Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Mary and Albert Webster ~ Why did they die only weeks apart?

While researching my maternal 2nd great-grandfather, Ebenezer Perry Carlisle Webster, on Ancestry.com, I found something that really struck me. I was looking at the LifeStory feature for Ebenezer, and found the following entries. (LifeStory is basically a narrative of an ancestor's life in a timeline format.)



Within about 2 weeks time, Ebenezer lost both his daughter, Mary Alice, and his younger brother, Albert.

Mary Alice passed away when she was only 2-1/2 years of age on 8 March 1862. Albert passed away when he was only 3 years of age on 22 February 1862.

Albert Gallitan Byers Webster was the son of my 3rd great-grandparents, Moses Augustine Webster and Amanda Melvina Carlisle.

Mary Alice the eldest child born to Ebenezer Perry Carlisle Webster and Cynthia Maria Waterman. Cynthia was expecting their second child when Mary passed away. In October of that same year, she gave birth to their second child, a little girl they named Lura Elizabeth.

Albert was the seventh of eight children born to Moses and Amanda. Unfortunately, Albert was not their only child who passed away at young ages. Only four of their eight children reached adulthood. I've written about two of these children in previous posts: Wednesday's Child ~ Remembering Asbury and Wednesday's Child ~ Remembering Fred Lincoln Webster, Asbury's Brother. I still need to write about Mary Irene Webster, who passed away when she was almost three years old.

Albert and Mary passed away only two weeks and one day apart. They both lived with their families in Winnebago, Illinois. I wonder what happened. Why did each of them die? Was there an outbreak of some kind of illness in the community or was there an illness isolated to these two families? Hopefully I will be able to find out the causes of death for Mary and Albert in the future.

It's so beneficial to use timelines when researching ancestors. These tools can provide a more complete and richer context about their lives. Thank you Ancestry.com for your LifeStory feature on your website!

Note: A comment brought to my attention that the timeline may be a bit confusing. Under both dates in the round circles on the left side it says "AGE 23" which refers to Ebenezer's age at the time his daughter and brother passed away.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

Monday, October 10, 2016

Family History Library Begins Construction of New Discovery Center

 Family History Library Begins Construction of New Discovery Center

Salt Lake City, Utah (October 10, 2016)--The popular Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City has begun construction on its new Family History Discovery Center. When complete, the main floor attraction will create family history experiences for patrons of all ages. The project is on a fast track to be completed in February 2017. Admission will be free to the public.

"We have been excited for quite some time to start construction on the new discovery cehttps://us.vocuspr.com/Publish/3313993/vcsPRAsset_3313993_85185_d1ccf377-e7ff-41e8-906c-540751a0550b_0.jpgnter," said Tamra Stansfield, manager of the Family History Library. "Our guests, particularly those who are completely new to family history, will be able to enjoy fun, personal discoveries through interactive technological experiences with their family's history."

Stansfield said the new center will make the library another unique and exciting destination for locals, families, and youth groups, as well as for tourists of all ages visiting Utah or Temple Square from around the world.

The Family History Library is the flagship facility in a network of over 4,900 family history centers worldwide managed by FamilySearch International, a nonprofit subsidiary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The fun, engaging activities designed for the discovery center are part of an organizational effort to introduce more people to the many fun facets of personal and family discovery.

FamilySearch is learning that if individuals and families have fun, personalized, quick successes and experiences with their family’s history, they will continue to be more involved at different levels throughout their lives. It also deepens appreciation for family connections across multiple generations.

The new discovery center will create a fun environment for families to discuss their family history together in inviting, unexpected ways. Youth particularly will enjoy the life-size touch-screen computer monitors for some of the interactive stations. In addition, there will be an enclosed space for parents with smaller children that will allow them to explore their family history while also being able to observe their children play.

A fun green-screen feature will let guests choose from a variety of themed backgrounds to create a lasting photo memory of their visit to the discovery center.

The new transformations are designed to offer unique interactive and immersive discovery experiences for visitors of all ages while still offering the vast collections and expertise the library is known for among family history enthusiasts and researchers.

When the new discovery center opens, "We expect to find the next generation of dedicated family historians at play in our library," said Stansfield.

Many of the interactive features in the new discovery center will use a patron's family history in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree to create custom learning experiences at a variety of stations. Stansfield suggests individuals and families take the time now during construction to create a free account at FamilySearch.org from home and begin building their family tree, adding favorite family stories and photos together. A developed family tree will enhance their experience when the discovery center opens in 2017.

The Family History Library's staff and other typical services and historic record collections will continue to be accessible during the construction of the discovery center.

The prototype discovery center currently located in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City will be closed to the public once the new center is opened in 2017 but will continue to operate as a FamilySearch development lab, where future experiences can be created and tested. A smaller discovery center was opened earlier this year in Seattle, Washington.

If you would like to follow the new center's construction progress, a time-lapse camera link is available online here.

Find this news release and more artist's renderings of the new discovery center online here.

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About FamilySearch


FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,921 family history centers in 129 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Friday, October 7, 2016

Fab Finds on Hiatus


Just a quick post to let you know that my weekly Fab Finds posts will be on hiatus until further notice.

In a previous post I shared the news that we bought a new house and are in the process of selling our current home. I am happy to tell you that we have received an offer on our current home and it is now in escrow!

Escrow closes a month from today and our new home is scheduled to be completed at the end of January 2017, which means we will be moving twice. We will be moving into our temporary rental home by the end of October.

As you can imagine, we have a lot going on around here including packing for our move. Hopefully things will settle down a bit once we move into our rental home and then I will be able to get back to my usual blogging schedule.

Thank you for your patience!

Jana

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

Monday, October 3, 2016

Little Family Tree, A Genealogy App for Children, Now FREE to Download


Little Family Tree, A Genealogy App for Children, Now FREE to Download

Herriman, Utah, October 1, 2016

Yellow Fork Technologies LLC has just released a major update to their app, Little Family Tree, making it FREE to download through the mobile app stores. Little Family Tree is an app that teaches children about their family history through interactive games and activities with information obtained from an online family tree.

Today's children intuitively understand how to use touch devices such as smartphones and tablets. Little Family Tree brings a child's personal family history to them through this learning medium and shares it in a way that is accessible to them. An adult logs into an online family tree account, such as FamilySearch, and the app synchronizes the data while children play. There is no need to manually upload or enter family history data into the app and any changes made or photos added to the online tree will synchronize with the app. The app is read-only and does not change the data on the online tree.

Playing Little Family Tree teaches children to: identify family members by name, relationship, and picture, understand who and where they come from, and recognize and navigate a family tree, all in a fun and engaging way. Most importantly, they will feel a connection to their ancestors as they learn about them.

Little Family Tree is available for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets and may be downloaded directly from the app stores. The FREE version includes five games; five additional games are available in the premium version for $3.99 in the U.S., priced accordingly in other regions. More information, videos, and tutorials can be found on the website at http://www.littlefamilytree.com.


About Yellow Fork Technologies LLC:

Little Family Tree is the inaugural product of Yellow Fork Technologies, LLC, of Utah. Yellow Fork Technologies, LLC was founded in 2015 with the key mission to make family history more accessible and engaging through technology. http://www.yellowforktech.com

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