image_pdfimage_print

Thriller Thursday: Getting Started in Genealogy

Edith (ROBERTS) [McMURRAY] Luck at her desk in Newton, Iowa, 1980. Edith’s love of her family  and their stories helped to inspire some young budding family historians/archivists.

Why is this a “Thriller Thursday” post? Because we have new interest within the family to document and preserve the past, and that is THRILLING! It is so wonderful to find connections between cousins and our ancestors through DNA, online trees, and communicating via email, sites like FaceBook, or wonderfully, in person! Unless we preserve the little pieces we each have and share them, there will be much missing in the stories of our family.

A number of cousins have asked for suggestions on getting started, and after starting a long email to one cousin, it seemed a bit easier to put it out in a blog post, along with some links that might be useful.

So here are some of my thoughts on doing genealogy, and I hope that they will help those interested.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
There are so many ways to do and organize genealogy. An Ancestry.com public tree will give you the most exposure for finding cousins, even if you do not pay for the service. (Most libraries have a version of Ancestry that can be used for research.) Software on one’s own computer allows more privacy for living people although it is tough to keep two trees current. There is some concern about using genealogy software- when they no longer support a program, what will happen to your data? They always keep their data in a ‘proprietary’ format, which means it cannot be read by other programs. So it is lost if the company ceases to exist, although there may be time to convert it before data is removed. Unfortunately the program used to convert, called GEDcom, is very old and does not transfer pictures, notes, has problems with places, etc., so some information would be lost. Using formats like .pdf or .txt, Excel, or a Word document to keep everything on a laptop can be very useful- those files have a better possibility of being kept/supported  for a very long time. And some persons, like me, still believe in paper copies- those can be read no matter how out-of-date something is on a computer, or if the power grid fails or whatever. (But then we probably have worse problems to deal with!!)
Here are some ideas about getting started with preserving your family history so that it can be shared:
1. Scan your photos at 600dpi and make sure the scanner glass is clean (has to be dry too or you can destroy the photo). Scan only one photo at a time, as the scanner decides lightness/darkness automagically, and if you have an old b&w photo plus a color photo on the glass, it will find a not-so-good middle ground for the scan. Try to carefully dust off the photo with a clean, dry cloth, and make sure that little bits of paper crumbs are not left on the glass between scans.
2. Don’t forget to take pictures of family treasures- the wedding gift from 1904, a diploma too big to scan, a WWI canteen, or pickle castor. Take pictures in good light if possible rather than a flash, and shoot from different angles, including any place there might be a manufacturer’s name. Did grandma leave a little piece of paper inside that had a note? Also take a photo of the paper with the object, and it could be scanned as well.
3. Choose the file format that works best for you for scans or photos. TIFF files are more archival but take up more room on your hard disk. JPG files lose information each time they are copied. Here is a blog that has lots of great info on photo preservation and talks about this problem with file types, even if you don’t use the equipment she is talking about:
(I don’t suggest her filing system- see below for mine.)
If all that is just too complicated, just take pictures like you normally would- it is definitely better than not having an item documented.
4. There are a number of resources and blogs that can really help with getting started on recording your family history and family artifacts, photos, and treasures:
Here is a fast, easy, and inexpensive way of keeping information with an image: https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/easy-low-tech-way-to-label-scanned-photos/  I would use unlined index cards and write a date, names of persons and places, plus any other info you know about the photo, keeping it somewhat brief. Personally I would scan the card with photo and then do the photo alone, but the photo could always have the info card cropped off if you decide to only do the one scan with the card.
(Amy’s blog is great to read and she has a podcast now that might help get people started in genealogy research.)
Make sure to scan the borders of a photo and the back of any images that have information on them too. Even a studio or photographer’s name can help you figure out an approximate date of the photo, as can the type of paper it is on, border size, etc. Plus, it is lovely to have the handwriting of an ancestor, and especially their sweet comments on the image.
