Looking at Yesterday with Today's eyes

I am indexing Ontario Birth records right now and apparently we are reveiwing another sites index for these records. I find it interesting how the previous indexer assumed certain things.


Like the registration year as being the same as the birth year. There have been some families that when they register a birth, they register the previous one or two births at the same time. The difference in registration year and actual birth year can be important. My grandpa Johnny Bionaz was born in 1904, but the birth registry says 1905. When you look at the page in the registry and the date of registration you realize the register wrote down the wrong year. The birth is given as 21 Oct 1905, but was registered in May 1905. the register was just used to writing 1905 that he did not catch the late registration.


Also how the previous indexer applied today's last names to these records. It was common back then to use the mother's surname as part of the child's middle name. Well the previous indexer assumed that the child's surname was a combination of both parents surname and indexed it as such.


Also, I have research that was compiled a long time ago that has problems with dates and Counties. The problem with the dates is the researcher used the New Calendar when transcribing Old Calender dates, thus putting the months wrong. The problem with the counties is that Counties can change and some of the records contain the old county and some contain the new county and yet the town and state are the same.


We need to remember as we work on our Genealogy that times have changed and that we need to record or at least note the original otherwise it may confuse someone else. And that someone else might actually be ourselves.

James Edward Baker Jr, Biography

I was going to spotlight my dad and than I realized I did one on him last year for Father's Day. So this year I am going to say abit more about him. His life was cut short in 1975. He died at the age of 49 of heart dease.
James Edward Baker Jr or Eddy for short was an avid Boy Scouts, although he nor any of my brothers received their Eagle Badge (than very few under the age of about 17 could get their Eagles Badge, unlike today where most are getting it at 13 and 14) he was very active in Scouting for over 20 years. He was a Scout Master in San Jose and I remember going with him often to the weekly meetings and accompanying the troop to Summer Camp. As the only girl in the family I did get dragged to a lot of Boy Scout stuff.
Eddy also was an accomplished swimmer and enjoyed being in the backyard pool with his family
He also not only learned to Square Dance, but for awhile he even was a Square Dance Caller. And I learned how to Square Dance at an early age, so my brothers would have someone to dance with!
My father started college at San Mateo Community College where he received his Associate Degree. He always wanted to be a Music Teacher, but the War and Military Service got in the way. In the late 1940's and early 1950's it was very uncommon for men to go back to College after being out. By the time he would have gone back he was married and had children. Even though he never finished his dream he always encouraged us in music and became good friends with the Music Teachers at Oak Grove High School, where his children went to school. I remember being amazed on the few occasions my father would sit down at a piano and play from memory beautiful pieces!
As you can tell I really loved my dad and spent many an hour with him, from camping to music to dancing to swimming to working out in the yard. I just wish he could have lived longer.

Daddy I Love you

Wilson L Starkey Marriage

Here is one of the two letters enclosed in the pension packet that indicate that Wilson L Starkey had been married once. The letter is from his ex father-in-law. This was one of the last pages in his mother's pension packet, so would not have been included in a partial packet. Through out the rest of the pension, Wilson is listed as being unmarried and without heirs. Come to find out that only means he was unmarried without any heirs at the time of his death. It did not mean he had never married.

This is one of two such letters. The other one lists the name of his wife and her death date.

Wilson L Starkey Pension Papers

Over the next few posts I am going to be posting various pages from Wilson L Starkey's mother's pension file. There are about 62 pages in the file, so it would be difficult to post all of it at one time.

Here is the official Service Record/ Statement submitted by the Adjutant General's Office

Wilson L. Starkey

Corporal Wilson L. Starkey

Co. "C" Illinois Volunteers

Died at the age of 27 while assigned to Signal Duty

On the Hospital Ship "Red Rover"

Died apparently during the night of July 26th 1862

Service records put his death on the 26th or the 27th.

Official death certificate states 27 July 1862.

He was buried at Spanish Moss Bend on the Mississippi River, Louisiana

Wilson L Starkey was the son of Benjamin Starkey and Mary C. Ridgeway. His brother William Coulton Starkey is my 3great-Grandfather. Wilson was married for a short time to Eleanor R. Stone, who died in March 1860 (She died at her parents house in Rockport Illinios). Wilson was born in Greece, Monroe County, New York.

The information came from his mother's pension records. She had claimed a mother's pension on his service. The mother's statement only stated that he was unmarried and had no living heir. However, in the pension file there are affidavits that state he was married, but his wife had died leaving no heirs.

The year after Dad died

My mother, Elizabeth Joan Bionaz Baker, was half Italian and at times would show the hot Italian temper. My father, James Edward Baker Jr, was the more calming influence in the home. When I was 16 and a Jr in High School my father died. He went to sleep and never woke up, my mother found his cold body when she went to bed later. I was left in the house with 2 hot tempered Italians, my mom and my younger brother. Unfortunately the other brother near by also could be hot tempered at times. I knew shortly after my father died that my younger brother blamed himself for dad's death. now of course my brother did not kill my father, but as a somewhat rebellious teenager he wasn't all that cooperative around the house. My brother felt that had he been more helpful and less rebellious our dad would not have died. then years later I found out that my mom had also blamed herself for my dad's death because she had given him a mild muscle relaxer before he went to bed. he had been complaining of pain in his shoulder and she thought he had just pulled a muscle or something. In 1975 they did not know all that much about heart disease, which was what killed him. During the next year life was not very good as my mom and brother would get into a fight of some sort.There were times my mom would be so scared of my younger brother that she would come and get me and we would leave the house. There were also times I would get so scared that I feared for my own safety. Sometimes she would called and have my older brother come over,, but that didn't always help because now there were 3 hot tempered people in the house. Eventually things quieted down and my mom and younger brother got along again. They say time heals, but sometimes during that time life can be a nightmare or even a living hell.

Research Goal

This week My research goal is to clean up my sources/citations in my data base. Awhile ago I switched from using PAF to using RootsMagic, RootsMagic has better resources/ templates to make better citations. This week I'm going to clean up my Baker line and the other Loyalists that moved to Canada after the Revolutionary War.
RootsMagic offers free webinars and the other day I watched one on Sources and Citations and it explained how to make better citations. It also explained that when you move a GEDCOM from PAF to RootsMagic the citations do not always transfer very well. Some of the Source information can end up being hidden, because the Source templates are different.
This will also give me a chance to reevaluate what I've done and what still needs to be done.