Saturday, December 20, 2008

1935 & 1945 Florida State Censuses are Now Online

Ancestry.com has all three available Florida State censuses (1885, 1935 and 1945) online. There were other Florida State censuses, but these are the only ones that are intact. The 1885 census even has several counties missing.

There is a search index and images of the originals can be viewed, just like with a Federal census sheet.

I found them in with the other Florida databases by clicking the SEARCH tab.
And under Browse Records near the center of the page, clicking View All Ancestry Titles.
And then going to the bottom of the page in the Refine your search . . ., entering Florida as the Database and then SEARCH. The censuses are listed in the top 10.

These censuses offer no special information, other than the basic name, age, relationship, . . . . I think that the indices for 1935 and 1945 are poor.


About a month ago, I posted this link, Should the 1885, 1935 & 1945 Florida Cenuses be Online? on another blog. It announced that FamilySearch.org was asking for volunteers to index the 1935 & 1945 censuses. They still need help. Their final product would be a free online database.

I first saw the Ancestry.com announcement while reading Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Monday, November 24, 2008

You Can Now Find Townships and Ranges on Google Earth

If you are trying to locate land in a "Public Land" state using townships and ranges, you are now have an assistant in Google Earth.

Public Land states are the states that were not part of the original 13 colonies or Texas or Hawaii. The non-Public Land states uses metes and bounds instead of townships and ranges.

Google Earth is a free product by Google (there is a commercial version, but you don't need it.) If you don't have Google Earth on your computer just Google, Google Earth for information on how to get it.

Google Earth allows clever people to write KMLs that are programs that run on Google Earth. [For this application, just consider them computer programs.] These KMLs can add items to your Google Earth like lightening strikes, cloud cover, tropical storm paths and more. The realtors at Earth Point have setup a KML to show the township and range maps some even include the sections. Look over the Earth Point webpage it will provide the longitude and latitude coordinate of the township and range.

You will still have to work with halves and quarters inside the section [these are the aliquots], but that part is easy.

Remember you can find these legal descriptions on deeds, in deed books, on some tax bills or receipts, in the county tax appraisers records or the BLM database. There is a Florida database and where you are searching may have a database. If you will, please share as a comment ideas where to find these legal descriptions.

The volunteer surviving soldiers from the Second Seminole Indian War received Bounty Land. George Washington Sanchez sold his bounty land certificate, but his brother Alexander Boneparte Sanchez setted on his land outside of Archer, FL. When the land was claimed the legal description with township, range and section is connected.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Miss Samantha



Introducing Samantha Lee who is the great great grandaughter of Jude Gadson Sanchez, who is the great great grandson of Francisco Xavier Sanchez.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Los Floridanos Picnic


I got an email today reminding me that the Los Floridanos Picnic will be happening on November 8 starting at noon at the Fort Matanzas National Park outside of St. Augustine.

This is a chance to meet some of your Sanchez cousins that you have never met.

The event is like what happened last year. Check this link.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Ancestors may be mentioned in Other's correspondence

In today's (Aug. 17, 2008) Heritage Hunting by Sharon Tate Moody (weekly feature in the Tampa Tribune) the article is Letters From Others May Mention Ancestors. She is pointing out that mention and stories of an ancestor can be in the letters of a relative, friend, official, or fellow soldier. She provides some tips at where to look.

I would like to ask for you to share information about caches of correspondences that mention our Sanchez kinfolk.

I will start with some collections that I have found:

  • The Joseph S. Sanchez collection [boxes] in the St. Augustine Historical Society - Research Library. There is correspondence from form numerous relatives (brother, sister, nephews, and others). One example is a letter from his nephew, George W. Sanchez, who writes his uncle about the death and burial of John M. Sanchez, Joseph's brother.
  • The Sanchez Family Papers in the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History at the University of Florida in Gainesville has a lot of correspondence that Edward Carrington Francis Sanchez collected. His brothers were involved in businesses in Cuba.
  • The book, Zéspedes in East Florida, 1784-1790 by Helen Hornbeck Tanner, is a collection of translated letters that include mention Francisco Xavier Sanchez and include one of his. Many of the large libraries in Florida have copies of this book.
  • The probate files for Francis Roman Sanchez have a few letters. You will have to go to the Alachua County courthouse to see them. His probate file is large. Probate files are very informative. John M. Sanchez' probate file is at the court house too. It is unfortunate that in Florida, these old files are considered sensitive-data by the Florida Supreme Court.

