Transcript of the last will and testament of Francis Adam Knapp

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Ann

Thanks to cousin Nancy again out in Colorado for sharing her transcript of our immigrant ancestor’s will, Franz (Francis) Adam Knapp.

In the name of the Benevolent Father of all

I Frances Adam Knapp of the township of Randolph County of Portage & State of Ohio do make and publish my last will & testament.

Item 1st It is my wish that all my just debts be paid out of the money due me on notes against my son John. And the expenses of my last sickness & funeral be paid out of the assets of the farm coming to me from my son John.

Item 2nd And I give & bequeath to my beloved wife in lieu of  ____  forty five dollars out of the money when collected on the one hundred & one dollar note I hold against my son John. Also all my share of the produce of the farm after paying my sickness & funeral expenses out of the same due me annually from my son John during his natural life together with all the household & kitchen furniture in the house including cooking stove.

And I give and bequeath to my son John all the personal property on the farm this ___award to him including ___ of all kinds farming tools & all that belongs to the farm including all the crops on the same reserving the one third of all after this years crops that is the same as 1845 which John has bound himself to pay for myself & his mothers support. I also give & bequeath to my Daughter Margaret Spillman five dollars to be paid out of the note last due I hold against my son John.

Item 3rd I give & bequeath to my 2nd daughter Elizabeth Kelly fifty dollars to be paid out of the money when due on a one hundred dollar note I hold against my son John. I also bequeath to my 3rd daughter Elizabeth fifty dollars to be paid out of the last mentioned notes I hold against my son John when it becomes due.

Item 4th I also bequeath to my 4th daughter Eve fifty dollars to be paid out of the last note due I hold against my son John.

Item 5th I do hereby nominate & appoint my beloved wife guardian of my daughter Elizabeth 2nd and my daughter Eve until they arrive at the age of eighteen years.

Item 6th I do nominate & appoint my beloved brother John A Knapp executor of my last will & testament.

I

I do hereby revoke all former will by me made.

In testimony where I have herewith set my hand & seal this fourteenth day of July Anno Domini Eighteen hundred & forty five.

Signed by us in his presence

E.P. Brainerd

Joseph Schroeder

Francis A. Knapp

Last Will & Testament

July 14, 1845

Will & Testimony filed

February 17, 1846

Horace B. Beebe Clerk

Recorded Book 1 of Wills

Page 356

The State of Ohio Portage County SS

We the undersigned do make solemn oath that we will truly honestly impartially appraise the estate and property that may be exhibited to us belonging to the estate of Francis Adam Knapp deceased and perform the other duties required by law of us in the premises according to the best of our knowledge and abilities.

E P Brainerd

Sworn to by E P Brainerd before me February 20, 1846

William Stedman J. Peace

Joseph Schroeder

George Horning

The above affidavit

sworn to and subscribed by Joseph Schroader & George Horning before me March 14, AD 1846

E P  Brainerd J Peace

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Franz Adam Knapp’s last will and testament

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Ann

Thanks to our cousin from Colorado, Nancy Knapp Shepard, I just posted a copy of the handwritten last will and testament of our immigrant ancestor, Franz Adam Knapp, onto the Document Gallery part of this blog.

Thanks for sharing, Nancy!

Nancy obtained this document from the Portage County Historical Society in Ravenna. She was kind enough to send me a digital copy so I could post it online.

The handwriting is tricky to read and you may have to enlarge the image or zoom in to read everything. I will try to get a typewritten transcript posted this weekend.

