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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Do Some FamilySearch Full-Text Searching

Randy’s challenge from this week coincides with an exciting discovery I made just yesterday. Here’s the task he set us: 1)  FamilySearch Full-Text Search continues to add databases and searchable images to their collections.  This is a gold mine, especially of land, probate and court records. 2)  Pick one or two of your ancestors and see what you can find on FamilySearch Full-Text Search about…

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Which Elizabeth Beake?...Part 1...

This post started out as a relatively basic one – tracing what I knew of the life of my 5x great-aunt, Elizabeth Beake, the daughter of Thomas Beake (1702-1769) and Elizabeth Fuller (1705?-1776), who was baptized in February 1729/301, a decade before her parents married in October 17402. In this pre-census period, there were few records to draw from and when her father didn’t mention her in his…

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun... Try out the FamilySearch "Famous Relatives" Page

Randy at GeneaMusings is challenging us this week to try out a fun activity at FamilySearch: 1)  FamilySearch has a page for “Famous Relatives” at   https://www.familysearch.org/en/discovery/famousrelatives.  It works if you are connected to the FamilySearch Family Tree.  2)  Check out the website.  Which connection surprises you?  Do you believe that the connection is correct? The last time I…

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Mapping Robert Beake... #mappingmyancestors #historicalmaps #ancestrallocations #genealogy #Beakefamilyhistory

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Derivative sources can be key... #genealogysources #genealogy #genealogicalevidence #methodology #familyhistory

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Building a FAN club from a will... #familyhistory #genealogymethodology #BeakeFamilyHistory

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -Who are your 32 3rd-great-grandparents?

Randy set us a fun task this week. Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is: 1)  Who are your 32 3rd-great-grandparents?  List them (with birth names).  Tell us when and where they were born, married and died.  [NOTE:  This is easily done in your genealogy software program or online family tree by making an Ahnentafel or Ancestors report from yourself as…

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Verifying the death of Elizabeth Beake - an update...

Resolving conflicting evidence is one of the most important and also challenging aspects of the genealogical process. Not only can it be difficult (and sometimes impossible), but it requires that we work against our natural tendency towards confirmation bias. In other words, we have to work against our natural desire to make the evidence fit our hypothesis, rather than testing our hypothesis…

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Adventures in transcribing a will with AI...

Much of my genealogy work this last week has been focussed on the will of Robert Beake, the man I believe to be my 7th great-grandfather1. While I was thrilled to discover images of this document at FamilySearch, I also felt a tad overwhelmed after reading through it and realizing it’s 15 pages long, 17 if you include the front and back cover. That’s a lot of words to transcribe! I began the…

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Verifying the parents of Elizabeth Beake...Part 2

At the end of my last post, I’d determined the best candidate for the father of Elizabeth Beake, was Thomas Beake, baptized in Ash-next-Sandwich, Kent, on July 4, 1746. The named parents were Thomas and Elizabeth, so my next step was to locate a family in Ash headed by this couple. Once again, I used FindMyPast’s considerable database of Kent-based records, this time the “Kent, Canterbury…

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Verifying the parents of Elizabeth Beake...Part 1

I know in my previous posts about my 4th great-grandmother, Elizabeth Beake, I’ve mentioned she’s the daughter of Thomas Beake and Elizabeth Frier, based on both her August 1776 baptismal register entry at St Andrew, Wickhambreaux1 along with a marriage register entry at the same church from January of that year2. Additionally, baptisms entries consistent with the known facts about the couple…

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Verifying the death of Elizabeth Beake...

A few years ago, I began my work on the Beake line by documenting, as best I could, the life of Elizabeth Beake. While I knew when she was baptized and married, the names of her parents and husband, and how many children born to her were baptized, I wasn’t certain when she died. Research question: When did Elizabeth Beake White die? Likely born sometime in the early summer of 1776 to Elizabeth…

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Building out my Beake family...

It’s been a few weeks since I posted. Work, setting up a new laptop, a mini-break away, and just general exhaustion all contributed to my absence. While I wasn’t writing, I was, however, still doing research. One decision I made was about my Wardell line. It soon became clear the task I’d set myself there was a little too daunting given my available time and the general dearth of records, so for…

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My Sources and Citations Toolbox...

Early next month, I’ll be presenting a workshop over Zoom about Sources and Citations for a local genealogy group. Preparing for it has reminded me of my own experience with the topic many genealogists grapple with the most. As long-time readers of this blog know, it took me quite a while to wrap my head around the advanced concepts for citing genealogical evidence. My journey was circuitous and…

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Determining where and when George Wardell was born...

Last week I wrote about George Wardell’s will and the mystery it raised concerning his heretofore unknown second wife, Mary. But this isn’t the only mystery surrounding George – I also have no confirmed baptism for him. The first definitive record for him is his marriage to Elizabeth Dowell in November 17461. ”                                        November George Wardell & Elizabeth Dowell  15…

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Revelation in a will...that leads to more questions...

When my sixth great-grandfather, George Wardell, died in 1800, he left behind a will1 that revealed a big surprise: a second wife! Until this point, as far as I knew, he’d married Elizabeth Dowell in 17462, their daughter (also Elizabeth) was baptized in 17473, and Elizabeth his wife died in February 1748/494 (click image to enlarge): Records from the 18th century are somewhat limited, as there…

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Monday Genealogy Fun...Did Your Grandparents Know Their Grandparents?

Randy’s most recent challenge to us is as follows: Did Your Grandparents Know Their Grandparents? Marie Cooke Beckman on her blog, MarieB’s Genealogy Blog–Southeastern USA, asked and answered this question, and it is right up the SNGF alley:  Did your grandparents know their grandparents?  Thank you for the idea, Marie! On my paternal side, it’s difficult to know if either of my grandparents knew…