Waiting for More War of 1812 Pension Files

Fold3 website's War of 1812
Pension Files as of today.

Is that percentage of completion about to change anytime soon? 

I have been eagerly awaiting for the War of 1812 Pension Files at Fold3.com to move beyond the 65 percent complete mark -- I swear it has been squatting at that mark for-ever. There are a lot of us with surnames that start with the latter letters of the alphabet so I know I am not alone in this wait.

The other day I got an email announcing my next issue of Internet Genealogy would soon arrive in the mail. A link to the digital version of the magazine is included in the email. I usually download the PDF file but wait to read the magazine when it physically arrives in the mail.

Something caught my eye on this cover image ... "War of 1812: More Records than Ever!" So this time I read the article in the PDF version of the magazine because I couldn't wait. The seven page article points out what War of 1812 records and/or indexes can be found where on the internet and what can not be found online. 

Now the article does not say that records are about to be added to the Pension collection at Fold3 but February is fast approaching and February marks the 201st anniversary of the ratification of the treaty ending the War of 1812. (Of course, there still was some fighting after this since it was not an instant electronic communication, or an overnight shipping, or even a pony express world yet.)

February seems like a good time to add some images, doesn't it?

This wait got me thinking:  how has the progress bar on this collection moved over the years? On February 1, 2014, I wrote a blog post about finding the pension file of Amos Butler (and his wife.) At that time the progress bar had moved to 13 percent. Doing a search of the internet proved not really helpful to determining when additions to the collection were made over time. (I remember mentioning to other gene group members when records were added but I find I had not this information down.) The Way Back Time Machine at the Internet Archive website provided some answers with its "snapshots" of various website pages over the years. Though I didn't check every snapshot, here is what I found.

• September 24, 2011, (the first snapshot of the page taken) showed the War of 1812 Pension Files collection at the Fold3 website had 71,668 records and was 1 percent complete. By December that year the collection was still at 1 percent with 113,422 records. (Remember there are a lot of pages to capture so each percentage point is a very large number of page images.)
• On February 26, 2012, the collection was up to 2 percent complete with 162,252 records. By November that same year the collection was at 6 percent complete with 413,419 records.
• The collection was up to 570,519 records or 8 percent complete in March 2013. In December 2013, the record number grew to 891,941 records or 12 percent complete.
• February 14, 2014, shows the collection reached 975,734 or 13 percent and by November that year there were 1,549,344 records making the collection 54 percent complete.*
• February 2015 shows the collection moved to 61 percent complete with a record count of 1,757,870 records. On June 12, the collection reached 65 percent. By October 3, 2015, the last snapshot available at the Time Machine, though the total record number grew to 1,899,946 records the percentage of completion remained at 65 percent. 

These last numbers hold steady as of today. No wonder it seems like it has been for-ever. Fold3 used to add records to the War of 1812 Pension Files collection on a regular basis but has not done so for quite a while.

Preserve the Pensions
website as of today.

At the Preserve The Pensions website, the numbers shown are: 4,001,500 images preserved meaning captured/scanned; and that there are 7.2 million (7,200,000) images total to be captured which will save 120,000 pension files.

Financially the fund raising drive to support this project is 59 percent complete.

A percentage of completion for capturing images is not given on the Preserve The Pensions webpage. But by my math that means the percentage of images (4,001,500 out of 7,200,000) captured is around 55.5 percent.

For me the math between the two sites has not made sense for a long time. If the total number of images to be captured is right, to me that would make the present-day percentage of completion at Fold3 more about 26.3 percent for the Pension collection. (Divide 1,899,946 by 7,200,000.) If a mistake in percentage did not occur back in 2014 (*see above) when an additional 573,610 images jumped the percentage of completion from 13 percent to 55 percent, then I can only guess that the 7,200,000 images to be captured is a wild estimate or may not be an agreed on number between the two organizations. Since the currently available images go up to the letter M for many states the real percent of collection completion at Fold3 could be anywhere in between.

Regardless of the numbers disparity in my eyes, I REALLY, REALLY hope that come February we get a large addition of new images for the War of 1812 Pension Files to honor the 201st anniversary of the ending of the War of 1812.

It's about time for an addition don't you think?

