It’s Saturday Night and Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has given his faithful fans the following Genealogy Fun task:
Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):
What started but unfinished projects do you have? Define one or more of them, and how far along you are in the project.
Share one or more of your unfinished projects in your own blog post…”
My major unfinished genealogy projects are:
Write a mini-biography (or blog post) for each known direct ancestor in our family trees. I have completed all but two ancestors for my Salter-Willis tree and have nine ancestors to go on my husband’s Byers-Guice tree.
Clean-up my Legacy Family Tree software files. I started standardizing locations and revising old citations several years ago and have only scratched the surface. Now I only clean up the citations when I am adding the person to WikiTree.
Sort and scan family photographs. I have several large albums of my personal photographs. I have started scanning and logging them into a photo index spreadsheet.
John Salter was born in Georgia circa 1871. He was raised by his parents, Pinkney and Martha Salter. On 1 June 1880, nine-year-old John was enumerated in his father’s household in Miller County, Georgia, alongside his brothers Zack, Charles, James, and Pinkney. According to the census record, John worked on the family farm, did not attend school, and could not read or write at that time.1
Marriage and Early Career (1890s–1900)
On 9 May 1893, a marriage license was issued for “Jno.” Salter and Roxey Bryant in Miller County, Georgia, and the couple was joined in matrimony on 13 May 1893, by R. J. Jackson.2 In the years following their marriage, John and Roxey began building their family with the births of their daughter Ethel in September 1894, daughter Rose in March 1897, and son Franklin in December 1898.3
In 1897 the Georgia Pine Railroad was completed through Damascus and a big sawmill operation located in the settlement known as Kestler or “New Damascus.”4 On 1 June 1900, John and his family owned their home in Damascus District 854 of Early County, Georgia. John had found a wage paying job outside of the farming economy. The 1900 census recorded that he worked as a “Butting Saw”, a term used in timber harvesting. The record noted that Roxey had given birth to four children, three of whom were living, and that neither John nor Roxey could read or write.5
Farm Labor and Family Life in Blakely (1900s–1910s)
By 15 April 1910, John and Roxey Salter were living in Militia District 866 (Blakely) in Early County, Georgia. John had transitioned back into tenant farming; he rented a farm and worked as a general farmer. Roxey had given birth to eleven children, six of whom were living at the time. Four of their children were enumerated: Ethel (age 16), Rose (age 13), Frank (age 10; actual age 12), and Arnold (age 8). The children were listed as farm laborers on the home farm. All of the family members, except Arnold, are semi-literate. Only Rose and Arnold had attended school since 1 September 1909.6
Departure and Later Years (1912–1939)
On 18 April 1912, an article titled “Wholesale Stealing” in the Early County News of Blakely named John Salter among several local men involved in an investigation regarding stolen horse and mule feed from M. T. Chipstead’s dray line. The report noted that John Salter and another named individual had “left the city”.7
Before abandoning his family, John put his eldest son Frank in charge. John informed his son he was leaving and Frank was now the “man” of the family. Frank never saw his father again.8
Decades later, on 29 September 1939, John Salter completed an Application for Social Security Account Number (Form SS-5) and gave his address as 211 Carter Hill Road in Montgomery, Alabama. On the application, he listed his age as 60, provided a birth date of 27 May 1879, and identified his birthplace as Damascus, Early County, Georgia. He named his parents as Pinkie Salter and Marthy, listed his wife’s name prior to marriage as Mary Fisher, and recorded his employment status as unemployed. Being unable to write, John signed the application with his mark (“X”).9
The story of John Salter is incomplete, but the book is not closed. Family lore is that John moved to Alabama and started another family. Someday the final missing pieces of John’s story will be discovered.
John Salter is my paternal great-grandfather.
Disclosure: Gemini Notebook assisted in the writing of this blog post based on my research notes. The final content was reviewed, revised, and refined by me.
Sources
1880 U.S. census, Miller County, Georgia, population schedule, Militia District 903 [Colquitt], enumeration district (ED) 44, page 31B, dwelling 272, family 279, Pinkney Salter household; imaged, “United States, Census, 1880,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYB6-1QT : accessed 24 November 2018). ↩︎
Miller County, Georgia, “Marriage Record, 1890-1906, Ordinary”, page 32, Jno [John] Salter and Roxey Bryant, recorded license and return, 13 May 1893; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-LBZJ-NDL : accessed 3 Apr 2013). ↩︎
1900 U.S. census, Early, Georgia, population schedule, Damascus District 854, enumeration district (ED) 50, sheet 4A, page 194 (stamped), dwelling 56, family 56, John Salter household; imaged, “United States, Census, 1900,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DZZ3-VQ4: accessed 9 September 2012). ↩︎
1900 U.S. census, Early, Georgia, pop. sch., Damascus District 854, ED 50, sheet 4A, p. 194 (stamped), dwell. 56, fam. 56, John Salter household. ↩︎
1910 U.S. census, Early County, Georgia, Militia District 866, Blakely, enumeration district (ED) 81, sheet 13B, dwelling 252, family 252, John Salter household; imaged, “United States, Census, 1910,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/1727033 : accessed 27 February 2016). ↩︎
Frank Salter, personal communication, December 1981. ↩︎
John Salter, SS no. 419-18-2095, 29 September 1939, “Application for Account Number” (Form SS-5), Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland. ↩︎
Usually on a Saturday in September people are focused on their favorite college football team. Fans of Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings take a time out to engage in some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. Tonight Randy has given us the following task, courtesy of Marion B. Wood:
Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):
Serendipity! What happened when you went looking for an ancestor or a genealogical record and were pleasantly surprised to find someone else or something else you didn’t expect while you were doing that search?
