2009 July Pub98

Silicon Valley Volume 20 Number 7 PastFinderSilicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group July 2009 The former Silicon Valley PAF Users Group Filling in the Blanks By Allin Kingsbury As the blanks are filled in, the additional data makes it easier to important piece of data: Barbara match individuals or to narrow searches for additional data. Furry died on July 24, 1917, at Summit County, Ohio. The I recently stated that an death index also gave a birth published on private Web sites. To illustrate the process of amazing number of American date but did not name her hus- These can be found using a gen- verifying family tree data and families living in the 20th century band. As was somewhat com- eral search engine like Google. filling in the blanks, two case are now posted on the Internet mon, a woman dying shortly af- studies are submitted to help and of those families who are I also found that the family ter her marriage was most likely the reader see the process used. related to me, the accuracy of structures were correct if I ig- do die of problems associated The cases use the Internet ex- the data is very high. Several nore omissions like missing with childbirth. The most likely clusively because it is quick and friends have pointed out exam- spouses and children. The child place to easily find if there were can usually accomplish most of ples to the contrary. I did an or spouse may have had incor- a child was to search the Ohio the task. For the cases de- unscientific sampling of data- rect data but the individual did Death Index again and looking a scribed, the strategy is to fill in base that I am verifying, and exist. In the case of a parent, we for the death of a person named the blanks. As the blanks are found that the number of indi- know from scientific knowledge Furry with a mother whose filled in, the additional data viduals with errors in names that there is one father and one maiden name was Banbury. For- , makes it easier to match indi- dates and places was less than mother. In a case where we be- tunately there was one child that viduals or to narrow searches one percent. I did not consider a gin with the parent, only a thor- was found. It was an unnamed for additional data. As new in- missing date or place as an er- ough search will find all the stillborn male child born on 23 formation is found, it becomes ror, nor did I count misspellings spouses and children. Until we Jul 1917 at Akron, Ohio, the day easier to determine if it relates that were obvious and easily find a death record, we are not before the death of the mother. to the wrong individual or the corrected. The typing problems sure that there was not a remar- The data tells a tragic story. The correct person. are easily seen and easily cor- riage after the death of the father was Irvin Furry. rected. spouse. And if we are not thor- Case 1: The Barbara Ban- The record of the child pro- ough in the search, we may miss The errors all seemed to be bury Family vided enough information to some half-brothers and half sis- recollection errors, which found search for records about the ters. Barbara Banbury appears in their way into the published husband. In an earlier census we family tree published on the family trees on the Internet. I Many family trees lack dates a find him with his parents, James Internet with no supporting did not consider the Ancestral and places. Filling in these details and Caroline Furry living in events except that she married a file, which is an excellent finding can be tedious. The data comes Ohio. The census says he was man surnamed Furry. There are tool but has a large number of as single pieces of data from a born in 1894 in Pennsylvania. no dates and no places of any errors caused by careless com- large variety of sources. Almost The 1930 census contains Irvin events and no first name for the bining of data submitted by many all these genealogy facts are Furry with a wife names Nellie husband. Her parents had set- individuals. The largest collec- available for the twentieth cen- and a daughter Gertrude born in tled in Knox County, Ohio. A tions of family trees which in- tury and most of them can be 1921. Their marriage was in census search for Barbara Furry clude the ability to search are found back to 1850, where cen- 1919. yielded nothing. She may have Ancestry.com, RootsWeb, sus data provides many of the died shortly after her marriage We are not done yet. The FamilyTreeMaker, and the Pedi- facts. For individuals living be- and before the next census. World War I Draft Registration gree Resource File produced by fore 1850, dates and places are lists Irvin William Furry, born 17 FamilySearch.org. The latter is much more difficult because the The next search was of the Mar 1894 at Fayetteville, Frank- available on CD-ROM and at available sources are fewer and Ohio Death Index which is part lin County, Pennsylvania. The most Family History Centers. sometimes less available. of the indexed data done by (Continued on page 49) There are also many family trees FamilySearch.org. Here I got an Hardware of Interest 51 Of Interest 54 What’s Software of Interest 52 SpiderWebs 55 Inside Facebook Page 53 Information/Classes for 9 August 2009 back PAGE 50 SILICON VALLEY PASTFINDER VOLUME 20 1SSUE 7 (Filling in the Blanks Continued from page 49) son and Wendy was a daughter-in-law. Another search on People- Search for Wendy indicated that she had used two surnames, “C” Social Security Death Index lists Irvin Furry, born 17 Mar 1893, and and “M2.” This led me to believe that “M2” was her maiden name died Dec 1962. There is no place of death, but the Social Security and that she had married Chad. number was issued in Ohio. In spite of the discrepancy in the year The fact that the family resided in Southern California was a of birth, it is clear that this is the Irvin Furry who married Barbara very useful bit of information. A look at the California Birth Index Banbury. There was no other William Furry uncovered by any of proved that this assumption was wrong. A search for individuals the searches that was born anywhere close to 1894. with a surname of “C” and a mother’s maiden name of “”M” found Neither Nellie, the second wife, nor her daughter, Gertrude, is Chad L. “C” born on 10 March 1975 and Wendy L. “C” born on listed in the Social Security Death Index. Nellie could have died 13 Feb 1978, both born in Orange County. This matches the three before she was eligible to collect Social Security or she may have places found in the first search because all three are in Orange remarried. Gertrude will be hard to find because she probably has County. The birth record of Wendy proves that she is a sister to a new name as a result of her marriage. I have not exhausted the Chad and not a wife as I had supposed. Since PeopleSearchUSA did possible searches for the addition information needed about these not find the name of her husband, I assume that they were di- individuals, and I do not consider the research done until I have vorced shortly after their marriage or that the husband died. The accounted for the remainder of the genealogical events in their marriage and divorce indices for California end in 1985, too early lives. It is possible I may have to go to non-Internet sources to get for the marriage of Wendy, so I will have to look elsewhere for the information needed. additional information. Case 2: Linda The California Marriage Index had a marriage for Lewis R. “C” age 24 and Linda L. “M” age 21, married on 19 June 1971 in Los Another family tree lists a child Linda “M”, who married Lewis Angeles (city). In addition there was another marriage for Lewis R. “C” and was born on 8 Mar 1950. Most of this family is living, so I “C” age 20 and Sandra “K” age 20 on 22 May 1965 in Los Angeles prefer to respect the privacy of the family members by using initials County. To be sure the Lewis in both marriages were the same for the surnames. There are no places associated with the events person, I did several more searches to see if there was a second mentioned. The earlier generations of this family resided in Knox Lewis “C” of similar age. The results were negative. County, Ohio. The family probably would be ignored because the There are more searches that can be done. A search using usual sources such as census records and vital records are not Google may find the high schools where Chad and Wendy gradu- available on the Internet, and the likelihood of finding other data ated at a site like ClassMates. They may have social networking on the Internet to extend this family seems very unlikely. The only pages on FaceBook. Google searches may yield nothing or they family tree found for this family has no places and only a birth date may provide some delightful surprises. for the wife, Linda. Once a living person is located, it is often easy to find a phone The best Internet sites to find additional information about liv- number or e-mail address on the Internet.

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