Some highlights of the document, though, include:

  • Here we see Franz has chosen to “Americanize” his first name, changing it from “Franz” to “Francis.” I have seen that before in the Federal Census as well. Given the way immigrants were (and still are viewed today by some Americans) it is understandable that he would use the English version of the German name.
  • The will is handwritten, but I doubt that Franz Adam wrote it himself. It was probably written by a lawyer and signed by Franz Adam.
  • Franz Adam names his brother, John Adam Knapp, as the executor of his estate.
  • His wife, Eva Elizabeth Jost/Joest Knapp, received all of the household/kitchen goods and furniture on the farm, including the cooking stove. She was also received the sum of $45.
  • Apparently, Franz’s son, John Knapp, had borrowed money from his father.  The will mentions a $101 note. It doesn’t mention why John borrowed the money. But Franz left his son saddled with paying all the expenses from his last illness, paying everything that was left to the rest of the family from the note’s balance, plus settle up any final accounts for his father’s estate! Now, if you do the math, that exceeds the $101 note amount mentioned in the will. So I am a little puzzled by that.  If anyone in the family knows anything about this, please send us a note at KnappNotes and let us know.
  • John Knapp did receive the farm implements, tools, and a share of the farm’s crops. However, the will did not specifically mention who inherited the farm itself. At least, not that I could make out, bad handwriting and all…so if anyone knows more about that question, please post it as a comment or send me an email at KnappNotes.
  • Franz Adam Knapp’s daughters did not receive equal inheritances.  If the younger, unmarried daughters had received more, I would understand. Married women had husbands to take care of them – or so people thought back in that day. But there is a big disparity between what Margaret inherited versus what was left to her married sister, Elizabeth Kelly. Here is what the girls received:
    • Margaret Spillman received only $5! Did she make her father angry by marrying Joseph Spillman? Or was it the fact that she moved out west to Illinois that angered him? Interestingly, there are NO family names included in the names of Margaret’s children: no Johns (highly unusual for a Knapp), no Franz/Francis, no Adam, etc. All Margaret’s children have distinctly different names, like Olympia, Matilda, Charles, Amelia, Fredrick, etc.
    • Elizabeth Kelly received $50. Note: In the will, it is spelled “Kelly,” but I have seen it on other records spelled as “Kelley.” Elizabeth lived in Michigan – and she named one of her sons Francis A. Kelley – after her father, I assume. Apparently they were still on good terms.
    • Eve Knapp received $50. I didn’t know there was a daughter named Eve, so this was new information. I will have to track down what happened to her.
    • There are two daughters named Elizabeth mentioned. One is married to a man named Kelly/Kelley and the other one is an underage, still living at home daughter named Elizabeth Knapp. I thought there was only one Elizabeth in the family. Will have to do more research on this puzzle, too.

Anyway, if you wish to read the entire document, here is the link to page 1 of the handwritten version. Here is the link to page 2 of the will.

Or you can find it by selecting: Document Gallery >> Deaths and then scrolling to the bottom of the Document Gallery list of thumbnail images. Click on the image to the left to see a bigger version of it.

Check back later this week and I will try to write out the transcript for those of you who don’t want to decipher the handwriting on your own.

Also: perhaps I will have an opportunity to do some further research to answer some of the questions I have posed about the contents of the will.

As always, I invite any of you with information or comments to please share your insights with the rest of Clan Knapp. Comparing notes is always helpful.

Have a great week – and stay safe in all of this Ohio snow we’re getting!

Posted in Family History, Genealogy How To's | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Leaving a legacy of good health

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Ann

A lot of people wonder why genealogy holds such a fascination for me. Like many Americans, my interest in genealogy coincided with three events:
1. The birth of my son
2. The publication of Alex Haley’s book, Roots
3. My ex-father-in-law’s reluctant confession to me that he knew almost nothing about his own origins.

He couldn’t even tell me what country his family hailed from – and this made me sad. As a result, I decided to see what I could find out for him about his family tree. By the time Alex Haley’s book came out (along with the TV mini series), I was already hooked on genealogy.

I had a reason to think back on that this past week during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Many of you are probably not aware that one of the U.S. Surgeon General’s goals is to encourage Americans to take the time on Thanksgiving to complete a family medical history.

Why is a family medical history important? Well, that lesson was driven home to me this past month.

A few weeks ago, someone I know was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease. For those of you that don’t know what HD is, it’s a serious neurological disease for which there is no cure and there is little doctors can do to treat it.

