Such a Feeling

How the time flies when you are having fun. It has been a while since my last update and for many reasons, a few actually decent and not made up to make me feel good about myself. But all I can say about the last two weeks is what a ride it has been. I was able to travel to Salt Lake and go fiching (notice the misspelling) for ancestors. After about four and a half hours of looking all I was able to retrieve from my nets (fishing pun) was the Baptismal/Christening date for Walter Sylvanus Parsons, 27 Aug 1860, which means his actual birth date falls between Aug 1, 1860 and Aug 27, 1860, pretty good, eh? The significance of this is that I am able to send away to England for a birth record that will have his parents names on, though I have them it will be cool to have a copy of the record. From this also I can place the beginning of his travels from England to Utah and possibly beyond, I know I may have found a new chapter to add to my book. Aside from finding information on Walter I was able to see a Church census for the 6th Ward Pioneer Stake in Salt Lake that has George and Martha on it, though Martha had passed at this time I was still able to see her name on it. An interesting note on this tid-bit of information is that the 6th Ward is one of the who's who of Salt Lake at the time, Erastus Snow to name one. So some might look and see that for four and a half hours of work and I get two pieces of information it was not time well spent, but I beg to differ. From that time I was able to see places that I do not have to look now and also some good leads as of where to look to gain information. Speaking of leads, I have found that I have an ancestor from Leeds England, the first confirmed ancestor, but he is a husband of a cousin of a cousin type of a thing but I am still claiming him, for now. Also I learned today that to be able to go forward you may have to take some steps backwards in time or sideways in families to contact those who may have some information on where you are going or want to wind up. This being said I may not do so much direct Parsons family work but will follow the line of Louisa Parsons Leitch, she was born in Salt Lake and then passed in South Central Idaho, I am guessing. Now knowing that I am on my way to fill in the gaps and hopefully find some useful information by sidestepping across lines and moving forward in time. It is amazing how much I have found, or assume I have found but it is all worth it. Well that is all for now and hopefully I can find some success fiching again. Also I found some cool stuff about my York line, I want to go back to Georgia to dig around some in Rabun County, at one point we owned that place it seems.

Stuck in Utah

It has been a while since I have updated my family history blog and there is good reason for it, I am busy. Business has kept me off of my blog but not my search. Since my last post I have been able to find some church records on the Parsons and also various ship records of thier trips across the ocean. What is amazing is how they were divided up on three ships of various shapes and sizes. Along with this I was able to find many census' and develop a timeline of sorts for the Parsons, they are a very very mobile family. Also they like to change up where they are born at and when, hopefully they are not convicts or anything like that but if they were that is okay, it makes the family tree a little more exciting. Well that is all for now, I am tired and wanting a nap sometime if I can make myself take one today. Again if anyone has any information on Walter and Lucy, let me know, please.

Mixture of Thoughts

After having a class on finding death certificates and such I find myself feeling a little despondent, I am not sure why I feel this way.  I have found many death certificates online and am comfortable finding them but the ones I really want to see or find are the ones that are missing.  I find myself also having to write to England for copies of some records which is not to appealing but necessary.  Along with that the time that it takes to do this work and search out the missing pieces, I referenced it as a treasure hunt earlier today and that it truly is, a grand treasure hunt.  But as the time I have now grows short I wrap up this post as one that is more gloomy than others but at the same time one that is needed to show that there are not always rainbows at the end of everyday.

Another day, another marriage in England found

After posting my help wanted rant (help is still wanted) I have had a bit of good luck, hard luck but luck none the less.  For  a quick history of what I mean by hard luck is that in England there are parishes, who unto 1837ish kept records of all that went on for the Church of England.  By doing this they have a stash of vital stats that are indexed online.  Here is where the hard comes into play.  One, the best way to find these stats is by using Ancestry.com (fee website) or Family History Centers (most commonly the one in Utah) or two, go to England and spend a summer backpacking around to each of the suspected parishes and delve deep into their archives and gamble that you might actually find something.  But I, after many long hard hours, (not really many) have found a marriage register for George Charles Parsons and Martha Maria Syphus, my (I am checking to make sure this is accurate) third great grandparents who were married in England, the Pancras Parish.  Imaging Hyde Park in London and go west a ways.  Knowing this information I can now send off to England and for 15 pounds they will send me a copy of the certificate, that is pretty cool.  I am hoping from this I will be able to get a birth record for Sylvanus Walter or Walter Sylvanus, depending on the record being looked at or how he decided to spell his name.  All of this aside, it has been a very good few days and is looking better at every turn.

HELP!!!!

After talking to my cousin Dan tonight on the phone I am asking for help, this is a plea. If anybody who glances over this has any information on the Parsons family who traveled from England to Salt Lake please, please let me know. It is a hope of ours to make as accurate record as possible about our family. The members are we are looking for are Walter Sylvanus (Sylvanus Walter), Lucy Parsons, George Charles, William Benjamin, Emily Parsons or Walter Franklin. Most of the people listed were born in Utah. I have searched various records but I am searching for the fate of Walter and Lucy in Salt Lake or anywhere else they may have been. Any help in this matter will be good help. Thanks.

GOLD MINE!!!!

It is one of those nights.  I started looking for some information on my work line and was striking out at every turn, not a good feeling to have.  As I was searching I felt I should look at some information on the Perpetual Fund for Emigrants.  The reason for this is on my Parsons line they are thought to have come to America through that.  The document I found listed no Parsons but Thirza Long Syphus who emigrated when she was 25 years old.  But the gold mine is this, from that I was able to find a lot of information on Mathew Syphus and Mary Long, my fourth Great Grandparents who are converts to the Church.  (I had a picture of them but it is not working to well getting it moved over from the site or word document.)  From the research I found I was able to see immigration records, census dates, birth dates and also church records.  I find it so very amazing how whenever I start getting discouraged searching I am able to be prompted to a place or a line and find so much good information.  I know that they are connecting with me as I connect with them.  I hope to find out more as I go along.  One last thing is that the ships that were used to come to America where the Java, Nevada and Idaho, I find it funny that it was these ships at different times since most of the family went to, lives in or likes these three things.  If there is anything I am missing or have wrong I hope to find out so I can correct it and have the best information possible online or on my tree.  

New Challenge

As the new semester begins here in good ol' Rexburg I find myself in my advanced family research class.  This is a class that I have decided to take to further my search for my ancestors.  With this opportunity to further my knowledge of select ancestors I am finding myself drawn to my Great-Great Grandfather Walter Sylvanus Parsons.  Walter is from England and traveled from there across the ocean on the ship Nevada to New York.  From New York he proceeded to Salt Lake City, Utah.  Here is where it gets interesting.  On the travel to Utah he had a wife, Lucy Ling, and three children, while in Utah he had four other children.  Sometime around 1890 the children found themselves in an orphanage and the parents gone, this is the mystery, Where did the parents go?  Why the orphanage?  And what role does Walters mom have in all of this?  Hopefully I can find answers to these questions as my research and skills progress, wish me luck.