Posts
On today’s Follow Friday, I’d like to share with you genealogist and researcher Arlene Eakle’s Virginia Genealogy Blog.
This is a wonderfully informative site for anyone who is researching ancestors in the Old Dominion State. Arlene’s grasp on early records, migration patterns, and settlements in the original colony are unsurpassed.
From her business website we learn the following:
"Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D., is the president and founder of The Genealogical Institute, Inc. and a professional genealogist since 1962. She holds both MA and Ph.D. in English History (University of Utah) and an Associate degree in Nursing (Weber State University). She has completed post-graduate computer, web design and ecommerce courses (Bridgerland Applied Technical Center) and attended the Newberry Library (Chicago) Community and Local History course. She also attended the Dan Kennedy Ultimate Marketing Boot Camp and is a member of his Marketing Inner Circle.
She is an expert in tracing ancestors from the Southern States including the Appalachian Triangle-southwest Virginia, northeast North Carolina, southeast Kentucky and east Tennessee. Her research for Scots-Irish and Native American pedigrees from this Triangle, although difficult to document, is especially successful. She is experienced in New York research, tracing ancestors from New England and New Jersey across New York into Pennsylvania, Ohio and Tennessee. And she is skilled in researching English, Scottish, Irish and Swiss German ancestors.
"Dr. Eakle was one of the founders and original trustees of the Association of Professional Genealogists serving as president, 1980-1982, and as editor of the APG Newsletter and Green Sheet, 1982-1985. She edited the only periodical for genealogy teachers, Teaching Genealogy, 1988-1989. She currently edits four serials: Research News, Immigration Digest, Virginia Genealogy Notebooks and Researching Your Roots in New York (with Linda E. Brinkerhoff).
"A prolific writer with more than 90 titles, she was general editor, with Johni Cerny, of the award winning The Source: Guidebook for American Genealogy (1984), and author of three chapters - “Census Records,” “Court and Probate Records,” and “Tracking Immigrant Origins.” The American Library Association recognized The Source as one of the Ten Best Reference Works of 1984. She is the author of “Court and Probate Records,” The Source, revised edition (1997). She co-authored the national best-seller Family History for Fun and Profit: The Genealogy Research Process and Genealogy in Land Records with Linda E. Brinkerhoff and Ancestry’s Guide to Research, with Johni Cerny. "
Her personal business site is where she offers clients a super-substantial savings! Arlene has been in genealogy research since 1962 [yes, that’s 48 years!!!].
Her advice is right on the mark, as far as I am concerned! And she just may be the one to wear the crown of “Matriarch of Genealogy”, for this era!!!
Arlene also writes
Arlene Eakle’s Genealogy Blog
Arlene Eakle’s Kentucky Genealogy Blog
Arlene Eakle’s Tennessee Genealogy Blog
Arlene Eakle’s Virginia Genealogy Blog
And her client site at: http://arleneeakle.com/
I highly recommend that if you have research based in either Kentucky, Tennessee or Virginia that you check out Arlene’s blogs. And if you need research, not to take away from my own areas of skills, but I can think of none other better to break through a brick wall than Arlene Eakle!
So, cheers to Arlene!!! And go check her out!!!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Treasure Chest Thursday - January 14, 2009
Since most of my “treasures” are found in the photographs I own, I will show you one I am quite proud to have in my possession.
Actually, this isn’t even a photograph. It is a negative for a photograph, that was taken by my Uncle Richard Harriff [“Dick”]. Uncle Dick made his own negatives, and developed his own photographs. This helps to explain the poor condition of this self-made negative [that and the fact that the negative was found lying in the bottom of a trunk, fully exposed to all matter of junk and what-not, yellowing receipts, and papers, where it had lain for over 60 years.]
The photograph was taken in the 1930’s, and the subject is my paternal grandfather, John Monroe Bean.
While the negative is certainly not in the best condition, I am clearly able to see his face more. And to see the man whom my Dad called his father.
The photograph was taken between 1935 and 1939, roughly between the time John was 69-73 years of age.
When I look at this photograph, I see my own Dad today, who is roughly the same age. The resemblance is uncanny!
John Monroe Bean
1866-1954
Actually, this isn’t even a photograph. It is a negative for a photograph, that was taken by my Uncle Richard Harriff [“Dick”]. Uncle Dick made his own negatives, and developed his own photographs. This helps to explain the poor condition of this self-made negative [that and the fact that the negative was found lying in the bottom of a trunk, fully exposed to all matter of junk and what-not, yellowing receipts, and papers, where it had lain for over 60 years.]
The photograph was taken in the 1930’s, and the subject is my paternal grandfather, John Monroe Bean.
While the negative is certainly not in the best condition, I am clearly able to see his face more. And to see the man whom my Dad called his father.