HD is a genetic disease, meaning it is inherited. This disease is what killed Woody Guthrie, beloved American songwriter and singer – and the father of Arlo Guthrie, of Alice’s Restaurant fame.

You can read more about HD by clicking this link.

Now, needless to say, all of us were understandably saddened to learn about her diagnosis. But we were also shocked – since, as far as any of us or her family knew, there was no prior family history of the disease.

At least, no family history of HD that we were aware of…

But that’s the whole point of this blog post.

How many of us are truly aware of what lies hidden deep within our genes? Our genetic “inheritance” is just as much a part of our family’s “legacy” as the china cabinet Grandma left to you in her will or the fact that you have Aunt Sophie’s blue eyes.

Maybe more – because it can have a life-long impact on not only you, but your kids – and your grandkids and all of your descendants.

How can that be, you may ask?

Because there are a lot of health conditions that are either directly inherited (like Huntington’s Disease) -OR- that have a genetic component to them (like heart disease or diabetes).

In the case of HD, if you inherit even one copy of the mutated gene, then you will develop the disease. But in the case of other medical conditions (like heart disease), the future isn’t so clear-cut.

I heard a saying recently that is probably valid: “Genetics may load the gun, but the environment pulls the trigger.”

In other words, if my grandfather, all my uncles and my own father all died of massive heart attacks before the age of 60, then it would be a good idea for me (and my doctor) to be on the lookout for certain “markers” and “warnings” about my own health.

For example:

  • Do I have high blood pressure?
  • What is my cholesterol?
  • Am I at a healthy weight?
  • Do I exercise regularly?
  • How is my blood sugar?

My family medical history makes me more susceptible to coronary artery disease (CAD) – but it doesn’t guarantee that I, too, will develop CAD.

If I treat my high blood pressure, take medications and watch my diet to lower my cholesterol, exercise, eat healthy foods and watch for signs of diabetes – I may never develop CAD or have a heart attack.

However, information is power – but both I (and my doctor) must be aware of my possible vulnerability to any potential conditions that I may have inherited in order to take steps to protect my health.

That is why gathering information about your family’s medical history is so important.

And I’m not the only one to think so…read what the U.S. Surgeon General has to say below:

Health care professionals have known for a long time that common diseases – heart disease, cancer, and diabetes – and rare diseases – like hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia – can run in families. If one generation of a family has high blood pressure, it is not unusual for the next generation to have similarly high blood pressure. Tracing the illnesses suffered by your parents, grandparents, and other blood relatives can help your doctor predict the disorders to which you may be at risk and take action to keep you and your family healthy.

To help focus attention on the importance of family history, the Surgeon General, in cooperation with other agencies with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has launched a national public health campaign, called the Surgeon General’s Family History Initiative, to encourage all American families to learn more about their family health history.

Americans know that family history is important to health. A recent survey found that 96 percent of Americans believe that knowing their family history is important. Yet, the same survey found that only one-third of Americans have ever tried to gather and write down their family’s health history.

Because family health history is such a powerful screening tool, the Surgeon General has created a new computerized tool to help make it fun and easy for anyone to create a sophisticated portrait of their family’s health.

The revised version of the “My Family Health Portrait” tool is a Web-enabled program that runs on any computer that is connected to the Web and running an up-to-date version of any major Internet browser. The new version of the tool offers numerous advantages over previous versions, which had to be downloaded to the user’s computer.

The Web-based tool helps users organize family history information and then print it out for presentation to their family doctor. In addition, the tool helps users save their family history information to their own computer and even share family history information with other family members. Access the My Family Health Portrait Web tool to learn how to record your family’s health history.

Each year since 2004, the Surgeon General has declared Thanksgiving to be National Family History Day. Over the holiday or at other times when families gather, the Surgeon General encourages Americans to talk about, and to write down, the health problems that seem to run in their family. Learning about their family’s health history may help ensure a longer, healthier future together.

There are tips out on the site to help you get started, if you don’t know what questions to ask.

