Change your bookmarks, please!

The new Bluebonnet Country Genealogy is officially open for business! Please change your bookmarks! All blog posts following this post will be at the new site. I look forward to seeing you all at the new digs!

Bluebonnet Country Genealogy

Madness Monday!

The cause of today’s spurt of grey hair is not an MIA from my family tree, although there are certainly many of them lurking just behind the next census page, I’m sure. Nor is it inspired by the inablity to read that mysterious new document or clearly view and identify the faces in that old photograph.

Today’s near-break with reality is actually self-inflicted. A family historian certainly has to be a gluten for punishment and I am no exception. Let me explain.

I am hopelessly addicted to genealogy, and also to the technology that powers so much of the “internet age of genealogy”. I just love to tinker with this blog, trying out anything new and different. I’m always experimenting with the latest image-editing software or genealogy program. There are so many wonderful tools out there in cyberland that assist in the hunt!

Right now, I am in the process of getting my new website up and running. I had a hosted site once before, about a year ago, but just wasn’t happy with it, maybe because I just never got comfortable with it. While not a total newbie with site management, I’m certainly not a geek, either. (I use the term geek with affection, I assure you. You all have my deepest respect!)

On my previous site, I used The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding to manage my research, but as I said, I just never felt comfortable with it. I think it’s a great program, but just not for me.

So this time I’m using PhpGedView, “a revolutionary genealogy program which allows you to view and edit your genealogy on your website. PhpGedView has full editing capabilities, full privacy functions, can import from GEDCOM files, and supports multimedia like photos and document images. PhpGedView also simplifies the process of collaborating with others working on your family tree. Your latest genealogy information is always on your website and available for others to see.”

The host that I chose installed the program for me and had it running in it’s most basic configuration within about 15 minutes of me signing up, and that was yesterday, a Sunday. Pretty impressive! So I spent most of last evening playing with PhpGedView. So far I really like the program. Certainly different from RootsMagic 4, which I use on my own computer.

I like to hope that by putting all my research online, that it will be safer in the event of catastrophe. Be that a hard drive demise or wild weather (I do live in Tornado Alley!) or any other such event, this is just another way to back-up my work.

And then there’s the concept of “cloud computing”. I normally use my own computer when researching, even taking it on the road as needed. But wouldn’t it be nice to have access to my files at any time, even without my trusty laptop? I think so. (If I can just remember that password… :~ )

I also had WordPress installed on my site, so I’ll soon be importing this blog into the new site. Simple to do, but again I’ll lose all the images that are in the old media library. Kind of annoying that the images won’t transfer. They are still on my hard drive, snug as a bug!

When I began this post this morning, my headache was caused by the fact that I couldn’t log onto my new site, instead I got the “Page not available” message. After about 2 hours, I sent a message to the hosting company, then my granddaughter came over and we left to go shopping. Just as well, ‘cuz I was getting pretty aggravated!

When we got home from the mall, the hosting company had resolved the problem, whatever it was. I went to my site and there was both PhpGedView and WordPress, as if nothing had happened. New site glitches, I suppose…

Anyway, I still have some fine-tuning to do with both programs. What fun!

Wordless Wednesday: A new leaf

Alright, count me in, too

I’ll give Genealogy Wise a go…

I’m on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, but none really contributes much to my research efforts. Maybe I don’t put enough effort into them. If something doesn’t produce fairly quickly, whatever it may be, I tend to wander off…

Genealogy Wise (or GenealogyWise ) seems a bit different, obviously more genealogy-specific.

Ok, I’ll try it…

Stop by and say Hi!

http://www.genealogywise.com/profile/RuthStephens

The memories of a twelve-year-old

(This post is written for the Carnival of Genealogy, 76th Edition: How I spent my summer vacation… a favorite summer memory from your youth. Tell us what summers were like when you were a wee tad pole. Did you vacation with family? Go to a youth camp? Hang out at the local park? Watch fireworks? Catch fireflies? Share those lazy, hazy, crazy, days of summers past with us!)

While this is obviously not a post about how I spent my summer vacation once upon a time, this document was created in summer and is a fascinating tale of early American and early McBurnett history.

The following deposition was given in June 1835 by Isaac Green, who at age 12 survived an Indian attack in 1793 that killed several members of his family, as well as “waggoner” Daniel McBurnett, my fifth great-grandfather.

The Creek Indians (as a Nation)

To Estate James Green dec. D.

