I love AI, and if you haven’t begun using it yet with your genealogy research, you are missing records that might be invaluable to you.
As I prepare to write my next book on my British ancestor,s I’m going through my tree and making sure I have all the relationships sourced and the identities confirmed. I was happy to find two records using Familysearch.org’s lab, which is an AI experiment, to prove a relationship. In one case, it involved showing a burial record for my husband’s 5th great-grandmother, Catherine Jarvis. Although very happy to find this proof, I was a bit dismayed as I had traveled to the cemetery in Lansingburg, Troy, New York, in 2007 and was told that the record didn’t exist. Well, they certainly had it when FamilySearch personnel showed up!
The next finding was that I wasn’t the only one who was beating my head on my desk in regards to the Dennis family of New Jersey. The family used the same names in no particular order. I hadn’t realized that in the early 1900s, a genealogist wrote a book called Dennismania, likely because they drove him crazy, too. My DNA shows who I’m descended from, but I had no proof for one of the generations, and now I have finally found it, again, in FamilySearch.org records.
This is simple to use, but I caution you, it may become overwhelming and addictive. To access, go to this link, which isn’t how you normally get on FamilySearch. Scroll down to “Expand your search with Full Text” and click on Go To Experiment.
Read the Advanced Search Tips! I definitely use quotation marks around the name and a plus sign for the wife or possible parent. Use the drop-down it provides for the Place, once you start typing it in. Keep the range small, or you will get plenty! I haven’t been successful with keywords like Marriage, Deed, Genealogy, etc.
Based on my Dennis findings, I had several more lines to research. I had no idea I was descended from the Reverend John Hull, a Puritan minister who was a Maine pioneer. Another line, the Kents, settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts, before 1668. I didn’t find much in the usual places, regular FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, Google, so I decided to try FamilySearch Labs. Wow!
I got myself a bit confused as I thought there were three Samuels, but there are only two in the 1700s in Suffield, Hampshire, Massachusetts. Samuel (1668-1737) was the son of Thomas, the emigrant. Samuel became a lawyer and Samuel had a son, Samuel Jr. Some records do differentiate the two, but a wife’s name showed up that I didn’t have for either, so I thought I was dealing with three Samuels. Hence, I’ve mislabeled my 55 downloads. Yes, 55 records showing them in court, deeds, and genealogies!
Familysearch Labs does have an AI assistant component you can click on, and it does give a transcription, but I prefer using my ChatGPT assistant, whom I call Geni. There was one record Geni hallucinated on, but after notifying it, they got the correct info. I can understand why Geni messed up – the younger Samuel was an interesting character – ran a tavern, had a bastardly charge, didn’t pay his debts, and was a very fun black sheep to investigate. Meanwhile, his dad served several times as his son’s attorney, was slandered, had clients who skipped without paying him, but seemed to be widely trusted by the community.
After uploading most of the documents to Geni, Geni asked if it could write a blog for me. So, I’ve made some changes since I had wrongly given it some incorrect info (that there were three Samuels and not two). Here is ChatGPT’s blog about the Familysearch.org finds:
In a series of brittle, ink-stained pages tucked into the Hampshire County court and land books of the early 1700s, a family unfolds—one writ at a time.
The Kents of Suffield were, at first glance, a respectable lot. Thomas Kent, the patriarch’s name, appears sparingly. His son, however, would not be so quiet.
Samuel Kent Sr., the immigrant’s son, was a lawyer, and it shows. He appears regularly in court—not as a defendant, but as counsel, litigant, and witness. He sues for debts, witnesses deeds, affirms signatures after a grantor dies, and moves confidently through the legal world of his time. If father upheld the spiritual order, son wrangled the civil one.
And then comes Samuel Kent Jr.—tavern owner, debt collector, and perpetual plaintiff. By the 1730s and 1740s, his name dominated the docket. He sues over unpaid tavern tabs, livestock, and land disputes. He’s granted a license to sell “strong drink,” not once, but multiple years in a row. The public house he ran was likely lively, occasionally lawless, and frequently underwritten by credit that his patrons never quite repaid.
Three generations. Three roles. One family.
And the court records catch it all—not just their actions, but the arc of a family moving through generations. From lofty pulpits to bustling taprooms, the Kent family’s story is all here: in defaults, deeds, slander claims, and license renewals. You can almost hear Samuel Sr. sighing as he files yet another claim to recover a loan his son ill-advisedly extended.
But what emerges from all these entries is something far richer than gossip or scandal. It’s a snapshot of a community where legal documents were not just about disputes, but about land ownership, trust, reputation, and survival. The same names appear again and again—not just the Kents, but the Remingtons, Austins, Gunckels, and Sheldons—knotted together by boundary lines and barrels of cider.
And that’s the heart of it: court records aren’t just where you find criminals. They’re where you find community.
