Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Most Frustrating Brick Wall Problem

From Randy over at Genea-Musings: 

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

 Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  What is your most frustrating brick wall problem?  Tell us what you want to know and what you have found to date.

2)  Share your genealogy brick wall problem in your own blog post, on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments.

Here's mine:

Well, my brick wall has always been and continues to be my great-great grandfather, George W. Schwalls.  I wrote a lengthy blog post about the mystery that surrounds him in 2011 (please visit https://gatapleytree.blogspot.com/2011/05/mystery-monday-how-did-he-get-here.html to read the full story), so I'm going to be much more concise here.

George W. Schwalls was born January 1, 1837 in Germany or Bavaria.  I only have this information thanks to his Civil War Pension application.  Nowhere did he ever list the town or village he was from in Germany or Bavaria.  It appears he came to the United States sometime during the 1850's.  He enlisted in the CSA in Johnson County, Georgia as a Private in Co. E, 48th Infantry on March 4, 1862.  

He lived in Johnson County, Georgia and married Lincelia E. Claxton in 1866 in Edgefield County, South Carolina.  I have no idea how they met.  I am descended from their daughter, Mattie Schwalls, born May 25, 1877.  They had 7 children together.  Lincelia (Celia) passed away January 18, 1882, and George remarried in 1883 to Mary J. Williams, born March 15, 1851.  They had 6 children.  

The family lived in the Minton's Chapel area of the county, and George was very involved in the church, Minton's Chapel Advent Christian Church.  He was a delegate from the church sent to the Second Advent Christian Conference of Southern Georgia in October 1895.  

According to George's Civil War Pension Application, dated August 27, 1902, he suffered from liver and heart disease, Asthma, a gunshot wound to the leg, and a gunshot wound to his head which left him partially deaf.  These wounds and conditions were all a result of his service in the war.  

George passed away on January 21, 1908 at the age of 71.  

So as you can see, I know quite a bit after he arrived in Georgia.  It's his life before him landing in Johnson County that I know nothing about.  Please read my original blog post (link above) to hear the speculation about his "former" life.  

Here is another post about the dead end I reached at the National Archives:  https://gatapleytree.blogspot.com/2011/10/day-two-our-final-day-at-nara.html.

It was interesting to read over these old blog posts on this subject.  I saw several items I meant to research, and I never have gotten around to it.  

However, I am still frustrated standing at my brick wall, George W. Schwalls, Sr.

Does anyone have more suggestions for researching this elusive ancestor???

Ding! Ding! Ding! I've hit lucky #13,000

Today, I entered the 13,000th relative into my family tree.  That's right.  You read that right.  Not 1,300.  It's 13,000.  Thirteen thousand.  I am related by blood or by marriage to all 13,000.  It's so wild.  Those that are not "into" genealogy won't get it. They'll think I'm crazy or boring, or don't have enough to do.  But the genealogists out there know that I am doing exactly what I want to do. Research like crazy into the wee hours of every night/morning!

The lucky 13,000th person was a 4th cousin, Ernie Keith Peebles.  He was born November 26, 1960 in Emanuel County, Georgia (where I grew up).  I never met him.  Sadly, he passed quite young at 45 years old on July 27, 2006.  I do not know if he ever married or had children.  His obituary mentions neither.  Just  his mother, Ann Hammock Peebles, my 3rd cousin, 1x, and his sister, Yonna Peebles Bailey.

We are both descended from Francis Bryant Drake and Selina King Drake.

His line:

Francis Byant's 7th child, a son, John Saffold Drake,
His daughter, Elizabeth Drake, who married Nathan Tucker Foskey,
Her daughter, Alice Foskey, who married Bennie Lee Hammock,
Her daughter, Ann Hammock, who married Ernie W. Peebles, and were the parents of
Ernie Keith Peebles.

My line:

Francis Byrant's eldest and son, James William Drake,
His son, William John Drake,
His daughter, Nealie Vermell Drake who married Lusion K Tapley,
Her son, Gilbert Earl Tapley who was the father of
ME.

So if anyone reads this and knows the Peebles, I would love to get to know them. 

Also, if you recognize any of the names and think we may be related, please, please reach out. 

Now it's on to 14,000! 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Your Best Genealogy Humor

From Randy over at Genea-Musings: 

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

 Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1) We're supposed to have fun doing this - show us your best genealogy humor - joke, cartoon, story, etc.  The more the merrier!

4)  Share your genealogy funny in your own blog post, on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments.

Here's mine:

(1)  Lio by Mark Tatulli for 09/01/2019.  My Mom and I found this one when I was visiting her last month.  Very appropriate for me.  

(2)  This is just totally me.

(3)  And these next two just made me laugh out loud.

 (4)  

(5)  And lastly, as my best friend, Stacey, has told me many times about my own family tree:

"Your tree don't branch!"

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Make a Timeline Report for an Ancestor

From Randy over at Genea-Musings: 

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

 Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1) Have you created a Timeline for one of your ancestors using a genealogy software program (e.g., Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Legacy, Reunion, etc.) or an online family tree (e.g., Ancestry Member Tree, FamilySearch Family Tree, Geni, MyHeritage, etc.), or in a spreadsheet (e.g., Excel)?

2)  If not, try to create a timeline using the program/website of your choice.  If so, create another one for the ancestor of your choice!

3)  Show us your Timeline creation, and tell us how you did it.  Which program/website, the process you used, and how you captured the images to display your timeline.

4)  Share your Timeline creation on your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or on Facebook.

Here's mine:

My genealogy software of choice is Family Tree Maker 2017.  This program has a Timeline Report, which I used for this challenge.  I went to the "Publish" tab,  then "Person Reports" under "Publication Types" and "Charts & Reports," then chose the "Timeline Report."  You can include or exclude items, as desired, such as "Include Family Events" or "Include Historical Events."  For this example, I used the default settings which were "Include event icons" and "Include family events:"  "Include spouses' birth" and "Include sibling facts."

Here is the report I generated for my 3rd great-grandfather, Francis Bryant Drake (1806-1875).  (I've been knee-deep in Drake research the last few weeks!)  

 I didn't see a way to include Sources in my report.  Reports are one aspect of Family Tree Maker that I believe need a lot of improvement and added flexibility.  There should be more ways to drill down and get the information you want.  One I really, really need is a report by cemetery so that when I visit an area, I can view who is buried in a particular cemetery.  But I have not found a way to do this.

For this report, I tried adding in historical events, but it listed events that happened before my ancestor was born.  I couldn't find a way to omit those.  

Overall, I definitely see the value in a timeline report, but FTM has a long way to go to improve the flexibility of their reports.