Thankful Thursday ~ Gift from Beyond

I am not quite sure how to start this, which is a shock cause I never have trouble talking, I think because it is SUCH an UNBELIEVABLE event that I still have yet to wrap my head around it.

Three days ago I received this contact in my Ancestry.com messages, along with a return email. ( I didn't want to get my hopes up as I have had MANY disappointments in my recent past, so I just let the chips fall where they might, BOY did they FALL!)




I have some documents written by Joseph Smedley, one is a hand written copy of his appeal that was given to the Choctaw council. And others.
I would like to get these into the family hands. Will give longer story if you are interested


THIS is my reply


Hi,

I am a direct decedent of Joseph Smedley, he is my Great x 4 Grandfather and I would ADORE anything that has to do with our family! I am very interested in the documents but also how you came to get them. I love stories about how things get around to others, vintage shop sales and the likes. I appreciate you contacting me, please let me know what you have and how or what you would like to do with them.

Thank you,

Alisha

THIS is his reply

Alisha,

Ready for the long story, as I talk a great deal when speaking of genealogy and family history.  This week end at the annual reunion of graduates of Phillips High School. This is a school that used to exist 3 miles North of Borger, Texas in the Texas Panhandle.  After the regular meeting some of us from the class of 1960 had lunch and I went back to the motel where a classmate was staying. In the great room at the entrance of the motel were numerous tubs of stuff from an estate. The stuff was the leftovers of Ronnie H. and his wife. According to a friend, Ronnie and his wife had passed very young with only one child. The child took what she wanted and these tubs of stuff remained in Les Hargis’s possession for perhaps the last 20 years. So Les, who is married to a Phillips grad, got tired of keeping the stuff. Since the motel was full of people who knew Ronnie H., Les said “ everyone take what they want and the rest goes to an antique dealer( also a graduate) to sell for whatever.

As a collector, I thought I had died and gone to heaven( thinking what left this tub in the days before). One tub was completely full of photos, many school pictures, carte vistas, cabinet cards, one tin type. Most of the older photos and real photo postcards were not identified( as you know is the usual case). I spent over an hour looking at the tub.

MY next reply

I am in tears and have the shakes and am GIDDY all over! I can't tell you what this means to me, I am 39 a family historian and Genealogist, I blog about the things I do and the journey I am on. I ADORE this on so many levels I can't even explain! I just read it to my mother and she is tickled too. I can't tell you what this means to me, to us, to our family. I will protect them, get them scanned safely and see about getting the copies shared with our extended family and the research community. 

I sent him a reply and a link to this blog and his reply

Wow, Alisha.

After seeing your blog I realize that I have gotten the documents to the right place.

I received those PRECIOUS documents in the mail today, I am a BALL of emotions. I have in my hands something not only from 1840-1850, but it is my 4th grandfather, his writing, his words, his thoughts, his deeds, his actions. VERY seldom am I at a loss for words, but this just takes it, it takes my breath away.

Rev. Joseph Smedley, as you will see below in my quick tree to him, is my 4th great grandfather. He was also the first Smedley to come to the states from England. He was a teacher, and a missionary to the Choctaw people as they came off the Trail of Tears. He lived among them, became part of their families, and raised his 7 children with them. I am beyond excited to have such a person in my family, but equally as excited that he accomplished all the things that he did, that he passed on his love for being a missionary to his children and their spouses and children, another blog post. He was a pioneer to this area, to the Choctaw Nation and its people. I can see a Rev. Joseph Smedley blog post in my near future!

In the coming days I will be transcribing, posting, and sharing these documents with you all here on the blog and my family across the country. I have had family documents 'kept' from me and I just don't believe in it. They are precious gifts to be shared, not horded away from those who will treasure and share them.
                                                Rev. Joseph Smedley

Joseph B. Smedley Rev. (1792 - 1877)

is your 4th great grandfather

John Ratcliff Smedley (1824 - 1902)

Son of Joseph B.

William Leslie Smedley (1862 - 1946)

Son of John Ratcliff

Walter Lee Smedley (1882 - 1967)

Son of William Leslie

John B. Smedley (1905 - 1992)

Son of Walter Lee

Carol Yvonne Smedley

Daughter of John B.

Alisha Dawn 

( ME)

I had the privilege of visiting and photographing his resting place, next to several of his children, not far from me.