The photograph was taken between 1935 and 1939, roughly between the time John was 69-73 years of age.
When I look at this photograph, I see my own Dad today, who is roughly the same age. The resemblance is uncanny!
Dad with two of his grandson’s this past Christmas
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The Full Wiki
Thomas MacEntee has a great post over at Destination: Austin Family regarding using the Full Wiki. This article is well-written, and chock-full of useful info on how to utilize this tool.
Check it out here.
Check it out here.
A Festival of Postcards - 7th Edition - The Light Issue
The LIGHT Issue
A Festival of Postcards is an online showcase of the best postcards in the blogosphere from family and local historians and deltilologists.
This Festival of Postcards has the theme LIGHT; anything depicting night scenes, headlights, street lights and lamps, etc. Or you could play with the theme and pull out postcards that made you think of saying things like "as light as a feahter", etc.
So, my response is to show my entry for this Festival. This postcard is from the 1940's [I think]. It is from my Uncle to his father [my grandpa] while he and his wife visited New York. The date is illegible on the postmark, and the note did not have any date. The writing has faded so, that it does not scan well, and the page appears to be yellowed and empty when I scan it. However, if you look closely at the upper left hand corner of the card on the front, you will see that it says: TIMES SQUARE AT NIGHT, NEW YORK CITY. [Those of you who are more apt at identifying make and model's of cars might be able to give a more accurate year by the cars shown on the card.]
A Festival of Postcards is an online showcase of the best postcards in the blogosphere from family and local historians and deltilologists.
This Festival of Postcards has the theme LIGHT; anything depicting night scenes, headlights, street lights and lamps, etc. Or you could play with the theme and pull out postcards that made you think of saying things like "as light as a feahter", etc.
So, my response is to show my entry for this Festival. This postcard is from the 1940's [I think]. It is from my Uncle to his father [my grandpa] while he and his wife visited New York. The date is illegible on the postmark, and the note did not have any date. The writing has faded so, that it does not scan well, and the page appears to be yellowed and empty when I scan it. However, if you look closely at the upper left hand corner of the card on the front, you will see that it says: TIMES SQUARE AT NIGHT, NEW YORK CITY. [Those of you who are more apt at identifying make and model's of cars might be able to give a more accurate year by the cars shown on the card.]
Wordless Wednesday - January 13, 2010
Well, almost wordless!
This picture is one I received from my mother in 2008. That’s her with my sister and I in 1962. I’m about 3, and my sister is just a year old. We are wearing dresses hand crocheted by my grandmother, Irene Banet Dreher [1906-1898]. Wasn’t Mommy stunning? [I think she still is, at 71!]
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Tombstone Tuesday - January 12, 2010
Ada Burdette Bean
15 Dec 1883 - 15 August 1929
Ada Burdette was born 15 December 1883 to Hugh H. Burdette and Annie S. Level in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. She was the eldest of twelve children born to the couple. The other children were: Sarah Ozella, Edgar, Susan, Anderson, Isabelle, Charles, George, Dwight, Fred, Bessie and Harry.
Ada married widower, John Monroe Bean [1866-1954] on 04 March 1907 in Greenbrier County. [John had three children from his first wife, who had died in 1902.] Ada became an “instant” mother to Rita, Lama, and Pauline [who was ill her entire life with tuberculosis].
Ada and John began having children the following year. The couple had nine: John Jr. [1908], Emmette [1910], Blanche “Audrey” [1912], Anna “Margaret” [1914], William “Bill” [1917, Samuel Maxwell “Max” [1919], Ada “Eleanor” [1921], Dorothy “Eloise” [1923] and Jack [1929].
The couple was faced with heartache, not once, but three times during their marriage. In 1923 little Max died from whooping cough. Then on 14 February 1925, little Eloise, who had slept with her big sister, Pauline, died from tuberculosis. Pauline died just 4 months later.
On 10 August 1929 Ada gave birth to Jack. She had not received any pre-natal care. She was 45 years old, and had developed toxemia. She died just five days after Jack’s birth.
Ada was laid to rest in front of the three children she had seen buried. Her tombstone a sentinel watching over their little graves. They are buried at Carmel Cemetery in Gap Mills, Monroe County, West Virginia.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Madness Monday - January 11, 2010
In 1850, my great-great-grandfather was shown with a real estate value of $15,000 and personal property worth $10,000.
My family always claimed he was quite wealthy, and I was sure that he probably was, for the time. But I just couldn’t begin to compare those amounts with today’s wealth! I mean, after all, how much could $25,000 possibly be worth today?
Well, I spoke with a friend who is a financial advisor a few years ago, and she said she’d look into it. When she got back to me she said she couldn’t give me a definite dollar amount to compare it to, but I could probably figure on about a 1,000% increase.
