Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Halloween Memories and Family History

  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 are your Halloween memories from childhood to adulthood?  How did you celebrate the day?  Do you have any photographs?

(2)  What about haunted houses?  Are there any in your family history? Black cats? Creepy neighbors? Or witches - are there any in your family tree?

(3)  If you were to make a genealogy-themed costume, what would it be?

(2)  Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a post on Facebook.  

Here's mine:

I don't remember any Halloweens from my childhood.  I know Mom took me trick-or-treating, but I don't remember any of it.  There is one photo of me in a Halloween costume - Superman?! - but I can't locate it tonight.  

As an adult, I have attended my friends' Halloween parties or went along trick-or-treating with their 

children:

Halloween 2005

Halloween Party, 2005

Halloween 2006

Or maybe dressed up at work:

Halloween, 2013

I haven't celebrated Halloween in several years now.  I will wear a Halloween themed shirt and earrings, but no costumes since that picture in 2013 was taken.  

To my knowledge, I have had no haunted houses in my family history.  We've had some black cats over the years, but all of them had white on them, so they weren't totally black.  I'm sure we've had some bad neighbors over the years, but none that I would call creepy.  Neither do I know of any witches in the family tree.

Genealogy themed costume?  I am not good at coming up with costumes.  That may have something to do with my not dressing up for Halloween -- ever.  The only thing that comes to mind is being a research book.  But I have NO idea how I would make that happen.  

This post theme did make me wonder who in my tree were born, got married, or died on October 31.  NO ONE got married - I guess it's not considered a good day for a wedding.  But I did find a two births and two deaths. Not very many considering I have over 16,000 people in my database.  

Fleeta Pullen Williams (1886-1982), my 3rd cousin, 2x removed on the Tapley side, was born October 31.

Robert Garrison Snelling (1925-1981) was married to my 2nd cousin, 1x removed, Barbara Sylvia Gillis, who I'm related to through the Drake line.  Robert was born on October 31.

Thomas AVENT (1712-1757), my 6th great-grandfather.  He died on October 31.  His daughter, Mary, married Joel Tapley.  

John SAVAGE Jr (1652-1726), married my Great-Aunt Mary Ranny, and died on October 31.  

Happy Halloween!!

Military Monday: Memorial Day Roll Call

On this Memorial Day, 2013, I would like to start an annual tradition of recognizing and thanking those from my family lines who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving our country in the military:

French-Indian War

- Samuel Ranny, 7th Co., Capt Herlihy, 1st Regiment (1st cousin, 9x removed)

Civil War

- Edward George Ranney, Unit Unknown, Killed at Gettysburg (1st cousin, 4x removed)
- Warren Kea, Unit Unknown, Killed at Antietam/Sharpsburg (husband of 2nd great grand aunt)
- Elias Price, Private, Co. F, 48th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Died at Richmond (2nd cousin, 6x removed)
- Harrell Solomon Horton, Private, Co. F, 48th Regiment, Georgia (1st cousin, 2x removed)
- Elisha Pullen, Unit Unknown (2nd cousin, 3x removed)
- Ezra Carter, 12th U.S. Infantry, Killed at Groveton, Virginia (2nd great grand uncle)
- Francis M. Tapley, 1st Corporal, Company F, 48th Georgia Infantry,  "Johnson County Battleground Guards", Killed at The Crater, Petersburg, Virginia (great grand uncle)
- John Nelson Key, Sgt., Co. G, 32nd Regiment, Georgia Infantry.  Died at Confederate Military Hospital, Savannah, Georgia.  (husband of 2nd great grand aunt)
- Lawson Y. Riner, Private, Co. F, Georgia 48th Infantry Division, Died in Hospital, Richmond Virginia (1st husband of 2nd great-grandmother)

 World War I

- Vertie L. Tapley, Unit Unknown, Died in Atlanta of influenza while on his way overseas (3rd cousin, 2x removed)

World War II

- James Cullen "J.C." Tapley, PFC, U.S. Army, 168th Infantry, 34th Division, Killed in Italy (1st cousin, 1x removed)
- Edward Tapley, Private, U.S. Army Infantry (4th cousin, 1x removed)
- James Elbert Tapley, Sgt., U.S. Army, 30th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division, Killed in France (4th cousin, 1x removed)
- Willis Washington Wade, Jr., Ensign, U.S. Navy (4th cousin, 1x removed)

I am grateful.