THANK YOU TO ROBERT ROLAND OF AMARILLO TEXAS FOR PUTTING ME WITH MY GREAT X 4 GRANDFATHER~

Happy Hunting,
~Alisha

Slaves and Freedmen of the 5 Civilized Tribes - Burials

Some posts are fun to write, about our journeys and my lack of direction. Some posts are of a more solemn nature, when posting about loss of loved ones, especially children. Then there are posts, like this one, that NEED to be written.

I by NO means claim to be an expert in this area, I have since encountering the below photos, read up more and I will include some links here to people who are experts in this area, and historical documents to back up information that I put forth. Again, I am not claiming to be an expert in the topic but what I am an expert in is human nature, and when something I see just about brings me to my knees.

I am becoming more an expert in Native American studies, particularly Mississippi before the move west, Oklahoma (where I am born and raised) where the Trail of Tears ended. I have read about Freedmen and Native Americans who owned slaves prior to the civil war, but again, my area is the Native American and only reading with brevity about the slaves they had among them. I have since changed that way of thinking and am more studying the WHOLE of the Native American life to include those they enslaved. SLAVERY

I was interested in going to the site of Skullyville, the point at which the Trail of Tears was the destination and the Agency for them to check in and receive their land grants was. There is a Choctaw Nation Burial site with purportedly hundreds of 'only' Native American peoples. I did go there and photograph and see people who were on the Trail of Tears, absolutely fascinating and another blog post! 


Now, BEFORE anyone gets too stirred up, I am of Native American descent, I do comprehend the idea of the things they faced being forced to move from their homes, the lands of their people and what that must have been to them, this is not about them. There will be a post about them, this is about those they enslaved and their resting place.


What I also saw, and had briefly read about, was this...."Outside the formal confines of the Choctaw National Cemetery, at Skullyville, there is an adjacent area of burials, which, if not actually part of the present entity of Skullyville Cemetery, is obviously associated with it historically. It is apparent that some of the earlier burials are freedmen, and that some of the more recent burials are descendants of freedmen. "

A Fence? After all these years, after the prices they paid, the families paid, why still a fence? Why separate them in death as they were in life?

Well seeing to the other side I had to find a way in to see it. I could see that it was mowed but my finding the entrance was less than easy. There is NO entrance from the Choctaw side to the Freedmen side, so there must be a road, there must be a marker, there must be a sign!

Around the corner from Skullyville, I found a dirt road that veered off into the direction I knew the Freedmen Cemetery to be, so I took it. That sign you see is for a Chicken farm, not the Cemetery itself.

Down a dirty dirt road, about .4 of a mile, still no sign, no nothing to tell me or a visitor they are heading to the resting area of loved ones. Only the now wafting smell of chicken houses looms in the air, sighs... (If you are from this area you know and cannot forget that smell once you have had it once in your lifetime).

FINALLY....I Made it???

Those posts? Yeah those are to keep the semi-trucks hauling feed and chickens from hitting those 5 precious resting spots at the front of this cemetery.... Still, no signage!!! DOUBLE sigh....

I have to say it had in the last few days been mowed, but I also have to say, not weeded, and there were, of the supposed 100 or more once headstones that were visible, now about 20-25. Unfortunately a good 5-6 flat ones had met the wrong end of the powerful mower blades like the below photo. 

I was able to clean off and get photos of about 25 headstones with family information that can be of use historically for families. I also included above a link to a page someone, 10 years or so back, photographed the stones when there were around 100 still visible. 

This post is meant to be informative, to remind people that equal treatment in death, is just as important as it is in life. Dignity does not die at the grave, it lives on in these resting places, in the families and friends left behind, in the legacy of the lives they lead, the lives they touched, the history they formed. It is my HOPE in posting this that the next time you, or someone you know, goes to a resting place, treat it and the people in it with the dignity they so richly deserve. Their lives, their deaths, their resting places are to be treasured, no matter who, what tribe, what nation, what race, or what label they have had attached to them. 

Happy Hunting,

~Alisha

Below are some informative links to information regarding this population of people. 

FREEDMEN

FREEDMEN

SLAVERY

The 100

Funny Friday - I am NOT lost, I was merely sightseeing, and a few other thoughts~

I hinted on yesterdays post my, as Ward would say, way of making her go nuts. That is, I had general or no directions to the places I was headed, I just drove. Now, let me explain a bit about Le Flore County, it is not only filled with quaint little small towns, fields of rolling grass and cattle, birds chirping, well you get that picture. It is also filled with dirt roads that go on for 15-20 miles, signs that say and mean, if you enter you will be shot (nothing personal).