Well, I still couldn’t believe it could be so great an amount as to make him hugely wealthy by today’s standards! I realize that our annual poverty level income is more than most households earned I their lifetime in the era. Still….
And then Pam Warren over at Granny’s Genealogy made a post on January 2nd that caught my eye . She introduced us to Measuring Worth.
Here I was able to put in the year of the initial value I wanted to convert. So I put in 1850. And then the dollar amount I wanted calculated: $25,000. And lastly, the year I wanted it converted to, [the latest year this calculator will assume is 2008, so I put that year into it’s correct slot].
This is what it spat back at me:
$711,040.29…………………Consumer Price Index
$526,056.13…………………GDP deflator
$5,184,848.48……………….Unskilled Wage
$10,787,517.97……………...Nominal GDP per capita
$141,229,003.51…………….Relative share of GDP
Okay, so a student of finance I am not!
Just what does all of this mean?
Well, the website gives the following definitions for each of these listings:
The CPI is most often used to make comparisons partly because it is the series with which people are most familiar. This series tries to compare the cost of things the average household buys such as food, housing, transportation, medical services, etc. For earlier years, it is the most useful series for comparing the cost of consumer goods and services. It can be interpreted as how much money you would need today to buy an item in the year in question if its price had changed the same percentage as the average price change.
The GDP Deflator is similar to the CPI in that it is a measure of average prices. The "bundle" of goods and services here includes all things produced in the economy, not just consumer goods and services that are reflected in the CPI.
The Consumer Bundle is the average dollar value of the annual expenditures of a "consumer unit". The consumer unit could be a family or another type of household. The main point is that spending is a joint decision of the members of the unit. The bundle increases over time as household income increases. Unlike the CPI, not only the cost but also the amount of goods and services increases over time. Note, the 2008 value of the consumer bundle will not be published until November 2009.
The Unskilled Wage Rate is good way to determine the relative cost of something in terms of the amount of work it would take to produce, or the relative time it would take to earn its cost. It can also be useful in comparing different wages over time. The unskilled wage is a more consistent measure than the average wage for making comparisons over time.
The GDP per capita is an index of the economy's average output per person and is closely correlated with the average income. It can be useful in comparing different incomes over time.
The GDP is the market value of all goods and services produced in a year. Comparing an expenditure using this measure, tells you how much money in the comparable year would be the same percent of all output.
Okay, so I thought I was beginning to see a little light. And perhaps I should use the GDB per capita as the correct calculation. But just to be sure, I continued to read the websites examples. And this particular example seemed to stand out best for my analysis:
· George Washington was paid a salary of $25,000 a year from 1789 to 1797 as the first president of the United States. The current salary of the president has recently been doubled to $400,000, to go with a $50,000 expense account, a generous pension and several other benefits. Has the remuneration improved?
Making a comparison using the CPI for 1790 shows that $25,000 corresponds to over $608,000 today, so the recent raise means current presidents have an equal command over consumer goods as the Father of the Country.
When comparing Washington's salary to an unskilled worker, or the measure of average income, GDP per capita, then the comparable numbers are $11.5 and $25 million. Granted that would not put him in the ranks of the top 25 executives today that make over $200 million. It would, however, be many times more than any elected official in this country is paid today. Finally, to show the "economic power" of his wage, we see that his salary as a share of GDP would rank him equivalent to $1.9 billion.
So, let’s take a look at great-great-grandfather’s worth for 1850 and the example above.
He was worth $25,000 in 1850. Looking at the CPI we see that amount corresponds to over $711,000 today [a pretty big chunk of change!] But with the mean average home today worth $350,000, and the average family income at $75,000, I’d say we were looking at a man with a little above average assets, even by today’s standards.
When we compare this amount to an unskilled worker, or the measure of average income, then the comparable numbers begin to soar! Over $5 million now! Wow!
Still, I wasn’t sure which number I should look at for an actual comparability for today! So, calling up my old financial advisor friend again, she asked me, “Was your grandfather skilled in any manner that was unusual for the average man at the time?” The answer was no! He had been an indentured servant, trained to be a blacksmith. Nothing more.
Her reply was, “Definitely compare it to the unskilled age then!”
And finally, I had a number to compare that lowly $25,000 to.
And yes, family, it appears that great-great-grandfather, William Bean, was a man of unusual wealth for his time. If he had a comparable amount today, he would be worth well over $5 million!
Oh, shucks, and none of that has trickled down through the years!!! Next I’ll have to try to figure out where it all went! [Family legend says he hid it from the renegade soldiers who were marauding through the countryside. And when he died, the location went with him. Hmmmm…..] Another puzzle to figure out!
My family always claimed he was quite wealthy, and I was sure that he probably was, for the time. But I just couldn’t begin to compare those amounts with today’s wealth! I mean, after all, how much could $25,000 possibly be worth today?
