James KerrI James Kerr, of Elizabeth township Allegheny county and state of Pennsylvania, calling to mind the frailty of human life and its uncertainty, and being desirous of settling my worldly affairs, and directing how the estates with which it had pleased God to bless one, shall be disposed of after my decease while I have yet strength and capacity so to do, make and publish this my last will and testament.And First, I commend my immortal being to Him who gave it, and my body to the earth to
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William KerrIn the name of God Amen I William Kerr of Scott Township late upper St. Clair Township Alegheny County Penna, Farmer, late an associate Judge of the Court of Pleas of Allegheny County, being of sound and disposing mind memory and understanding do make ordain and publish this my last will and testament in manner and for following viz.I commit my soul to the God, hopeing for the pardon of all my sins through his Son, our dear saviour; my body I direct shall be buried at the grave yard
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Sarah KerrI, Sarah Kerr, widow and select of the late John Kerr of Pittsburgh do make and publish the following as my last will and testament:1 I give and bequeath to my four daughters, Caroline, Sarah and Catharine and Mary in total exclusion of all their brothers, all and singular my Estate real personal and mixed to be held by them in equal shares as tenants in common in absolute ownership.2 I appoint William Graham Jr of Pittsburgh my sole Executor and hereby grant unto him full and ample po
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William KerrIt is my will that the disposal of my property be regulated by the law of the State - with this proviso viz, that any part of it may be sold at any time, if necessary for the support or education of my family, the carrying out of this proviso to be left to the discretion of my wife and her father John Bluarden Esq. August 8th 1853.WitnessesD.R. KerrGeo S. HeadAllegheny CountyBe it known that on the 29th day of March AD 1854 ………
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Samuel KerrIn the name of God, Amen, I Samuel Kerr of Baldwin Township Allegheny County, and State of Pennsylvania, considering the uncertainty of this mortal life, and being of sound mind and memory Blessed be Almighty God for the same.Do make publish and declare this my last Will and Testament in manner and form following, that is to sayAll my just debts and funeral expenses being paidFirst, I bequeath to my two beloved daughters Elizabeth and Sarah for and during their natural life and the li
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David KerrSeptember the thirteenth AD one thousand eight hundred and fifty one eye Deavid Kerr of the township of Elizabetha dn couney of Aleegheny and commonwelth of pensylvenia beaing in frail bodily health and and of sound mind and mature judgment believing and trusting in god doe this day make and publish this my last will and testament as followesFirst eye will and direct that as soon after my deceas as my bee convenient that my funeral expences and all my other honest debts bee paid and ne
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Mary KerrIn the name of God amen Know all who it may concern that I Mary Kerr being at present in a sick and weak condition of body but in perfect soundness of mind and judgment do hereby Constitute this my last Will and Testament, and first and chiefly I recommend my Soul to God who gave it and my body to be buried with decent Christian buriel. And as touching such Worldly property as it has pleased God to give me I will and dispose of it in the following maner, to wit the half of the money wil
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Elizabeth KerrI Elizabeth Kerr, of the county of Guernsey and State of Ohio, do make and publish this my last will and testament in the manner and form following.First, It is my will that all my just debts and funeral expenses be fully paid. Second, I will and bequeath to James A. Patterson, my house and lot in Allegheny City, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and one hundred (100) dollars in money. Third, I will and bequeath to the Associate Synod that met in Xevia May 1865, of which Rev. William
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Thanks to Tami over at Relatively Curious About Genealogy for reminding me about the problem with historical county boundaries and a great FREE resource to determine the exact boundary in a given year.In her recent blog post, Tami discusses the problems involved with trying to pin down the county boundaries for certain states. With many of my ancestors in New York, I have learned the history of county boundaries and I have been able to memorize when those boundaries shifted.Because historical co
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Technology - and specifically the Internet - has allowed many of us to make great advances with our own genealogy research. And it has given us the ability to connect and network with other genealogists on sites like GenealogyWise.My colleague Elyse Doerflinger who runs the Elyse's Genealogy Blog has another great post that takes her genealogical societies discussion one step further into the technology realm.Elyse points out how relatively easy it is for people to create a blog these days and h
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Would love to have any info on ancestors further back that my g-g-grandparents, Edward Russell 1824-1885, and Margaret Thomson 1834-1913. They were married 22Jan1855 in East Parish, Greenock, Renfrew co., Scotland and had my g-grandmother Margaret Rankin Russell in 1855. Margaret R Russell (photo) married my GGrandfather William Horace Jones in 1884 in Hoboken, NJ, so I know they came to America between 1855-1884. Edward Russell was the son of Edward Russell, and Margaret Thomson was the dau of
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One thing that you begin to notice as you research you ancestors is that they seem to view the border as not there at all. Searching the border crossings at Ancestry.com is a good way to track some of these elusive people. Not only that, if you look at the document closely it may also give you a bit of an insight as to what they looked like (I found that my maternal grandfather whom I never knew as he died in 1935 was 5’8” with blue eyes and brown hair). Since I have never been able to find phot
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Driving in to work the other day, I got to thinking about my automotive genealogy and about how cars help shape our families.Nearly all the cars I remember as a kid were station wagons. We had a Rambler wagon, like this:
except ours was a forest green. And I remember seeing a picture of the car it replaced, another Rambler wagon with a white roof.The Ramblers gave way to Chevrolet wagons in the mid-1960s. I remember two pale blue ones, Chevelle wagons, but in the middle was a tan one with that fa
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Looking for relatives.Capazzo from Sassa di Castalda,OZ,BasilicaCatalfamo from Barcellona Pozza di Gotto,ME,SiciliaLaTerra from Ragusa,RG,SiciliaPassero from Marano di Napoli,NA,CampaniaPerrotta from Mirto,ME,SiciliaRao and Trentacosta from Marineo,PA,Sicilia
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Finding old and lost cemeteries is one of my favorite hobbies. I live to discover them."Who cares!", some may say.How about the descendents of those long buried and mourned, but not forgotten? How about someone like me who cherishes the history and appreciates that a life was lived, enjoyed or despaired, and then passed away from this earth?Only a few times have I been blessed to find a lost cemetery in the woods, the trees grown thick around the fence line and the headstones standing like silen
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Amanuensis: a person who writes what another dictates or copies what has been written by anotherPerhaps you are lucky enough to have an ancestor’s journal, or a bundle of letters they wrote. Perhaps a grandparent recorded their memories on a cassette tape before they passed away.Have you considered scanning/digitizing these documents into your computer, and transcribing the contents?Why?1) Handwriting fades over time. As long as one continues to back up digital documents, they won't fade. (This
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I made a reference in a previous blog about feeling hugged by my ancestors when sitting among my grandparents scrapbooks, photo albums, journals, etc., when I was 16 years old. A new found friend on GenealogyWise emailed me and said he liked that phrase, "hugged by ancestors." A few of the back and forth emails had the subject line "Hugged by ancestors," and I have not been able to get this phrase out of my head since.As I pulled a few different genealogy files out today to look up information o
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Faces stare back at you from across decades. Names written and recorded for generations to read. Traveling to far away places you've only heard of, only to know that somewhere, a small part of you, originated there. Miracles of modern technology, yes, but so much more. The virtual reality that is now genealogy research.Years ago, when I first began researching my families surnames, it was labor intensive to say the least. Summers spent traveling to courthouses, libraries and churches was exhaust
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