#researchlikeapro

52 Ancestors – Week 51 – Future

/ Chiara / 1 Comment

So looking forward to 2020, I have all sorts of projects and goals in mind. It is going to require me to be a bit more organized with my time and with my research.

Genealogy Projects for 2020

  1. File a DAR supplemental application for my daughter through her paternal grandma’s line.
  2. Clear the DAR Additional Information Requested to connect Sarah Knowlton Coolidge to Benjamin Knowlton.
  3. Highlight an ancestor once a month on the blog.
  4. Submit an application to Associated Daughters of Early American Witches.
  5. Submit an application to Daughters of Union Veterans.
  6. Submit a supplemental application for a new patriot David Weatherwax.
  7. Break through a few brick walls including finding a death date for Henry Bass.
  8. Plan a few local day research trips to Brooklyn (Holy Cross Cemetery, Canarsie Cemetery, trips to the municipal archives and family history centers.)
  9. Work on detangling the Preston line.
  10. Try to take a class on Jewish Research, Italian or Irish Research.
  11. Listen to 2 genealogy podcasts per week.
  12. Work on finishing RLP ECourse and DNA course.

Sounds like a good plan for 2020.

More about Sarah Larkin Beardsley

/ Chiara / 1 Comment

If you have been following along for a while you will know 2 things that I really enjoy podcasts and I have an affinity to Sarah Larkin Beardsley, my 2X great grandmother.

I have been binge listening to the podcast Research Like a Pro Podcast. It is really well done and I have been learning little things. I also love that Diana is always sharing about her journey to become and Accredited Genealogist. While listening to Episode 21, there were a couple hints about searching the Family Search Catalog and it has made things super easy for me. As a test, I used my Sarah Beardsley to find out if there was anymore to her probate file.

Guess what? There was.458bf45c-b666-43d2-98a9-410d98058766

Ancestry had a couple of Administration letters but there was a little more over on Family Search. For years information on Sarah’s death was limited to a cemetery marker and a line in her husband’s Civil War pension file. As I move forward and I stop looking at the low lying fruit. I am rewarded.

This file only had about 5 more pages in it but one was a statement from her husband about only him and their minor daughter being the only two members of the family.

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The other items were bonds and one of the people who put up the bond was James Thompson. James Thompson, owned a mill in Valley Falls, New York. He was also married to Sarah’s younger sister Lucy. It shows that this family was closer than we though. Honestly, I have been searching this family for years based on a family story of 3 sisters, Sarah, Lucy and supposedly a Johanna (who I really think is a Julia) but I have yet to be able to confirm that.

Little side note that supports my theory that Lucy and Sarah were closer than I think is I found a descendant of Lucy’s back in the early 2000 and he knew very little about my Sarah but as Lucy was his grandmother he was able to share a little about her. Lucy gave birth to her son Leslie supposedly on a train in Jonesville, MI, in 1884. I can tell you my Sarah was practicing medicine in Jonesville MI in 1884. Also they both lost daughters named Myra in infancy but I haven’t been able to connect more to that.

Back to Sarah’s probate file. One other bond was put up by a Mr. Hunter but I do not know who he was so that will require a little research into a possible FAN club connection.

I have a research trip coming up on Thursday and hopefully I can get some things done. I do plan  on visiting Sarah and Leslie Beardsley’s gravesite. I always thing that the story is over but then something else pops up.

I highly recommend listening to Research Like a Pro. It has been really fun. I am hoping to be caught up in the next couple of weeks.