If there are enough collections of correspondence reported, they can be added to something like the bibliography.

We have contributors and readers from cousins in different parts of the family tree. It would be good to hear from you. Anyone can add comments, just click "comments" on the next line.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Site to check out

I received 59 hits by searching for Sanchez on this Florida Heritage Collection site and 3 look interesting to me. The document called, "Petals Plucked from Sunny Climes," has F. R. Sanchez basically declaring war on the Seminoles after the Indian kill 3 people that happen to be have surnames I'm related to like Dell and O'Steen. One document is about Fort Diego and another about the purchase of Florida may be of interest. One claim I saw several years ago said West Sheffield had in his possession a deed of Florida and if this is true it probably came from the Sanchez line because the Sanchez family was much more prominent i that period of time. The deed is supposed to be in Starke. Warren Sanchez has several letters in the site's collection, as well. Some of you may recognize Sanchez's I'm not familiar with if you do a site search.
http://susdl.fcla.edu/fh/

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Francis R. Sanchez, Collector of Lost Slaves

I came across an odd reference that lists Francis R. Sanchez as a collector of slaves that were left with the Creek Indians. The webpage is titles: Negroes brought into the Creek nation. The film refers to action between 12 Apr 1816 and 11 Apr 1818.

The webpage is part of an Creek Indian Researcher site.

This is almost off the topic except Francis R. Sanchez is involved.

Edward P. Gaines Sanchez

There are some links on Footnote.com that have information on Edward P. Gaines Sanchez, son of Francis Roman Sanchez.

He is listed in the 1860 Federal Census for Connecticut, Hartford County, Hartford, 3rd District, page 59 during the Civil War.

He received a Union Civil War Soldier's Pension. He served in the 3rd Connecticut Infantry Regiment, Company A. It gives his death as 8 Jan 1919.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Did F.X. Sanchez invent OJ concentrate

James Madison’s Phony War: The Plot to Steal Florida by Joseph Burkholder Smith
"Fresh meat as well as firewood for the residents of St. Augustine and its garrison were supplied on contract and administrated by the Spanish government. The Sanchez family held both contracts from the late 1790’s through 1811, when Enrique White died. They traded rum, too, just as had Don Tomas, and rice and citrus fruit as well. These clever Spanish entrepreneurs, in fact, shipped most of their fruit in the form of agria—a concentrated form. Unfortunately records of exactly how they managed to anticipate Minute Maid orange juice by 150-odd years have not yet been found. When Francisco Xavier Sanchez died in Oct 1807, his estate was probably the largest in East Florida. It consisted of lands, slaves, cattle, townhouses and lots and commercial interests. The Sanchez townhouse in St. Augustine was amply furnished in mahogany and had a staff of twenty-seven slaves. Another Sanchez house was rented to the lieutenant governor. Still another was rented to the garrison commander. Several other of his houses were used as retail stores for the sale of goods between the US and Cuba."

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Alexander Boneparte Sanchez' Farm in Archer

I wanted to get this information posted about where the farm was located before the end of the Yulee Days Celebration this week (details were posted on this blog earlier.)

Using the Alachua County Appraiser's maps, the Bounty Land Grant and Google Maps it should be shown here, in the blue box. The legal description is the East half of the Northwest quarter and West half of the Northeast quarter of Section 17 of Township 11-S, Range 18-E. The area is 160 acres. The description comes from copy of Alexander B. Sanchez' Bounty Land Grant in Alachua County's Deed Book "E" page 124. A bit convoluted, but a treasure.

I hope to be in Archer on Friday and Saturday.

