SNGF - My d'Aboville Numbers

When Saturday night rolls around, here at Camp Fenley we try to make the scene over at Randy Seaver's place GeneaMusings for his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

For fun and games this week, Seaver asks,

1) Do you know what a d'Aboville numbering system is? A clear description of it is in the Encyclopedia of Genealogy here, and on Wikipedia here. Pretty neat numbering system, isn't it?

2) What are your own d'Aboville numbers for your four lines of your grandparents (starting with the first known person in the paternal line)? Your genealogy software program may be able to help you with this [Family tree Maker 2011, RootsMagic 4 and Legacy Family Tree 7 can, but Family Tree Maker 16 and earlier cannot].

It looked like a huge math problem to me. Luckily, I have RootsMagic 4 and in no time at all, I had my numbers for each of my four grandparents paternal lines :


From HEINRICH BEFORT (1761- ? ) my number is = 1.4.5.8.8.1.1

From J. FRED BORGSTADTER (1853-1929) my number is = 1.2.3.1.1

From LEWIS T. HARRIS (1810-1836) my number is = 1.1.2.4.1.1.1

From THOMAS SKILLMAN (1639-1699) my number is = 1.1.3.7.1.7.8.4.2.1.1

SNGF - It's All In The Blood Line or Why I Get To Be Czarina of Stockton.

It's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun over at Randy Seaver's place. This weeks fun and games allows me a perfect opportunity to show the naysayers why I get to be Czarina of Stockton and they don't. Here is the task for the game this week:

1) Pick one of your ancestral lines - any one - patrilineal, matrilineal, zigzag, from a famous ancestor, etc. Pick a long one if you can.

2) Tell us which position in the birth order that your ancestor was in each generation. For example "third child, first son." Also list how many children were born to these parents.

3) Share your Birth Order work with us on your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a comment on Facebook, etc.


I am going to zigzag through my maternal ancestral lines.


1. Me - 1st child - Only daughter - 6 children

2. My Mother - 1st child - 1st daughter of Darrell Kenneth Skillman & Mary Ellen Harris (3 children)

3. Mary Ellen Harris (1916-1995) - Only child of Hillery T. Harris and Hazel Berry

4. Hillery T. Harris (1894-1959) - 4th child - 4th son of George Wesley Harris and Minda Ellen Wallace (5 children)

5. George Wesley Harris (1864-1949) - 2nd child - 1st son of Hillery Taylor Asbeth Harris and Mary Ann Frances Bess (10 children)

6. Mary Ann Frances Bess (1841-1900) - 1st child - 1st daughter of Peter Bess and Sarah H. Beam (7 children)

7. Sarah H. Beam (1823-1915) - 3rd child - 2nd daughter of David Beam and Mary Ann Wacaster (8 children)

8. David Beam (1797-1852) - 4th child - 3rd son of John Derrick Beam and Mary Hoyle (10 children)

9. John Derrick Beam (1765-1822) - 1st child - 1st son of John Teeter Beam and Rebecca Raynolds (15 children)

10. John Teeter Beam (1732-1807) - 1st child - 1st son of Michael Beam and Sarah Rudolph

11. Michael Beam (1702-1801) - Unknown

Now the explanation of my blue blood. Tradition has it that my 8th great grandmother, Sarah Rudolph, was a daughter of Rudolph, once Emperor of Germany as handed down by S. G. Goodrich, a German writer. Rudolph, once Emperor of Germany, had seven beautiful daughters who contracted alliances that proved to be happy ones. Sarah Rudolph was a member of the ruling family of Germany. Rudolph I of Hapsburg (1218-1291) Emperor of Germany, founder of the Imperial House of Austria, was the eldest son of Albert IV, Count of Hapsburg and Landgrave of Alsace. Elected Emperor in 1273. He defeated Ottokar, king of Bohemia and gave the latter's territories to his sons Albert and Rudolph. (see "Winston's Cumulative Loose-Leaf Encyclopedia" by Thomas E. Finegan, copyright 1926). The Rudolphs ruled Germany until 1830.

So that about says it all, no? I more than qualify for the Czarina seeing as how I have Emperor blood running through my veins. Thanks Seaver for the opportunity to clear this issue up.

Hey Seaver! Here I Am.

Randy Seaver over at GeneaMusings is having his regular Saturday Night Genealogy Fun party. He really means to have fun this week. I don't want to spoil it so head on over and check it out yourself.

Seaver also asks where I've been lately. How nice to be missed. Not missed enough to call out the National Guard or put my face on milk cartons though. What's up with that?

I haven't blogged in some time and I feel just awful about it. The reason, I am thrilled to say, is that business has picked up and I have been working my tail off. I will share what a typical day has been like for me in a future post. The post I wrote about starting a new genealogy business was so well received so I have more on the way.

I also took a week (an entire 7 days) and went to Rio del Mar. For those who are not familiar with California, Rio del Mar is a little town on the northern California coast about 8 miles south of Santa Cruz and about 40 miles south of San Francisco.