It has various types of wildlife, like snakes that bite, mosquitoes that will suck you dry in 5 minutes flat, oh and don't forget those LOVELY black widow spiders that are waiting for you to get nosy and move a broken headstone about so they too, can have you for supper! Yes, that did happen to me, prompting me to buy and wear gloves, even with the heat index at 105F~

Now why with all that Ward would be concerned, I have no idea! I grew up here, I know the boundaries to push, I know when a closed gate means do or do not or enter at own risk. The tell tale sign for the Do Not is either a lock or a skeleton head of some poor critter, definitely not the type of gates you want to enter! HA! I never saw a lock or a skeleton head in the WHOLE time I was out!

So, my trusty side kick had to lead me around, OH, let me mention here that not only is she NOT in Oklahoma, she isn't even in the US. She is actually in the United Kingdom, like a few hours from London, not in Oklahoma! Yeah we totally are a pair and a half, but MAN OH MAN do we laugh! She mostly laughs at me and my ridiculous ways at times, I don't mind at all, at least I am amusing someone!

My journey took me to a cemetery called Greenhill, and low and behold if one of "those" people weren't buried there. You know the type, the guy who always said something was wrong and no one let on to believe him, take him seriously, you know that guy, right? Mr. Anthony must have been that guy!

Have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

Happy Hunting,
~Alisha

Sorting Saturday

Ok, this happens to me more times than I care to admit, but when I am searching my personal family tree, I have G.R.E.A.T. intentions on staying focused on a certain section, specific siblings and it never fails, 3 hours later I am COMPLETELY on the other side of the tree, captivated by stories and photos and Gosh oh Golly, I MUST read it all and save it so I don't forget! Please, tell me I am not the only one this happens to!!!!

So, what I have HAD to start doing is making a small list of very specific people, under each name a goal(s) that I want to achieve for that specific section, like civil war document, land title, birth record, you get the point. If I didn't do this, I would have my 15th cousin 45 times removed (I really loooooooooathe the removed business ha), on my family tree before I had Great-Grandma Della because I got myself side-tracked!

The other thing I have done as well is I work with two trees, one is my direct blood lines and ONLY that going back on my paternal and maternal sides. My other tree has the cousins of cousins and 5th wife with 14 kids on it, I kid you not, ok I am from Oklahoma farm and Indian lands so yeah, we grow them big out here!

It is SUPER important as a Genealogist for our clients sake, time and money, to keep goals set, expectations as well so that when the project has reached its completion, there is great reward for both parties. The same can be said in our own personal journeys through our pasts.

Have a wonderful weekend, see you tomorrow!

Happy Hunting
~Alisha

Friday Funny~ I Enjoy My Taphophilia

First let me start off by saying as a RN, I find it funny that e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. we do, say, don't do, do too much, do too little seems to have the philia or phobia words attached to it. I also am afflicted with biophilia, iconophilia, technophilia, and many others HA! The other reference, like taphophile or taphophilia, is Tombstone Tourist.

When walking around, photographing and reading the headstones I come across the kindest of words, loving father, devoted mother, supportive friend. Photographs, trinkets and angels left behind as a mark someone had been there. There is a local 'trash man' who died and on his birthday his family leaves him a can of coke and his favorite candy bar, during football season his favorite team, OU Sooners, will have a presence at his side by way of flag or ornament.

Then you come across people like Mr. Wise, he was a teacher at Monroe, Oklahoma school. Most of us remember our teachers with a stern, staunch face or a scowl across their brow. It seems Mr. Wise had a sense of humor and as you can see by his 'book' headstone and what you read up on the back, he was always right !!

Happy Hunting,

~Alisha

Dead Men Tell No Tales

This phrase was coined by Saban pirate Hiram Beakes, it has been made into a movie, it is the title of a few songs, numerous poems, literary works, magazine articles and now this blog! Now, I can imagine the pirate saying it to someone who was about to walk the plank for any given amount of reasons. I find in Genealogy that nothing could be farther from the truth, with this particular phrase. I think they tell tales, they talk, they sing and in some instances they SCREAM at us to pay attention to them and their stories. As a someone who works with Genealogy, I feel it my duty to give them a voice, much like in my nursing career giving my patients a voice.

