Surname Saturday - HUNTOON / HUNTORN

I've written about my great grandmother, Mary R. Huntoon here and also here.

I try to revisit her every so often. I'm not sure why, but the thought occurred to me that the woman with whom she is living in 1870, Mary Taylor, might not be her mother-in-law, but her mother.

Looking at Mary Taylor again with this in mind, I find that she was born in Pennsylvania, which is where in 1880 Mary Huntoon Porter states her mother was born. I had already found her date of death, but had not looked at her death certificate, so I obtained a copy from Familysearch.org. It states that her father's name was David Stagers. On Mary's son, John James Taylor's death certificate, Mary is listed as Mary Stiggers. As mentioned in one of the previous posts I've seen the surname Stiger or some variation of it on several Ancestry family trees pertaining to this family. I then obtained a copy of Mary Taylor's obituary. It states that she was born in Green [Greene] County, Pennsylvania. Already known facts are that she married Burgess Taylor and was survived by her son, John J. Taylor. In the 1900 federal census both Burgess and Mary Taylor state that they had been married 39 years, putting their marriage date at about 1860-1861. Their son, John, according to his death certificate was born in November 1861. My Great Grandmother, Mary Huntoon Porter, was born about 1853. So for Mary Taylor to be Mary Huntoon Porter's mother, the marriage to Burgess would have had to have been a second marriage. Looking through my book on Knox County marriages between 1808 to 1875, I could not find a marriage record in Knox County for Mary Staggers and Burgess Taylor. However, I did find a marriage record for Mary Staggers and Owen/Oren Huntorn!

So it appears that my hunch was right. The Mary Taylor with whom my Great Grandmother, Mary Huntoon Porter, is indeed my Great, Great Grandmother. The other thing that gives some support to this is a paragraph printed just before Mary Taylor's obituary: "George Mohr of Gambier [Knox County, O], Arthur Porter, Joshua Taylor, Bertie Lybarger and Mrs. Ida Worman [Warman] of Knox county, attended the funeral of Mrs. Mary Taylor on Wednesday of last week." Arthur Porter, Bertie Lybarger and Ida Warman are Leander and Mary Huntoon Porter's children. Several times in the local paper "Richwood Gazette" [Union County, Ohio] Mrs. Mary Taylor is mentioned as having returned from visiting relatives in Knox County.

I cannot find anything more on Owen/Oren Huntorn. The surname Huntorn is seen some in census records, but not in Knox County/Union County areas. It's possible that the surname is not Huntorn, but Huntoon/Hontoon. I'm sure that all were illiterate so the surname was written as it sounded. I will of course keep looking for my newly-found 2nd Great Grandfather.

So as of today I have definitely verified the story that my Great Grandmother's last name was Huntoon (or something that sounded very similar). What I have not verified is if Mary's father was Native American. A DNA test might help determine if there is Native American blood in our ancestry. I have most likely identified my 2nd Great Grandparents, Owen/Oren Huntorn/Huntoon and Mary Staggers.

I now have to find more supporting evidence, but I feel confident that I have again taken a chunk out of my brick wall, Mary Huntoon Porter.

Military Monday - Sons & Daughters of World War II Veterans Genealogy Society

I recently came across the Sons & Daughters of World War II Veterans Genealogy Society's website. I am wavering back and forth on whether I should join or not.

The pros are that it would be very easy for me to prove my decendancy from a WWII vet. I have my father's Army discharge papers, my birth certificate, and my marriage license. The Army discharge papers show the same address for Dad as that on my birth certificate. Easy! Probably the easiest Society requirements for me, most likely because I didn't have to go back that far to obtain the required documents.

The con is the price ... $125.00 for the initial application, then others can 'hitch a ride' on that application for an additional $25.00 each.

I've browsed some of the members. Seeing that some have pictures of the WWII vet is a nice touch, but after listening this past Wednesday to Maureen Taylor's webinar "Google Images and Beyond", I don't know if I could share a very nice picture I have of Dad in uniform due to copyright issues.

Anyway, while I ponder over this please check out this Society's website.

