Tanner, pictured above, on using Google for genealogy. I've used many of the features of Google, but still learned some new tips and was reminded of some underused features that I need to explore more thoroughly. 

My next class was taught by Tim Cross of Family Search, who told us of all the new features at that site. They are numerous. I'll post those details after I get home in a day or two. The most interesting thing he shared with us was that the idea behind BillionGraves.com was initially his. He approached app developers AppTime, who put the app together that has just recently become an affiliate of FamilySearch.org.

Anna Hopkins-Arnold taught a brief overview of Evernote in a class that my husband and I attended prior to the class we enjoyed on Census Research, instructed by Amy Anderson. Her delivery was delightful.

It's late....the classes ended at 8:40pm and the Exhibit Hall closed at 9pm. I'll take pictures with my camera tomorrow instead of my cell phone and when I get home I'll share some of the details from the notes I put into Evernote. We were so happy that 14 other people from our home of Canon City, Colorado were here to learn and share in the interest that is generated at this Expo. More to come!