Friday, May 16, 2008

About the Hill ancestry in link to the right

I would be surprised if the ancestry that I compiled was completely correct and if anyone has anything different then please comment.

http://www.hilldna.com/results.html Hill DNA (The first group is probably our close relation because of the person denoted as Hinton A. Hill.)
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/HINTON/2001-05/0989788842 Hinton info. The Hinton family has some prestigious roots and this site is the best that I have found.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Matthews Samuel Matthews I’m sure there are better sources for information but an in an encyclopedia seems to impress importance more than a bunch of words from another place.
http://www.thepeerage.com/p15757.htm Montague heritage

Who is George Warren "Buddy" Sanchez?


I found a picture of George Warren "Buddy" Sanchez in the Florida Photographic Collection of the State Archives of Florida, online of course. The details say that he was a State Senator from 1945 to 1951 representing Suwannee County.

Does anyone recognize him? Or better claim him as part of the Sanchez family?

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Jose Simeon Sanchez Law office for sale

A home on Marine Street that was used by Jose Simeon Sanchez for his law office is now For Sale for a mere $2.1 million -- but it does have a wonderful view of the bayfront. The link to the real estate listing is below.

http://www.historicwaterfronthome.com/index.html

Click on the "History" link to read about all the various Sanchez connections to the property. Several of Jose Simeon's children and grandchildren lived in it up until about the early 1940's.

The property probably has potential as an Inn given its location. Anyone interested exploring investment possibility can contact me via e-mail -- bcoker@comcast.net

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Is there a story here?


The advertisement shown here is from an 1859 Augusta, Georgia City Directory. I checked the 1860 Census for Georgia. I found a Bernardino S. Sanchez living with his wife, child, and mother. Bernardino is 27 years old, born in Candem County. I would guess him to be the son of Bernardino Sebastian Sanchez and Dorothy Fitzpatrick, and grandson of Bernardino Sanchez Ortigosa and Maria Antonia Hill.

Are there descendants?

Is anyone tracking this branch of the Sanchez family?

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Jose Simeon (Joseph S.) Sanchez

I am descended from Francisco Xavier Sanchez through his youngest son -- Jose Simeon Sanchez. I will attempt to post the J.S. Sanchez lineage on the blog shortly. There was a detailed geneology commissioned by the family back in the 1950's that was conducted by Eleanor Phillips Barnes (perhaps a Sanchez descendant herself).

I live on Amelia Island and am currently researching Jose Simeon's role in the military actions that took place here in 1812 and 1817. In seeking a land grant from the Spanish governor for plantation property in Alachua County in 1818, he cites his service in the Spanish militia. The way he states his request, along with he fact that he had a long military career later in life, suggests he may have been a junior officer of the Spanish garrison in 1812 and perhaps a more senior officer at the Battle of Amelia Island (McClure's Hill) in 1817.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Bibliography & Descendant Chart Updated


One bibliography has reference to source directly connected to the Sanchez Family and the other bibliography refers to reference not having Sanchez Family connections, instead information on the world they lived in.

The descendant chart for Francis Roman Sanchez was also updated. It is no longer abridged. Alexander Boneparte and George Washington Sanchez' families are included.

These improvements come from the suggestions of family members. If something is missing something significant, make a comment so that it can be added. If something is a mistake, make a comment so that it can be corrected.

Hopefully you will not find yourself in the chart. An effort has been made not to include living descendants. And we do have some long-lived cousins out there.

I wish I could include our St. Augustine cousins, but my information is incomplete.

These updates are only four months later than planned.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Find A Grave

I received an interesting email from Barbara Roberts that I think needs more sharing. She found the grave of Lindley M. Scarborough on the Find A Grave website [www.findagrave.com]. He was the first husband of Mary Elizabeth Wilson (daughter of Rafaela Sophia Maria Sanchez).

Lindley M. Scarborough, died 15 Dec 1862 at age 30 years. He is buried in Scarborough Cemetery, Lake City (Alligator) Columbia county, FL. Even the grave stone is shown on the website.

Where does Barbara find these things?

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Yulee Railroad Days 2008 [Friday, May 30 - Saturday, June 7]

Driving through Archer recently I saw a hand painted sign "Yulee Days - June 7."