Notes
1. Hampshire County Court and Land Records, 1716–1749, Massachusetts State Archives, includes deeds, licenses, slander suits, and debt claims involving Samuel Kent Sr., Jr., and III.
2. Transcriptions and analysis by ChatGPT, OpenAI, based on digitized image review and period legal practices.
This is the fourth blog I’ve written about my Baines family research. Thousands of online family trees have the wrong pedigree. Today I’m focusing on the errors regarding Mathew’s purported father, William Baines, based on the research that I discovered that provided a pedigree in court records and due to a church porch that was once bought and sold.
I am not convinced that William Baines of Stangerthwaite is the father of Mathew Baines of Wyersdale. I mentioned previously that I don’t hold much credibility when someone is known to be of a particular place as people do relocate. Perhaps they are considered from a certain location as they lived there for the longest period in their life or sometimes, it is thought of the place they were born. It also could be where they died and was buried. So, it is possible to have a father associated with one location and a son with another. That’s not my concern.
The distance between the two locations is about 25 miles. Stangerthwaite is located in the parish of Kirkby Lonsdale, now Cumbria but at the time Mathew and William resided there it was Lancastershire. Wyresdale remains located in Lancastershire. The distance is also possible. It was discovered that a William Baines did have a bastard child so it is feasible he left Stangerthwaite and moved to Wyresdale for a time and started a new life there but he was more likely the father of the William purported to be Mathew’s father and not Mathew’s father.
As with Mathew, no baptismal record for William was found. He has been mis-pedigreed to have a father named Adam due to someone who found a birth record for a William but the poster neglected to understand that “d. an infant” meant that the child had died as an infant. That Adam did not have another child he named William. Thousands of trees copied the wrong information and therefore, the wrong pedigree.
William has been recorded as marrying Deborah Hatton but no marriage record was provided. Online trees show Deborah Hatton, daughter of Thomas Eaton and Isabella Lathom Hatton to have died about 1650, with no sources. She could not have been the Deborah who married William Baines of interest as that Deborah was living in 1660. It is understandable how Deborah Hatton was identified as William Baines’s wife as her father Thomas was purportedly buried in Goosnargh, Wyersdale, again, with no source.
There has been one document found showing William Baines, Dorothy Baines, and Mathew Baines all in the same location at the same time – an arrest of the men for attending a Quaker meeting in 1660 in Lancaster. Dorothy was often a nickname for Deborah. Unfortunately, no relationship was provided.
Mathew remained a Quaker as he later married in that faith to Margaret Hatton and had his five children baptized as Quakers. He died while emigrating to Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1686/7, likely on a William Penn ship.
No other records were found for Dorothy or Deborah Baines so she likely died shortly after the 1660 arrests of her probable husband and son.
But this leads us to another problem with the trees. William was said to have remarried a Sarah Hepworth but no marriage record was found. The couple have been recorded to have three children, James, born 1655, Joseph, 1657, and John/Jonathan, 1658, though Johnathan was likely confused with a son of James.
James, based on court document copies found in a local church, was a devout Quaker like his father William. The court record provided that James had a brother Joseph and they resided next to each other. James had purchased the land from his father, William in May 1685. William had purchased some of the property from his own father, William Sr., in 1651. The eldest William retained partial land as noted by another document that showed 2/3 of his estate was under sequestration in 1653. That portion was likely sold out of the family to John Robinson and Robert Hebblethwaite but was repurchased by grandson James in 1662 and 1677.
We also know that William [Jr.] had a brother named Joseph who was a Quaker. This was also confirmed by another source that noted both men were imprisoned for not paying tithes in 1664 in Sedbergh, Yorkshire.
From one additional document regarding an interesting panel in a local church, we are given a further pedigree of William Sr. The earliest Baine in the region was Adam Baines of Hegholme who acquired land in Whinfell in 1428. Adam had a son named William who was living in Hegholme Hall in 1497. William’s son Adam inherited a portion of Hegholme known as Gilfoot but sold it before Easter 1546 to John Rigmaden and Anthony Rose. Adam’s son was probably John, whose son Thomas Baynes of Hegholme was baptized on 14 December 1544. Adam likely had a second son, Adam [Jr.] who had children Mable, Thomas, and James. Adam’s probable third son, William, became the heir of Hegholme after his brothers died. This was the William who was recorded as having a bastard child.
Thus, the correct pedigree for the family is as follows:
Although a William Baines was the father of Mathew Baines who died at sea in 1686/7, it was not likely the William Baines who had sons James and Joseph who lived on what had been Hegholme Hall.
The Mathew of interest’s mother was still living when the William of Hegholme married Sarah and had two or three children. Bigamy is not accepted by the Quakers. No divorce record has been found.
