Public Domain eBooks on Amazon

I haven't posted anything here for a while, and I figured it was time again, since I actually had something that I wanted to talk about.

Those of you who frequent Amazon know that they've got an extensive inventory of cheap eBooks available for their Kindle devices. A number of these are books from the public domain, which are generally books that were published before 1923 - there are a number of other exceptions to this, but this is the main one - and are no longer in copyright. Therefore, people are free to scan books and post them up for sale as ebooks, without having to worry about violating any laws. Since the books aren't in copyright any longer, they're free to do what they want.

Unfortunately, a lot of the people who throw books up there don't do the best job of it. They're sloppy with their books. They don't bother with the process of what is called OCRing the text, often leaving them riddled with spelling errors, footnotes in the middle of pages, weird formatting...the list goes on.

In the process of writing my senior thesis - on Chief John Ross of the Cherokee - this last year, I came across a number of public domain texts about him. They were great resources, but some of them were in deplorable condition as far as ebooks go. Having some experience with creating ebooks, I decided to try my hand at fixing several of them. It's been a side project of mine for a few months now.

This last week, I finally finished one of them, Chief John Ross and the Cherokee Indians, by Rachel Caroline Eaton. It's a biography of the old chief and his nation over the span of his long life and career, which lead through the Trial of Tears and the American Civil War. It was originally written in 1914, but I think the picture that Mrs. Eaton painted of Ross still stands the test of time rather well.

I'll admit flat-out, this effort isn't meant to be a selfless one. I've posted the book for $3.99 on Amazon. I'm still a starving - metaphorically - college student, so any little bit helps me make through the semesters, especially as my college experience wraps up in the next six months or so.

I've included an image and a link to the Amazon entry below. Any and every purchase helps, both in getting the word out about a great man from the past and in helping me pay some of the bills. I've got a few more books in the pipeline, I look forward to seeing where this all goes.

Here's the link along with the cover: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QGZDRXU 

Transcribing Wills

Today, as I was importing document images onto Ancestry - more on that later - I was attaching a will to the profile of my sixth great-grandfather, Jacob Riddick. While uploading the JPG file, I noticed the option of inputting the transcribed text of the document. I've read over the text of many wills in the process of my genealogical research, I haven't seen very many of them indexed or transcribed. Usually I'm left to finding an index of the wills for a particular county, and then slogging through the will books in an effort to find an isolated entry. It can be a mind-numbing experience, however, finding that will and that tidbit of information that you need is incredibly rewarding.

For some areas, abstracts of the wills are available, and sometimes even indexed for easy searching. While this in invaluable, you lose something in the simplification process. Reading over the full text of a will provides you with an improved sense for who your ancestors were. While reading over wills, I've gained a sense of my ancestors' spirituality, the attitude towards their spouse and children (sometimes you can pick out who was the favorite), as well as getting a glimpse of the size of their estate. This is invaluable stuff and unfortunately we often don't take advantage of it. 

In the Doctrine and Covenants, Moroni speaks to Joseph and repeats a variation of Malachi's promise. He uses language that I find more powerful than other renditions of the prophecy and promise.

1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

2 And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. 

3 If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming. (Doctrine and Covenants 2:1-3, emphasis mine) 

I love the word plant as it is used here. I find it much more powerful than the use of turn in Malachi and other sections. As we undergo to do family history, we plant a seed in our hearts. The prophet Alma's supernal sermon in Alma 32-34 comes to mind here. It's through the stories and words of our ancestors that we can come to truly love them. As we plant their words - their stories - in our heart, as we recognize the power of the promise made to them, we will come to love them. I've seen it.

Reflecting on this, I've decided that I'm going to be spending some serious time over the next few weeks on indexing and transcribing the wills of a number of my ancestors and distant relatives. This is a labor that indexing - although it can be exceptionally frustrating - prepares you well for. You get better at squinting through the bad handwriting to the information and stories beneath. And while indexing isn't generally directly beneficial to your personal research, transcribing your old family wills can teach you a ton. It gives you a glimpse into a much larger genealogical world.

Today, I spent several hours looking over Jacob Riddick's will, as well as John Hurdle's, whom I've mentioned here before. I was fortunate in my first choice, while somewhat more frustrated in my second. However, by the end, I was extremely satisfied with the products of my labors. We need to do this more, it will change the way that you do your genealogy.

