Monday, February 3, 2014

Motivation Monday/New Information!

   


     I've found that nothing motivates me more than coming across some new data about one of my ancestors.  It's enough to make me drop whatever I'm doing at the moment and sit in front of my computer for hours days.  Everyone knows new information MUST be followed up on immediately!  I discovered that new information yesterday.  

     As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently paid a visit to the Wayne County, New York Historian's office.  There I found the needed proof of my 3rd great grandfather Russell Galloway's parentage.  The woman assisting me also showed me a surname database that is available in the office and remotely from home.  My husband is a pretty patient man when it comes to my genealogy obsession, but I could tell he was getting a bit antsy and the public computer in the office was sooo slow, that I decided to check the database on my own computer.

      Well, I didn't get around to it until yesterday.  Once I pulled up the Historian's site I saw it was just the same surname database that had always been there, that I'd never bothered to look at before.  I wasn't terribly interested in seeing what surnames were in Wayne County, I knew the ones I was interested in, and you couldn't even search by first name or location.  Having some spare time, I opened the database to take a look and was I surprised!  It was actually an index of the office holdings arranged by surname, not a surname database at all. I had no idea, I was shocked, I was thrilled.  I guess you know where I spent the next four hours.

     I found quite alot that I need to check out, which means another 39 mile round trip to Lyons, but what is that to a devoted family historian?  Peanuts!  Here are just a few of the entries that require my attention:



     As you may recall, or may not, I've been looking for an Erastus Galloway, though not this one who died at 9 months.  But this will be a third Galloway named Erastus, that name must have some significance for this family.  The letter U means these are burial records, and I believe the "Nmaincem.rec" refers to Newark Main Street Cemetery Records.  There are entries in the database for Milo and Ann in that same cemetery.  I tried a search with that .rec address and it just brought me back to the Historian's page, it must be accessible in house only.  

     I've looked at the gravestone inventories online and there are no Galloway stones in Newark cemetery, so these must be contemporary records of the cemetery officials.  Sometimes burial records also gave the cause of death, that would be a plus since New York didn't keep vital  records in the 1820's.  That, "another son", thing seems kinda cold, hopefully there will be something more the indexer didn't include.  And so on Thursday I will be heading east to Lyons, wish me luck.

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