Are you wondering what stirred this up? Well it was a man named Copl. Melvin Flener, Company I, 52nd Regiment Kentucky Mounted Infantry. I met Melvin today, for those of you familiar with civil war history, Melvin was there, and I met Melvin today. No, I don't talk to the dead, I don't see them, at least I hope not, I do visit their resting places, and that is where I met Melvin today. Melvin was a Union man, the company he road with mustered in Franklin, Kentucky on March 3, 1864. The regiment lost 59 men during service, not our Melvin, 48 of those were due to disease. Wikipedia

A little flipping through some research I find that Melvin was born in 1864 in Kentucky, at one point he moved to Poteau, Oklahoma, where he is buried and where we 'met'. The 1910 census he is 64 years of age, and his son Orill and grandson Melvin were living with him and his wife Georgia. According to a 1860 census Melvin was born to Isaac and Annie in Kentucky, one of 6 children. That is in about 10 minutes of searching things to find just a few things out about Mr. Melvin!  Now you know a little bit about Melvin, a man you never heard of, who now has a voice living on in this blog! See, Genealogy is fascinating!

Genealogists, although versed in many areas, find niches' that they are either more interested in, have a knack for, something about an area of study, a geographic area, a people, really turn that Genealogist into a knowledge machine. We crave knowing and studying more in these areas. One of mine is headstones, that is why I met Melvin today, I am on to photographing and documenting my third cemetery in as many months. I assure you it is a labor of love of the highest order BUT, when you 'meet' people, like Melvin, it makes it so much more interesting, fascinating actually. So, tomorrow and for many more tomorrows to come, I shall look and find someone else for you all to 'meet'.

Happy Hunting,

~Alisha


I would like to introduce you, to Melvin as we close!

Immigration Records/Ship Arrival Records

Let's talk about our ancestors who came across on the 'boat's of yesteryear!

I have ancestors, Rev. Joseph Smedley and his family, who sailed months later, who came from England to the U.S. via the Ship Arab into Pennsylvania. His wife and 6 of their children arrived in the U.S. via the Brig Agenora in Mar 1830 into New York. It took some time and searching in order to find them, their ship, and the actual dates of their arrivals. Also, in finding the arrival of the children, we were able to see which children were actually born in England, as at that point in the searching we had not yet located each child's birth records.

What are some of the things you can get from searching these records:

1. Place of Birth
2. Place of Residence
3. Physical Characteristics (Height, Hair and Eye color)
4. Vocations
5. Ship Name and Entry Into the U.S.
6. Date/Year of Birth

As you can see, this can be valuable information in your search for your family and where your origins are. Besides having historical significance, this to me, is very fascinating and an area I can get lost in reading about.

Please be aware that, as in the title of this, sometimes the records are referred to as Immigration Records and some sites as Ship Passenger Arrival Records, so when you are doing your searches check both areas for this information. As someone who indexes records, please be aware that misspelling happens, transcription errors happen, so sometimes searching the ship can assist you in your search.

Where can you find these records? Well there are many search able sites online like Ancestry, National Archives, Castle Garden, Ellis Island , The Ships List, to name a few. Ancestry is a paid subscription site with a wealth of information, the others are free to a point, some records are still not indexed but are on microfiche.

Out of the box thinking here, lets say you find or know the ship your family arrived on, try to Google that ship name as opposed to your family name, also into Wikipedia the same with the ship. Many of the coastal arrival ports posted in the local papers when the ships arrived, so you may be able to look up the city you know in which they arrived, the local newspaper of that time and be able to further pinpoint the actual arrival date of the ship. Also, you can check the port at which they left for the local papers as well showing when the ship left port.

I hope this helps a bit in your search for your family!

Happy Hunting

~Alisha

Cemeteries and Their Importance

I have recently taken on the task of photographing and documenting local cemeteries in my area, of course I started with the ones I know my relatives are laid to rest. In the past two months I have documented 2 entire cemeteries and have started a 3rd.

I have found that each cemetery seems to have its own personality, quirks if you will in the trees that grow, the unevenness of the earth, the way that there is always an "old" section and a new. The way that even with so much death, there is so much life around if we just take a moment to take each piece in.

You will also find that some, not all, are actually laid out in relatively straight lines and are easier to catalog while others, you find yourself having to use landmarks as not to get lost, or miss someone.

I am personally drawn to the oldest headstones initially. I am always looking for the oldest ones, and believe it or not, some of the oldest ones seem to be in the best shape. I am not sure if that is down to the type of stone/rock that was used but I do find them fascinating.

I am saddened by the ones that are in disrepair or broken, every ounce of me wants to grab something and fix them, and it never seems to fail that they are their most fragile and the most KEY areas of information...sigh.