1793

March 14th

For seventy five head of Cattle stolen, and carried off, be a party of Creek Indians, taken between the Satilla and Saint Mary’s rivers- who at the same time, murdered, James Green, his daughter Polly Green, Charles Waters, and Daniel McBurnett. Also stole & carried off at same time five horses valued at 75$ each- With household goods and furniture estimated at $125. Say,

75 head head Cattle at $6 p’ head    $450.00

5 head of horses at $75 each             $375.00

Household furniture & other goods     $125.00

$950.00

Georgia vs

Camden County      Personally appeared Isaac Green one of the heirs of James Green deceased. Who being duly and solemnly sworn, deposeth, that the above statement & account is just and true. That on or about the fourteenth day of March one thousand seven hundred and ninety three. (then just being about twelve years of age) he with his father’s family, Consisting of Charles Waters, husband of deponents father’s mother, his father James Green, wife Elizabeth, his sister Polly, and brothers Daniel, and John Green, with Daniel McBurnett (waggoner) were on their journey, with a baggage waggon & baggage consisting of household goods and furniture, removing from the County of Washington in the state of Georgia, to the then Province of East Florida and had crossed the Satilla river into the county of Camden (without encountering any difficulty) at the ferry called “Burnt fort” that they had not however proceeded onward far, probably not more than a mile, and were about passing a small branch of water leading across the road the deponents father being in advance of the waggon when a number of Indians who lay in ambush rose up and commenced a fire upon them immediately raising the war whoop and rushing in upon them.

The deponent further said that the said party of Indians killed the deponent’s father his sister Polly-Charles Waters, and Daniel McBurnett (the waggoner) that the deponent made his escape back to the ferry “Burnt fort” and after a short time, his mother, Grandmother Waters, brothers John and Daniel, and a young woman named Ruth Perkins, Who fled also back he found at a trading store called “Cashens store” on the great Satilla river-When greatly alarmed for the safety of their lives they hastily crossed the river and proceeded back on foot towards the Alatamaha river with what remnant of clothing they had saved. that they reached the river on the fourth day having been delayed on the road in consequence of the want of provisions and the feeble condition of his mother and grandmother. The deponent further saith that the aforesaid Cattle Horses, household, and other goods above mentioned, which the Indians plundered and carried off belonged to his father as he always understood from his mother (in her life time) and verily believes- and that no part thereof was ever recovered back of satisfaction obtained that the deponent with the surviving members of his father’s family- remained in georgia several years after the murder and robbery aforesaid- towit-Two years

They afterwards went into Florida and resided Two years again returned where the deponent with his family now resides and has resided in Camden Co for the past thirty eight years- the deponent further saith and verily believes that the Indians that committed the aforesaid murders, and robbery, formed a part of the same party that killed Fleming store keeper of the store at Trader’s hill and one Moffitt robbed the store of a large amount of goods and other property (destroyed the ware house and other buildings by fire) and carried off the Goods.

And further the deponent saith not.

Isaac Green

Sworn to before me this 12th

day of June 1835

Arch Clark

Indent S. Mary’s

(On Reverse)

James Green-

1793.

75 head of cattle…………………$450.00

5 horses………………………………..375.00

furniture……………………………….125.00

$950.00

Provided for by the treaty of the Indian Springs & the act of congress of June 30th 1834.

Allowed

June 27th 1835

John A Cuthbert

Com.

State of Georgia. Department of Archives & History. Indian Depredations, Various Dates. Comp. John B. Wilson/Secretary of State and Mrs. J. E. Hays/State Historian. Vol. IV. W. P. A. Project O.P. 665-34-3-224, 1940.

A wealth of new info has appeared…

…from an unlikely (to me, at least) source: Ancestry.com.

Why unlikely? Because the info was found using Ancestry’s “new” search.

Their “new” search has been available for some time now, but only rarely have I ever found anything of value using the “new” search. For whatever reason, I can find many more goodies using the “old” search.

In the past I have experimented with both searches by using the same term, usually a name or location. The “old” search would usually yield much better results than the “new” search, so after a while, I just automatically clicked on “Old search” when using Ancestry.

I have been away from genealogical search in general and Ancestry in particular for a couple of months now as I awaited the arrival of my new grandson. But things are finally returning to normal and I have taken up my research again where I left off, with the McBurnetts.

So last night I went to Ancestry, logged on, and there was the “new ” search awaiting me. Since I’ve been gone for a bit, I decided to enter “Daniel McBurnett” into the search box…

Daniel was my 5th great-grandfather and the furthest back that I have been able to go with that surname.

What did I find?

Only 25 pages from “The McBurnett Story” that had been copied and uploaded to Ancestry’s Public Member Photos & Scanned Documents section! The “McBurnett Story” was written in 1994 by Betty Jo Parsons and is no longer available to purchase. The Family History Library does show 1 copy in their catalogue, but I haven’t had the time to get to my local Family History Library to order the book. From what I understand, this book contains an excellent discussion of the McBurnetts in America, complete with sources and documentation.

The 25 pages that I found and downloaded contain 2 late 1700’s original documents. The excerpts indicate a book that seems to be very well written and documented. Even more amazing, of the book’s 240 pages, the 25 that are on Ancestry deal directly with my McBurnett line, Daniel>James>Nicholas>Harrison Wardlow McBurnett, my 2nd great-grandfather! Dates, locations, spouses and children, documents- they’re all there. Pretty exciting!

The moral of this tale? Always use every option available when conducting genealogical research!

Wordless Wednesday

Land Grant to Daniel McBurnett

287 1/2 acres

Franklin County, Georgia

17 May 1784