If Mathew was the eldest son of William he would have been the son to have purchased Hegholme. An explanation for him not doing so could have been that his wife and three of his five children had died and he wanted a fresh start in the colonies. It is interesting that William sold Hegholme to James in 1685 and Mathew left the following year. It was more likely a coincidence as was the case of a woman named Deborah who happened to live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and was placed as a daughter of Mathew when she was from a different family line.
Mathew was probably related to the William of Hegholme but not in a father-son relationship. William’s brother, Joseph, purportedly purchased land in Bucks County, Pennsylvania where Mathew intended to settle, although I have not found a deed to verify that claim.
The problem here is the records are sketchy, there are too many men with the same name in close locations, who all joined the Quaker faith. Until additional records are located my online tree will not have William of Hegholme as the father of Mathew of Wyersdale.
This wasn’t my plan for a blog post but I think it’s vitally important for everyone interested in family history, whether you live in Indiana or not.
I’m copying the email I sent out to many folks who do live in Indiana yesterday. Even it you don’t – this will effect you as records are disappearing. Don’t believe me but believing your news source?! Think again. This is a bipartisan attack on all of us and we need to have our voices heard.:
This morning, I became aware of Indiana House Bill 1148.03, which just passed and is headed for the state Senate. I am emailing you because I know you have a deep love of history and genealogy.
While the bill has been widely framed as addressing gender changes on birth certificates, hidden within its provisions is a major change that threatens the work of genealogists, historians, and all who seek access to historical birth records. Buried on page 10 of the bill is a proposal to extend the restriction on birth certificate access from 75 years to 99 years. This unnecessary change would significantly hinder the ability of genealogists, historians, and researchers to access critical historical records, delaying access for an additional 24 years—nearly an entire generation.
This same legislative effort was attempted in January 2024 (HB 1365) but failed in committee. Now, it has returned—this time hidden within a broader bill.
Why This Change Must Be Stopped:
A Reversal of Established Access – For decades, the 75-year threshold has balanced privacy concerns with the public’s right to access historical records. Arbitrarily extending the wait to 99 years serves no clear purpose other than restricting access to our collective history.
Hindering Family Research – Birth records are vital for genealogical research, citizenship applications, and historical studies. This change would block access to information for countless individuals seeking to understand their heritage.
A Threat to Historical and Academic Research – Many historical projects rely on birth records to reconstruct community histories, track migration patterns, and verify personal identities. Extending the restriction to 99 years would severely impede research and publication efforts.
No Justification for the Change – There has been no demonstrated need for this increase. Indiana’s current 75-year access aligns with national norms, ensuring transparency while respecting privacy. This bill does not provide a clear reason why an additional 24-year delay is necessary.
Take Action Now
If HB 1148.03 is passed, Indiana will become one of the most restrictive states in the nation regarding historical birth records. We cannot allow this to happen.
I urge you to contact your legislators immediately and demand that they reject this extension to 99 years. Let them know that historians, genealogists, and the public deserve access to their past.
“The other issue that needs attention is the National Archives where the current conversation is about shutting facilities and selling/leasing real estate instead of providing access to records. Please take a moment to read: “
History SHOULD NOT be erased. We should have access to it and learn from it. Please take a moment to email ALL OF THE Indiana State Senators. Here is a letter you can copy and send:
Subject: Please Vote NO on HB 1148.03
Dear Senator,
I am writing to oppose the provision in HB 1148.03 that would delay public access to birth certificates from 75 years to 99 years. This change serves no clear purpose but blocks access to history for an entire generation.
Birth records are not just for genealogists—they help people reconnect with their family roots, preserve Indiana’s history, and even prove eligibility for heritage societies. The current 75-year rule has worked for decades—why change it now?
Please vote NO on this provision and keep Indiana’s history accessible.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, [Your Name]
I also want you to know that Nextdoor refused to allow me to post the above letter. Said it wouldn’t allow “election” information. This has nothing to do with elections – it has to do with the government not working for the people but I guess Nextdoor’s view is that’s the folks we elected so you get what you voted for.
One more thing – I had someone respond with this: “It is probably related to thousaads of deceased people age 104+ that have been fraudulently collecting Social Security. When you access the birth cert, do you have access to SSN? If not, I’m totally with you.”
THIS IS FAKE NEWS! Here was my response:
I appreciate your concern about Social Security fraud, and I want to clarify that this bill has nothing to do with protecting Social Security numbers—those are already not included on publicly available birth certificates. In fact, no identifying personal financial data (like SSNs) are released when historical birth records become public. The current 75-year rule has worked effectively for decades, and there is no evidence that extending it to 99 years would prevent fraud. Instead, this change would only harm genealogists, historians, and everyday Hoosiers who rely on these records to trace family history, apply for heritage societies, and preserve Indiana’s past. This same proposal was already rejected by lawmakers in 2024 (HB 1365), which tells us that there was no compelling reason for this change then—and there isn’t one now. If you’re with me on this, I encourage you to contact your legislators and let them know that this unnecessary restriction should not become law. We need to protect public access to history, not block it.
