Always Learning...Even in Surprising Ways!

I love learning anything I can regarding genealogy, family history, and history in general. There are many times that I can be seen leaving the library where I work with some genealogy books or a Family Tree magazine.

Here are my latest finds!

But, sometimes, the learning happens when you least expect it!

We had just recently gotten all four seasons of Finding Your Roots on DVD at my library, and my husband and I were watching a few episodes a night.

I don't know how many times I had to pause the DVD to right down a source I wanted to remember!

Also, I would be watching an episode, and realize the celebrity's ancestor would have something in common with my ancestors! For example, Bryant Gumbel's German ancestor had sailed to America from Hamburg on the Germania? So did my 2x- great grandfather, Henry (Henri, Heinrich) Haessig!

And, of course, the researcher in me has to always go and look up what I can on the Germania! Below, is a description I found on theshipslist.com that tells a little more about this passenger ship:  

"GERMANIA 1870 
Built in 1870 by Caird & Co, Greenock for the Hamburg America Line, the GERMANIA was a 2,876 gross ton ship, length 330ft x beam 39ft, straight stem, one funnel, two masts(rigged for sail), iron construction, single screw and a speed of 11 knots. There was accommodation for 150-1st, 70-2nd and 150-3rd class passengers. Launched on 24/12/1870, for the New Orleans service, but made her maiden voyage from Hamburg to New York on 4/5/1871. She commenced her fourth and last voyage on this service on 26/10/1872. She was chartered to the Hamburg South America Line in 1876 and was wrecked at Bahia, Brazil on 10/8/1876. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.1,p.390]"

A week or so ago, I had started reading this book just because it had sounded like a good book I would enjoy. It is part house history and part family history. I was not wrong; it is a good book that I am enjoying immensely.

But, again, I am learning so much about German history, and more specifically, Berlin's history. It covers almost 100 years from World War II and the Berlin Wall through to the present.

DAR Patriot Index &
1820 Federal Census for Indiana

And last, but not least, a local library was discarding these two gems and I was able to snag them for myself. I did check my library's shelves first to make sure we owned them already!

I have only had a chance to glance through the DAR book to ensure my known Patriot (Daniel Pearce/Pierce) was in there. He was!

But, it was the 1820 Census book that had really caught my attention. Even though everyone but Adam is only represented by a a number in a column, it still told gave me another little piece of their story.

My 4x-great grandparents, Adam and Judith (Smith) Moore, had travelled from Maryland to southeastern Indiana in 1818.  The census was taken only two years later in 1820. The fact that they had 5 children 10 years old or younger means that they had to have travelled with at least three to all five of these young children, along with a few older children.

Traveling, across the Cumberland Road until they reached the Ohio River. And then, down the Ohio River to just past Cincinnati...with all these children, mostly 10 or under! 

Just Wow!! 

Also, there were a lot more Moores in Dearborn County in 1820 than I ever realized. ADAM was the one that started the little town of Moores Hill in Dearborn County. How many other family members had travelled with him?

Since I know nothing of his family in Maryland, this might help break down a brick wall or two?

All this learning that happened accidentally is in addition to my research into DNA. I have been tested by 23andme.com and have found cousins through GEDmatch.com, but still don't understand it all very well. 

So, this book is going to teach me all I need, right?

I have heard from several reliable sources that Blaine Bettinger is not only one of the most knowledgeable onmy the subject of DNA, but he makes it much easier to understand.

So, tell me, what are you learning these days, purposefully or accidentally?

History...Up in Smoke

     "The executors of the Moore estate sold the furnishings and other contents of the old house to an antique dealer.  What he left was swept out into the yard and burned--a tragic loss."

     The above words are taken out of a book about Moores Hill College in Moores Hill, Indiana.  John C. Moore, the founder of the college, was a brother to my ancestor, Levin S. Moore.  Which means that they shared the same mother and father.

      Reading this sentence on the page above made me just about cry.  The parents that they shared, Adam and Judith Moore, travelled from Maryland to Indiana in 1818 and settled the town that bares their name.  I have read in other books that Adam was a well-read man and had a large library of books he would share with his friends and neighbors.

     This tells me that John, I am sure, probably had a large collection of his father's books.  He might have even had a journal or personal writings of his father.  To read that much of it was "swept out into the yard and burned"- just makes me burn!!!

     I would love to go back in time and prevent that craziness!  The sad thing is that this was probably fairly common and I am sure that many of you have probably faced something like this also. 

     Do any of you have stories like this that just make you wanna cry?  Tell them to the rest of us...maybe we can have one gigantic cryfest and get it out of our system.  Seriously, I would love to hear if you have stories like this also.