I spent 7 days doing absolutely NOTHING! It was heaven.

I am also participating in what I feel is a very worthwhile and interesting project. LowCountry Africana has partnered with Footnote.com to index estate inventories from South Carolina for the years 1732 to 1872. This database is a free one at Footnote. Some of the inventories are so detailed it makes you feel like you are there. They have put out a call for volunteers to index just 10 pages. If enough people did 10 pages each, the project would be finished in no time at all. AND there is a reward! On top of feeling good for giving back to the genealogical community you will get this groovy badge to place on your blog.

And finally, here is someone who is truly showing me some love!

SNGF - A New Valentine Memory

Over at Seaver's Place, romance is in the air as Saturday Night Genealogy Fun celebrates Valentine's Day. Our mission, should we choose to accept it:

1) Recall a memory of a Valentine's Day in your life. Is it the first love of your life? A special day with your lover, spouse or significant other? Do you have a picture of a Valentine's Day event, or a special Valentine that you received, to share?

2) Describe your Valentine's Day memory, activity and/or image in a blog post of your own, a comment to this blog post, or a comment on Facebook.

3) Have fun remembering a special day.

My husband and I are fairly recent newlyweds. This past January marked our 2nd Wedding Anniversary. Sounds romantic.

HOWEVER, we have been living together for the past 17 years. Doesn't sound quite so romantic now does it?

Well I got to tell you, in all these 19 years, not once has my husband ever bought me a present for Valentine's Day. About 5 years ago he bought me a card. It had a picture of a dog peeing on a tree and the caption was "Hap-pee Valentine's Day." I kid you not.

Well this year, my "reason for living" surprised the hell out of me and presented me with my first ever Valentine's Day gift. Imagine my surprise when I opened this:

Nothing says love quite like a Hoover.

SNGF - The Super Bowl of Genealogy

I really had fun with this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun over at Randy Seaver's place. This week he wants us to play in the "Super Bowl of Genealogy" and here are the rules:

Tell us about your dream game of the Super Bowl of Genealogy! * Where would it be played? * What teams would play? * Who would be the head coaches? * Who would be the stars of the game? * Who would win? * Who are the cheerleaders?* If you were playing in the game, what would be your dream play?

Well thank the Genea-Gods above I have been saved from trying to figure out the different player positions. I have 5 younger brothers, 3 sons and 1 husband and I do not really give a hoot about sports. I am not an athletic, sportsy kind of girl.

"But wait Sheri", I hear all of you saying. "I thought you told us that you were a cheerleader in high school" to which I must EDUCATE you all once again. One did not have to know anything about sports to become a cheerleader. It just was not a pre-requisite back in the day. The only requirements were that you could lift your body off the ground at least 2 or 3 inches while jumping, enough coordination to clap in time with the rest of the girls and that you hated P.E. class. If you were a cheerleader in my day, you need not ever step foot in that repulsive gymnasium or girl's locker room.

Our old friend, Terry Thornton of Hill Country HOGS Webpress, has come out of hiatus not only to play in the Genealogy Super Bowl, but he wrote a great scenario and cast all the players and cheerleaders. You can read it HERE.

Terry does a great job of casting all the players for the East Coast Team - "The Hill Hogs" and the West Coast team - "The Genea-Cats." The cheerleaders for the West Coast team - "The Genea-Cats" are:

Me

Chery Kinnick of Nordic Blue

Donna Pointkouski of What's Past Is Prologue

Wendy Littrell of All My Branches Genealogy

Well I may not know anything about football, but I am a brain-ee-ack when it comes to pom poms and if there is anything my mother taught me it is this - ALWAYS dress for the occasion. With that in mind, I give you the Genea-Cats Cheerleaders!

Terry only named 4 of us but my high school picture (yes that is really me wearing the "C") of the cheerleading squad fit perfectly with a little altering of the letters (originally Grizzlies). So rather than having nameless faces, I made the extra girls into cats. I do hope Chery, Donna and Wendy don't mind the liberty I took. I hope they appreciate that I have put them into the body of a 16 year old cheerleader for the day.

Rah Rah, Siss Boom Bah.

SNGF - Super Heros and the Powers That May Be

Randy has come up with a great exercise for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun .


1) Answer the question: Do you have a genealogical “superpower”? (i.e., a unique research ability or technique that helps you track down records or assemble conclusions that others can’t?) If so, what is it?

2) Tell us about it in a blog post, a comment to this post, a comment to Dean's post, or a comment to this post on Facebook or Twitter.

3) If you have a picture of yourself in superpower mode, please show it to us!



Well I know what super power I would like to have - Flying.

I would be able to fly where ever the research took me. No worries about airline reservations, or long lines going through security. The only thing I need to work out is how to get all those documents and records strapped onto my back for the return flight home!

Where did I get the cool avatar of me as a Super Hero? You can "Super Hero" yourself over at The Hero Factory