If you are reading this and are related to or descended from one of these heroes, I would love to hear from you.  If you have a photo, I would like to include it next year.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - How Many Surnames?

From Randy over at Genea-Musings: 

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1)  Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.

2)  Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.

3)  Tell us how many surnames are in your database and, if possible, which Surname has the most entries.  If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5!  Or 10!

4)  Write about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a status or comment on Facebook, or in Google Plus Stream post.

NOTE:  If you can't figure out how to do this in your GMP (Genealogy Management Program), use the Help button and search for "count persons" then follow directions.  

Here's mine:

 I used Family Tree Maker 2012.  This ended up being the simplest report I've ever tried to pull together.  In FTM2012, go to Publish, Person Reports, and then choose "Surname Report."  Under "Individuals to Include," I checked "Include All Individuals."  After taking a look at the resulting report, which sorted the surnames alphabetically, I went back and also checked "Sort by Surname Count" so the names with the highest number of entries would rise to the top!

The report gives me a total count of individuals with each surname, along with a breakdown by male and female.  It also lists the earliest and latest dates each surname is recorded (dates of birth).  

This did not take long at all, and I have a 28 page list.   The top 10, along with the date ranges, are as follows:
 
1)  TAPLEY - 658 individuals (pretty evenly split with 343 males and 309 females) with a date range of 1691 - 2010 

2)  POWELL - 172 individuals (172 Male; 91 Female) with a date range of 1715 to 1963 

3)  MNU (Maiden Name Unknown) - 161 individuals (all female, of course!) with a date range of 1730 to 1936  

4)  DRAKE - 156 individuals (93 male; 63 female) with a date range of 1647 to 1967

5)  HUBBARD - 151 individuals (70 male; 81 female) with a date range of 1601 to 1893

6)  RANNEY (and RANNY and RANY) - 146 individuals (79 male; 67 female) with a date range of 1616 to 1951

7)  PRICE - 134 individuals (72 male; 61 female) with a date range of 1680 to 1956

8)  CLAXTON - 90 individuals (52 male; 36 female) with a date range of 1806 to 1974

9)  RUSSELL - 73 individuals (39 male; 27 female) with a date range of 1782 to 1916

10) SMITH - 72 individuals (43 male; 29 female) with a date range of 1791 - 1984

Surprises?  Yes!  I was surprised that Russell and Smith made the top 10, but Schwalls or Page did not.  I was also surprised that I only have 12 individuals with no (or unknown) last name!
 

Surname Saturday: Ranney, Ranny, and Rany

The name Ranney, along with its variants of Ranny, Rany, Rannie, Rainy, Ranye, Raynie, Reny, and Ryne, are found in Scottish records as early as 1453.  They were Septs to the MacDonnell Clan of Keppoch.  (Scottish Clans contained septs or branches, which were founded when powerful or prominent clansmen established their own important families.  Clans often had many septs that were often related through marriage.  During difficult times, the families sought to ally themselves with larger, more powerful clans for protection from enemies and other feuding clans.  This practice was effective in building respect, devotion, and familiarity between different families within the same clan.  Nowadays, this relationship is all but lost, but today septs often proudly wear the Clan tartan.  - From www.houseofnames.com/wiki/Septs)

The Clan tartan:

I have information about 12 generations of my maternal Ranney line:

- Thomas Rany

My 10th great-grandfather.  Birth and date information unknown, except the assumption that he was born in Scotland.  His spouse is unknown and the only child I know about is:

- Thomas Rany

My 9th great-grandfather.  He was born in 1616 in Montrose, Scotland and died 21 Jun 1713 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut.  He married May 1659 in Middletown, Connecticut, Mary Hubbard, born 16 Jan 1642 in Hartford, Connecticut and died 18 Dec 1721.  They had the following children:

  Thomas Ranney
  John Ranny
  Joseph Ranny
  Mary Ranny
  Elizabeth Ranny
  Esther Ranny
  Hannah Ranney
  Margaret Ranney
  Ebenezer Ranny
  Mercy Ranny
  Abigail Ranny

- Thomas Ranney

My 8th great-grandfather.  He was born 01 Mar 1661 in Middletown, Connecticut and died 06 Feb 1726.  He married 29 Mar 1691 in Hartford, Connecticut, Rebecca Willett, who was born about 1663 in Hartford.  They had the following children:

  Thomas Ranney
  Willett Ranney
  George Ranney
  Rebecca Ranney
  Nathaniel Ranney
  Ann Ranney
  Margaret Ranney

