More Combining, 5th Gen

Wow, I can see how this is getting exponentially more difficult. Literally.

Here is where I will track the 'duplicate combination' for the 5th generation up from James BF Davis. This time, I'll be working from the female end of the line, upwards (or bottom to top.)

5th Generation:
Lucy Ann Holton
Selah Dickerson
Mabel Sterling
William Mead
Sarah Baker
Asa Crosman (Crossman)
Mina Cramer
Samuel Leonard Coleman

Combining Duplicates

So, before I started this blog, here's what I got done:

I've combined all of the records for these peoples children and their descendants:

1st Gen
James Benjamin Freeman Davis

2nd Gen
James Hutt Davis
Grace Emogene Coleman

3rd Gen
Benjamin Freeman Davis, Sr.
Rena Grace Hutt
Crosman Asa Coleman
Lucy Irene Mead

4th Gen
Ephriam Lemuel Davis
Mary Elizabeth Davis
James Edward Hutt
Delilah Catherine Goring
Samuel Handy Coleman
Marian Alice Crosman
James M. Mead
Mary Ann Dickerson

5th Gen will be updated elsewhere...

A few of them had some pretty lengthy downlines.

A set of boxes

Dad left a gedcom file on diskette (3.5 in), a printed pedigree chart with no family group records (showing only parents, no children). He also left 2 boxes of pictures, certificates, and fmily group sheets. There's a third box that mom has, and I'm not sure what's in it yet.

One of the big motivators for me to get going on family history was the advent of the new familysearch. So here is my plan of attack:

I've imported the gedcom file that I have into new.familysearch.com It contained about 600 names. I suspect that this is only a small portion of what dad had completed. The pedigree chart/ folder that I have has names with numbers ranging up into the 2600's. I'm not sure what numbering system he used, but I'm sure there are more names that I simply don't have included in the gedcom file that he knew about, or input into the computer from group sheets which are hopefully in my posession.

Next, I'll go back through all of the names linked to me in new.familysearch.com (NFS). This review will allow me to check for duplicates and make sure that any original research I do in the future isn't on lines that already have work done. To facilitate this, I imported the gedcom file of dad's research in all caps, and I'm changing the names to regular type as I've corroborated the info and checked for duplicates. I started at me, then straight to the Davis family, skipping the whole Nicholes line.

Each new generation, I check the siblings from youngest to oldest for children, and go to children if there are any, and their children if there are any... working down generations, until there are no more down lines, then checking for duplicates as I work my way back up. I'l track which ones I finish here.

Once I finish combining duplicates, I'll go back through my dad's files and add as much information as I can find on pedigrees, family group sheets, with or without sourcing.

Once this is complete, I'll go back and try to source as much of Dad's original research as I can. This will include obtaining original documents, copies of certificates of birth, marriage, and death. Getting census records, etc. This will be labor intensive, but is the only way to ensure that the research done is correct. I'll probably scan all the documents I get and make them available online so no more of them are lost than already were from Dad's original research. This step should also start to provide more leads for original research as new siblings, children and parents are uncovered.

Once all the information I have has been sourced (which ought to take a few years), I'll follow up on those leads, and try to do the best I can tracing back in time, as well as the children of siblings of actual direct ancestors.

I'm the only namesake left...

My father, James Benjamin Freeman Davis, was an avid genealogist. He spent most of his adult life from age 20 to age 51 doing genealogy. We went to libraries, visited cemeteries, and dug up family info. But he passed away mid-stride of a surprise heart attack in 1993. I was only 15. No one in the family knew how to pick up the pieces of his research. Much of it was lost. Now that I have a family of my own, I'm restarting that research. This blog will be my notebook to track my progress. Partly to help me keep track of where I've been, and what leads to follow. Partly to keep my siblings in the loop. And mostly, just in case I keel over unexpectedly, so that my children, hopefully James, can pick up and continue to trace our roots where I'll have left off.

After all, the Davis name (though common in our modern world) is nearly gone in my line. Not that an extinct family name is much cause for any fuss. So far, I have only one son (James) to pass on my Davis name:

I am the only son (me: Benjamin James) of my father (James Benjamin Freeman). He was one of two sons, but the second was still born, of James Hutt Davis, who was also one of two sons. James Hutt's brother, Benjamin Freeman Davis Jr. died at age 20, and had no children to his name. So effectively, James Hutt was the only Davis to pass on his name from his father Benjamin Freeman Davis, Sr., who was one of 7 boys of Ephraim Lemuel Davis.

So my son is the only Davis in the world who will be able to pass on the Davis name, that came through Benjamin Freeman Davis, Sr born in 1876.