I have 8 sets of 2nd great-grandparents with a
total of 16 individuals.
Paternal Line:
Set # 1: Claude Rual Smith (1896 - 1975) and Willie
Harriet Riddle (1899 – 1985)
Set # 2: Fred Fox (1884 – 1974) and Melvina West (1882 –
1978)
Set # 3: John Milton Binns (1868 – 1961) and Perthinia
“Pert” Eula Brooks (1873 – 1942)
Set # 4: Nathaniel Gustaves Hill (1873 – 1944) and Jessie
Inez Barton (1875 – 1950)
Maternal Line:
Set # 1: Alvin Theodore Godwin (1879 – 1950) and Louella
Davis (1882 – 1947)
Set # 2: William Edward Peters (1874 – 1948) and Dora
King (1875 – 1912)
Set # 3: James Franklin Lasiter (1876 – 1968) and Rosalie
Putman (1875 – 1961)
Set # 4: Barney Sheron Benson (1884 – 1952) and Eva Mae
Dennis (1889 – 1983)
I was born in 1976. As you can see, two of my paternal 2nd
great-grandfathers died 1 or 2 years before I was born and 2 of my paternal 2nd
great-grandmothers lived to hold me in their arms (The obituary of one of my 2nd
great-grandmothers, Willie Harriet Riddle Smith, mentioned that she had 18 2nd
great-grandchildren!)
One of my maternal 2nd great-grandmothers
lived to hold me. I wasn’t the only one though. She had several other 2nd
great-grandchildren that she travelled around to visit with. Check out my
5-generation photos:
Back Row: Sue Lasiter (my grandmother), Marilyn Godwin (my mother), Louise Benson Lasiter (my great-grandmother); Front: Eva Dennis Benson (my 2nd great-grandmother), Ginger R. Smith (me!). Taken March 1976, Fort Smith, Arkansas. From personal collection of Ginger R. Smith, inherited from Louise Lasiter. Copyright 2012.
Back Row: Claude Rual Smith, Jr (my great-grandfather) and Willie Harriet Riddle Smith (my 2nd great-grandmother); Front: Tim D. Smith (my father), Ginger R. Smith (me), Darrel E. Smith (my grandfather). Taken 1976, Fort Smith, Arkansas. From personal collection of Ginger R. Smith, scanned from photo album of Barbara J. Smith, Copyright 2012.
L to R: Reba Fox Smith (my great-grandmother), Ginger R. Smith (me), Melvina West Fox (my 2nd great-grandmother), Tim D. Smith (my father), Darrel E. Smith. Taken March 1976, Fort Smith, Arkansas. From personal collection of Ginger R. Smith, scanned from photo album of Barbara J. Smith, Copyright 2012.
Most all of my sets of 2nd great-grandparents
lived in Arkansas with the exception of the Bensons. I’m pretty lucky because
the Arkansas death certificates started about 1914. I can actually probably
take my ancestry back another generation to 3rd or even 4th
great-grandparents just by using death certificate research!
As I said in my last post about requesting death certificates from the Arkansas Department of Health, it can become quite
addicting and difficult to keep up with all of the requests and processing of
incoming certificates. I try to space them out. I have employed the following
two tables to help me with my research. They track my progress in securing and
processing death certificates and obituaries. From looking at these tables I
can see from a glance what I am missing.
From the tables I have filled out below, I can see that I
have the obituaries and death certificates of 8 of my 16 great-grandparents. I
am half way there! The obituaries I obtained either from family members or from
various newspapers. My cousin, Doris Hamblin Smith, sent me copies of a bunch
of Smith family obituaries in 2010 before she passed away.
In order to understand what the headers Scanned?,
Transcribed?, FTF Notes?, and FTF Source? refer to, you must first know my
genealogy work flow:
1.
Scan and save obituary and death certificate as
a PDF, TIF, and JPG file
2.
Transcribe and save to Word document or Notepad
File
3.
Copy the Transcript to the notes file for that
person in my genealogy software
4.
Enter the Birth, Death, Burial, Occupation,
Marital, etc facts into my genealogy software, including the parents' names
5.
Create a source and attach to the Facts (some
call these "Events")
Nos. 3 and 4 are included
under the FTF Notes heading in the table. FTF stands for “Family Tree File.”
