Credit Where Credit is Due

Congrats to Chris Dunham, who yesterday marked his 1000th post on The Genealogue, without a doubt the wittiest genealogy blog. . . .I recently noted that Missouri has placed online death certicates from 1910 to 1950. In his 1000th post, Chris pointed out that Dave B., author of OakvilleBlackWalnut, was one of the volunteers who made that project possible. Many thanks, Dave, to you and the other folks who worked so hard to such great effect!. . . .Today is the 100th anniversary of the great San Francisco earthquake. The San Francisco Virtual Museum has a list of the names of those who were killed in the disaster. . . .Today is also the 231st anniversary of Paul Revere's alarm-raising ride. . . .

The Sanfords of Milam County, Texas

I mentioned recently that in Salt Lake City, I found that my great-great-grandfather died at age 106. William Sanford, born in Virginia, first appears in the census of Milam County, Texas, in 1880 with wife Emely and daughters Catherine, Addie, Anna, and Bettie. I wondered what brought the family to Texas and when. I found a number of Sanfords in Milam County on the 1870 census who apparently came from Tennessee. The 1860 census shows seven Sanfords in Milam County, all from Tennessee. But the 1860 census doesn't describe relationships, so it was hard to tell exactly who was who. So I was stumped for awhile until I placed a query on a Milam County chat board asking for information about the Sanford family. I then heard from a woman who wrote, "Reuben H. and Mary W. Sanford were my gg grandparents. Their youngest daughter was my g grandmother." That was the break I needed. Now I think I know a lot more of the story.

Reuben Sanford was born in Virginia in about 1798. There is some evidence that his parents were James Sanford (born Va. 1769) and Sally Nance (born Va. 1767). His grandfather may have been George Sanford (born Va. 1740). In any event, the family eventually moved to Tennessee and Reuben settled in Williamson County. He married Mary Wood on July 6, 1820. They had seven children, Archer Wood, John T., Reuben Henry, and Elizabeth and three other daughters whose names I've not been able to discover. Reuben, Sr., died in about 1846. In 1854, his widow Mary moved to Milam County with at least two of her children, Archer and Reuben Henry [who sometimes appears in the census as "Henry"] and their wives and children. This is the family group that appears in the 1860 census of Milam County. At the time, Reuben Henry was married to a woman named Catherine. They later had a daughter, Susan, and sometime after that, Catherine died. Reuben married a woman named Martha in about 1871. The Sanford family, meaning the descendants of both Reuben Henry and Archer Wood, became prominent citizens of Milam County. Reuben Henry Sanford died on June 30, 1910, in Tracy, Texas.

The person who wrote me continued: "I gather your line connects to Otis Manson and Elizabeth "Betty" Sanford. I have Betty as the daughter of William and Emily Sanford. I found their names in Milam Co. but never knew how Wm. relates to my line of Sanfords." Well, here's the answer: despite the entry in the 1900 census that William Sanford and his family were white, all other evidence is that they were black. When the Virginia Sanfords moved to Tennessee, they brought a number of slaves with them. This is evident from the censuses and slave schedules. One of these must have been William. (To be continued in the near future).

Research Note: Missouri Puts Death Certificates Online

Kudos to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan for Job Well Done!

I've had the opportunity both to praise and chastise officials in my native state of Missouri for their handling of public records of genealogical value. Last year, for example, I was peeved when the Legislature passed a bill that some local officials said would require removing most online records that might contain personal information. But I've long been a fan of Jackson County's outstanding online database of public records. Likewise, I expressed my great pleasure about the way then-Secretary of State [and now Governor] Matt Blunt (R) had implemented a program of the Missouri Archives to place online pre-1910 birth and death records. Now, I'm able make the praise bipartisan: Blunt's Democratic successor as Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, has continued the state's openness about vital records.

Carnahan has placed online a searchable index of death certificates covering the years 1910-1955. The index is complete for that period, and so far, images are available for the years 1910-1920. More images are being added. For death certificates not yet digitized, Missouri makes it simple to order a photocopy [for the extreme price of one whole U.S. dollar per copy!]. Since its launch a few days ago, the site has been slowed by the volume of visitors.

I've spent some time on the site and found records for several relatives about whom I was missing complete information, particularly my great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Johnson Long [1871-1946] and her daughter, my great aunt, Mary Beatrice Long [1905-1921].

The one thing that could make this site better would be the ability to order and pay for copies online. A simple pay-per-image system, like this one used in several Texas counties, would be just fine.

Thanks to Dick Eastman for first noting the press release on this project.

Genea-political trivia: Both Robin Carnahan and Matt Blunt come from political families. Carnahan's late father served as Governor of Missouri and died in a plane crash while campaigning for the U.S. Senate. Mel Carnahan was posthumously elected. Her mother Jean then was appointed to that seat. Robin's brother, Russ, represents parts of St Louis County as well as Jefferson and Ste Genevieve counties in the U.S. House of Representatives. Blunt's father, Roy, also serves in the U.S. House, representing an Ozarks district which includes Springfield and Joplin. He is also the House Majority Whip. Roy Blunt preceded his son as Missouri's Secretary of State.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Myrtle . . .

. . . What I found in Salt Lake City

I had decided that my trip to the Family History Library would focus on the Mansons in Milam County, Texas. So before I left, I had studied the Library's online catalog to locate useful resources about Milam County. I found a number of things that looked good, so I printed out a list to take with me.

In the first ten minutes I was in the Library, I found the book Milam County Death Records, which was on my list. I learned that my dad's aunt, Mattie Manson [named for her grandmother Matilda Manson], died in June 1912 of tuberculosis. She was twelve years old. That's contrary to a story that I'd heard that perhaps she had absconded back to Georgia in search of the Birdsong family. I also learned that her second name was "Julia." Her funeral was handled by Henne & Meyer Hardware store in Rockdale, Texas. [Apparently, it was not uncommon that hardware stores and other businesses were in the undertaker trade at that time and place. The book identified one firm that did hardware, groceries, furniture and funerals. It's still in business today, but they now do funerals only!].

From the same book, I discovered that my great-great-grandfather, Billy Sanford, lived to age 106. The book 170 Years of Cemetery Records in Milam County, Texas, told me that he's buried in the old City Cemetery in Rockdale.

On microfilm, I found the Milam County school census records from 1899 through 1950. These records consisted of cards that parents had to sign every year giving the names and ages of their school-age children. In the early years there was a single record per family; later, there were individual cards for each child. From these records, I found the names and birthdates of my grandfather's siblings. I discovered a name I had not heard before: that of my grandfather's sister, Myrtle. She would have turned 100 years old today. Unfortunately, the school census is the only record of Aunt Myrtle that I could find.

I spent a considerable amount of time looking for the petitions and court orders from 1930 and 1932 that declared my great-grandmother, Bettie Sanford Manson, non compos mentis. I knew about the court action thanks to the folks who maintain Milam County GenWeb page. I wanted to know who filed a petition with the court and why. Despite having the case numbers, I couldn't find the actual papers. It's fair to point out that I did find the volumes in which these cases should appear and that finding the cases involves reading the microfilmed court minutes page by page. It's entirely possible that I just missed them.

In the time I had remaining, I did a bit of general Bowie research but found nothing new. Next trip, I'll focus on the Bowies and the Gines family. I did find several Gines ancestors that were new to my research, but I don't know how they fit in.

Again, it was time well spent.