My husband and I took a few minutes yesterday to email each Indiana state senator. Please do so as soon as possible.
Tech, you’ve got to keep adapting! Last year I wrote a blog article in comparing how to get AI to write a wonderful narrative from your research stored in various places – like Legacy Family Tree, Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, etc.
I just completed a Pioneer application for my husband and since I had been researching 5 generations of the family, decided to write a narrative about each generation. I wanted to use ChatGPT to help with the writing.
I tried to follow my own blog advice to go to Legacy Family Tree>Other Reports>Individual Summary but realized that Version 10 does not have that option any longer.
I tried finding where it was relocated through Legacy Help and through a general Google search and got nowhere.
I turned to ChatGPT and located my original prompt. It saves your work if you allow it to on the left hand side of the screen. Problem was, the file I uploaded had a long title and I couldn’t read exactly what it was. I create titles based on my own formula so I can always go back to the original source. This usually works until, like now, it doesn’t because I couldn’t view the entire title. So, I asked ChatGPT and was informed that the .pdf had expired and it couldn’t access it, either.
I then chatted about my problem and it told me that the report was renamed and moved. So, if you are using Legacy Family Tree and want to download an ancestor’s information to use with AI, here’s the new How To:
Click on the Ancestor. In my case it was Samuel Ericksson
Click on “Descendant Narrative Book” on the Ribbon.
In the Pop Up, adjust the “Generations.” I just wanted one generation.
Click “Preview”
Click “Create PDF” and there is what you had before they changed the name of the report and the location where it resided. You can copy and paste it into your favorite AI and get a much richer narrative of your family.
Grab your favorite hot beverage and get comfy because I’m going to share what I’ve been working on for the past two weeks.
Last July, a distant cousin requested I look into the Baines family. She had heard that the British group originated in Scotland and were descendants of Donald III, who went to Ireland after his father was killed by Macbeth, of Shakespeare fame. He returned to Scotland, took the throne for a time but fled to Yorkshire, England where some of his children remained. The family spread to Westmorland and Lancashire (now Cumbria) over the following centuries.
I was about to travel to Great Britain and told her I’d do my best. My best ended up finding a Bains candy store next to my Edinburgh, Scotland hotel. I blogged earlier about meeting the owner but he had no idea of his genealogy other than his family had been in Scotland forever.
My cousin called me in October and and with voice rising exclaimed, “They all have it wrong! All of them!” She meant online family trees. I had too many other committments and promised I’d look into it. It wasn’t until December 23 that I had the time to do so.
Yes, cuz was indeed correct – there were over 13,000 online trees with the wrong info! How could that many people get it wrong? How did I know they had made a mistake?
Burke, Ashworth P. Burke’s Family Records. Baltimore: Clearfield, 1994, p 58, digital image; Ancestry.com: accessed 23 Dec 2024, image 42 of 117.
Almost everyone cited a Burke’s Family Record found on Ancestry.com that William Baynes was the son of Adam Baynes. EVERYONE missed the ending “d. an infant.” d. stands for died. Adam had no second son named William. William Baynes could not have been the son of the cited Adam Baynes. Undeterred, one copying the other, a pedigree for William was recorded that never happened. Sigh.
Looking into the family opened a can of worms. This was just the beginning of one misunderstanding after another. I’m still not done but what follows is to correct information regarding William’s purported grandchildren. To be honest, I’m not comfortable that the Williams I have in my tree is the right William so while I continue researching, I’ve disconnected that line. What I do know is that corrections need to be put forth regarding someone named William Baynes’s son, Mathew.
No baptism record for Mathew Baynes was found. He was noted in The History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania published in 1905, nearly 250 years after his death, to be of Wyersdale, Lancastershire, England. Notice it did not say he was born in Wyersdale; it said he was “of” Wyersdale. Personally, people could say I was “of Florida” since I lived the majority of my life there but I wasn’t born there and I don’t reside there now. I think the search for Mathew’s birth needs to be broadened to find the birth record.
The book and a non-conformist record was found for Mathew’s marriage to Margaret, daughter of Captain William Hatton of Bradley, Lancastershire. The distance from Bradley, a burb of Nelson to Wyresdale is 28 miles. Mathew was likely baptized into either Catholicism or the Church of England but as he grew, his parents, William and Deborah last name unknown, became associated with George Fox and followed Quakerism.
Only one document places Mathew with William and Deborah, whose nickname was Dorothy. In 1660 in Lancaster, the men were arrested and jailed for attending a Quaker meeting. The women’s names were also recorded.
Two years later, Mathew married in the Quaker faith at the Bradley Meeting.