National Human Genome Research Institute Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and Genomic Healthcare Branch Chief William Gregory Feero, M.D., Ph.D. sit down for a conversation about the importance of learning your family history and recording it accurately.  Gathering the health history of your parents, grandparents and blood relatives and bringing it to your healthcare provider can help you determine your health risks and plan lifestyle changes to keep your family well.  To watch Family History: A Window on Your Health, visit the National Human Genome Research Institute Web site.

So don’t put it off – start having those crucial conversations with your family the next time you’re together again for another holiday. Don’t wait – start asking questions now.

Leave your family (and future generations) the enduring legacy of good health – record your family health history today!

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Just trying out my latest toy…

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Ann

I have had my eye on Apple’s iPad for quite some time, but I waited until some of the hype died down before I decided to get one.

So far, I am falling in love with this little gizmo!

It is so much easier to lug around to meetings than my planner or my laptop. The interface is fun to use and intuitive. There is a learning curve, like any other new piece of hardware or software, but it isn’t that bad.

And, as I have said many times before, it is much easier to go from a PC to a Mac than vice versa.

I can have everything at my fingertips, too, which I really like.

So far, other than the chunk of change I had to plunk down for this thing, I don’t see a downside. Maybe the convenience factor will let me post more often to this blog.

The only other downside is we are still waiting for FamilyTreemaker to develop an iPad version of their genealogy software.

[sigh]

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Ancestry acquires Footnote

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Ann

Just opened an email this morning from Footnote with a message about how they have agreed to be acquired by Ancestry.com.

I got this message because I have  a subscription to Footnote – as well as a subscription to Ancestry.com.

For those of you that don’t know what Footnote is, it is a membership site that has digital copies of documents available: U.S. Census, some old newspapers, some documents from the National Archives…quite a large number of items – too many to mention here.

I have been a subscriber to Ancestry.com since it’s inception. And I have watched my subscription price climb from a bargain $65 annual fee to a whopping $300 per year for full access. Granted, it is still a treasure trove of information. And the tools are handy and work well.

But the price makes it really difficult for a lot of researchers, especially those on a limited or a fixed income, to afford.

Footnote was much more reasonably priced (in the $50 annual fee range) and made access to documents more affordable.

So far I have resisted sharing my own genealogy information at Ancestry.com. I have very mixed feelings about that feature – I think it’s great if it can help others with their research and bring related individuals together. But someone else profiting from MY research bothers me.

At any rate, Ancestry.com is rapidly becoming the giant in this field and is swallowing up other sites through acquisitions. Naturally, this has caused some controversy and some hard feelings within the genealogical community.

Below is the text of the message I received about this latest acquisition. So all you Footnote subscribers out there – stay tuned for more news about how this acquisition will affect your membership.

Several weeks ago Footnote.com (as part of iArchives) agreed to be acquired by Ancestry.com and that transaction has officially closed today. As we join forces with Ancestry.com there is a huge opportunity to leverage each other’s strengths and move even faster toward our goals. You may be curious about how this deal effects members of Footnote.com? The plan is to continue to run Footnote.com the way we have always run Footnote.com — continuing to do what we believe is best for our customers, our business and our brand.

Now that the deal is officially closed we are excited to leverage some of Ancestry.com’s resources and expertise to take Footnote.com to the next level. It has been exciting to see Footnote.com grow over the past 4 years. Footnote.com started with only 5 million historical documents and today we have nearly 70 million searchable documents, over 1 million members, nearly 100,000 Footnote Pages, and over half million annotations added. We couldn’t have done it without our members and the great team at Footnote.com and we are excited for Ancestry.com’s support in the next chapter.

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Franz Adam Knapp’s Children

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Ann

I have spent some time lately trying to figure out what happened to all of Franz Adam Knapp’s children.

To review the facts: Franz Adam Knapp, our immigrant ancestor, married Eva Elizabeth Jost (I have seen it written Just and Jost with the two dots over the ‘o’ in the German fashion) on 10 Aug 1812 in Heppenheim, Starkenburg, Hesse, Germany.