I think the ones that are the hardest for me are the children, because their lives were cut short, as a nurse I wonder what it was that made them so ill or took them away. Then I think on the fact that because their little lives were cut so short, one day when their parents/siblings are gone, no one will really be looking for them. So many seem to fall off family trees, so I make it a concerted effort to make sure they are remembered with at least a photo, placed on a site so that they will at least be seen. I don't think anyone deserves to be forgotten, each life is special and important no matter how long or short it is.

On of my daughters had a classmate that was taken before she graduated high school, on graduation night the kids all placed a rose in the chair she should have been in, after the ceremony they drove to her resting place, placed the flowers on the bench at her grave and placed her graduation cap and gown. I was fortunate enough to take photographs after this was done the next day. 

All this said, we Genealogists use these amazing pieces of history as a wealth of information. So much can be gleamed from a headstone, birth, death, marriage date and to whom, sometimes children's names are left as a reminder, I have seen ceramic pictures of the couples or the person, the person(s) signature. There are some interesting epitaphs and some funny ones, it almost feels strange to bust out laughing in a cemetery when reading someones stone, but I think that was their intention.

I could and do spend hour upon hour walking through, reading, photographing and even some tears and laughter at times through these amazing places. I think it is a very important part of my Genealogy and yours. So important it is a service I offer in my Genealogy business. If you need or would like this type of service in my area, Oklahoma/Arkansas, I will be happy to work with you. My website is AA Genealogy Consulting, if you have relatives in another area and would like such a service, try contacting a local Genealogist and see if they offer this very special service!

Happy Hunting

~Alisha

Census (senses) overload~

Let's start this off by mentioning one of the Genealogy sites, Ancestry.com, of which thanks to my bestie Andrea, I am a member. If you haven't seen how the site works, although it has things that are a TRUE nuisance it is great for information gathering! Go to your imaginations with me on this one, picture a tree of sorts with names branching back to your ancestors, now above the names if there is a ancestry hint, meaning information somewhere in the database about that person or someone similar, a little green leaf pops up and waves at you! Get the whole leaf and tree theme, it cracks me up~ Anyway, a lot of the times when you get a leaf it results in a record, like a census. 

Lets talk about census records, I mentioned in a previous post my annoyances with transcription errors, so much so that I volunteer transcribing them myself with Family Search, whose records end up on your screen! I enjoy it, it settles my mind at times it like to race away with itself, but I also feel like I am helping but I am getting a look into the past, into people and I find it quite fascinating. So, lets talk facts and how these can help you!~

1. A great source for place of birth and date of birth~ I would like to enter a cautionary tale here about both. First the place of birth, my not too distant relatives, early 1800s, came from England. My bestie Andrea happens to live in England. In chatting with her about the Wheres of England, as with many places, boundaries change. So the County of today, may or not be the County of yesteryear! Dates of birth, this is a bit trickier, if the census was taken in a populated city, like New York or Chicago, the area was flooded with census takers and it was a relatively smooth and quick process. Now, where my relatives were located, Indian Territory (Oklahoma/Arkansas), not so populated, so a handful of census takers traversed the area via horseback and was gone many months up to a year gathering information. How do I know this? Well in transcribing these records there is a name of the taker and the date gathered at the top of each sheet. I have come across names that are the same, months apart, in areas that I am familiar with. So, just use caution and allow, in my opinion 1-2 years variance as long as other variables are the same (siblings/parents, etc.,). 

2. Immigration history and places of paternal/maternal birth are also located on many census records. Again, with the spelling errors, just be cautious as some of these census takers could have been coming across country names they had never been exposed to, so just a cautionary tale here on that.

3. Own or Rent property, it is indicated on the census records whether they are living in a rental or owned property. How does this help? Well, if they are in an owned property this can quickly alert you to being able to do a tax and land record search as well! This will give you an exact location of the homestead or maybe if you are lucky, the actual home your family once resided in.

4. Occupations, well you might be saying what is the big deal and how does this help me in my research? Well, besides finding it personally fascinating seeing what our ancestors chose to do as a profession or a trade that was handed down generation to generation, some records such as records in England where an apprentice is taken in and shown a trade. Another source of information for your records!

There are many other types of information beyond name and family in the household at the time, but I hope these few things help you see there is more to a census than just names! There is a wealth of information for you to look at, so take time, open one and take a really good look at what information is requested and given on the form!

Happy hunting

~Alisha

Family Spirit, Family Secrets

"There is an unquestionable bond among families, whether near or far. We are bound by not only a single person, or couple, but by a spirit that lives within that family.