Well, I spoke with a friend who is a financial advisor a few years ago, and she said she’d look into it. When she got back to me she said she couldn’t give me a definite dollar amount to compare it to, but I could probably figure on about a 1,000% increase.
Well, I still couldn’t believe it could be so great an amount as to make him hugely wealthy by today’s standards! I realize that our annual poverty level income is more than most households earned I their lifetime in the era. Still….
And then Pam Warren over at Granny’s Genealogy made a post on January 2nd that caught my eye . She introduced us to Measuring Worth.
Here I was able to put in the year of the initial value I wanted to convert. So I put in 1850. And then the dollar amount I wanted calculated: $25,000. And lastly, the year I wanted it converted to, [the latest year this calculator will assume is 2008, so I put that year into it’s correct slot].
This is what it spat back at me:
$711,040.29…………………Consumer Price Index
$526,056.13…………………GDP deflator
$5,184,848.48……………….Unskilled Wage
$10,787,517.97……………...Nominal GDP per capita
$141,229,003.51…………….Relative share of GDP
Okay, so a student of finance I am not!
Just what does all of this mean?
Well, the website gives the following definitions for each of these listings:
The CPI is most often used to make comparisons partly because it is the series with which people are most familiar. This series tries to compare the cost of things the average household buys such as food, housing, transportation, medical services, etc. For earlier years, it is the most useful series for comparing the cost of consumer goods and services. It can be interpreted as how much money you would need today to buy an item in the year in question if its price had changed the same percentage as the average price change.
The GDP Deflator is similar to the CPI in that it is a measure of average prices. The "bundle" of goods and services here includes all things produced in the economy, not just consumer goods and services that are reflected in the CPI.
The Consumer Bundle is the average dollar value of the annual expenditures of a "consumer unit". The consumer unit could be a family or another type of household. The main point is that spending is a joint decision of the members of the unit. The bundle increases over time as household income increases. Unlike the CPI, not only the cost but also the amount of goods and services increases over time. Note, the 2008 value of the consumer bundle will not be published until November 2009.
The Unskilled Wage Rate is good way to determine the relative cost of something in terms of the amount of work it would take to produce, or the relative time it would take to earn its cost. It can also be useful in comparing different wages over time. The unskilled wage is a more consistent measure than the average wage for making comparisons over time.
The GDP per capita is an index of the economy's average output per person and is closely correlated with the average income. It can be useful in comparing different incomes over time.
The GDP is the market value of all goods and services produced in a year. Comparing an expenditure using this measure, tells you how much money in the comparable year would be the same percent of all output.
Okay, so I thought I was beginning to see a little light. And perhaps I should use the GDB per capita as the correct calculation. But just to be sure, I continued to read the websites examples. And this particular example seemed to stand out best for my analysis:
· George Washington was paid a salary of $25,000 a year from 1789 to 1797 as the first president of the United States. The current salary of the president has recently been doubled to $400,000, to go with a $50,000 expense account, a generous pension and several other benefits. Has the remuneration improved?
Making a comparison using the CPI for 1790 shows that $25,000 corresponds to over $608,000 today, so the recent raise means current presidents have an equal command over consumer goods as the Father of the Country.
When comparing Washington's salary to an unskilled worker, or the measure of average income, GDP per capita, then the comparable numbers are $11.5 and $25 million. Granted that would not put him in the ranks of the top 25 executives today that make over $200 million. It would, however, be many times more than any elected official in this country is paid today. Finally, to show the "economic power" of his wage, we see that his salary as a share of GDP would rank him equivalent to $1.9 billion.
So, let’s take a look at great-great-grandfather’s worth for 1850 and the example above.
He was worth $25,000 in 1850. Looking at the CPI we see that amount corresponds to over $711,000 today [a pretty big chunk of change!] But with the mean average home today worth $350,000, and the average family income at $75,000, I’d say we were looking at a man with a little above average assets, even by today’s standards.
When we compare this amount to an unskilled worker, or the measure of average income, then the comparable numbers begin to soar! Over $5 million now! Wow!
Still, I wasn’t sure which number I should look at for an actual comparability for today! So, calling up my old financial advisor friend again, she asked me, “Was your grandfather skilled in any manner that was unusual for the average man at the time?” The answer was no! He had been an indentured servant, trained to be a blacksmith. Nothing more.
Her reply was, “Definitely compare it to the unskilled age then!”
And finally, I had a number to compare that lowly $25,000 to.
And yes, family, it appears that great-great-grandfather, William Bean, was a man of unusual wealth for his time. If he had a comparable amount today, he would be worth well over $5 million!
Oh, shucks, and none of that has trickled down through the years!!! Next I’ll have to try to figure out where it all went! [Family legend says he hid it from the renegade soldiers who were marauding through the countryside. And when he died, the location went with him. Hmmmm…..] Another puzzle to figure out!
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