CAVEAT FOR ALL SERIOUS GENEALOGISTS
This appeared in the late Herb Caen's San Francisco CHRONICLE column on 16 Feb 1994:
Roger McMillen of Orinda CA added a guest apartment to his home
and wanted the telephone listed as simply "Guest Room". Pac Bell nixed
that idea and Roger, to circumvent this asked for it to be listed as
"GUEST RUHM", which was accepted. Soon after, he received a letter
headed THE GUESTS SINCE THE CIVIL WAR,PATRICK GUEST, DIRECTOR.
The letter went on to inform him that "our new book" THE GUESTS SINCE
THE CIVIL WAR was finally completed and that YOU, Rhum GUEST are listed
in it and send money for a copy right away.-------'Nuff said! ***By the way, these
bogus offers have reached cyberspace!
WHAT DO I CALL MY ANCESTORS?
If your ancestors arrived in America before 1776, they are colonists.
If they arrived after that date they are immigrants.
When they left their port of embarkation in the "old country" they are emigrants.
When they arrive in the "new country" they are immigrants.
FINDING INTRANSIT VITALS
Have you ever tried to find a VR for someone in transit from one location to another? There are certain regulations which have evolved regarding them.
1) A certificate for a person dying on a conveyance crossing the continental US is filed in the county where the first stop was made after the death.
2) A certificate for anyone born on a conveyance crossing the
continental US is filed in the county where the mother and child
actually disembark, even though many counties may have been crossed
during the trip.
//A caveat here: During the late 19th century as locomotives
gradually replaced wagon trains, a great many of the stops were made
in States or Territories where no filing requirements had as yet been established. Thus, there may have been no certificate issued.
3) There are different rules which apply to crossing the "high seas".
The filing location is determined by the direction in which the
craft was heading at the precise time of the event. If the craft was
outbound or docked at a foreign port, send inquiry to the Department
of State in Washington DC. If the craft was inbound and the port of
entry was in the USA, the repository for that record would be that port of entry. To obtain these records: if the craft was of USA registry, contact the US Coast Guard facility at that port of entry.
(The source of my information was my husband's Captain's Manifest.)
AGES OF UNION SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT IN THE CIVIL WAR
10 yr olds: 25///
11 yr olds: 34///
12 yr olds: 225///
13 yr olds: 380///
14 yr olds: 1,602///
15 yr olds: 104,987///
16 yr olds: 231,051///
17 yr olds: 884,981///
18 yr olds: 1,158,434///
19-22 yr olds: 617,511///
22-44 yr olds: 52,696///
over 45 yrs old: NONE///
This is a pretty revealing set of figures taken from Government Sources!
ILLUSTRIOUS ANCESTORS ONLY IN THE MINDS OF THE FAMILY HISTORIAN
Here are some ways to insure immortality for your ancestor! Guess what
the truth really was. Ancestor #1's death was described thusly:
Uncle Al occupied a chair of applied electronics at an
important government institution. He was attached to his position
by the strongest of ties and his death came as a real shock.
Ancestor #2's death was described as: Great grandfather Morris was
adressing a great crowd of people when the platform he was standing
on collapsed under him.