5. Naming and filing information so it can be found later is really important. Do you have a Mac or Windows machine? I use a Mac but filing and naming are essentially the same, I think. Here is one of my posts that might be useful:
This link tells in detail how I name my files. I use this format for EVERYTHING- photos, documents like censuses or marriage records (you can download from FamilySearch or Ancestry or do a screen capture, and I recommend that because sometimes the documents disappear from being online), notes, emails with info that I save about a person, and even current photos.
For files that belong together, I use the same root file name and add an extension describing the new file, as described in the article. Here is an example:
1923_0725_McMURRAY_Edward A_Sr_ROTC Camp Training Certificate_pmm.png
1923_0725_McMURRAY_Edward A_Sr_ROTC Camp Training Certificate_pmm_cropped.png
1923_0725_McMURRAY_Edward A_Sr_ROTC Camp Training Certificate_pmm_unit info.txt
When you name the file, make sure to include keywords to help you find it within a search of your files. With the above, I can search by date, name, ROTC, camp, certificate, etc.
6. All those files need to get from your scanner to a folder where you can keep them together for each family; the post below tells how I do that.
Each folder, or the files within each folder, then, will essentially become a timeline for each person, as the computer will order them from oldest to newest since you have the dates first in the name (if you have set it up that way- there is a small arrow to click up or down for sorting order). If you put the year first it sorts by year, then month, then day. If you put the month first as in traditional dating, it will put together all the May files you have, then sort by day then year- not very useful in general. Some persons do file by document, event, or place, but I am lazy and don’t want to browse 4 folders when I am looking for information about one person. I also like the continuity of files being together for a person within their birth family, then their own family once they have married. For siblings who are not of my direct line, I leave them under their parent name, but create a folder for them with their spouse.
I actually use full names in the folder now, not initials as was posted previously:
McMURRAY_William E-Lynette PAYNE
7. Capitalizing last names makes them easy to find in files with a quick visual scan. In my family trees and software programs, I only capitalize direct line ancestors. (Some software now lets you tag direct lines, but Ancestry.com still does not.) Capitalizing makes a “William McMURRAY” who is an ancestor easier to find among all the William McMurrays who are cousins. (Why did they use the same names over and over??)
8. It is important to write down your impressions when you first see a document or photo- what is unique, who do you think is in it, when or where do you think it was taken, etc.? Our brains are remarkable and often make associations that are unexpected. (Trying to ID the person in a daguerrotype, after many years I noticed the woman had very large hands, and realized I had noticed that in another picture more recently acquired. I knew about what family she was in, so looked at those photos again, and the large hands were evident in a family photo with her husband and children! That photo had an ID so now I knew that the daguerrotype most likely was of the same person, though younger.) I use a Text Editor, as that will probably always be readable, for taking notes about images and artifacts. You cannot format text in it, but that’s ok for my purposes.  You could also use a Microsoft Word document for interviews, notes, things you want to verify, etc. Even second or twentieth impressions can give insight-  a picture that just seemed to be Grandpa in the back yard suddenly became one that made me realize he loved to grow roses- something I would never have guessed.
9. If you are lucky enough to have folks of the older generation available, try to get with them ASAP to record their memories. Diseases like Alzheimer’s, dementia, stroke, or a sudden death can make a delay in visiting also a big loss of information, as well as being a heart-breaking event in a family. Showing a picture or document may help jog a memory, so take what you know from prior research and be ready to take notes, video, or record your visit, as well as scan (even using your phone camera). The memories may help them jump to more remembrances, and they might even say, “Hey, I have some things you might be interested in, I think, in a box under the bed (or in a closet or horrors, attic or basement).” Transcribing the information soon after is important too, as nuances of a conversation can be lost- was the person interviewed happy about a memory, disturbed, cautious, or elated? It is good to add your impressions in to an interview, but always make sure it is obvious that they are your impressions, not those of the person being interviewed. You can use brackets and italics to signify things unspoken: [got very excited to see picture, and began remembering small incidents from childhood]