The celebration is over the railroad that connected Cedar Key with Fernandina. The railroad was completed about 1860 and built through the political efforts of U. S. Senator David Levy Yulee.

Francis Roman Sanchez knew the Levys especially in court.

The old railroad bed is State Road 24 (Archer Road) and a short distance west of the intersect of US-27 (University Ave.) is the Davis Center of the Santa Fe Community College, looking northwest from the Davis Center parking lot into an open field is where Alexander Boneparte Sanchez' farm was located.

After the War between the States the railroad provided an access to other places outside Archer and Alachua County. And later some descendants worked on the railroad.

It is over a week long celebration with activities all along the railroad. However June 7th the last day appears to be the big day.

Check the Yulee Railroad Days 2008 out and may be see some cousins there.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Please Participate - I am lonely.

I didn't know that so many Sanchez descendants are without opinions.

Each and every Blog entry has a place for COMMENTS. Most still read "0 comments."

Anyone can make a comment!

If you want to my an original Blog entry, let me know [tomsantacruz@gmail.com]. I will get you signed up.

Your opinions are welcome. Most of the readers of this Blog are cousins. I hate just writing to myself, learning new things this way isn't too productive.

DNA Links to the Family

With the rest of the information on this blog using historical events or current happenings, DNA is a little out of place or is it.

The following are the Mitochondrial DNA [mtDNA] results for a maternal descendant of Louisa Colding:

HVR1

  • 16256 - T
  • 16519 - C

HVR2
  • 93 - G
  • 263 - G
  • 309.1 - C
  • 315.1 - C
Louisa Colding is the wife of Alexander Boneparte Sanchez. Maternal descendants are all of their children, the children of their daughters, the children of the daughters of their daughters, the children of the daughters of the daughters of their daughters, and so on.

Who else might have this code as a match? Other maternal descendants of Louisa Colding's maternal ancestors.

It is claimed that the maternal DNA is more stable over the generations than the paternal. This is due to the way eggs and sperm are produced in humans.

Don't just rush out their and have a test done, it costs about $150 for just mtDNA. [For females this is the only genealogical DNA test. Certainly they inherit DNA from their father, but not what is tested for genealogically.] A cheaper alternate would be to submit a sample to the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation [www.smgf.org/]. Then see if you match. Check the website for participation. Two important caveats are: you will not be given results, however your results will be searchable in the database, and your sample may be used for other tests (they claim they don't share the results.) Paternal DNA [yDNA] can also done this way.

I haven't found any paternal DNA information from this Sanchez line. If someone has some results, it would be interesting to compare with others. "To compare" is the reason it was done in the first place, isn't it. Realize you must be a male with the Sanchez surname for starters.

Challenges:
  1. Are there any matches to the Louisa Colding results?
  2. Are there results from other Matriarchs in the Sanchez family?
  3. Are there any Sanchez paternal results?
DNA is a complicated topic. The Sorenson website explains a lot about it, even if you don't participate.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Old Time Sanchez Politics

I came across some newspaper articles that were in the Floridian & Journal in the 1850s that were politically charged. The Sanchez family in Alachua and St. Johns Counties were Democrats. They also appear to be active in the party.

The May18, 1850 article reviews the results of the Alachua County Convention. Francis Roman Sanchez’ sons, George W. and John J., are party officers. Other familiar surnames like Colding, Dell, & Standley are also mentioned. The resolutions from the convention are detailed and are certainly pro-slavery,

The August 3, 1850 article rehashes the replacement of U.S. Marshall Col. Joseph S. Sanchez with Maj. John Beard that was originally reported in the St. Augustine newspaper in Sept. 1842. The story goes on to say, Col. Sanchez was removed from office by the Whig (Federalist) Congress because he was a Democrat. However his replacement was also a Democrat since no Whig was nominated for the post. It was called whiggery.

