Family History Frustrations, the mini-book

Not really wanting to complain as I am so thrilled with the beauty and ease of working on genealogy these days (I first started collecting names around 1976-77 when I never even thought of using a computer much less ever owning one), but I've just spent a frustrating few hours this morning.

Before Thanksgiving I looked into what it would take to order the death certificate of my great-great grandmother, Sarah Ann Newman Miller (who, so the story goes, died at the age of 92 because she fell and broke her hip after tripping on the rug because she was doing the can-can!). However, with the holidays approaching, I never acted on the address I found.

Now, according to a newspaper clipping my Grandpa Jervis had in one of his scrapbooks, her parents names were Thomas and Hannah. Since she married in 1852, I had tried to find her with her parents in the 1850 census.

I found a family with the father being named William and mother Anna that had a Sarah my Sarah's age.  One of the children's names was Thomas. So maybe the newspaper listed the brother instead of the dad (or maybe the dad's name is William Thomas or Thomas William). And Anna in later censuses was listed as Hannah. So I have been delving into tracking this family through census records to see if I can find a more solid connection.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure this family is mine...Sarah married John Henry Miller and named one of their children Charles Latimer Miller. Since one of the girls in William and Anna's family later married a Latimer, I'm thinking it's a good bet they are the same family. But how to prove it.

So, I want to order the death certificate (why didn't I do this years ago when I ordered her husbands? I'm afraid I might have and that they couldn't find the certificate? I really should keep better records of what I do).

I go to NY's site and they say it costs $22 and takes on average 5 months to receive your copy; however, if you know the municipality, you can submit a request directly to the clerk.

Great, I know she died in Copiague...but turns out that finding her municipality proved to be quite challenging. I google Copiague NY death records...and can't find it. I tried calling Amityville twice as they were listed and are right next door to Copiague but only got voice mail. But I was excited because I thought I was getting close and their certificates were only $10 instead of $22.

Being impatient, I then emailed a Suffolk County NY genealogy email list I'm on. I know there is one person (Walter Greenspan, may the Lord bless him) on there with a wealth of info about the townships. Long Island has very confusing boundaries...their postal zones, cities, towns, hamlets have weird overlapping boundaries and you don't always look for a record where it might logically seem to be.

Anyway, first, one man answers and says that maybe I should just start with the Suffolk county office. So, though I was hoping Walter would tell me right where to go, I try to go to the Suffolk county website. Not only do they not have Copiague, they don't even have Amityville listed.

So, I send an email to someone who is listed on the website. Thankfully it doesn't take her long to email me back and say that I have the wrong office. She gives me a link. I'm thrilled, thinking I'm finally getting somewhere. Wrong.

I go to the link and my town isn't listed. I'm ready to pull out my hair. So I click on all the choices that are there...and some do say that their records include such and such towns and hamlets...but some don't say what area they include and I don't see Amityville or Copiague any where.

So I pull up a map and try to see what is close by (why didn't I do that sooner?). Huntington is (and I have plenty of family history there) but they list towns and the one I'm looking for isn't there. So I try Bablyon. I call. She transfers my call and FINALLY I am in the right place. (and silly enough the mailing address for the clerk of the Town of Babylon is in Lindenhurst).

After maybe 1 1/2 hours of hunting for the address and info I need so I can send off for this death certificate that may or may not exist and that may or may not have the name of Sarah's parents on it, I finally find the right clerk.

It's easy. Send them the name, death date, my relation to the deceased, my phone number, and a photocopy of my drivers license (scanning and printing my driver's license took quite a while too). I ask how much it will be. Guess what? It's free! Was my time worth $22? I'm guessing it shouldn't take too long for them to respond. At the very least, it won't take them 5 months. Sigh.

So, I'm feeling much better now. Though still a bit frustrated. After all this, Walter comes through and emails me that I should go to Babylon to order what I need. Thanks Walter!

Another family history thrill. A few weeks ago I got an email from someone who had contacted me maybe a year and a half ago saying she had some info on the Jarvis line and would send it to me...and she hadn't. She had just come across an old email and realized she had forgotten to send the packet. So, she mailed it and I now have it. It doesn't go any further back, but it does give me more cousins. I'm preparing a gedcom for her with my branch of the family on it. It's so exciting to share!

Biggest Loser update for Glen--down another 2 pounds, bringing the total to 14 pounds lost in the past 5 weeks!

Field Trip: Santa Barbara (alternate title: I Need a Nap)

Eric and I went with the high school's reading club down to Santa Barbara on Wednesday in order to attend a lecture by the author Neil Gaiman. We had read his book "The Graveyard Book" earlier in the school year.

After 3-3 1/2 hours of sleep, we got up at 3 am and were on the road at about 4 am. We drove through Bishop, California (I had never been there before) and stopped at the famous Erik Schat's Bakkery. Eric bought a loaf of sheepherder's bread. I bought some sea salt. Can't wait to try it and see if I can tell the difference.

We arrived in Santa Barbara around 2 pm and so we had a little time to play at the beach before getting ready for our big evening.

 

  

Eric, Grace, Gary, Meghan, Eco, Tyler

Aaron, Esther

We ate dinner at a nice seafood restaurant before the lecture. I know it looks like Eric is kissing his shrimp, but he really was eating it.

  

Then we went to the campus of UCSB where the lecture was to be held. Neil was very funny...except I was so tired that I napped a bit here and there. He talked a bit and he read us 2 stories he had written...one of them he was presenting to an audience for the first time...and I'm still not sure about how it ended since I was half-asleep. We then stood in line for 2 1/2 hours so he could autograph our books. Insanity.

Jason, Tyler, Eco, Gary, Meghan, Eric, Beth, Grace,

Aaron, Nicole, Esther, Neil Gaiman, and Lisa at about 12:30 am. 

We were all so tired that it's amazing we all look so good. (I need to say here that all by myself --the kids weren't even here to help me-- I saved this photo Nicole had posted on facebook, copied it to my picture files and was able to find it to post it here...sometimes I just amaze myself because this old dog is learning new tricks)

So, we got to bed just after 1 am...and had to get up at 6 am to get ready to leave. We ate breakfast and got on the road about 8 am. We drove up to Pismo Beach (I napped much of the 2 hours it took to get there). We walked around on the beach and ate lunch.

OK, Hannah thinks this photo is fake, but it's not. Eric is standing next to a real, live pelican.

 

 Underneath the pier.

We got back on the road. Drove past the monument to James Dean on highway 41 at the spot where he died. Didn't take the time to get out and look so there aren't any photos to prove it, but I saw it. 

We ran into rain and traffic in Sacramento and it really slowed us down. By the time we got near Donner it was snowing and that slowed us down, too. Luckily we didn't have to use our chains. 

Nicole, Grace, Jason, and I had a great time in our car (discussing movies, books, music, solving the world's problems, etc)...Aaron was with all the students in the school van. Don't know if he had as much fun as we did. 

It was a long day. Finally arrived at my house just after 11 pm and didn't make it to bed until midnight. Got up at 6. Needless to say that I am dragging...glad I can sleep in tomorrow.

It really was a neat trip.

p.s. Glen had his Biggest Loser weigh-in while I was gone...he lost another 2 lbs... :)