©2016, goneresearching. All text and photos in this post are copyrighted & owned by me (goneresearching) unless indicated otherwise. No republication (commercial or non-commercial) without prior permission. You may share (tell others) of this blog as long as you give credit and link to this site (not by downloading or copying any post). Thank you.

Update 2016: How Many Ancestors Do You Know? Count Your Genealogy Numbers

It is that time of year again when some of us take stock and determine what are our genealogy numbers.

Now this is not a who has the most "cards" or people in our genealogy program scenario. But rather a look at how many direct ancestors do you know in each generation where you know a first and last name OR at least a first name AND that you have some documentation to go with that linking generation to generation.

My Genealogy Numbers Form

This is the third year I have counted "My Genealogy Numbers." You can find my 2014 numbers and 2015 numbers at their respective posts.

The reality is that very, very few -- if any of us -- will have all 100% results all the way back through the generations. Natural disasters, people, and a simple lack of recording information have a way of keeping us from the answers we seek. But still we try.

So have I learned anything or found any new direct ancestors since last year? Yes.

Among my 7th great grandparents in the tenth generation I decided one grandmother did not meet my proof requirement so I decided to remove her from my tally causing my percentage to fall a little. I did however add four more 9th great grandparents; two more 10th great grandparents; and three more 11th great grandparents. I also have two 12th great grandparents now!

Looking back, research in 2015 did not go too bad even if I did not have as much time to spend researching. One thing that helped me last year was the New England Historic Genealogical Society giving free access on its AmericanAncestors.org website to a few databases that are not part of the normal society membership. That got me researching further back on some lines that I had not gotten to yet. The addition of more digitized wills and probates at FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com websites also helped.

My Genealogy Numbers at the Start of 2016.

So how did I do this year with my Genealogy Numbers?

Most of my numbers went up in the more distant generations. So "My Overall Identified Ancestors Total and Overall Percentage" now stands at 229 and .70% going back to my fifteenth generation or 12th great grandparents level. Most others have been comparing their numbers at the 10th generation level and in that case my numbers went down slightly -- 193 ancestors out of 1023 total or 18.87%. (That one 7th great grandmother I removed.)

I made the form I use is in Microsoft Word and it will automatically calculate the percentages with a right-click of the mouse. You can find my form and learn how to count your genealogy numbers on my 2014 Genealogy Numbers post.

So if the genealogy angels/fairies are still reading I have a few more requests in regards to my research ... like a few third great grandparents I would really like to learn more about including their lineage. That would really help my numbers.


©2016, goneresearching. All text and photos in this post are copyrighted & owned by me (goneresearching) unless indicated otherwise. No republication (commercial or non-commercial) without prior permission. You may share (tell others) of this blog as long as you give credit and link to this site (not by downloading or copying any post). Thank you.

Intriguing DNA Match May Be First Lead Regarding Anne Rider Hazzard ... Maybe

An Intriguing DNA Match ... Maybe

It has been way too long since I have been able to post anything here. Life's commitments elsewhere shrunk my genealogy time which was often spent on genealogy group things not my own. Resolutions don't appear to work for me so I'm just going to try harder at the things I want to do.

After spending four days upgrading a family member's laptop from Vista to Windows 7, I decided I had earned some goof off time. While reviewing our DNA matches the other week an intriguing match gave me an excuse to follow a bright shiny object to see where it might lead. It may or may not pay off later.

I say bright shiny object because normally with a DNA match I do more diligent work DNA-wise before diving into the genealogy when I don't see a common ancestor in the match's attached tree or a known person also in my tree. But in this case it was too intriguing to just simply note the possibility and revisit it later.

Back in the 1990s we were stuck on one of Dad's third great grandfathers. Eventually we learned Seneca Rider, who was living in Madoc Township, Hastings, Ontario, Canada, in the mid 1800s, was from Albany County, New York, but we could not find any clues to his parents. On a visit to the Archives of Ontario we finally found a Rider family connection but still had no idea which Rider son was Seneca's father. There were a handful to choose from and about half were not researched by anyone. I had a gut feeling about one Rider son but "gut feelings" don't really count as proof. It took few more years and a visit to the Albany County Hall of Records and the Surrogate's Office to find a will with the answers ... and more questions, of course.