 

Here are some sites that may also be of use when getting started:

FamilySearch.org
This is a great site that is free, offers an unbelievable number of documents, photos, etc., as well as educational materials. The site is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and you will need to create an account to use it. Once you have signed in, click on “Search”- you will have the option to look for records, old genealogies (not always accurate but good for clues to verify information), old books, such as county histories which will provide biographies of many citizens (although often paid for, so often glowing accounts), plus one of the best-kept secrets, the FamilySearch Wiki. The Wiki will help you find what records are available for a specific time and place, and give ideas on genealogy how-to subjects, such as interviewing. They even offer a world-wide family tree, but, as with all other online trees, please use the information as CLUES, not facts- there is a lot of bad genealogy out there. Visiting your local LDS Family History Center will open new doors into your research as well.
LegacyFamilyTree.com
https://familytreewebinars.com
This website offers a wonderful software program, as well as an incredible array of webinars on about every subject in which a genealogist could have an interest. Webinars are free when they air and then for a number of days after, and some webinars are always free. Others are behind a paywall but even a one-month membership could be enough to get a new family historian up and running in the right direction, with the right documentation.
Ancestry.com
Hated by many, the discoveries made using Ancestry’s trees, documents, books, newspapers, DNA database, etc. has been worth every penny to me over the years. Since Ancestry came online, our family tree has grown by countless generations in every direction, and I have found close cousins I never knew existed. They offer special pricing at times and a partial version is available in many libraries and Family History Centers.
Books, Journals
GoogleBooks, Internet Archive, and the Hathi Trust have old magazines, journals, and books online for free.
Newspapers
Newspaper websites can help tell the stories of our ancestors when vital records or photos only give us the facts. “ChroniclingAmerica” is from the Library of Congress, “Old Fulton Postcards” specializes in New York but has newspapers for other states, and many states are now digitizing their newspapers and placing online for free. Google abandoned its newspaper project but pages are still available online at https://news.google.com/newspapers.
Before paying for a newspaper site, browse their holdings to see if they have papers from the dates and places in which your ancestors lived. My favorite site is GenealogyBank, but short subscriptions may help you find what you need even if they only have papers for one place/time of interest.
Overwhelming? Sure, but it is all out there, just waiting for you to work on preserving and sharing your family history. Take one step, tackle one small project at a time. Any bit you do, no matter how small, will preserve more information for our younger generations and those to come than might have been otherwise saved. So just get started!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. I have no financial interest in any of the above organizations or businesses, and none of the recommendations were solicited by them.

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2018 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Tuesday’s Tip: Mary (Bliss) Parsons- Which Witch??

Painting that many attribute as Mary Bliss Parsons, but it is not. No known images exist of her. Unknown source.
Painting that many attribute as Mary (Bliss) Parsons, but it is not. No known images exist of her. Unknown source.

McMurray Family, Burnell Family (Click for Family Tree)

Tuesday’s Tip: Be careful with names.

Even when the occupation or another trait seems to “fit,”

do an ‘exhaustive search’ to make sure you have the correct ancestor.

 

Initial research on Mary Parsons as an ancestor provided confusing results.

Two women with the name of Mary Parsons lived in two of the same towns during the same time period. That is challenging enough, but during the early research, I knew that “our” ancestor had been accused as a witch. That was not enough to distinguish one from the other, however- both of these Marys had been accused as witches! WOW!- so were they the same person?

No.

The key to this problem was to find the maiden names of the women- not always easy to do, especially in very early records. For women, looking at their children is also a clue. Well, sometimes children can be a clue, however the same few names were often used, children died young, etc. But the number of children, their birth years, and names, can be tidbits that might also prove helpful to differentiate two people, or prove they are the same.

In our case, the children helped but maiden names were the definitive way to show they were indeed two different women.

Mary (Lewis) Parsons, wife of Hugh Parsons, lived in Springfield, Hamden, Massachusetts at the same time as Mary (Bliss) Parsons, our ancestor. We have posted extensively about both families in our series on Mary (Bliss) Parsons. Once we found the maiden names of “Lewis” and “Bliss” it was fairly easy to distinguish between the two women. Additionally, Mary (Lewis) was older and had fewer children than “our” Mary (Bliss) Parsons.

Interestingly, though, some additional research shows that “Lewis” was NOT the maiden name of the wife of Hugh Parsons. I have never seen this mentioned in any of the scholarship on the two families, however.

How do I know that? It’s that BSOS- “Bright Shiny Object Syndrome,” where one has to look at just one more piece of evidence… though at least this one did not take me far from the original focus.

American Ancestors, the website of the New England Historic & Genealogical Society (NEHGS), has a database with the papers of John Winthrop, Deputy Governor of Massachusetts. In a letter from William Pynchon in Springfield to Winthrop, dated 15 September 1645, Pynchon states:

I wrote to you… about one Mary Lewis the wife of Lewis a papist. [a Catholic- something abhorred by the Puritans.] she hath been aboue [about] 7y[ears] seperated from her husband, and is perswaded by others that she may marry by the lawes of England: she is easely perswaded to that bec[ause] she liues [lives] vnder [under] temptations of desyer [desire] of mariage and I vunderstand [understand] lately that she is falen into a league of amity [a “friendly” relationship] with a bricke maker of our Towne…

This “bricke maker of our Towne” was none other than Hugh Parsons.