Please share an instance when you had a serendipitous experience.
Share your serenditous experience in a your own blog post,…”
Last year I was researching two young girls who were enumerated in the 1920 U.S. Census with the family of my husband’s maternal grandmother, Ola May Scovil. The details of that FAN Club research is detailed in “Georgia and ‘Ivie’ Walker – F.A.N. to Family.”
Richard Walker was the father of Georgia Walker. A petition for probate of his will cited among the next of kin “Georgia Williams, daughter… resides at 624 Dillard Avenue, Enion Ridge, Birmingham, Alabama.” A copy of the Notice to Georgia Williams, 526 Dillard Ave., Birmingham, Ala. has the pencilled in notation “14 Ct No.” According to Bham Wiki, Dillard Avenue is now known as 14th Court North.
My husband grew up on 14th Court North. As it turns out, his caregiver before he started school—his “Big Mama”— was Georgia Williams. He had no idea that “Big Mama” was his first cousin, twice removed (1C2R). Serendipity? Yes!
Amos Fuller, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born about 1847 in Alabama and died on 4 September 1909 in Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama. Amos first appeared in the 1870 U.S. Census. I was able to trace his residency in Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama through the Mobile City directories from 1877 to 1902.
Amos’ entry in the 1894 Mobile City directory contained a small detail that I love. His occupation was listed as “Fuller Amos, c, fireman stbt D. L. Tally res 104 Gracie.”1
Amos Fuller in the 1894 Mobile City Directory, p. 122.
The small detail that Amos worked on the steamboat D. L. Tally, led to sources which enriched the facts of his occupation. Additional information and visual documents of the D. L. Tally added value to the story of Amos Fuller. This was highlighted in my blog post, “Amos Fuller – Earning a Living.”
Source
George Matzenger’s Mobile Directory For 1894, Volume XXIX (Mobile: George Matzenger, 1894), 122, entry for “Fuller Amos”; imaged in “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/13063838 : accessed 6 February 2024), image 72 of 273. ↩︎
It’s time for this week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. Tonight Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has given us the following topic:
Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):
1) How do you use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to help you understand the lives, history, and geography associated with your family and your ancestors, that aid your genealogy and family history research?
2) Please share the ways (at least one way!) that you use AI tools in your genealogy and family history research.
3) Share the ways you use AI in your genealogy and family history work in own blog post…”
One of the main ways that I use AI is to edit and revise rough drafts of blog posts. Since I am in the Google ecosystem (Android phone, chromebook) I use the Google AI review in addition to Google to find sources. My go-to AI is Gemini Notebook, which is used to draft biographical sketches based on my research notes.
My favorite AI is “Sam, the Digital Archivist,” a custom AI chatbot at ChatGPT. Sam is great at advising how to write engaging stories and using provided sources to write biographies.
The most useful research AI tool is the FamilySearch full-text search. It is a real game-changer in finding sources.
Ancestry has some AI features like “LifeStory,” “AI Stories,” and some blurbs that add context to sources. They are a good jumping off point to do social history research.
Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has chosen the following topic for our Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:
Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):
Every historical person has major events, milestones and “turning points” in their life, from birth through death and even beyond. These events, milestones and turning points can be the basis for family stories of the historical person.
Please share one of those events in your own life, or the life of one of your ancestors.
Share your information about your major event, milestone or turning point in your own blog post,…”
A major event in my life occurred on 30 August 1986, my wedding day. Some atypical highlights of the day were:
One of the groomsmen was a no-show.
My (future) sister-in-law had to do an emergency alteration to take in a bridesmaid dress.
When the pianist started playing “Bridal Chorus” my father froze in place. When we didn’t start down the aisle, the pianist started the intro again. My father remained rooted to the spot. The minister, groom and best man were staring and starting to look perturbed. The third time the pianist started the intro I started dragging my father down the aisle of the church. He was heavy, my bouquet was heavy, but I was bound and determined to get down that aisle! Fortunately my father quickly got over his “stage-fright” and walked me down the aisle.
Our wedding cake looked traditional on the outside, but inside it was a spice cake. When the cake was cut its appearance disturbed the lady who was supposed to help serve the cake so much that she quickly exited the reception. My cousin Aline and some other guests stepped up and took over cutting and serving the cake.
The bouquet was caught by my Gen X cousin. She used her volleyball skills to beat out all the Jones Gen gals.
Throughout all of the mini-disasters that occurred on that day, we kept our eyes on the prize. Looking back, I cannot think of any other major event in my life that tops my wedding day.
GeneaJournals 