From the will we learned Seneca's parents were Samuel Rider and his "wife" (there's the first new question) and he had siblings Anne Rider, Joel Rider and David Rider. Researching Joel and David was easy; most done that night in the hotel via internet. Researching Samuel had its ups and downs. We are still no where with determining who was Seneca's mother -- we don't even have a first name! The only other thing we learned about Anne (our second new question) came from Joel's probate administration in 1856 ... "children of Ann Hazzard (supposed to be dead) also next of Kin." The 1911 fire in Albany destroyed or water damaged a lot of historical records including probate records thus the loose papers for both Samuel and Joel's probates do not exist.

So the grand total of what we know about Anne Rider Hazzard is: born sometime prior to 1790 in Dutchess County, New York; her husband was a Hazzard whose first name is unknown to us; she had children whose names and sex are unknown; her place of residence is unknown to us; and she was possibly deceased before 1856. This grand total of knowledge has not changed since it was learned.

We usually keep an eye out for our various surnames while researching because you never know what scrap of information might help in the future. So throughout the years I have investigated possibilities for Anne, primarily in New York, but nothing had panned out to be our Anne. One interesting fact we've always been aware of is that grandpa Seneca is buried in Hazzard's Corners Cemetery in Madoc Township. We had wondered could it be a relation but peaking around that Hazzard family did not pan out any clues at the time either. (This was mostly done in the beginning days of genealogy on the internet.)

So if you got a DNA match to a Hazzard or should I say the "Joseph Hazzard" of Hazzard's Corners wouldn't you chase the "bright shiny object" too? Just in case.

I started with the Ontario census to refresh my memory of Joseph Hazzard, his wife Elsy Lloyd and his family. By his birth year 1797 and birth place United States (mostly) he could be a candidate for being a child of my "aunt" Anne Rider Hazzard.

Next came a review of online trees. I don't trust the vast majority of online trees to be correct but reviewing what is out there should be done to be thorough. After playing around with the search parameters for just a tree search at Ancestry.com, I determined that I saw the most "appropriate" trees using:  Joseph with exact checked; Hazzard; 1797 birth year exact; spouse of last name Lloyd. This returned 43 public trees and 14 private trees. Of the 43, four results had a different wife; 26 had the right wife but no parents; and 13 had the right wife but gave him parents Rowland Hazzard (born Rhode Island and died Dutchess Co., NY) and Mary Pease/Peace. Though I was a little concerned by these parents I continued on knowing there are a lot of errors in online trees. In this case the majority of trees did not have parents listed. Of the 14 private trees, all I could see was they matched the search parameters Joseph Hazzard born 1797.

I then moved onto Ontario Vital Records and Michigan Vital Records where most of the trees indicated some of his children lived. My main focus was on death and marriage records for the information provided regarding the birth places of Joseph and wife Elsy's children and the birth location of Joseph provided either by a child when marrying or the child's informant upon death.

Joseph Hazzard appears to have gotten away without a death certificate/record of his own. Though that was disappointing it likely would not have answered the question of his parents since it was not always asked for the certificates. From these various vital records Joseph's children birth places varied: Fredericksburg, Addington, Madoc, and the generic Canada. From these various vital records Joseph's birth place was given as: New York, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.

Since no one could agree on an answer for Joseph's birth I then looked at this from another angle: who was this Rowland Hazzard? Taking a closer look I saw he died in Dutchess County, New York, and left a will. Much of his property mentioned was in other states. He did have a son Joseph but there was no indication from the will of where Joseph was residing. So then I sought out any published genealogies on the Hazzard family.

That brought me to the Internet Archive and the digitized version of "The Hazzard Family of Rhode Island 1635-1894" by Caroline E. Robinson. On pages 77 and 78 Rowland Hazard and wife Mary Peace are detailed showing their connection to Rhode Island and that Rowland died in Dutchess County, New York. Their son Joseph is described as Joseph Peace Hazard born 17 Feb. 1807 in Burlington, New Jersey, and that the family removed to Bristol, Pennsylvania, afterwards. The author also states that their son Joseph Peace Hazard toured Europe in 1856 and that he spent much time abroad until 1879. Joseph Peace Hazard's death is noted as being at the residence of his brother Rowland G. Hazard in Peacedale, Rhode Island.

Based on dates and locations, it is pretty clear the Joseph Hazzard of Madoc, Hastings, Ontario, Canada, is not the son of Rowland Hazard and Mary Peace. A check of original records would further confirm this.