Thus “Lewis” was the married name of Mary, from her first marriage. Some researchers do note that she was deserted by her first husband (the “papist”), but none that I have found note her maiden name; I have not found it either.

Gov. Winthrop must have approved the “league of amity,” as the marriage of Mary and Hugh is is recorded in the Springfield, Massachusetts Vol. 1, page 20 of “Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850” on AmericanAncestors.org. It is written as:

Hugh Parsons & mary Lewis joyned in m[torn] 8 mon. 27 day 1645.

Researchers have therefore assumed that Mary’s maiden name was Lewis. But it most likely was not, as can be deduced from Pynchon’s letter stating she had married a man named Lewis. Of course, her maiden name could have been ‘Lewis’ and she married a man named ‘Lewis’- such things did happen, but it was less likely. Either way, technically, her name should be genealogically written as “Mary ( __ ) [Lewis] Parsons.”

So another tip: don’t assume!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. See resources listed in previous posts about Mary (Bliss) Parsons, Parts 1-4 beginning with:

    No Ghoulies, No Ghosties, But a Witch? Yep. Part 1“–http://heritageramblings.net/2015/10/31/no-ghoulies-no-ghosties-but-a-witch-yep-part-1/

    “Wedding Wednesday: Mary Parsons and Ebenezer Bridgman”http://heritageramblings.net/2015/12/23/wedding-wednesday-mary-parsons-and-ebenezer-bridgman/

  2. Gov. John Winthrop Papers, Vol. 1-5, 1557 to 1649. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2016.) Originally published as: Winthrop Papers.Boston: Masssachuestts Historical Society, 1929 -. Vol. 5, page 45.

  3. Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016).

  4. Newer usage in genealogy includes using brackets around previous married names, in addition to the convention of parentheses around maiden names.
  5. Reading colonial writing is not as hard as it seems- if stumped, say the words out loud, as they were often spelled as they were said, and with whatever accent was used. Also note that sometimes “v” and “u” were used interchangeably as in ‘vnderstand.’ Additionally, an “f” was often used as an “s,” especially if it was a double “s” in the word, as in “difmifsed” for “dismissed.”

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Thankful Thursday: #My Colorful Ancestry

Birthplace Excel Chart, inspired by J. Paul Hawthorne.
Birthplace Excel Chart, inspired by J. Paul Hawthorne. (Click to enlarge.)

McMurray Family, Helbling Family (Click for Family Trees)

Sometimes it seems I am ‘wasting’ time by reading so much on the internet, but one can learn fantastic things. There are also fantastic people who share their fantastic ideas with the world via the internet, and for that I am so thankful- not only on Thankful Thursday.

Today, gratitude goes to J. Paul Hawthorne, who posted “A Little Thing That Went Viral… #MyColorfulAncestry” on his blog, “GeneaSpy.”  Of course, I am behind the times as it went viral last March, but that is what happens when one lives with one foot in the present, and the other back in the 1700s, 1800s, etc.

The above chart is for the children of Edward A. McMurray, Jr. and Mary Theresa (Helbling) McMurray.

Note how color-coding the Excel cells helps to show migration of a family.

Grayed cells are unknown birthplaces, although they most likely were in the same country as where the more recent generation was born, such as Germany or Ireland.

Follow the links on J. Paul’s blog for templates to use, as a number of other genealogy bloggers have added generations. I do recommend that one clear the cells of text, or use all caps when inputting your own ancestor’s birthplaces. When all the words are in the cells, then go back and change colors so that each state and country are different.

The chart also follows the genealogical convention of an Ahnentafel chart, with the father’s name on top, mother’s below. So the largest bright green box for Iowa is for Edward A. McMurray, Jr., and the largest rose-colored box for Missouri would be the birthplace of Mary (Helbling) McMurray. Mary’s father, William Gerard Helbling, was born in Missouri, so is represented to the right, with the lower box being for her mother, Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling, who was born in Indiana. Take a look at the associated family trees for names and details.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. A Little Thing That Went Viral… #MyColorfulAncestry” by J. Paul Hawthorne in his blog, “GeneaSpy.” http://www.geneaspy.com/2016/03/a-little-thing-that-went-viral.html. Thanks to J. Paul for sharing such a cool idea!
  2. There are many excellent versions of this chart found throughout genea-blogland.
  3. Excel is an excellent tool for timelines, one-name or one-place study, data analysis, etc. Many videos and webinars are available online and information is available on FaceBook and genealogy blogs as to how to use Excel as more than just a numbers-cruncher.
  4. Make sure that you note the problem with dates in Excel- it only recognizes those that go back to 1900! So all my dates are in three columns in Excel- one each for day, month, and four-digit year. The months can be listed as numbers for easy sorting, or Excel has a function that allows you to tell it to sort by month order. See Teresa Keogh’s Excel videos, especially, “Example 7 – The Date Issue in Excel” at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hj6FS2QViI

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Friday Funny: A Federal Income Tax is ‘Unconstitutional’

Seal of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Seal of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

McMurray Family, Payne Family (Click for Family Tree)

Well, maybe this isn’t so funny… maybe funny-ironic?

