Euphanny/Uphanny/Fanny Pilcher of North Carolina

This morning I consulted another paper written by Thad G. Long Oct 1984, that is well documented about the Pilchers.  While he focuses on the line of William III he includes, as part of the exhaustive search, information about other Pilchers to support his theories.  He references Euphany Pilcher on page 44.  The land grant which I discovered was registered in the Screven County Land Book A and is dated 1803. The land grant document that ordered the survey is dated 1794 so she was actually in that county earlier.  Thad theorizes that because she got two draws in the 1805 land lottery and she qualified for 350 acres of land in her land grant she must have been a widow with at least three children.  He references several records in Onslow County North Carolina deed books in which she witnessed transactions with Edward Pilcher. She apparently moved to Georgia following her husband's death.  It is unknown to me at this point who her children were or who the parents of Edward were.

Euphany wife of William Pilcher?

This morning I was going through some unfiled papers in envelopes that had been sent to me.  One was a large envelope from a fellow researcher in Georgia.  In this envelope was a History of the Pilcher Family as compiled by a descendant in Georgia.  This descendant did a lot of work on the family in the 1970s.  I have had contact with him a couple of times as have others.  It seems to be valid and he has some good information, unfortunately, there was a time when genealogists were not in the practice of sourcing their work which makes it difficult for others now to go back and verify the information quickly.  As I began to read this 8 page document of his line on page 6 I found a paragraph regarding William Pilcher II who had served in the Revolutionary War on the American side.  He lists the name of three sons, Lewis, Reese and William III and that he died in Warren County in 1800.  I believe that either Lewis or William III is the father of my Reason Pilcher.  William Jr's estate, however, was probated on October 6, 1805.  This document states that "His property was distributed equally among his sons and wife, Euphany." Call it serendipity if you will but I call it being led to this document by no coincidence.  I will need to further look at records in Warren County and see if I can figure out when they arrived and where they came from. And why is there a headright issued in her name in 1793 in Screven County? This could have been Bounty land and perhaps he was actually deceased at that time and not 1800.  Next step order the will and see if there is a description of properties.

Is Euphany Pilcher a woman?

I have as yet been able to locate any more information about Euphany Pilcher.  I googled the first name last night and all of the hits that came up were women.  If Euphany Pilcher is a woman that would explain why I can't find her in any other documents.  During the time frame being discussed most records that are created are in the name of men.  I think it would be highly unusual for a woman to be granted headrights though.  I will be looking more in to land records and what the laws were like in this area at this time. I am also going to email the instructor of my classes that I took at MPC.

Who is Euphany Pilcher?

I have been researching the Pilcher family for over 18 years...looking for the father of Reason Pilcher who was born in Georgia about 1790. Last night I was looking at Georgia Headright and Bounty Land Records on FamilySearch.org.  There were a few Pilchers I was familiar with, Edward 1810, James 1837 and Stephen 1798; but then there was Euphany Pilcher 1794.  This is a new name to me.  He received a headright of 350 acres.  Men were granted 200 acres for them selves and then an additional 50 acres for each additional person.  This could include slaves.  So we know that he had three additional family members. Where they a spouse and children? Were they all slaves? Or were they a combination of both?
Unfortunately, the census from 1790 - 1810 for Georgia has been lost.  So I can't locate him on a census. A search of Ancestry.com brings me nothing.
I did find on the Georgia Digital Archives site copies of the survey documents that show the location of the property that was surveyed. The documents at Familysearch and at the Digital Archives state that his land is adjoined by that owned by Mathew Paramore and the other sides are vacant. There is a water way called Archers Branch "near Ogeehee" that crosses through the property.
In 1796 Bulloch County was formed from part of Screven. Neither county seems to have any record of Euphany. Once I can figure out exactly where in the county this property was located then I will know if his property ended up in Bulloch County or not. A historical map from this time would be helpful but so far I have not located a good one that shows this "branch". I believe my next step will be to order a microfilm of land records to see if I can find a transfer out of his name. 