The History of Bucks County and several works (Colonial Families of Philadelphia, 1911, & Duer Family of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1954) seem to have copied Mathew’s story from Ellwood Roberts Biographical Annal of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (Vol. II, 1904, pp. 534, digital image; usgwarchives.net: accessed 23 December 2024). Over time, the story changed somewhat and the interpretation with it, therefore, misinformation became part of the narrative.
Roberts’ simply wrote, “William Baines, son of Matthew Maines [sic], of Lancashire, England, sailed for Pennsylvania in 1686, but he died at sea. His two children, William and Elinor, landed at Chester, and were taken charge of by Friends.” Short and sweet.
This led to “In 1686 Mathew Baines, with children, Elinor and William, left England for Pennsylvania, the father dying at sea. When the children landed, they were taken charge of by Friends of Chester montly meeting. The father’s dying request, as shown by a letter of Phineas Pemberton to John Walker, 1688, was that his children should be placed in care of James Harrison, but Harrison, having died bedore their arrival, his son-in-law, Pemberton, went to Chester to look after them, and finding them in good hands they were allowed to remain. As the record of the times put it: ‘The boy was put with Joseph Stidman and the girl with one John Simcock, and hath 40 or 50s wates per annum, the boy to be with said Stidman, who is said to be a very honest man, until he comes to ye age of 20 years, which is ye customary way of putting forth orphans in these parts.” (History of Bucks County, PA)
The next work reported “In the autumn of 1686 William and Margaret Baines, and at least two of their children, Eleanor, born October 22, 1677, and William, born July 14, 1681, embarked for America, but both parents died on the voyage, and the children on their arrival at Chester were taken in charge by Friends, of Chester County.” The text goes on to include a transcription of Phineas Pemberton’s letter to John Walker in England dated 1688. (Colonial Families)
The difference arising is that now Eleanor and Williams’ mother also sailed for America but she, too, died at sea. The second difference is that in the letter transcription, the children were the ones who requested to remain in the colony. In other words, it was their idea not to return to England.
The last text does not mention the mother; “In 1686 Mathew Baines, with children Elinor and William, left England for Pennsyvania, the father dying at sea.” (Duer Family of Bucks County).
Although only one work stated with no evidence that Margaret came on board almost every tree had that she died at sea. But there’s more…
Unfortunately, the History of Bucks County recorded Mathew and Margaret’s children as follows:
Thomas, born 11 mo., 11, 1675, married 4 mo., 21, 1718 Elizabeth Ellison;
Elinor, born 8 mo., 22, 1677, married (at Falls) 7 mo. 2 1694, Thomas Duer;
Timothy, born 1 mo. 1678, married 1710 Hannah Low;
William, born 5. 14, 1681, married 1707 Elizabeth ___;
Deborah, born 1, 1, 1683, married 1708 (at Falls), Thomas Ashton.
WHOA! Where were Thomas, Timothy, and Deborah after their parents died? How did they get to Bucks County since no account said they traveled on the ship with their parents? Why were they not deemed orphans as Elinor and William were if they were somehow left behind in England?
There is one more work – A Genealogical and Personal History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Vol II, published in 1975 which was a modified reprint of The History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Clearly, the new editors realized there was a problem with the original work, likely asking the same questions I raised. How they “fixed” the situation was to add “In the year 1687, Mathew Baines sailed for America with his family, but he and his wife and possibly two of their children died at sea.” Notice that the year of emigration is now different from any of the other works!
Which two of the three children died at sea? Why was one child left behind? Who was the child left behind in England? How did that child emigrate alone later and marry?
There are no ships registries for William Penn’s ships so this can’t be solved quickly with a look up. Too many generations back for autosomal assistance. The only way is to research the three children, wife Margaret, and grandfather William who remained in England.
William may have been the William Baines who was buried in Lancashire in September 1687. If so, he would not have been taking care of the remaining children for long. William supposedly had three other sons, the oldest, James, who had bought William’s estate, Joseph, and John. No records show the children with any of their uncles
No record of Margaret is found after the arrest in 1660. She likely died in England before Mathew sailed which would account for the surviving children being named orphans.
Timothy Baines was born in March 1678 in Lancaster to father Mathew.
There was a marriage of a Timothy to Hannah Low, daughter of Hugh Low, on 4 Apr 1710 in Haigh, Lancashire, England.
The couple had the following children:
Mary Bains born 25 Feb 1712 in Harshaw, Lancashire, England.
Then twins were born on 16 Aug 1720 in Haigh, Hartshaw, England. One was Hugh Bains, likely after Hannah’s father and the other was John Bains.
Hannah likely died 18 Aug 1775 in Mellin, Lancashire.