Weekly Roundup 22 Jul 2011

After attending the Legacy Webinar "The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships" I decided to try to find a living female descendant that would carry my Great Grandmother, Mary R. Hontoon/Huntoon's mtDNA. I have identified a few women that are descended from Mary's daughter, Bertha Bell Porter Lybarger. While doing this research I found that I had a lot of to-do's still open for this family, so I sent a few requests to the Knox County Records Center. Most items were found, but will have to look elsewhere for a few marriage records. I sent my SASE and fee today to the Records Center; hope to have those items next week.

I was contacted by a descendant of my half great-great uncle, William Lee Porter, who had seen my blog. I was happy to share the Mexican & Civil War pension files. Again, by revisiting his pension files I realized that I did not have his Compiled Service Record for his Mexican War service, so I requested that from NARA. (Already have the CSR for his Civil War service).

A couple weeks ago I had filled in the request for military service records for my brother, Patrick Porter. He served in the Navy, and did one tour of Vietnam. His records should have survived the 1970s fire. Received a letter late last week requesting a death certificate, or something similar that would show that he was dead, i.e. obituary. I then sent a request for Pat's death certificate to the Columbus Public Health Department. Surprisingly I have already received it.

While I was requesting Pat's death certificate, I decided to also request my Grandmother, Rose Linn Porter Milter's death certificate, which I also received.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My Heritage Pie Chart

I know, I know ... it's Monday but just saw this and thought it would be fun too!

Saturday's mission from Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings blog was:

1) List your 16 great-great-grandparents with their birth, death, and marriage data (dates & places).

2) Determine the countries (or states) that these ancestors lived in at their birth and at their death.

3) For extra credit, go make a "Heritage Pie" chart for the country of origin (birth place) for these 16 ancestors. [Hint: you could use the cart generator from Kid Zone for this.]

4) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook or google+.

WARNING: The following ancestors have been researched, but some of the information lacks standard sources. So please do not copy. Someday I hope that they will be fully sourced.

Here are my 16 great-greats:

William Porter, parents unknown, was born about 1794, most likely in Connecticut but birth has been seen as New York also. He most likely died in May 1862 in Knox County, Ohio, USA. He married Catherine ? Davis on 24 Sep 1842 in Knox County, Ohio, USA.

Catherine ?, parents unknown, was born abt 1810 in New York. She died 14 Jun 1882 in Knox County, Ohio, USA.

Unknown father of Mary Hontoon/Huntoon, supposedly born in Pennsylvania. Marriage and death information unknown.

Unknown mother of Mary Hontoon/Huntoon, supposedly born in Pennsylvania. Marriage and death information unknown.

John Linn, son of Jacob Linn and Elizabeth Ulrich, was born 6 Nov 1822 in Pennsylvania. He died 22 May 1911 in Akron, Summit, Ohio, USA. On 23 Jun 1850 he married Ellen Fitzsimmons in Stark County, Ohio, USA.

Ellen Fitzsimmons, daughter of William Fitzsimmons and Collen Cahill, was born 24 Aug 1822 in County Down, Ireland. She died 11 Dec 1885 n Navarre, Stark, Ohio, USA.

Mathew Mathias Carlin Sr., son of unknown parents, was born about 1816 in County Louth, Ireland. He died 24 Mar 1900 in Canal Dover, Tuscarawas, Ohio, USA. He married on unknown date in Ireland Jane Rochford.

Jane Rochford, daughter of unknown parents, was born abt 1830 in County Louth, Ireland. She died 3 Apr 1866 in Ohio. USA.

Ingham Wood, son of John Wood and Phebe Bradford, was born 19 Mar 1821 in Clark County, Ohio, USA. He died 4 Sep 1902 in Union County, Ohio, USA. On 22 Apr 1841 he married Ann Maskill in Union County, Ohio, USA.

Ann Maskill, daughter of Robert Maskill and Isabelle Middletown, was born 10 Oct 1818 in England. She died 1 Sep 1878 in Union County, Ohio, USA.

Unknown father of James William Lewis. Place of birth unknown.

Unknown mother of James William Lewis. Place of birth unknown.

Jacob Henry Shafer, son of William T Shafer and Sarah "Sally" DeWitt, was born 10 Jan 1814 in Delaware County, Ohio, USA. On 24 Nov 1841 in Marion County, Ohio, USA he married Hester Ann Cupp.