Our “Friday Funny” today is courtesy of the 1895 Supreme Court ruling in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. concerning an 1894 taxation law:

“The tax imposed … so far as it falls on the income of real estate, and of personal property, being a direct tax, within the meaning of the constitution, and therefore unconstitutional and void, because not apportioned according to representation, all those sections, constituting one entire scheme of taxation, are necessarily invalid.”

Yes, they really declared income tax unconstitutional!

Since today is the anniversary of the founding of the Internal Revenue Service (though it did not yet have that name), on 1 July 1862, it is an appropriate day- of mourning, perhaps?- to consider how our ancestors saw income taxes and to explore how tax records are useful to family historians. They most likely did not find taxation funny either, but would have liked the idea that the Supreme Court felt certain taxes were unconstitutional.

Let’s go back to the beginning of income taxes:

"The Passage of the Tax Bill" detailing the new income tax, from the N.Y. Herald, printed in The Indiana State Sentinel: Vol. 22, No. 6, Whole No. 1,199, Page 1, Column 7. Via Chronicling America.
“The Passage of the Tax Bill” detailing the new income tax, from the N.Y. Herald, printed in The Indiana State Sentinel, 30 June 1862: Vol. 22, No. 6, Whole No. 1,199, Page 1, Column 7. Via Chronicling America.

That first federal tax collection was done to help fund the Union Civil War efforts to keep the country together.  Taxes were levied at 3% on incomes above $600 and 5% for incomes above $10,000. The bill was amended in 1864 and raised to 5% for incomes $600-$5,000, 7.5% for incomes $5,000-$10,000, and 10% on incomes greater than $10,000. (The Confederacy also levied taxes with a 1% tax on wages of $1,000-$2,500, and 2% on income over $2,500.)

Beginning an income tax to fund the Civil War surely made citizens have mixed feelings:

"The Passage of the Tax Bill" from the N.Y. Herald, printed in The Indiana State Sentinel, 30 June 1862: Vol. 22, No. 6, Whole No. 1,199, Page 1, Column 7. Via Chronicling America.
“The Passage of the Tax Bill” from the N.Y. Herald, printed in The Indiana State Sentinel, 30 June 1862: Vol. 22, No. 6, Whole No. 1,199, Page 1, Column 7. Via Chronicling America.

The Federal tax was to continue until 1866, however it remained in force until 1872.

Once Congress had gotten used to citizens filling the kitty each year for them to spend as they wished, new bills for taxation were introduced regularly. In our Constitution, Article 1 gives Congress the power to levy “Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” Direct taxes, however, were limited and Congress had to apportion them according to the population of a state; indirect taxes were not allowed. Apportionment was hard to do with an income tax, as some of the tax was collected on income from property, such as rental property or dividends on stocks, which was considered an ‘indirect tax’; therefore most thought an income tax was unconstitutional. (See references below for better legal details.)

Now back to Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. Never fear, our Congress took action once an income tax was declared unconstitutional! Not fast though, as it took until 1913 for the 16th Amendment to be ratified and give Congress the power…

“to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

The branch of government that collects taxes officially become the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1918.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Of course, there were taxes long before 1862- “No taxation without representation!” was the cry of the American Revolutionaries against the oppressive taxes of King George of England, and those taxes were instrumental in forming our new nation. Early in the republic, imports were taxed via tariffs, whiskey was taxed (leading to “The Whiskey Rebellion”,) and even glass window panes were taxed at one point, as only the wealthy could afford real glass. States could tax property owners, and those who were eligible to vote (white males) paid a ‘poll tax,’ one way to ensure that only those of means could vote. But there were no federal income taxes.

Sometimes tax records are the only record we can find of our very early ancestors. Tax information can also be used to differentiate two persons of the same name, such as Sr. and Jr. (not necessarily related, and the Jr. would become Sr. when the elder man in town died), father and son, etc., by looking at assets.