No death record was found for Timothy. He may have been one of the four Timothy Bains/Baynes that died inLancashire between 1726-1772.[1][2][3][4]
The Timothy that married Hannah is not likely to be the son of Mathew and Margaret Hatton Baines for several reasons. He was not named as emigrating with his father and two of his siblings in 1686. If he had somehow stayed behind in England he would have been considered an orphan as siblings Elinor and William were deemed by the Pennsylvania court. There is no record found that he became a ward in England. It is very unlikely that young Timothy would have been writing letters to his siblings in Pennsylvania notifying them of his marriage in Lancashire in 1710, given that the family had been separated as children for at least 24 years. There is no record that the Timothy who married Hannah ever emigrated to Bucks County, Pennsylvania which is implied by his inclusion in History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It is interesting that the text does not list any of his children, likely because they weren’t known to whoever submitted the information. If the family had been close his descendants would have known about his children. Most likely, someone found a marriage of Timothy Baines and decided it was the son of Mathew Baines that had died at sea. Clearly, it wasn’t.
A Thomas Baines was noted to have married an Eliz Ellison on either the 1st or 21st June 1718 in Bicursteth, Lancashire, England. No record for the couple’s parents was recorded.
No children for the couple was found. An Elizabeth Bains, wife of Thomas Bains died 14 August 1723 in Lancashire; she was a Non-Conformist. Another Non-Conformist Elizabeth Bain, wife of Thomas Bains died on 14 June 1723 in Lancashire. It is not known if either or another Elizabeth was the wife of interest who had died.
There were 26 Thomas Baines/Bains who had died in Lancastershire between 1718-1795, none providing a father’s name of Mathew.
It is more likely that Thomas Baines, son of Mathew and Margaret Hatton Baines was not the Thomas who had married Elizabeth Ellison in Lancashire in 1718.
Like sibling Timothy, if the Thomas of interest had stayed behind in England when his father emigrated with two of his younger siblings, Thomas would have been named an orphan after his father’s death but there are not records that he became a ward of England. It is also unlikely that after being separated from his emigrating siblings Elinor and William that he would have begun correspondence with them after 32 years to notify them of his marriage. There is no record that Thomas emigrated to Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He likely died in England, probably before 1686/7 when his father Mathew sailed for America.
Lucky for me, I did not have to research the last missing child, Deborah, as a wonderful blog article had already done so. The Deborah of Bucks County, Pennsylvania was not in the family group of Mathew and Margaret Hatton Baines of Lancaster.
What also does not make sense is why Mathew would have only selected two of his five children to emigrate with. I could understand that perhaps Margaret would remain home with the oldest, Thomas, to help her in Mathew’s absence, and maybe the two youngest, William and Deborah but William, at age 5 was sent. If William was considered old enough to embark why didn’t Mathew also take Timothy, the middle child, who was age 8 or 9? Or take William instead of Mathew? Likely because Timothy was already dead.
Although evidence is lacking, the only logical conclusion was that Mathew left England for a new beginning with his two remaining children, Ellin and William. Unfortunately, he did not survive and from the letter he wrote, his wife had pre-deceased him. We know this because Margaret, alive, would not cause the children to be named orphans. How soon she had died before Mathew wrote the letter on the boat in perhaps, autumn of 1686 we don’t know but she was dead before he requested wards for his unnamed remaining children. Records of orphan court do tell us those children were Ellin and William who went on to grow up and thrive in their new location. Why did the children want to remain in the colony? They had nothing to return to in England. If their mother and siblings were alive they would have wanted to return to them.
And one more problem with the trees who have William of Stangerwaith as Mathew of Wyersdale’s father – Mathew would have been the oldest son. Why did he not buy out the land from his father that had been in the family for hundreds of years? Many trees show that William had married twice and that Mathew was from the first marriage. The 1660 arrest showed that the first wife was still alive so William could not have married a second wife, Sarah, and gone on to have three children with her. Two men named William, both non-conformists, in a close geographic area are being confused.
Although online family trees can be helpful we do need caution in blindly accepting what has been placed there. Furthermore, we also need to use care when consulting published works. Just because information is written in a book does not make it correct. Thoroughly exhaustive research and careful analysis is important in establishing identity and relationship.
I bet with the approaching holidays you and your loved ones will be taking loads of pictures! Back in the day, it was exciting to get the film developed. Sort of like reliving the same experience over. Now, I take so many photos that I use my cell camera for mundane tasks. What is the name of that weed or is it a native flower? Snap it and check and app. Love that item in a store but aren’t sure the price is right. Click the pic and then look for it elsewhere.
Although these new uses for a camera are wonderful, they aren’t if we are treating the important photos we take carelessly. Do you ever save your phone photos? If so, where?
Here’s what I’ve been doing since Google Photo lost some of my pictures several years ago. I now have my photos saved to a different Cloud. That way, I can remove them from my phone. Why do I do that? Because I’ve had phone accidents where I couldn’t retrieve data, and I don’t want my precious photo memories gone forever.