Hester Ann Cupp, daughter of Conrad Cupp and Elizabeth Croninger, was born 6 Oct 1819 in Pickaway County, Ohio, USA. She died 7 Jul 1910 in Union Township, Van Wert, Ohio, USA.

Andrew Gandy, son of Abijah Gandy and Rebecca Harris, was born 9 Aug 1826 in Clark County, Ohio, USA. He died 29 May 1900 in Leesburg Township, Union, Ohio, USA. 27 Nov 1847 in Union County, Ohio, USA he married Elizabeth Ann Johnson.

Elizabeth Ann Johnson, daughter of Elias Johnson and Eliza Hyde, was born between 1821-1822 in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, USA. She died 9 Oct 1894 in Union County, Ohio, USA.

This was a good exercise as I can quickly see that I have 5 unknown great-great grandparents. Hopefully someone will see this and say "Hey, I know that guy's parents!".

Edited: 7:20pm - looked at this again and realized that I actually only have 4 unknowns and one from England that I did not input to the chart

Weekly Roundup 15 Jul 2011

I received an email from a paternal cousin who asked me to look into another cousin of ours named Marilyn. She stated that she and her husband had been talking about this cousin, and was hoping to see if she was still with us as she was wanting to contact her. This gave me the opportunity to visit this family again as it had been awhile since I last worked on them. I found that the husband of our cousin Marilyn had passed away in 2002 at the age of 67 years. His obituary lists his occupation as Master Carpenter; however, I was told that he also worked as a bus driver in his later years. Next I verified that our cousin is still alive and is living in Grove City, Franklin, Ohio. Marilyn is one of at least 3 children of my father's brother, Leslie Andrew "Andy" Porter, who passed away in 1944 at the age of 36.

I received the mapping software, AniMap. I have not had a chance yet to work with it.

I received the obituaries that I had requested from the Wood County (OH) Genealogical Society. They were for the following: Mrs. V. R. [Jennie Minor] Porter (2), John Porter, J. W. Porter, David Porter, Miss Porter (daughter of Calvin Porter), Mrs. Francis Porter, Mrs. J. H. Porter, Mrs. Kirby [Laura Porter] Shuman (2), Calvin Porter, Mrs. [William] Rose Porter, and four year old son of James Porter. This is the Truman Porter family that I'm hoping to find a link to my William Porter family. Unfortunately, none of these obits helped me do that.

Participated in the Legacy Family Tree Webinar "The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships" by Dr. Ugo A. Perego. At first I wasn't sure if this was going to contain new information, but was pleasantly surprised at all the new things I did learn. Definitely glad that I didn't miss this one. During this Webinar, Geoff Rasmussen announced that with the latest version of Legacy Family Tree you can enter additional DNA information into the database. I think the current version accepts Y-DNA only from a handful of vendors. I think the current version also does not allow you to enter the results from GeneTree, but the new version does. Dr. Perego is associated with GeneTree, and parts of the Webinar appeared to be a major commercial for their products. However, it was acceptable due to all the new information I learned.

I scanned a few more documents and photos. So many more to do! Also worked on a new backup system using Windows 7 Libraries.

Tech Tuesday - Using Windows 7 Libraries - 1st Step toward a better backup system

I know that I'm probably late getting out of the gate using Windows 7 Libraries. I have been using Windows 7 since shortly after it was released. However, I have to admit that the Libraries mystified me until just recently. At first I looked at them and thought "OK, this is probably a good thing, but what the heck am I supposed to do with them?". I continued with that thinking until I decided I was tired of skirting around them. I just knew they had to be useful, else they wouldn't have a position of prominence in Windows Explorer, would they? So I finally broke down and read up on what they are and how they can be used. Now I understand them. So much so, that I have recently reorganized my entire file system to take advantage of them.

The tech tip I'm writing about today is just one handy thing about Windows 7 libraries. What did I discover that warrants a write-up? You can use W7 libraries to make an easy backup of everything important to you. I know some of you are already aware of this, but it was a nice revelation for me.

I've been wanting to make my backups easier so that I don't miss anything. I know there is a lot of cloud-based backup systems, but I don't want to use them just yet. I do believe that one should have several methods of backup, and I will be looking into that soon.

