RootsTech 3 Days of Great Education

I just spent 3 days at a conference of 4,000+ genealogy enthusiasts and developers.  I was there as a student to see, learn and try out some of the new technology that is coming in this field.  This is also a wonderful place to get help on data programs that are giving you fits and you want face to face help.  I hit up the folks at Ancestry.com booth about sourcing and media attachment and got a really knowledgeable woman who spent 45 min with my friend and I helping us get comfortable with just those two functions.  I also got personal help from the head developer of a program I use called Family Insite.  I had up graded to Lion on Jan 1 and knew that there might be trouble with that particular program and there was.  However, I knew that I would be going to this conference and these developer folks are always kind about giving service for their patrons.  He looked it over on my laptop, gave me some suggestions and twenty mins later I was up and running.

The opening keynote and several others are on line for free at the following address

RootsTech 2012

The opening address  "Inventing the Future, as a Community" is worth a look and is definitely entertaining.  Take a look and let me know what you think.  Comments are welcome and desired.
Have a great weekend.

Kathleen

William Ware The Final One

William Ware

Born; 7 Apr 1864 Cave Spring, Floyd County GA

            Parents are; William Ware (1828-1865) and Martha Gee Ford (1833-1900)

He was one year old when his father died and  just over two when his mother married again to John Jetter Miller.  He had 3 younger Miller half siblings  Minnie Gee Miller, Cora Lillie Miller,  Adella Jetter Miller and  5 older Ware siblings; Martha Ophelia, George Harrison, Homer Cicero, Sarah Emma Ware.  Mr. Miller brought 3 other children to the marriage, Franklin Miller (1860) and Ella Miller (1864) children of his and his 1st wife, Nancy Ann Lumkin.  Also a child of Nancy Ann and her 1^st husband, John M. Loveless;  Julia Loveless.   I can only imagine how difficult that house must have been.  This was probably not terribly unusual for the period after the Civil War.

  By 1870 there were only 3 Ware children left living with Martha and the Millers, Mary Elizabeth, Sarah Emma and William.  Martha Ophelia had married, George H. and Homer C. had gone off to Arkansas and/or Texas to live with family or friends.

By 1880 Mary Elizabeth has married and Emma and William are living with their Aunt and Uncle, Green and Jincy Ware Cunningham. 

By 1882 Emma has gone to Dallas Texas to live with her brother Homer C. and his wife Teresa and she would shortly marry Teresa’s brother Lemuel M. Rape (Nov 1884).   It must not have been too much later that William arrived in Dallas himself.  He probably lived with one of the young couples. 

 In the 1880 Dallas Co. Census the Henry Rape family and the Smith family are two doors away from each other.  What more natural thing than for a double brother and sister to be concerned about this young unmarried man so they probably introduced him to one of the daughters of this family, Minnie Lee Smith.  They married about 1892 according to the 1900 Census.

The census records for 1900, 1910 and 1920 list William as  “electrician”,  “electrician” “wiring houses” and  “proprietor” “light plant”.  In his wife’s obituary  it states, “After her marriage, she went to Corsicana and later to McKinney, where she remained for nearly 30 years. Her husband owned an electric power plant at McKinney and later owned one at Wills Point for many years. In 1924 they came to Dallas, where her husband died in 1926 and where she lived until her death “ in 1938.

  My great Grandmother, Emma Ware Rape Cates had this picture with  “William Ware” and the date Sept 13 1926 on it.  We searched for many years looking for him and looked at the couple William and Minnie many times but had nothing to tie them together then one evening I found on Find a Grave “Mrs. William Ware” and her obituary.  It just felt that I had the right woman.   I wrote asking if this was the William born in Georgia.  By the next evening  a kind person (Mel Hammer) had photographed the tombstone and all the dates matched.  We had found William!

 

So thanks to Rosemarie for putting the information on at Find a Grave

To Mel Hammer for the photo of the tombstone

To  Tom Ware for  spurring me on  to keep looking

To Sarah Emma for the photo with the death date

And to my long suffering husband, Patrick for giving me time to spend at the computer.

Please feel free to leave a comment if you connect to this family.  We are still looking for descendants of the older sisters, Martha Ophelia who married Howell Cobb Barker and Mary Elizabeth who married Royal Baxter.  Both had children, and both died early.