Schmidt/Smith family

The family I'm learning more about today is the descendants of Frederick Schmidt/Smith and Mary Ann McKenny/McNeil. Their daughter Francis Anastasia "Fanny" Smith was my great grandmother.  She married George Gee in Yuba County, CA in 1890.  She was the youngest of six children.  When Frederick died here in Marysville in 1880 the family lived in the same block where Grandpa George later built a house. Everyone but the oldest daughter Clara and Fanny moved to San Francisco.  Fanny's sister, Betty also lived here for a while.  I haven't yet learned if she left and came back or she had stayed.
When Frederick died some of the children were still minors.  Clara was 27, Mary was 22, Leonard was 19, Betty was 15, Jack was 14 and Fanny was 7. 
Last night right before I logged off my computer I discovered the World War I Draft Registration of Frederick and Mary Ann's grandson Chester Francis Gorman. Chester was the son of Betty. This discovery has renewed my interest in the family who I don't know much about.  George and Fanny's son Glenn Ernest Gee (my grandfather's brother) had done some research on this family back in the 50s.  He has listed Mary as Philomena Mary Schmidt/Smith but the 1870 and 1880 census list her as Augustina and an entry in the History of Sutter County Ca 1879 lists her as Agnes A. The records left behind by Uncle Ernie state that he did research at the Catholic Records Center in Kentucky but I have not been able to locate that repository so I don't know where he got the name of Philomena Mary from.
All of the children of Frederick and Mary Ann only had 2 or three children.  Those grandchildren only had 2 or three children.
Today using City Directories and the 1940 Census I will hopefully get closer to find cousins who can tell me more about the family.

Saving Data to CD/DVD

The Redding, California Family History Center held a Seminar yesterday.  For a small area they had a very good turn out, 250 attendees.  The sessions were well planned with some of them repeating and the instructors of the sessions I attended were knowledgeable in their field.  Probably the best session for me of the day was one on Digital Genealogy.  I am pretty experienced about taking digital pictures of documents and saving them.  The most significant thing I learned is the fact that when you burn a CD or DVD the data is stored on a thin magnetic film on the TOP of the disc.  If you write on it with a Sharpie or Marks A Lot that has just destroyed data in that spot. The instructor showed us a photo of a disc that he had placed a Post It on and when he removed the Post It, it peeled away a part of that magnetic film. From the bottom side you can see the difference in color to see where the data is written.  If you must write on the top of the disc with one of these pens you should write over that area where no data has been written.  The disc burns from the inside out.  It is now possible to obtain pens that are designed for writing on these discs.

Inspired by Ancestors

As you might guess family is very important to me.  My ancestors inspire me as I read of the challenges that they had in their lives.  Because I know what they have endured and succeeded, I know I can too.  I get a positive quote every day in my email.  Today's quote had with it a plug for a book they are selling and it made me think of the ancestors that I have researched both in my family and my husband's. It said maybe one of these stories would inspire someone who is having a difficult time right now.  It includes Earl Stafford's story - a failed entrepreneur who had run out of money to support his family; Tina Turner, who was abused by her husband and had to start over, both personally and professionally;  J.K Rowling, when she was divorced and on the dole; and Vince Lombardi when he was told he had no future in coaching and should try something else.  These are all people who most of us have heard of and who have had great success. Perhaps had they not been put in a position where they had to try something else, they would never have found that one thing that made them successful.

Family History Seminars

I attended a Family History Seminar sponsored by the Commodore Sloat Chapter of the NSDAR in Seaside, CA this weekend. The key note address was by Claire V. Brisson-Banks who was a very good speaker. The subject was Social Media and how the use of it can foster World Wide Collaboration on our family research. She talked about her own blogs and how she uses it to share information about her research with her family. She write specific articles about individual family members and adds a photo of the person. I think this is a great idea. I learned that I have been under utilizing all of the social media that I am active on. There were some great ideas for expanding this specifically in other countries where I have family roots. Today I plan to start making some changes in the direction of broadening my activity.
My most active line at this time is my husband's Morgan line that arrived in Oswego, NY in the early 1830s. I have recently been "found" by a descendant of one of the siblings of my husband's second great grandfather, Joseph W. Morgan. We are both very excited about our meeting and looking forward to collaborating on the expansion of what we both know about this family.