The Internal Revenue Service and other tax records can give us quite a lot of insight into our ancestors- their property, other items they owned, what was important at the time, their neighbors and family, even their relative standing in the community economically when we compare them to others in the neighborhood.

Tax records are sometimes challenging to understand, and often difficult to read, plus often one has to flip back some pages to find the headings, place, date, etc. But they can be interesting additions to the information we have about our ancestors, and they are worth the extra time in researching.

Coming up: some family tax records.

 

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Technically the first federal income tax bill was passed by Congress in 1861. That bill called for a 3% tax on incomes greater than $800, but was never put into force.
  2. “Taxation History of the United States”- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_history_of_the_United_States#Income_tax, accessed 6/26/16.
  3. “The First Income Tax,” Civil War trust- http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/warfare-and-logistics/logistics/tax.html, accessed 6/26/16.
  4. Images from Chronicling America/Library of Congress- http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014306/1862-06-30/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1862&index=4&rows=20&words=income+tax&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=Indiana&date2=1862&proxtext=income+tax&y=11&x=11&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

Tuesday’s Tip: Be careful out there!

Surveillance camers via Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
Surveillance camers via Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 3.0 license.

AncestryDNA is emailing customers with a new promo offer to refer a friend, who will get a 10% discount on their AncestryDNA kit. The person who does the referring will get a $10 Amazon gift card. Sounds like a great deal, right?

Before clicking the “Tell a friend” button, make sure you click the ‘Terms and Conditions’ link first:

http://refer.dna.ancestry.com/terms-and-conditions/55e0d3a363616e6796000009?o_xid=69620&o_lid=69620&o_sch=Email+-+Campaigns

Wow. They can use your first and last name, the actual words from your email to your friend, any information you provided in your profile, such as where you live, your age, your picture, etc. etc. for both you and your friend. Would your friend (or family) like giving away their personal information in this way? What if you are referred by someone but do not want to be- can they use this information without the ‘friend’s’ permission?

AncestryDNA can even use the email you sent to that family member for Ancestry publicity- “Let’s find out if grandpa was illegitimate after all.” They can use any of that information in any way for any publicity now and into the future without asking your permission- because you are GIVING them your permission by clicking the link and taking the offer. You could be watching tv one day and your info pop up in an Ancestry ad (the above grandpa might have a heart attack), or it could be in an ad in a publication in one of those countries where people like to collect such data for identity theft and fraud. Either are possible. (Yes, a lot of that info is already out there, but this connects people and places and etc. easily.)

So, 10% off a $99 test kit is $9.90. A $10 gift card from Amazon makes the deal basically a discount of $19.90, divided between two people. Those who use this program are selling the privacy of two people and future use of their information for publicity for the low, low price of $9.95 per person.

Is this amount worth it???

We won’t even get into the audacity of Ancestry for requiring this. Especially when they say, “protecting your privacy is at the core of what we do”…

Ancestry has a new Privacy Policy as well, so we should probably read through that in case there are surprises- http://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/privacyphilosophy.

We recently asked a cousin if they had taken a DNA test, and her reply was no, that she did not trust anyone to not take the resulting information and use it in nefarious ways. At first it seemed somewhat paranoid, but now… a slippery slope??

Google, Facebook, etc. mine our data and sell to the highest bidder. When things are free, like Google and Facebook, we know that “if you aren’t buying a product, YOU are the product.” (Read the Terms of Service for these websites and all that you use.) But when something is paid for, like an AncestryDNA kit or Ancestry subscription, we shouldn’t be the product.

So think twice before clicking a button on any website, and do your homework- AKA ‘due diligence’ in today’s jargon. Then make an informed decision.

Be careful out there.

Just sayin’.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. AncestryDNA Refer a Friend Terms & Conditions (see #5): http://refer.dna.ancestry.com/terms-and-conditions/55e0d3a363616e6796000009?o_xid=69620&o_lid=69620&o_sch=Email+-+Campaigns
  2. Ancestry’s new privacy policy- http://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/privacyphilosophy
  3. Kuwait’s DNA program:
    The official stance- http://news.kuwaittimes.net/website/kuwait-to-enforce-dna-testing-law-on-citizens-expats-visitors-tests-wont-be-used-to-determine-genealogy-affect-freedoms/
    Another POV-
    http://www.sciencealert.com/kuwait-has-become-the-first-country-to-make-dna-testing-mandatory-for-all-residents

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.