We are its highs and lows, its fame, its misfortune, and deepest secrets. We should not hide from those truths but embrace them as we make this journey through our pasts." Alisha Pendergraff-Lopez

This is my own quote from my website, http://www.oklahomasmedleys.com/, it is what I truly believe about family and yes, about secrets. Through my own experience with my Oklahoma Smedleys, there seems to be a 'simple' spirit and by that I mean not ones to put on heirs about things, but also of those who are hard-working and driven. Although I didn't know even my great-grandparents on either side of my family, I do know that spirit that was there, and somehow that lives on in me.

How is that? How is it that I can read about my historical family and see the same types of thoughts, emotions, actions and reactions to situations that I would find myself having or doing? Is it true that a spirit lives within a family? No, I don't mean boogey men or ghosts here, I mean that 'thing' that you see among families where your grandma took in strangers to feed, you find yourself with that same type of helping or lending hand to those in need. Your great-great-great grandpa was a hardworking farmer and although you may or may not be a farmer, you have that same hardworking ethic that he had.

Does this have anything to do with a Genealogy search per se, no, but it does have to do with the human condition, with wondering what it is we really pass on to our family. What it can help you with is that when you are reading about your family of yesterday and at home with the family of today, think of those things, good things, that are in your life to pass on to them. One day when a distant relative is looking into their past, they will see you and the things you past on to your family and see that 'spirit' live on.

Happy Hunting

~Alisha

Headstones

WOW, I didn't realize just HOW important and key at times, finding and photographing headstones is and would be. I have managed to photograph many of my local Smedley's, I am still working on this, but I have also managed to completely photograph 2 local cemeteries and catalogue them, for now at FindaGrave.com. Mainly because it is and has been and they state they will stay, free to users.

When you have an "about birth date or year" it is great, it can give you a jumping off place to start digging for information. But have you come across this scenario, you put in your relatives name, example Joseph Smedley, and a About 1792 birth year and get 2 hints. Then you put the same name, this time you simply change it by two years to 1790 and 15 hints burst open! Then you realize there are 4-6 Joseph Smedley's not only born in the same area but 2 born on the same day, in the same area!! AHHHHHHH~

So, these headstones are KEY to our research, I shall endeavor gathering and posting pictures, one day on my own site, I do put the Smedley's up on our Flickr page, linked here on the Tree & Photos page. Remember to use all your resources!

If you have a Smedley in Le Flore County Oklahoma or Sebastian County Arkansas, I would be happy to locate and photograph the headstone for you, just message, email me and let me know the information you have about that relative(s)!

Happy Hunting

~Alisha

To Pay or Not To Pay? That is Quite the Question!

If you have even done this for a few days, those of you who have done this for years, have seen the changes both for the better and not better on the wallet. Technology has made finding records, from far away, much easier, but now it seems that certain sites 'monopolize' information we have access to. So, where does that leave us?

Well, for me, I get SUPER frustrated every time I type in a search engine, a family name, it shows records are available, then it happens.... For 24.99 a month/9.99 a month/30 days free but you must enter your credit card information and so on and so on....sigh. There are local historical societies one can access microfiche, but for I would say the majority of us, at some point in our histories we have a emigration situation and/or family who moved to and fro across the country. So, what do we do?

If money isn't an problem, I definitely do not fit in this category, then you can find sites that are a wealth of information and maybe a few months of subscriptions to one at a time until you exhaust, collect and move on to the next sites information. That is definitely what I am doing, as for right now, Ancestry.com seems to be still providing information for me. I have run across some other sites that I have on 'the list' as possible later day places to use for information.

Key information, census records, marriage/birth/death certificates, military records, apprenticeship records, ship records, obituaries, family, bibles, headstone/cemetery records, newspaper articles, books, local genealogy societies, church records, magazine publications seem to be a wealth of information and good places to start when looking for information. Tomorrow I will talk about how I got started and how that has evolved over the last few months.

So, what is your past worth? One has to decide what parts of their past they are willing to 'pay' for, and then make ways to see it happen. I do WISH these sites weren't SO expensive, I get the costs of running a business, servers storage, websites, and on and on, but I also understand that they are selling MY, and your, family information, so I have very MIXED feelings about them being able to do that. As with most things in this world, it comes down to the almighty dollar, pound, yen, Euro, and we all are left debating is it really worth it. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer, but I think it is a personal journey into our pasts and right now, there are ways, but they are not easy, around the costs.