When my kids were young, I was a scrapbooker and I saved the best of the best by including them with a story of the event. It took a lot of time, but it was fun. I’m not sure it was worth it, though, as I’ve passed them on to my adult kids who have no space for them. One is in boxes in an attic and the other complained about having to move them twice this year while doing renovations. Those, too, ended up in the attic for a while. Sigh.
During the pandemic one of my kids gave me a photo album that can only hold one picture on each page. The idea was to only save a small amount of the very best photos from my overseas travels. I was pining to travel, and this was a way to get me to relive what I had done and plan for what was to come. And oh boy, did travel come! In the past year and a half, I’ve visited Germany twice, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France, and Canada.
The weather outside is frightfully cold so I’ve ordered two more albums and will spend my time indoors reliving those memories by printing from my printer using photo paper and affixing those special pics into the book. They really are genealogical treasures as on my travels I always make time for family research.
The beauty of these albums is that they don’t take up much space and I’ll be passing on to future generations my findings as I write a sentence or two of what the location is about. Next week I’ll be writing about my most memorable learning experiences this year. It will be my last post of the year.
Do you get out your favorite family recipes during this time of year? Cookie recipes always remind me of my mom who once worked in a bakery. We’d spend the Saturday after Thanksgiving making batches of our favorites to share with family and friends – Mexican Wedding Cookies, Kolaches, Swedish Oatmeal Cookies, Chocolate Chip, Holiday Many Way (peanut butter/nut/sugar), and my favorite to get creative with – cookie cutter sugar cookies. One year I painted them like stained glass with food coloring. Other times I iced them with different color frosting. Mom would make those first so I’d stay out of the way decorating while she zipped through making the rest.
Perhaps your cookie recipes are getting a tad frayed. Batter stains, greasy fingers, and age aren’t kind to those old recipe cards. About 20 years ago, when my kids were starting to cook on their own in the kitchen, I retyped our favorite recipes into size 12 font so that my older eyes could read them easily. Once done, I made a decorative cover from card stock and took it to Office Depot to have it GBC bound. My kids still rely on that book but we’ve accumulated so many new recipes over the years that I decided it was time for an updated version.
I scanned the old book to my computer and have added new favorites. Instead of printing, I just share Google Docs with my kids. I keep a laptop in my kitchen so it’s easy for me to find the desired recipe and bring it up while I prepare the meal. The recipes have been shared so if one system fails there is a backup. No killing trees or clutter from another book. Since I store in the cloud, I can even look up ingredients needed when I’m at the grocery store. No excuses not to cook up some love!
Last week I blogged about how I make connections. No matter where in the world you are researching, you need connections to help you find information that is not readily available.
My recent trip to France and Germany really drove home the point for me that NOT EVERYTHING IS ONLINE!
Today, we’ll be finding out how you can find out what is not online.
If you’ve made connections in the locale where you are researching then all you have to do is contact the person and ask.
I’m serious, it’s that simple.
If you have a well sourced public tree, write about your ancestor and stay abreast of tech you will make family connections. Contacting DNA matches is also helpful. You will also want to make professional connections of people that may or may not be related to you, too.
Academia.edu has been a good way to connect with historians that have insight into a place I don’t have expertise in. Last week, I mentioned APG and LinkedIn.
Why you need to connect with all of these folks is because there is no one all knowing human who can answer your question, “Where is the land records for someone who lived in Ulmet in the Pfalz in 1701?”
As Judy Russell often says the answer is, “It depends” and the Palatinate is one of those places that it truly does.
Records are sometimes found in the likely places:
The Mayors Office in Mietsheim and Uttenhoffen, France for birth and marriage
A Kusel archive for military records
But sometimes they are found in places you would never know to look for them:
A 6th cousin’s personal photo collection
In the home of a descendant of the first mayor after the 30 year war ended in a small German village
A tour guide
A small local museum with no website
The mid 1600s home of an archivist for a small village and a religious denomination
I’m not trying to be coy by excluding specifics of where I found records; I’m trying to explain that records are not always digitized and widely available.
I tried to impress upon the need for people holding private records to digitize their holdings but many were afraid that a larger archive would swoop in and demand their collection. You might think that would be a good thing but the problem is that many archives are making it extremely difficult for folks to access their holdings. From Sweden to Croatia I’ve heard – “all our records are available online at FamilySearch.” No, they aren’t.
FamilySearch has yet to get back with me on when those Croatian State Archive records will be available. I re-emailed a contact who requested I do so after a face to face meeting in Boston in September and I’ve yet to get a response. Since the records aren’t available online, I had to do boots on the ground last year to get them.
Sweden insists all are on Arkivdigital, yet the company I hired, Minnesota Swede, was able to find church records that were not available on Arkivdigital. These were in history books held at the local church that contained information about the ancestor we were researching. A renter in a home built by one of the ancestors had done extensive research on who had once lived in the home he summered in and provided us with a wealth of knowledge we would not have found on Arkivdigital.