Published genealogies are derivative sources and vary greatly in quality even when they do include sources. When you use them always realize that you still have to do your genealogy work and look at original records or images of those original records like microfilm and digital images.

Having eliminated the "Are Rowland and Mary his parents?" question I turned back to Joseph Hazard and locating earlier documents or signs of earlier documents. The early 1800s for what was Upper Canada now Ontario is a sort of "black hole" for genealogists. For what little is available, much of it is not online though some has been indexed/abstracted/transcribed and published.

The children's birth places though varied gave indication of where Joseph and Elsy were prior to residing in Madoc. So my search began there with websites focusing on Hastings County, Lennox and Addington County, Prince Edward County and The Bay of Quinte. Very little information was found though I did learn he owned land in Thurlow Township, Hastings, Ontario, from about 1822 to 1823. I did see that there is another Hazzard family that was Friends (Quaker) in Prince Edward County but there appears to be no connection between the two families. Also, a "Jacob Hazzard" is mentioned as among the first settlers of Madoc Township, The name (no other details) appears in the same list of people mentioned in two books. As of right now a search (primarily internet) of any possible parents of Joseph has come up with no solid leads.

Then I turned to a newer online resource that takes a little getting used to how to work with it. At the Library and Archives of Canada (LAC) website under Genealogy and Family History are a variety of databases and digitized microfilm of original documents. Under the Land category are several databases including the Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865. Now a lot of genealogists hear land petition in Canada and think United Empire Loyalist but these petitions do not just cover loyalists or the sons and daughters of loyalists. There were a variety of regulations over the years so these petitions not only include loyalist related petitions but also petitions of military and civilian settlers.

I have used this land petitions database before and found much success with it but Hazzard was not a surname I had checked before. A check Upper Canada Land Petitions Search Engine for Hazzard produced just two results: one for a Joseph Hazzard with the place Thurlow and one for a Elsy Hazzard/Lloyd with the place Madoc. A check for Hazard produced four results: a Thomas Hazard of King; Henry Hazard of Sherington and two for Lot Hazard of Murray. (No connection between the Joseph Hazzard I seek and these last three Hazard men has been found as of yet.)

For many of the digitized collections at LAC, the one thing to note is that the search database is separate from the digitized images. So rather than clicking a link in the results table you have to use information in the results table to manually locate (aka browse) for the images on another webpage containing the digitized microfilm rolls. I find it easier to use the archived pages of the Upper Canada Land Petitions microfilm then getting the similar page to come up on the new LAC website.

What did the petition of Joseph Hazzard -- yes, it is our guy -- say? The petition for Joseph Hazzard was enlightening but did not fully answer the question of his parents identity.

Library & Archives Canada

digital film# c-2045, image 00471
135
To His Honors
Samuel Smith Esquire Administrator administering the Government of the Province of Upper Canada and ___ and ___ and ___ In Council

The Petition of Joseph Hazzard now of the Township of Thurlow, yeoman, Humbly Showeth,
That Your Petitioner was born in the State of the New York, that he has resided in this Province about twenty three years, that his Father is dead, that is Mother is alive, that he is the only son now alive of their issue, that he had a Brother who served in the Glengarry Fencibles, that the said Brother was Killed in action with the Enemy at Fort George on the 27th of May 1813, that your Petitioner obtained a certificate from L.Colonel Battersby who commanded that Regiment which stated that your Petitioner's Brother was killed as above stated, that your Petitioner applied to Sir F. P. Robinson to obtain the Land to which his Brother would have been entitled had he survived the War, that Sir F. P. Robinson promised to send the said Certificate to York

digital film# c-2045, image 00471

135a

Library & Archives Canada

that he has not since seen the said certificate nor can he learn where it is, that he is now desirous of obtaining an order for one hundred acres of land to be located in the name of his deceased Brother James Hazzard, which may be hereafter claimed by his Heirs, that your Petitioner has taken the Oath of Allegiance required by law and has never received any land or order for land from the Crown.

Wherefore your Petitioner prays that your Honor will be please to order to have located one hundred acres of land in the name of his deceased Brother to be claimed by his heirs.

As Petitioner will ever pray

Joseph Hazzard

York

27th March 1820

Library & Archives Canada

digital film# c-2045, image 00471

135b

[center fold]

H 13 no. 135

The Petition of Joseph Hazzard for Land in the name of his deceased Brother

[?]