- Nathaniel Ranney

My 7th great-grandfather.  He was born 17 Jun 1702 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut and died 25 Sep 1766.  He married 16 Jan 1734, Rachel Sage, born 01 Jan 1708 and died 24 Feb 1755.  They had the following children:

  Nathaniel Ranney
  Ozias Ranney
  Rachel Ranney
  Naomi Ranney
  Abraham Ranney
  Amos Ranney

- Nathaniel Ranney

My 6th great-grandfather.  He was born 16 Jul 1735 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut and died 13 May 1800.  He married 10 Mar 1757, Prudence Willard, date of birth unknown and died 24 Sep 1803.  They had the following children:

  Thomas Willard Ranney
  Comfort Ranney
  Nathaniel Ranney
  Prudence Ranney
  Rachel Ranney
  David Ranney
  Daniel Ranney
  Alle Ranney
  Hannah Ranney
  Anne Ranney
  Huldah Ranney
  Willard Ranney

- Comfort Ranney

My 5th great-grandfather.  He was born 19 Dec 1759 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut and died in 1859 in Buffalo, New York while en route to the Western Reserve of Ohio.  He was married to Ruth Lenora Treat, date of birth unknown and died before 1812.  They had the following children:

  Comfort Ranney
  Jacob Ranney

- Comfort Ranney

My 4th great-grandfather.  He was born 20 Mar 1788 in Upper Houses, Middletown, Connecticut and died 14 Jul 1823 in Hudson, Summit County, Ohio.  He married 25 Dec 1808 in Haddam, Connecticut, Elizabeth Hubbard, a distant cousin, who was born 02 Apr 1790 in Haddam, Connecticut and died 04 Jan 1868.  They had the following children:

  Luther Boardman Ranney
  Laura Maria Ranney
  Julia A Ranney
  Eliza Samantha Ranney
  Ruth Leonora Ranney
  Elizabeth Jerusha Ranney
  Moses Ranney
  Sarah Florilla Ranney

- Luther Boardman Ranney

My 3rd great-grandfather.  He was born 28 Nov 1809 in Hudson, Summit County, Ohio and died 10 Nov 1890.  He was married to (1) Sarah Maria Carter, born 1812 in Ohio and died 29 Jul 1846.  They had the following children:

  Martha Ann Ranney
  Mary Elizabeth Ranney
  Comfort Ranney
  Harriet Sophia Ranney
  Sarah Maria Ranney

Luther married (2) Carolinne Clapp, born 03 May 1821 in Westhampton, Massachusetts and died 26 May 1895.  They had the following children:

  Julia Ann Ranney
  Luther Kelsey Ranney
  Carrie May Ranney

- Comfort Ranney

 My 2nd great-grandfather was born 07 Feb 1838 in Boston, Summit County, Ohio and died 18 Sep 1920 in DeWitt, Clinton County, Michigan.  He married 18 Dec 1868 in Nevada, Wyandot County, Ohio, Mary Margaret Hesser who was born 17 Jul 1842 in Ohio and died 06 Oct 1920 in DeWitt.  They had the following children:

  Luther Boardman Ranney
  Sarah Marie Ranney
  Luella S Ranney
  James Comfort Ranney

- Luther Boardman Ranney

My great-grandfather was born 11 Mar 1870 in Chapin, Saginaw County, Michigan and died 9 Oct 1943 in San Bernardino, San Bernardino County, California.  He was married to Bessie Alice Carter who was born 09 Feb 1883 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and died 14 Apr 1960 in Redlands, San Bernardino County, California.  They had the following children:

  Baby Boy Ranney (died at 4 days old)
  Kenneth Carter Ranney
  Alice Lucille Ranney
  Ethel Irene Ranney

- Ethel Irene Ranney

 My grandmother was born 06 Jul 1913 in Elsie, Clinton County, Michigan and died 12 Nov 1973 in Dublin, Laurens County, Georgia.   She married (1) 11 Feb 1934 in Redlands to Avery Hazel Plumlee, born 04 Dec 1911 in Texas and died 06 Jun 1997 in Orange County, California.  They had one child:

  Robert Avery "Bob" Plumlee

Ethel married (2) 03 Dec 1939 in Redlands, Charles Morgan Tapley, born 27 Jun 1907 in Johnson County, Georgia and died 12 Nov 1973 in Swainsboro, Emanuel County, Georgia.  They had one child:

- Linda Irene Tapley (my mother)

- And that leads to ME.