The couple had four children:

  • Margaretha Knapp: born 5 May 1813 in Hesse, Germany. She died 7 Feb 1880 in Pekin, Tazewell County, Illinois. She married John Joseph Spillman in Ohio sometime before 1828 and the couple headed west sometime between 1840 and 1845 to settle in Pekin, Tazewell County, Illinois. John and Margaretha had ten children: Charles, Mary Louise, Amelia, Rosanna, Matilda, Olympia, Frederick Jacob, Fredericka M., Julia and Harriet Mignon Spillman.
  • John Adam Knapp: born 24 Oct 1815 in Hesse, Germany and died 5 Feb 1898 in Randolph, Portage, Ohio. He married Agnes Trares, daughter of Matthias Trares and Elizabeth Helmling sometime before 1842. The couple had eight children: John F. Knapp, Jr.; Peter Knapp; Margaret Knapp; Else Knapp; Barbara Knapp; Elizabeth Knapp; Lewis J. Knapp (father of John Lewis Knapp); and Charles Knapp.
  • Gerhard Knapp: born 11 Dec 1816 in Hesse Germany. This is the mystery man in this Knapp family. I have been searching for some time to find out what happened to Gerhard. Frankly, I didn’t know Gerhard existed until I saw him mentioned on a website. I haven’t confirmed that the information is correct through independent research yet – I am still looking for proof. So if anyone out there has any information on Gerhard, please drop me a note. I have a sneaking suspicion he may have died young, but I just don’t know at this point.
  • Elizabeth Knapp: born 15 Nov 1820 in Hesse, Germany. Married an Irishman named John P. Kelley (who was born in Ireland about 1815). John and Elizabeth were married in Ohio, but moved to Michigan sometime before 1844. Elizabeth and John had seven children: Joseph, Margaret, John, Francis A., Mary Jane, Charles and James Kelley. John died on 15 Jan 1870 and Elizabeth died 23 Dec 1894 in Prairieville, Barry County, Michigan.

Like many families during that time period, the lure of cheap land for sale in the west must have been too strong to ignore. Two of Franz Adam Knapp’s children left Ohio to seek their fortunes on what was then the frontier – Michigan and Illinois.

Only son John Adam Knapp remained in Portage County.

If any of the Spillmans from Illinois or Kelley’s from Michigan read this post, I invite you to comment on this blog and/or get in touch. It would be great if someone from the western branch of the extended Knapp clan could attend the 2011 Knapp Family Reunion.

Stay tuned for more family history information as the Knapp story unfolds!

Posted in Family History | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Cemetery ‘vandals’ threaten historical English cemetery

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Ann

OK, I thought I had heard it all – I was a reporter during one of my other “lives” – but this is a new one.

We’ve all heard about instances of cemetery vandalism – and been rightfully dismayed by the damage done to cemeteries and to tombstones, in particular. It has always seemed a particularly despicable thing to do –  to me, anyway.

Maybe it comes from growing up in a house that was right next door to a cemetery. Or perhaps because I have spent so much time haunting cemeteries doing genealogy research that they have a special place in my heart.

Whatever the reason, I get really ticked off when vandals destroy and deface the final resting place of someone’s relative or loved one.

In my humble opinion, the perpetrators deserve whatever the law decides to give them for their transgression.

But what do you do when the “vandals” wear fur — and walk on four legs, not two?

That’s the plight of a poor minister in England who has been patrolling his church’s cemetery looking for “stray” bones that have been disinterred (i.e., dug up) by some errant badgers.

Yes, I did say b-a-d-g-e-r-s. The little dark furry creatures with white stripes – and I don’t mean skunks.

Apparently, badgers are protected in the U.K. – so the minister can’t get rid of them. So he has been on “bone patrol” for some time now. Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter had this to say about the badger damage:

One of England’s oldest graveyards is under siege by badgers. Rev. Simon Shouler now regularly patrols the grounds of St. Remigius Church looking for bones that the badgers have dug up. The badger is a protected species in England so they can not be killed, and attempts to relocate them have been blocked…

From an article in an English newspaper:

It is estimated that about four graves have been disturbed so far. In one instance, a child found a leg bone and took it home to his parents.