In the past I would just go through my list in my head of what I had to backup. Sometimes I would miss something, and a couple times that has been responsible for losing files or information important to me.

What I recently found out about W7 libraries is that you can create your own libraries! So I have created a library called Backup Library where I've included folders that I want to make sure are backed up.

As you can see from the above snapshot, I have also added a folder to the Pictures Library. I have a ton of photos and most of them are stored on a Western Digital 600GB external hard drive. I also restructured my file system so that most of what is important to me exists under either the My Documents or Public Documents folders if it doesn't exist under one of the other Libraries. For example, I am an avid gardener and I have a very large Garden folder. In the past I had that sitting at the same level as My Documents. That has now been moved under the My Documents folder.

I have never used the operating system Backup utility. I have read the W7's backup utility is an improved application, but I cannot see how it will help me with my current situation. Right now I'm using a laptop and I do not keep it running overnight. I know that you can run a W7 backup even when using the computer, but would prefer it to run overnight. When I again purchase a desktop I will probably be more inclined to use this type of utility since I don't have a problem with keeping a desktop machine running all the time. In the future I will investigate both W7 Backup and Restore utility and non-Microsoft backup solutions. (Desktop usage vs. new technology is a topic for another discussion :-) )

Right now the Library I've created, along with the four libraries already established by W7, contain about 97 GB of data (about 60,000 files). As I write this blog post I am copying everything under the Libraries umbrella to a Western Digital 500GB drive. When it started the copying process said it would take about a day. Now it says 5 hours. That remains to be seen. If it does takes too much time, I'll probably break down the backup into the individual Libraries. I've already done a practice backup with just a couple folders in the Backup Library. Worked great and did not take very long. Of course it was much, much smaller.

Using Windows 7 Libraries as a means to make my backups easier is not perfect. I still have to remember to export my bookmarks, my blog posts, etc. before copying the libraries to my external backup drive. But this is a good first step.

Weekly Roundup 08 Jul 2011

Really haven't had a lot of time for research this week.

I found that I can via interlibrary loan checkout microfilms of New York newspapers from the New York State Archives. I'll be putting together a list soon.

In an effort to find my 3rd Great Grandparents I did start analyzing the Porter families living in the Southern Tier of New York, from 1810 onward. First county (and only county so far) that I've looked at is Steuben County, New York.

I thought at first that a Robert Porter who was born in Hartford County, Connecticut and migrated to Prattsburgh, Steuben, New York sometime in the early 1800s was a good candidate, but further research showed that his family unit probably included a son named William who was born about 10 years after my William. I think I want to still look for a will of this Robert, just to make sure of my current conclusion.

I also looked at a John Porter and Joseph Porter living in Reading, Steuben County, New York in 1820. It appears that John is the father of Joseph Porter. They both disappear after the 1820 census.

Mathew Porter and David C Porter are found in Dansville, Steuben County (later Dansville, Livingston County) in several census records. Further research shows that they are brothers, and descend from Nathaniel Porter (1743-1797) and Charity Lane (1747-1813). Both were born in New Jersey so I have discounted this family at this time.

I also looked at Moses Porter in Cohocton, Steuben County; however, he is too young to be a father to my William but of the age to be a brother. Further research is needed on this male Porter.

I hope to continue to work through each Southern NY county, analyzing each Porter family. It is my opinion at this time that William's father and mother were most likely born in Connecticut, but moved to New York, either before William's birth or shortly after. I probably should also look at migration patterns used by settlers from Connecticut across Southern New York.

Weekly Roundup 1 Jul 2011

I submitted to the National Archives Personnel Record Center a request for my brother, Pat's separation papers from his service in the Navy. Then I sent the required 'signature' page.

I sent a request to the Wood County (OH) Genealogical Society for several Truman Porter relatives' obituaries.

I spent some time searching the SAR database at Ancestry for any male Porter who was born in Connecticut. Will do the same with male Porters born in New York. When I'm done searching this database I expect to have some names that will need further research.

I started scanning documents in my possession. In an effort to be more organized I also have created folders for items that I've scanned and for those that need to-be scanned. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with these items after they are all scanned.