I found these two articles using GenealogyBank which is an electronic database of some historic newspapers that is offered in the Hillsborough-Tampa Public Library. The coverage is spotty. I hope that you will be able to see the articles by clicking the dates.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Wife of F.R. Sanchez

I have been puzzled about the origins of Franchesca Young because there were so few people in Florida at the time. An adversary of F.X. Sanchez was Tonyn's henchman, Captain Young. The exodus of the English sen this guy to Bermuda and he did not seem a likely candidate to have fathered a daughter that would marry Francisco's son. It could have been a Romeo-Juliet but, I have my doubts. Henry Younge is someone that could have fathered a daughter but, I would expect to see a record because P.K Yonge was a descendent. Another Captain Young came with Andrew Jackson in the first Seminole War but the date doesn't match. The best fit may be from the Catawba tribe. Go to the following link, http://sciway3.net/clark/freemoors/Chapter4_The_Florida_Catawba.htm and you can see that Young is one of the surnames used by the tribe that migrated to Florida. I'm not sure it can be prove unless a DNA test does the trick but I thought some may find it interesting.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Our ancestors were important in the foundation of Jamestown and St. Augustine

You will find our Hill ancestors in the work below:

Jamestowne Ancestors, 1607-1699: Commemoration of the 400th by Virginia Lee Hutcheson Davis

When, not if, is the question concerning our ancestors playing a part in Jamestown history. The Hill's are apparently descended from several people listed in the above work (Marshall, Hinton, Scowen, and other families.) I'm sure all of us have Native American ancestry, as well. Women didn't flock to the colonies and the disparity in gender populations created a lot of mixed marriages.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Time to make some Updates

I was planning to make some updates to the bibliography and descendant charts. The stuff in the upper right hand side of the Blog.

I have some more books to add and a few more descendants.

If you have your genealogy information already online, let me know the Internet address and I will setup a link to it.

If you want to contribute to the updates or add some new feature, please let me know.

You could:

  1. Add your update as a posting to this Blog,
  2. Provide your update as a comment to this posting, or
  3. Send it to me as an email at tomsantacruz@gmail.com.
I would like to finish this round of updates by mid-December 2007.

If you have additions to the descendant charts, please don't include living people.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Governor Patrick Tonyn


Patrick Tonyn (1725-1804) was the British Governor of East Florida (1771-1783) that gave Francisco Xavier Sanchez a considerable amount of grief.

Tonyn stayed on in Florida after its return to Spanish control. He worked with the Spanish governor, Vicente Manuel de Zespedes, sharing a bit of control over British Tories who choose to stay in Spanish Florida after the American Revolution. This went well for over a year until he provided a list of English speaking Floridians who needed discipline. The more relaxed Zespedes released Tonyn as an aid to his staff.

Francisco Xavier Sanchez got on the wrong side of Tonyn by associating with Dan Gritt, the leader of the Banditti [real bandits]. Tonyn then worked at connecting him other possible crimes.

Tonyn is a bit hard to understand. Andrew Turnbull was on his "enemies list" which resulted in the releasing of hundreds of Spanish speaking Minorcans. Prior to the release his had express concerns about arming the Minorcans in defense of the colony.

If you are interested, Tonyn's correspondence with Zespedes about Francisco Xavier Sanchez can be read in Zespedes in East Florida, 1784-1790 by Helen Hornbeck Tanner. Another book that discusses Gov. Tonyn's activities in Florida is Florida in the American Revolution by J. Leitch Wright. Both these books are available in most Florida libraries.

On the lighter side his portrait does make him look a little like George Washington.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Los Floridanos Activities - Part 2


Since I posted information on the Fall Los Floridanos Activities, I received another newsletter. It includes a Wikipedia write-up of the End of the First Spanish Period in Florida, more details about the picnic, and what appears to be the same information on the November and December Activities.

Concerning the picnic:

October 20
12PM Los Floridanos Picnic - Los Floridanos Society will host a family picnic for the members and guests at Fort Matanzas State Park located 9 miles south of St. Augustine Beach on Highway A1A South. There is no admission charge to this State Park. Please bring a dish to share. It can be a main dish, side dish, or a dessert The Society will be furnishing fried chicken, drinks and the paper products.