I'll leave you with the first, here are the original images of Jacob Riddick's 1797 will and the resulting transcription (I've preserved the original spelling, as well as strike-outs, where I can read them):

 

In the Name of the Holy Trinity Amen. I Jacob Riddick of the County of Perquimans & State of North Carolina being Sick of Body but Perfectly in my Sen Senses do make& ordain this my last will & testament Revoking all former wills in manner & form following ---- I give Divise & Bequeath unto my Son Willis Riddick all the Land whereon he now Lives Butted & Bounded on the North and East by a line of New Mark’d tress Bordering on my Son William’s Land as hereafter mentioned. I also Give unto (^My Son) Willis Riddick fifty acres of Land joining the head of Philip Perry’s Ridge & Fifty Acres up the River Swamp joining Simson Stallings & Jepe Rountree’s  Lands and Seventy five Acres of Land joining Jepe Rountree’s Land – To him & to the Heirs of his Body forever. I also Give him a bed & furniture. 

Item. I Give Divise & Bequeath unto my Son William Riddick the Plantation whereon I now Live Butted & Bounded by a line of new Marked Trees on The South & East bordering on Willis’s line this Day Made & also one Hundred & fifty Acres of land joining the Little River Road & Seventy five acres of land Joining Joel Hollowell’s Land and Reuben Stalling’s Land and a Negroe Boy by Name of Stephen, One Colt Bridle & Saddle, One Bed & Furniture, Two Cows & Calves, one Gun & Half the flock of Bees now on the Plantation to him & the Heirs of his Body lawfully begotten forever. But in Case my Son William Riddick should Die without Issue(?) lawfully begotten of his Body it is my Desire that (^all of the) lands given him should be Inherited by my son Willis Riddick & the Heirs of his Body forever. 

Item. I Give & Bequeath unto my Daughter Absolah White One Bed & Furniture & two Stocks of Bees & Two Hundred Spanish Milled(?) Dollars to be paid her after my Wife Sarah Riddick’s Death & all things already given her to Remain with her & and the Heirs & (?) for Ever. 

Item. I Giver Divise & Bequeath unto my Daughter Christian Hudson One Bed & furniture and one Cow & Calf & a good Law of pigs in Lieu if two Stocks of Bees given Absolah White & also two hundred Spanish Milled Dollars to be paid hereafter my wife Sarah Riddick’s Death or Marriage & the Clause about Death or Marriage of my wife is the same in the Gifts to Each of my Daughters & whatsoever I have Give before to Christian to remain hers forever. 

Item. I leave to my wife Sarah Riddick the use of my Home plantation & all Lands (?)ledges thereunto belonging & the use of these Negroes Viz Lewis, Dick,& Mourning with the Use of all the Remaining Part of my Estate not Mentioned let it be of what nature or kind so ever for & During her Natural life or Widowhood. But after her Death or Marriage all the remaining part of my Estate which I left her the use of is to be Equally Divided between all my Children Viz Willis Riddick, Absolah White, Christian White & William Riddick and lastly do Nominate & appoint to this my last will & testament my Son Willis Riddick and Gabriel White my sole Executors to this my last Will and Testament desiring them to see the same fully Executed and performed to have no Disputes after my Death either about the Division or Legacies before Mentioned. 

In Witnes whereof this Jacob Riddick the Testator have hereunto offered my Hand & Seal this 24^th day of June One thousand and seven Hundred & Ninety Seven. 

Jacob (his X mark) Riddick (Seal) 

Witness

Obadiah Bosworth (?)

John Barrow

Sarah (her X mark) Barrow 

Perquimans County November Term at Hertford 1798. The foregoing Will of Jacob Riddick Decd. Was then there proved in Open Court by the Oath of Obadiah Bosworth one of the Subscribing(?) Witnesses thereto at the same time. (Aforesaid?) Willis Riddick & Gabriel White the Excrs therein Named & Qualified agreeable to Said.

Recorded the 20^th Day of April 1799.      

Just Moved Here

Well, I made this blog originally for my FDREL 261 Intro to Family History Class, and I really only posted on it for assignments. However, seeing the use that some of my friends have made of their blogs, I've decided that I'm going to expand on mine a bit, with a move to Blogger to Wordpress being a part of that. I just didn't enjoy their interface as much.