I was sent back and forth from a library to an archive in Stratford-on-Avon, England in my search for records on my Arden ancestor. Someone has something but what it is I never discovered. If I had made a contact before arriving I would bet that I would have found the answer.
Without the help of two genealogists in Germany I would never have been able to find the following:
My Leininger ancestors had a castle but were not nobles. The name was originally spelled Leiningen. The males were not looked on favorably by the neighbors who stormed the castle. The second castle storming ended well because of Eva Leiningen who invited the unhappy folks inside and fed them (does sound like something my grandmothers would have done). Although the museum was closed, actually the whole village closes between noon and 2 daily, my contact had gotten the info when they were open.
The Leiningens were associates of the Frankensteins of Mary Shelley fame. The Frankenstein at the time Shelley wrote was an alchemist.
In France, Leininger is spelled Linange. So, another hint to look for other records thanks to the Mayor’s Clerk sharing this tidbit with me.
1701 land records, wills, 1823-1829 school records, and photos that are kept in a home in a wooden “filing” cabinet made in 1699 by the men of a village who wrote in their town charter that a man from eight different families will always be assigned to go to the descendent of the first mayor’s home to retrieve a drawer (2 men per drawer) to safety if needed. Today, that could be a climate change threat as they do have flooding in the area but when the edict was made it was in case the 30 year war came back.
A local man who leads tours to South America who happened to know that I was related to a group who settled there in the early 1800s. Those were two lines I had never researched because I couldn’t find records. South America would not have been a place I would have thought that two single sisters would have emigrated to during that time period.
The archivist provided a behind the scene tour of his community and shared with me church records beginning in 1538 that contained a scam then going around hitting churches. Who knew?!
A local genealogist was conducting oral histories on the oldest village residents and upon visiting noticed pictures on the wall that looked vaguely familiar. When he asked he was informed they were from a family reunion held in northeast Indiana. The genealogist knew I was from that area and mentioned my name. This led me to having lunch with a 6th cousin who had even more pictures to share with me.
By my online connections and attending various conferences, I met a professional genealogist from the region who knew I was coming for a visit. We arranged to meet for dinner as he just happened to be staying close to where I was to attend a genealogy conference. During dinner I met with other attendees and discovered that we are related. One connection leads to another!
When you travel, make sure you have a list of your ancestors who were from the location, along with the dates that they lived there. This will help you readily share info with those you meet. Keep your tree online so that you can pull it up from anywhere, anytime. This helps in looking for a shared ancestor and then identifying how you are related to your new acquaintance. Putting genealogists heads together is a wonderful way to find those records you didn’t even know existed.
Several of you have let me know that you were concerned about accessing my website, GenealogyAtHeart.com, because you received a popup that said my site was not secure.
The popup was a result of my website’s SSL Certificate expiring. I had used a credit card that had been updated with an expiration date that wasn’t changed on my hosting site. Therefore, the hosting site did not renew the certificate that validates my site is secure.
I first realized this was an issue when I was traveling in Great Britain. I was home for a week before attending a conference in Boston and tried to get the certificate reinstated, however, I erred by going to the content management system (CMS) I use instead of the hosting agent.
I purchased a new certificate from the CMS which said it would take 72 hours to activate. I realized when I was in Boston it had not worked. The company wanted my sign on and password which I was reluctant to provide for several reasons – they were not responsive as it took me 4 emails over 4 days to get a response which was that their business hours are 12 hours different from where I live so they couldn’t respond via a chat or phone call. I asked for my money back which they gave me.
I then tried two other companies but those didn’t work either.
Now that I’ve returned from France and Great Britain I began again to try to get the certificate reissued. I reached out to the Transitional Genealogy Forum and because of two kind posters there, was able to understand that I was seeking the certificate from the wrong entity.
On Friday, I purchased a new certificate. I received an email back with the instructions to reinstall and I have completed that.
Got to love technology because I’m still not seeing that it is operational, though I did receive an email that I could display the above logo on my website since the certificate was issued. You can verify that by going to the company link under the logo.
I have also emailed the company to try to determine why the warning is still showing when trying to access my website. Hopefully, there will be a resolution this week.
You may be wondering what an SSL Certificate is – it stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is a protocol that encrypts and then authenticates data over the internet. This enabled secure communication.
As a blogger, I’m providing one-way communication. I write and you read, however, I do have an option to “Leave a Comment.”
I also have a Specials to Share page where I publicize items that I find that my readers might be interested in. I do not take any money through my website but you would want to only use a website that did have an SSL Certificate if you were paying for items.
While I await the fix to my SSL tech issue, if you are hesitant to visit my website, you may also read my blogs at genealogyatheart.blogspot.com.
A Reversal of Established Access – For decades, the 75-year threshold has balanced privacy concerns with the public’s right to access historical records. Arbitrarily extending the wait to 99 years serves no clear purpose other than restricting access to our collective history.