Los Floridanos items will be available for sale. Including:
Men's & Ladies Shirts with logos ($20)
20" X 27" Coat of Arms flags for Sanchez & Solana ($12)
Medallions ($15)
Caps with Logos ($10)
6' X 5" Los Floridanos Society Flags flown on the Bridge of Lions in 2001 with certification ($25)

Although not a requirement to attend the picnic, an RSVP will be helpful to determine the number of members & guests who plan to attend the picnic. Please respond with the # of attendees to the Los Floridanos address [P.O. Box 1891, St. Augustine, FL 32085-1891] or call Dick at 904-797-4952 or e-mail Anita at aschen@earthlink.net

The picnic area is small so if you can bring a folding table and something to sit on. Restrooms are nearby. I added a link to the park in the release above.

And remember there are other first families besides Sanchez.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

More Land Records



Both brothers, Alexander B. Sanchez and George W. Sanchez, received Military Bound land from the U.S. government.

The one on the right is for George W. Sanchez. I copied the original (primary source) document. I found it at the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, Gainesville, FL [UF Campus]; Manuscript Collection, call# 99,028, Sanchez Family Papers, folio 22. It was in a box of papers 99.9% dealing with the lawyer E.C.F. Sanchez and his brothers in St. Augustine. The document is held together with some old cellophane tape.

Posting Alexander B. Sanchez' recorded Military Bounty Land grant here would just show an illegible document. Alexander Sanchez recorded his land grant in the Alachua County, Deed Record Book E, page 124 on 14 Jan 1860. You can see it [and copy it] online at the Alachua Ancient Records website, "Deed Record E" on page "124". Alexander Sanchez created a secondary document that is recorded as a legal document.

The U.S. government begrudgingly gave these land grants to the volunteer militias in the Second Seminole War that were not paid for their service.

There is a trick here. If you look closely, you will see a frequently exercised feature of the bounty land grant. The answer will be in the comments.

Los Floridanos Activities

This is from a September Newsletter email notice:

Los Floridanos Society, Inc
Florida’s First Spanish Families 1565-1763
P. O. Box 1891
St. Augustine, FL 32085-1891
WWW.Losfloridanos.org

Sanchez
Solana

NEWSLETTER
SEPTEMBER 2007

August meeting was well attended with twelve members and guests. Family histories were discussed; Wayne Solana provided a copy of his family history prepared by Eleanor Barnes in 1968. Dick Rousseau provided a copy of the City of St. Augustine’s City Court record dated December 13, 1877 that listed a CM Solana charged for disorderly conduct and fined $6.25 by Mayor Thos. F. House.

Plans were discussed for the upcoming picnic which will be held on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at Matanzas Park. Barbara Colee volunteered to help with the table sales. Members are encouraged to bring small picnic tables and chairs. The Society will provide the meat and drinks and the members will bring other food. Anita will mail a reminder notice.

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES


SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 1, 2007; 9:30 AM

Society Members and guests will attend the 2007 Reenactment of the Landing of Pedro Menendez celebrating St. Augustine’s 442nd birthday at the Mission of Nombre De Dios. We will be seated in a designated area in front of the lectern.

Solemn Mass will be celebrated at the conclusion.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 20, 2007; NOON

Los Floridanos member and guest picnic at Matanzas Park


SATURDAY NOVEMBER 10, 2007; NOON

Seventh anniversary luncheon meeting will be held at a local restaurant; details to come later. City of St. Augustine Commissioner George Gardner has promised to attend and speak on the topic of the first Spanish Period families.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 8, 2007 9 AM; IHOP RESTAURANT US #1
& SR #16; ST. AUGUSTINE, FL.

Christmas breakfast for members and guests; Tom Graham, PhD will speak on the subject of Flagler’s Hotels in St. Augustine.

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

Annual member dues are $ 15 for year 1/1/07-12/31/07. Dues are prorated 50% after July 1, 2007. Please complete the following form and bring it with you to the meeting or forward to the Society address above with your membership dues. Contact 904-797-4952 for further information.