Happy hunting,

~Alisha

BreakThrough~

Well yesterday it happened, we had a break in someone in our family who some have been seeking for years. It was a simple thing that had been staring me right in the eyes the whole time Andrea and I have been looking. There is a common name that seems to pass down randomly through the family. It is never someones first name, always a middle, so being stuck on parents for Rev. Joseph, I just plugged that name in as his mothers last name and BINGO!!!! The flood gates opened, let me also add that a few texts had mentioned a few birth places, censuses once in the states and also this brief history written by a map maker who was traveling and journaling the changing face of Indian Territory (Arkansas/Oklahoma border). This particular map maker was doing a little history on Benjamin B. Smedley and mentioned his father, Reverend Joseph Smedley (being born in Derbyshire and having 7 brothers). Well, when we plugged in this other name as his, Joseph's, mother's last name, BINGO, PAY DIRT! We have mom, dad, 7 brothers and 2 sisters. Oh, if you hadn't noticed one common thread with Smedley's is they like having kids and a load of them!

I have learned that gathering information sources, multiple ones, tend to lead you to the one conclusion you are looking for. The art is in taking those tid bits, putting them together and getting those pesky relatives who like to hide so readily!


Happy hunting and here is to you finding your Breakthrough!

~Alisha

Information~ Website build day Four

FIRST of all I would like to thank all almost 100 of you wonderful people who have at least gotten to my corner of the Internet world! Andrea and I are working on growing this site everyday, adding, morphing it into a wealth of Smedley information for ALL Smedley's. I just happen to be an Oklahoma Smedley, but when I add information here, it will also be for the Nebraska ones, the Hawaii ones, Alaska, and so on and so on!.

The word for the day is...... DRUM ROLL....  Infooooormation!!! Well, today was like most others on the search for our infamous Joseph Smedley, Reverend. We did find a snippet today that 'may' have an accurate place of birth in England which is HUGE and that it is possible he is one of 7 children as well! WAY to go ANDREA!  While she was going google eyes finding information on Joseph, I was adding two new pages here, they are quick links to known burial sites for Smedley's (ALL of them, not just my relations). It took the better part of the day making links and what not but I am pleased with the outcome. Remember my earlier blog about the heavier on labor than on love days? Yeah this was one of those days!! heehee

I have decided to take and put our actual images and document images on Flickr, they are easily accessible, the storage is unlimited, or it will be soon for me, and I can more easily set links and reference information so those with the original documentations, or sites with the information, get proper credit. I have been in photography for quite some time so I do understand and respect copyright issues!

I am gathering links tonight as well to very informative, FREE, pages for searching for family information. One thing that is a great resource, if you have and use Google Chrome is under the search engine, type your search word (s), then when the link page opens look to the left about half way down and you will see the word  BOOKS. This if a great area for older articles, books that are available in not only PDF or text format but are available to read online! Some you can also choose to download to a tablet if you so choose. These older texts tend not to show up on the regular search engine as the search engines are geared to show up high volume, newer articles, websites, etc,.

~Alisha

Transcription Errors, Accents, Spelling

Well, yesterday and today I worked on typing out, in a hopefully less confusing, Smedley Family Tree. The ones that are apparently the traditional ways of putting them, quite honestly, are VERY confusing to me, hard to follow and don't flow well. So I wracked my brain and to the Excel spreadsheet I went. I don't even know how many hours later, we have a working tree that can EASILY be changed and switched and shared with you all!! YAY. I am uploading it to Google Documents for others to view. I am also in the throws of getting the picture page on here more suited for our needs.

Ok, so yesterday I said I wanted to talk about accents, spelling (sp.?), and transcription errors on pages like Ancestry. First lets talk about accents, since we are the Oklahoma Smedleys, this term was handed to me lovingly from my cousin Arlena, apparently the rest of the family uses this as a term for our group here and I LOVE IT! If you aren't familiar with farm, Southern Farm, Southern Oklahoma Farmers, well you are in for a treat. Let me give you an example, a name like Clarissa (pronounced CLUH-RIS-UH), to the adorable Southern Oklahoma farmer, especially back in the 1800s and early 1900s census taking times, was pronounced (CLUH-REE-SEE). The unsuspecting census taker (either highly educated or not we will discuss this in a bit), now writes down Clerecee. So you go looking for your great-great grandma Clarissa and you can't find her! Another example the name Ada (pronounced A-duh), would lovingly be pronounced Aaaa-der. The lovely census taker now has you with a great-aunt Ader, instead of Ada! Welcome to the world of accents and census takers!