I'm still going to be posting quite a bit about family history because the research is incredibly rewarding and sometimes I just want to tell people about it!

So yeah, to that end, I've just moved all of my posts from my old blog over. And hopefully I'll be posting more here than the old one.

A Break from the Riddicks, on to the Hurdles!

Well, I decided to take a break from the confusing Riddick line and start taking a look at the just-as-confusing Hurdle line. They're also on my dad's side, Riddick is my paternal grandfather and Hurdle is my paternal grandmother.

The person that I've been focusing on this last week is John William Hurdle. He's an interesting fellow. First of all, we aren't even sure that William is his middle name, that's just a suggestion from records passed down orally. Until this last summer, about July of 2013, we didn't even know for certain that he was the father of my fifth-great-grandmother Julia Ann Hurdle. However, we were able to locate his will - from 1827 - wherein Julia Ann was listed (last) as one of his daughters.

Excerpt from John Hurdle's Will, the names of his children are visible here.

Here's an excerpt from the Will. Easily readable is "my children William(,) John, Armisa, Josiah, and Julia Ann Hurdle."

Since that confirmation that he is my sixth-great-grandfather, I've been trying to find out what I can about him and his family. In so far, I haven't had a great deal of luck placing major dates in his life. I hope for that to change soon, I'm combing through the census records and tax lists in Perquimans and Gates counties for that time period and before. There's a general assumption that he was born sometime around 1780 in Perquimans county to William Hurdle Jr. and his wife Elizabeth.  I've found mention of wills for several William Hurdle's and we'll see if any of those belonged to him. I have been able to find the rolls for militia called in 1821 and 1826 in reaction to slave rebellions. John Hurdle is listed on both of them. While it doesn't narrow anything down datewise, it is pretty stinking cool!

1821 Perquimans Militia Roll

1826 Perquimans Militia Roll

First is a portion of the 1821 Militia Roll, where John Hurdle served under Captain Joel Stallings. His name is at the bottom of the list.

Second is a portion of the 1826 Militia Roll, where John Hurdle served under Captain John B(H?)ogue. His name is the third from the bottom.

Moving on to his family. John Hurdle's will mentions wife Milicent; sons William, John, and Josiah; and daughters Armisa and Julia. Milicent appears on the 1830 census - John died in 1828 - and then a marriage certificate appears in 1831 for her - or another Milicent Hurdle - and she subsequently disappears from the historical record. 

I've been able to find marriage and census records for people named William, John, and Armisa Hurdle but their ages seem a bit high for Milicent Stanton to have been their mother. Without a confirmed marriage date, there doesn't seem to be much that I can do here.

At least not yet! I've got more to go through, and, as trudging as this work can be, there are undeniable blessings that come as you do it. There really is help that comes to you from both sides of the veil.

An Update and a Few Laughs

Well, currently I'm having fun perusing legal records from 18th century Virginia, pursuing information about Lemuel Riddick. He was a prominent Virginia politician, and an early member of the revolutionary movement in America. He passed away - likely from old age - in late 1776, and thus isn't as well known as many of his contemporaries, among whom were the Lees, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and George Washington. Unfortunately, they weren't terribly original with names in 18th century Virginia, and there at least two - possible more - Lemuels in his immediate area, and their deeds and histories are often conflated by well-meaning genealogists.

So, again, having fun with that right now. I'll leave off with a good genealogy comic I spotted the other day. Tis an oldie but a goodie!

Genealogy Quotes for the Day

Help from the Other Side

“Brother Widtsoe reaffirmed that ‘those who give themselves with all their might and mind to this [family history] work receive help from the other side. Whoever seeks to help those in the other side receives help in return in all the affairs of life’” (Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple, 252).

“Remember that the names which will be so difficult to find are of real people to whom you owe your existence in this world and whom you will meet again in the spirit world. … Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands. You will have more than your own strength as you choose to labor on to find them” (Henry B. Eyring, “Hearts Bound Together,” April 2005 General Conference).

Spiritual Protection

“Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors” (Richard G. Scott, “The Joy of Redeeming the Dead,” Oct. 2012 General Conference).

“I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives” (David A. Bednar, “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn,” Oct. 2011 General Conference).