Entered in Land Book [?] Office page 474

29th Oct. 1823

The Surveyor General is requested to report here the information of the Honorable Executive Council By Command

[hard to read signature]

It does not appear that the Petitioner's Brother James Hazzard ever received any land.

[left fold]

5 Nov. 1823

recommended for 100 acres

Recommended that on Location of 100 acres be made to be claimed before the commission to ascertain the title to land by the Heir of James Hazzard a deceased soldier J.B. P.[?].

Order issued 10th Nov. 1823

[right fold]

Land as a soldier of the late Glengarry Fencibles

Thos. Ridout

S. Gene. [not sure if signature or title]

Sgd.[?] 29 Oct 1823

Another Petitioner for [?] of [?]

He did not Survive the War

Upper Canada Land Petitions, 1783-1865, database index and images. Library and Archives of Canada website citing Upper Canada Land Petitions, "H" Bundle 13, 1821-1823 (RG 1, L3, vol. 230(a)), microfilm c-2045, digital images 00471-00473
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-119.02-e.php?q3=2470&sqn=471&tt=950&q2=29&interval=&PHPSESSID=477mhpge8jbjrb0h0he82d0101

So from this document with Joseph Hazzard's signature dated 27 March 1820 we learn in this own words that Joseph Hazzard was born in the state of New York; his father is dead by 1820; his mother is alive as of 1820; he had one brother James Hazzard who died in the War of 1812; and that Joseph was brought to Upper Canada 23 years prior or sometime shortly after his birth in 1797.

This provides further proof that Joseph Hazzard who resided and died in Madoc Township, Hastings, Ontario, was not a son of Rowland Hazzard who died in 1835. It does not prove any relationship to my Anne Rider Hazzard but it does not rule out a relationship either. I sincerely hope that no one runs out and puts Anne Rider as the mother of this Joseph Hazzard after reading this post. We have not found proof of his parents yet. We have just found clues to direct our search. (You can, however, remove Rowland and Mary as his parents.)

From Elsy Lloyd Hazzard's land petition dated 15 October 1834 we learn that she is the daughter of George Henry Lloyd late of the township of Fredericksburgh of Midland District a U.S. Loyalist; she is married; is requesting 200 acres of land as a daughter of a Loyalist; that James Nelson Lloyd (no relationship stated) made oath that Elsy was who she said she is; that Elsy was living in Madoc Township by 1834; her father is deceased; and that both Elsy Hazzard and James Lloyd could not write their names. Joseph, Elsy's husband, is not specifically mentioned in this petition. By the way, Elsy Lloyd Hazzard's first name has be found spelled Elcy, Elcey and Elsie in various documents. I have used Elsy the earliest spelling which appears in her land petition.

From here I investigated what I could regarding Joseph's brother James Hazzard for any possible leads to their parents. I was able to confirm his military service which had the notation of first being thought a prisoner of war and then acknowledged as deceased. Nothing further can be learned at this point because the regiment's records are located in London, England. There is a book on the regiment which was added to my Research To Do List for when I get to a library that has it in its holdings. (None are close by to me.) I hope it can provide further information about James Hazzard.

So where do I go from here?

Well, if I want to continue to pursue this lead I will need to add to my Research To Do List any published books for the areas and time frames I am dealing with that look like they might have potential. I am most likely to find these books at larger libraries like a state library/archive or a destination library like the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I will need to review any photocopies from resources that I have already looked at to see if I have any previous notes that now might make sense. I will also need to look at land and probate records starting with the abstract indexes for Hastings County and Lennox And Addington County in Ontario. These land and probate records are on microfilm and can be rented from the familysearch.org website to view at a local Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ Church. (You don't have to be Mormon to use a Family History Center.)

But I also have work to do DNA-wise. This match only appears on one of three possible tests I manage. I would be more confident of the match had it appeared on at least two of our tests. But the match appears at both AncestryDNA and Family Tree DNA and it is a closer match than it should be -- possibly due to endogamy though I still have to rule out that it is just by chance.

What ever happens it was a nice diversion to "goof off" and knock the dust off my genealogy searching.

©2016, goneresearching. All text and photos in this post are copyrighted & owned by me (goneresearching) unless indicated otherwise. No republication (commercial or non-commercial) without prior permission. You may share (tell others) of this blog as long as you give credit and link to this site (not by downloading or copying any post). Thank you.