As I collect more
obituaries and death certificates, I can
update this table. I already know which death certificate I plan to
order next – that of Rosalie Putman. However, since 6 of the remaining 8 died
in Arkansas, I can go ahead and order them all at once.
Dora King died in 1912 in
Missouri. I have not found a death record for her yet, probably because she
died before deaths were required to be recorded. Family stories say she died of
a snake bite. I might be able to find a death notice for her in a local newspaper. But I've found this to be difficult; or at least time consuming when you don't know the month and day.
Barney Benson died while
visiting his son in California. I have not yet ordered a death certificate from
California, so this will be my first experience.
Obituary Resources
|
||||
Name
|
Scanned?
|
Transcribed?
|
FTF Notes?
|
FTF Source?
|
Claude Smith Sr
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
Willie Riddle
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
Fred Fox
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Melvina West
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
John M Binns
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Eula Brooks
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Gus Hill
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Jessie Barton
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Alvin Godwin
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Louella Davis
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
William E Peters
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Dora King
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
James F Lasiter
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Rosalie Putman
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Barney Benson
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Eva Dennis
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Death Certificates
|
||||
Name
|
Scanned?
|
Transcribed?
|
FTF Notes?
|
FTF Source?
|
Claude Smith Sr
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
Willie Riddle
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Fred Fox
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Melvina West
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
John M Binns
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Eula Brooks
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Gus Hill
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Jessie Barton
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Alvin Godwin
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Louella Davis
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
William E Peters
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Dora King
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
James F Lasiter
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Rosalie Putman
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Barney Benson
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
Eva Dennis
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
How do you stay organized? Does your genealogy work flow look like mine? If not, how does it differ? How is it similar? I’m looking forward to hearing how other people process the obituaries and death certificates they receive.
Not too many people have met their second great-grandparents, never mind having photos as precious as theses. Three of my four grandparents died before my birth, so I couldn't even come close to this type of collection. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGrannyPam, I'm sorry to hear your Grandparents died before you were born. I have really been blessed with having so many of my family members in my life. I wish I had not been moved away from my hometown though. It would have been even better if I had been allowed to live near them.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to that wish, Ginger: my father worked for the State, and we *never* lived in a town with relatives! (We did live in the same state.)
ReplyDeleteI *love* obituaries, and highly recommend GenealogyBank.com for that purpose.
You do need to be careful with death certificates, though, and look to see who supplied the information. My great-great-grandmother Sallie Register had her death certificate filled out by her grand-daughter Pauline Hayes and Great-Aunt Pauline got the mother's maiden name wrong! Pauline was born in 1906 and Sallie's mother died in 1879, so a lot of knowledge had been lost. A lot of that was in the aftermath of the Civil War, and Sallie's family was splintered after her mother's death in 1879 (her father died during The War).
In fact, in my generation, many were not aware that one cousin was named for Sallie's veteran father - until I started working on the genealogy!
Hi Betsy, I haven't had much luck with GenealogyBank. I was fortunate that I met a cousin who sent me copies of obituaries on my Smith side. Unfortunately she passed shortly after that so we weren't able to do much more research together. And I never found out who her kids were or who her research went to. She was the sweetest and smartest woman. I actually haven't found much new information in death certificates. Most of the info has just verified what I already knew =)
DeleteI am stunned at the idea of five generations. What a blessing! And at your organization. Me, not so much.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan, I had so many death certificates coming in that I had to be organized! Yes, 5 generations was pretty amazing. I always thought every family was like that...until I started doing genealogy. Hope you are having fun in Cincinnati!
DeleteWell done, Ginger - you have a spectacular family grouping with knowing so many of your many-greats! Plus the photos! I have a 'correspondence log' that I use in much the same way... think I'll modify it to include more of the "file/transcribe" details that you have. It's so easy to lose one's organized mind!!
ReplyDeleteHi Celia, thanks so much. I found myself writing "transcribe?" "add as notes?" "add as source?" etc in my to do list that I thought it would be so much easier to just create a table and put a check mark under each heading. It is working well so far! And it keeps me from just receiving the death certificate, scanning it and then forgetting about it or putting it in the "to do" pile where it will sit for the next 5 years. I figured it's a good Get it done candidate!
Delete