Lets talk census takers, I want to study up on them one day because I do have an opinion, not proven just a notion or two about them. There are ones you can tell were well educated, based on their penmanship and their correct spelling. Then there are the ones like I mentioned above who I do believe that were asked if they could read and write and ride a horse and sent off of the year long task of Census taking. Far be it from me to be judgmental, far from it, I can imagine it was a VERY thankless job, especially in this part of the country back then, when the Indian population was dominant, the lands were uncharted. In the cities it might not have been such a bad gig!

Now, the dreaded transcription errors, I find this EXTREMELY annoying, let me say my background is a Registered Nurse so I read AWFUL handwriting as part of my job. I can clearly see it says Flynt and someone has made the family name Tylnit. UGH, and my Smedley's have been Smeeley's, Smudly's and about 10 other misinterpretations. It is hard enough to find your way around older documents but when they are not transcribed correctly, SUPER FRUSTRATING! Unless you know the siblings, parents and so on, when a incorrect name is present, you are stuck either immediately tossing it and possibly losing valuable family documentation, or scratching your head trying to sort out, Bradicock when it should be Bordicott. If you come across one I have 'corrected' on Ancestry you will see my reply IN ALL CAPS! heeehee

Just so you know, ALL the examples from above I have personally encountered, the moral of the story is don't be quick to discard due to a name or spelling being off, maybe set it to one side until you can make names and places match more readily!

Happy hunting and I will see you again in the morrow!

Alisha~

Oklahoma Smedley's Website Build Day Two

Whew! Ok, well my mind is going ninety miles an hour today, I went this morning to the cemetery in Poteau to grab a few snapshots of family I know to be there. I have completed cataloging Monroe, Vaughn (loads of family here), and I went to Shiloh as well a few days ago. I must say that Shiloh is an interesting place, for every standing headstone there are 5 rocks just stuck up out of the ground marking someone. In Shiloh, as well as at Vaughn, there is a "Smedley" section. Rev. Joseph and Benjamin and several others rest here. I have a call out to the keepers of Shiloh so I can get the plots scheme so I know who is where, there are about 10 Smedleys marked with rocks, no headstone. It is my goal to get them identified!

WELL, I just posted on Ancestry about this site, I know it will be a slow process but it is my hopes that in the coming weeks, months this site is swarming with Smedley's far and wide, gathering bits and bobbles. This site will always remain free for the Smedley's, it is a precious gift to me from my bestie, Andrea!

So, something I want to talk about is the information I provide here. I want to assure you, if you see someone on my family tree, they have been confirmed, reconfirmed and most likely triple confirmed. How do I do this? Well Andrea and I traverse websites, like Ancestry and others, gathering census information, birth records, death records and because I am centrally located in Oklahoma where my relatives seem to originate, it is easy for me to hop over to a cemetery to grab some pictures for further confirmation.

Rarely does my information come from word or mouth, or friends or family information I can't confirm. Although I don't see anything wrong with that type of information, for me, I need to be able to confirm it before I commit it to fact. For every fact, it seems we disprove 5-10. Family word of mouth and he said she said, is great for starting information but for me, I want to bring life to that information by gathering the aforementioned forms of 'proof'.

I won't make this post too long, tomorrow I want to discuss name spelling, transcription errors, Okie Accents, and the stumbling blocks it can place in our searches! Good stuff!

See you tomorrow, I am in the throws of creating my LARGE family tree to place on our site here so you all can take from it what you need, help me add to it, and add to yours so our family trees are flourishing with Smedleys!!!

Take time today to enjoy life, enjoy your search,

~Alisha~

Day One of Website Oklahoma Smedleys

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....ok, I feel better! Welcome to the world of the Smedley's, if you are one then you already have a very deep sense of what that means! This is certainly a labor of love, some days it is far more heavily weighted towards the labor than the love, but the love always seems to keep me motivated.

I am new to this journey, but as most great journeys, I am not traveling alone. My bestie, Andrea (you will hear and see her mentioned here often), travels this sometimes smooth sometimes jar shaking journey. We are embarking on both our family trees, so wow, what an adventure we are on!

I am learning as I go, but I have found a quick, I am told, knack for finding things and people. Ever family has that 'thorn" that seems to hide, our family is no exception, I WILL sort you our, Rev. Joseph Smedley!!

So, that being said, building this site, to keep information going out to our family, please remember this site is not 'free', it has been paid for lovingly, so please respect it and use it for gathering and sharing information with one another. Even if you aren't a direct Smedley related to me, if you are on a Smedley journey, you have come to the right place!

Alisha