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Property Map Treasure Hunts: Finding the Places Your Ancestors Lived
Posted on August 29, 2022 5 Comments
One of the many wonders of Google Maps is the ability to travel down many streets and roads via “Street View.” And then of course there is aerial view that allows you to locate your ancestors properties of a bygone area by comparing old Platt and Ownership Maps with current ones. I am always amazed […]
Serendipity Strikes Again!
Posted on August 2, 2022 Leave a Comment
Most every Sunday, SheldonGenealogy.org sponsors a free Zoom chat, where anyone with SHELDON ancestry around the globe can join in to exchange information or get help on their SHELDON genealogy. Well this weekend we were joined by Steven SHELDEN who told a story about his grandfather and great uncle being surrendered to a VFW home […]
Keeping it Accurate: How Do We Correct Genealogy Errors?
Posted on January 19, 2022 9 Comments
Note: It’s a bit ironic that the Queen of typos and mistakes wants to write a blog post about them but I need to make a distinction between errors we unknowingly commit and those that we ignore or worse yet promulgate for some other reason. We all make mistakes and we all inadvertently pass on […]
Locating the Actual place Your Ancestors Lived: Sheldon Land Records in Early Kingstown Rhode Island
Posted on January 6, 2022 8 Comments
Where John SHELDON of Newport and later Kingstown Rhode Island lived has been a bit of a puzzle that we have worked on over the past couple of years. After a recent visit to the Town Hall for South Kingstown located in Wakefield Rhode Island. [And if that isn’t confusing enough the property is now […]
More Gophering for SHELDON Origin Clues: The Technique works for any Surname
Posted on November 24, 2021 3 Comments
In our search for the origins of Isaac SHELDON of Windsor, Connecticut and John SHELDON on Kingstown, Rhode Island As I wrote previously we gophered deep down on the early settlers of Windsor Connecticut who came with Rev Ephraim HUIT / HEWITT in our gopher networking (from my earlier post). Please note the HUIT or […]
Getting in Trouble in Early Rhode Island: John SHELDEN / SHELDON of Newport & Kingstown
Posted on November 13, 2021 Leave a Comment
I have come to love the ancestors that got into mischief and survived to be my ancestors. Such is the case of my dear John SHELDEN and one of the first records of him on these shores. I, like my cousin Dale SHELDON find his escapade a delightful insight into our ancestor. Newport From The […]
They Aren’t Genealogy Rabbit Holes they are Gopher Networks
Posted on November 7, 2021 7 Comments
We’ve had it wrong. Genealogists who go off on tangents who hop from this to that chasing rabbits back to their dens, we have the wrong metaphor. I have both hares and gophers in my backyard so I am surprised I did not figure this out earlier. But here goes…you know the drill you are […]
The Mystery of the Fleur-de Lis: Why would John SHELDEN / SHELDON use this symbol in his sheep brand?
Posted on November 6, 2021 9 Comments
You just never know what mysteries you will be presented with in your research and how sometimes there is very little to be found about them. Such is the case of John SHELDEN’s [John of Kingstown] sheep brand as registered in South Kingstown, Rhode Island in 1705. You might think why does it matter—and perhaps […]
Drunkards & Lunatics: The Case for Original Records & Research
Posted on October 29, 2021 1 Comment
I cut my teeth in genealogy back in the early 1970’s when I spent many a day in the Prothonotary’s Office of Cameron County Pennsylvania in Emporium. Emporium is the county seat and its population has averaged between 2,000-3,000 for most of its last 150 years. So not a very big place and when I […]
Foxes, Wild Cats, Crows & Woodchucks – Negros, Indians & Servants: The Battle for Control in Early Rhode Island as reflected in South Kingstown Records
Posted on October 17, 2021 1 Comment
The joy and horror of reading original colonial town records is the discovery of everyday life in the Colonies. On a recent visit to South Kingston, [Originally named for the Naragansett Indians and later known as Kings town], Rhode Island Town Record office I stumbled upon these records, which were both illuminating and disturbing. What […]
Wheaton Wood 