Wedding Wednesday - What's In A Name?

Thanks to Family Search obtaining Vermont Vital records, the Blanchard side of my family has opened up ten-fold.  I recently found out that my great grandfather Charles Forrest Blanchard was not always married to my great grandmother Lucy Ann Riley.  In the Family Search records, it clearly shows that he was married twice before:

First to Rose A Ashley on 25 Dec 1886

    Source Citation: "Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XFQB-FHB : accessed 8 April 2012), Luther W. Blanchard in entry for Charlie F. Blanchard and Rose A. Ashley (1886).

Then to Lucy A Eastman in 1891

      Source Citation: "Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XFQB-FCR : accessed 8 April 2012), Charles F. Blanchard (1871).

But then he married my great grandmother Lucy Ann Riley.  Based on the age of their oldest child, Charles T. in the 1900 census, I estimated their marriage to be around 1894-1895.  But I couldn't find a record of it.  I had a gentleman on Ancestry actually argue with me about my findings, claiming that there was no way. But there it was, in black and white.  There are no other Charles Forrest Blanchard's that I have found in Vermont at that time, with a father named Luther and a mother named Lydia.  So this leads me to believe that I am on the right trail.

Then something weird happened.  I found a census record for a Stephen T. Riley in Vermont, with a wife named Grace E. and a daughter named Lucy Ann.  I punched it into my tree with the hope that something would show up in the shaky leaf hints.  Nothing, after several weeks.

I did a search for Stephen, but all I kept coming up with was a Thomas Riley with the same birth date.  Just out of curiosity yesterday, I tried searching Family Search for Thomas Riley.  And poof....there it was.......

Source Citation: "Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XF36-46R : accessed 22 Aug 2012), Thomas S. Riley in entry for Charles F. Blanchard and Lucy A. Riley, 1892.

The proof I was looking for to show the marriage date of my great grandparents.  They were married July 10th, 1892. And then on top of that, I found out that for whatever reason, most of Lucy Ann's fathers life, he went by Thomas, not Stephen.  I can only guess why he showed up in the census that one time with Stephen....did he have a son of the same name?  Did someone other than a family member give the info?  Did the census taker just swap the names by accident?  Who knows.  But it has opened up two other family lines....the Riley's (paternal of Lucy Ann) and the Kathan's (maternal of Lucy Ann).

I haven't searched to find out what happened to the first two wives....illness causing death?  Another adventure to add to my "to do" list! Right now I am busy getting my files in order and trying NOT to get off track.  Finding rabbit trails like this though make it awfully tempting lol.

1940 Census Searchable On Ancestry

I might be a day or so behind, as I just checked my gmail account for genealogy stuff, but Ancestry has indexed all of the 1940 census, and it is now searchable.

This was a huge thing for me, because whenever I tried the tricks offered using the street name and enumeration district from the 1930 census, I came up empty.  In my searches, I could not for the life of me, find East Meadow Street in the 1940 census.  Stamford, CT was a big city back then, being a huge boom town since the late 1800's, and the massive immigration of the Irish.  There was no way I was going to through, page by page by page, to find them.  So I waited.  Sometimes patiently lol.

This one contains my grandfather, Gordon E. Nichols and his family.  Including my great grandfather Arthur E. Nichols, who passed away later in 1940.  I am glad he was still alive for the census, although I suspect he was probably already sick.
(Source:  Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.)

I did make a correction to the transcribing, as they were listed as "Nicholas".  I can't blame the wonderful indexer, as the handwriting on this one is not great (big surprise there, wonder if they ever thought to make the census takers do a handwriting course).

And this is my grandfather Mayo H. Blanchard, and his family.  He is always pretty easy to find, due to his unusual name. I also made a small correction to the transcribing on this one, as my uncle's name is Alfred, not "Affred".  That was the census taker's fault.

(Source: Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.)


My father and mother will not show up in the 1940 census, as they were born 1942 and 1943, respectively.  But many of my aunts and uncles are there. It is kind of funny to see them as little children.  I want to do nothing more than spend the day working to find others, but I must get my homeschool planning done for my boys first, since we begin the new year on Monday.

I will be definitely getting my files set up so that I can get back to searching, as soon as I possibly can.

And I just want to take a minute to thank all those wonderful volunteers who have worked so hard to make the 1940 census available to all of us.  It is so appreciated! 

Ancestry Family Trees

I have read a lot of posts online, mostly on blogs, concerning the use of Ancestry family trees.  Both professional and non-professional genealogists are split on whether these should be used as "working" trees, or be a completely accurate tree (ie: every single person documented with sources out of the gate).

I personally am of the mind that my tree is a work in progress.  Both on my Blanchard side of the family, and the Goyette side, I can trace my tree back quite far.  I have found out this information through others who have the documentation to prove it.  I don't yet, but am working on it, one person at a time.  

I see my Ancestry tree as a place to work, adding sources as I find them.  The final product is what I add to my genealogy program on my computer.  I update the online tree at Ancestry, so that it is as accurate as possible, when I find new information that either proves or disproves a fact/theory.


I do wish their was a place on my tree to add a note stating that this is a working tree, and that no one should take any person as "proven" until I can confirm sources.  But, I think anyone who is serious about their family history will see this.  There will always be those who just copy people from one tree to another, willy nilly.  You can't prevent them from doing this.  They are not really interested in the stories of their family, but rather collecting people on their trees, like trophies.


It is very exciting to find that I have some pretty well known people on the Blanchard side of my family, but I am just as excited to find out the stories and facts about those every day people on my tree, like my Great Grandfather Nichols.  As I have said before, the every day, ordinary people are the ones who worked hard to make this country what it is, and their stories are just as important as those who made a name for themselves.


How do you use your online tree?