Wouldn’t you have loved to see the look on his parents’ faces when he showed up at home with that surprise? I bet there was some interesting conversation around the dinner table that night!

Rev. Shouler had this to say to an English newspaper:

““We cannot go near the sett, and English Nature will not grant us a license to relocate them so there is nothing we can do other than to let them remain in the churchyard, digging up the remains of people who have been buried for several hundred years.

“Because the setts are under or in the grave, we cannot even bury the bones in their rightful place. I have been told to carry out a monthly bone patrol, collect them all up and re-inter them in a new grave.”

“It is ridiculous. If I decided to dig up a grave to build an extension for the church or something, there would be hell to pay, yet here we have people who are having their bones scattered at the whim of someone sitting in an office miles away.

“It lacks any common sense but sadly reflects the bureaucracy of modern life.

“And it can’t be healthy to touch these bones. Goodness knows what some of these people died of – there were things like Anthrax around and I know that can stay in the ground for a very long time.”

The field next to St Remigius Church is said to contain remains of the main residence of the Bozon family, Lords of the manor from 1304 to 1539.

The field and graveyard are part of a Scheduled Ancient Monument and whilst Natural England were initially happy to grant a licence, English Heritage advised that if moved the badgers could cause more damage to the protected site.

You can read more about this story in the Telegraph by clicking this link.

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One person’s experience with the grandparent scam

Posted on September 18, 2010 by Ann

After my last post about the darker side of genealogy, I received some comments from Nancy Knapp Shepard, our cousin from Colorado. She has first-hand experience with the lengths that a scammer will go to in order to prey on older adults.

Nancy had this to say in an email to me about the incident:

Regarding the grandparent scam.  We keep an eye on an elderly neighbor and last year she received a call asking her to wire money to Canada to get her granddaughter out-of-jail.  They said she had been picked up for a DUI.

They had all the family names, addresses, everything.  Thankfully she said that she would contact her attorney and get back to them.  Certainly saved her lots of grief.  I suggested that she call her daughter and when she did, [she] found out that the granddaughter was at home.

So be careful out there, folks!

And watch out for you older relatives, friends and neighbors. Share this information with them so they don’t fall for this scheme.

Let’s do everything we can to help the guys in blue put these thieves where they belong – behind bars!

And thanks, Nancy, for being willing to share your story with others.

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The dark side of genealogy

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Ann

I have written several times about how genealogy brings people together.

But genealogy, like anything else, has a dark side, too.

This month I learned about both sides of that coin.

One of my goals for this blog is to locate other descendants of Franz Adam KNAPP – wherever they are on the planet.

Through researching the TRARES side, we have all learned that the KNAPP clan is like any other U.S. family – many KNAPP descendants migrated west as the country expanded.

Back in the frontier days, people lost touch with each other. They weren’t blessed with all the ways we have now to communicate with each other.

I know it’s hard for your children and grandchildren to understand what life was like before Facebook and Twitter – but most of us over the age of 50 remember when you had only two choices on how to communicate: snail mail or telephone.

The descendants of Franz Adam KNAPP who chose to go west to seek their fortunes did so knowing there was a very good chance they wouldn’t see their family members back in Ohio again. Sometimes families wrote letters to stay in touch, but many people lost contact with each other.

So when I was contacted by Nancy KNAPP SHEPARD from Lakewood, Colorado, I got pretty excited!

Nancy is also a descendant of our immigrant ancestor, Franz Adam KNAPP. Nancy is the daughter of Stanley Richard KNAPP. Here is how she descends from Franz Adam KNAPP:

Franz Adam KNAPP

||

John Adam (?) KNAPP – Nancy and I are comparing notes on John’s middle name. We’ll keep you posted!

||

John F. KNAPP, Jr.

||

William Bernard KNAPP

||

Stanley Richard KNAPP

||

Nancy KNAPP SHEPARD

Now – Nancy contacted me to discuss some discrepancies she noticed in the research on Knapp Notes. We are in the process now of comparing notes and trying to figure out where we differ and how we can verify the facts.

She has been very generous about sharing her research with us – she has already provided some information about one side of the family in Germany that I didn’t have any information on.

My big hope is that she can attend a reunion with us and we can meet face-to-face. I am so thrilled that we have found at least one more member of the far-flung KNAPP clan!

I will be posting more about Nancy’s research in the Our Heritage section and in the other password-protected parts of this blog during the coming weeks. So watch for some new stuff to appear!

Nancy’s only stipulation about sharing her research was that we restrict access due to security concerns. And I understand and agree with those thoughts.

This brings me to a discussion of the “dark side” of genealogy.

I recently read a news article about the latest scam concerning genealogy called the Grandparent Scam. It seems scammers learn enough personal and family information to phone older adults and pretend to be a member of the family who is in trouble and needs money.

A lot of older people have hearing difficulties or memory problems – and may not realize that the caller is not their grandchild, cousin or other family member.

Now, genealogy sites are just one way these scammers latch onto information. Any genealogist knows you can find enough information in an obituary printed in the newspaper to do the same thing. So genealogy  sites are just one source of information.

Bottom line folks – don’t assume that a caller is who they say they are…and don’t be embarrassed to quiz them and ask them to PROVE who they are. Never give out personal information over the phone, no matter what they say.

There are people who prey on older adults. You can read more about the Grandparent Scam – and other genealogy-based scams – at Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter.

And speaking of the darker side of genealogy – I found this article that I just had to share with everyone. It’s pretty bizarre, if you ask me, but I guess it is possible for even a genealogist to get obsessed with the hobby.

But you have to draw the line at invading someone else’s privacy.

Apparently, some of these researchers are willing to violate someone else’s privacy to get what they want. And that’s too bad – it gives the hobby of genealogy a black eye, as far as I am concerned.

But you read the article – and you be the judge. I invite your comments on whether you think it’s appropriate or not to grab someone else’s DNA to further your genealogy research – even after they have refused to participate in testing.

So weigh in on what YOU think.

Here is the link to the article in the New York Times called “Stalking Strangers DNA to Fill in the Family Tree.

Posted in DNA Testing, Family History, Genealogy News, Genealogy Scams | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Where did my tab go on Knapp Notes?

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Ann

If things look a little different to you on Knapp Notes, don’t worry – it’s not your imagination.

I had some time yesterday to do some “housekeeping” on the site – I reorganized some of the sections to make things a little easier to find – and created some new tabs to allow for expanding the options available.

Some of the changes include:

  • Adding a new tab called Genealogy How-To’s
  • Adding a new tab called Local History
  • Splitting the Document Gallery into sections on a drop-down menu, with separate sections for:
    • Births
    • County Histories
    • Deaths
    • Family Trees
    • Marriages
    • Military Records
    • Obituaries
    • Moving the Links and Templates tabs under the Genealogy How-To’s tab
    • Password-protecting everything under the Document Gallery, Our Heritage and Photo Gallery tabs

Why all the changes?

I want to start putting more genealogical research online for other Knapp-Kline researchers – the goal being to make the site easy to use and more interesting.

Some of the new tabs don’t have information housed there – at least, not yet.

But there will be new items being added periodically, so stop by often to check and see what’s new.

Also, if you have an item to share – like a recipe, photo, birth certificate, death certificate, obituary, photo of a tombstone, recording, video – whatever you think you want to share with the rest of the family, please let me know and I will post it.

This site isn’t just for family reunion time. It is designed to be a year-round resource for the whole Knapp clan. Use it to spark discussions with your children and grandchildren. You may be surprised where some of these discussions take you. And it’s a good way to pass down some stories of your own to your kids and grandkids.

So don’t be a stranger to Knapp Notes the rest of the year – stay tuned for more!

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