Name:
Address:
City/State/Zip:
Phone/E-mail:
Ancestral Family Name: _____________________________
There are a number of activities that have already happened and more that will be happening in St. Augustine.

Because of travel distance, I can't make it to most of the meetings, but hope to make it ot the picnic in October and hope to see you there.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Tutorial on Blogging

I though all my cousins had ideas, discoveries, opinions and the like.

A blog is a cross between a website and email. You go and check on it like a website, but unlike a website you can contribute to it with things that look like emails. The messages have standard features like font choices, bold, italic, color print, linking to a website, text alignments, lists both numbered and bulleted, quoted texts, a spell checker, adding pictures and videos, and undoing most of what I just listed. If you know HTML, you can do more but that isn't necessary.

After you compose a message you post it and if you see and error you can correct it [I know that feature well.]

I help with the blog at my local genealogical society and prepared a tutorial for them:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~flpcgs/Blog-Ed/Blog-Ed.htm
The adding a link is the hardest feature for me. Adding pictures is easy and writing is good with a spell checker.

I sent out a bunch of invitations to join the blog. Your cousins might like to hear what you have to tell them. If your invitation is lost or expired, or I some how missed you, let me know I can send you a fresh one.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Introduction

Hi,

thank you so much for inviting me here. I have looked over most areas and find this very interesting. I am especially pleased to see some photographs of the siblings of my great, great, great grandmother, Margaret P. Sanchez.

My late aunt Anna had an old photo of Margaret P. Sanchez who married her great grandfather, Woodbridge Sage Olmsted. I don't know what happened to it but I will attempt to talk my cousins into sharing (assuming they have it).

On your page showing the descendants of Francisco Sanchez there is listed my great grandmother, Anna Olmsted.

I would like to offer here some additional information about the Olmsted descendants of Francisco Roman Sanchez.

Margaret P. Sanchez married Woodbridge Sage Olmsted who came from a large old Connecticut Yankee family. As your genealogy shows, they had many children. My great great grandfather, Henry Martyn Olmsted was one. He worked as a machinist and manager at the Morse Twist Drill Co. of New Bedford Mass. Henry M. Olmsted married Anna Robbins, the daughter of Eliphalet H. Robbins (a Capt. in the 3rd Mass Cavalry) and Anna Lucas Chase (dtr of a sea captain lost off Australia). Anna Robbins died after the couple's second child and Henry Martyn Olmsted never remarried.

Their first child Margaret who was known to us as aunt Maud. She married sometime around 1900 but never had children. Her husband was a vet of the Spanish American War. Their second Child was Anna Willis Olmsted. She was born around 1872 in New Bedford MA. She attended Welesly College and became a school teacher and midwife. She married John Anderson Phinney around 1898. They had 6 children:

Margaret Eunice Phinney b. 1899 Harwich MA d. March 1967 Hyannis MA.
Marion Phinney b. 1901 d. 1969.
Henry d. 1943 (actually he disappeared presumed drowned off Chatham MA)
Frank
Priscilla d. around 1990
Anna b. 1914 d. 2002.

All six had children, my grandmother Margaret had five children and twenty-nine grandchildren and altogether probably has around 100 living descendants. Too many to list here and I don't recall half of them off the top of my head.

All five of her younger siblings had some children.

Amongst the descendants of Anna Willis Olmsted
now or recently living were:

a captain of the U.S. Navy
a judge in North Carolina
a librarian at the Boston Public Library
two Navy seals
several school teachers
comptroller of a major Boston university
a Fulbright Scholar
a dentist
several artists
several merchants.

Growing up my father used to joke about how he would tan darker than my Irish mother. He would always say it was the Spanish in him. In actuality, he was not terribly dark. His New England Yankee blood had diluted the Spanish down quite a bit. It was this and nothing else, until I was well into my adult years that made up the sum total knowledge that I had about my Sanchez ancestors. Then about 15 years ago, while helping my mother clean out her house I came upon some papers that had once belonged to my grandmother which showed our descent from Francis Roman Sanchez. It seemed that my grandmother had done some genealogical research in the 1950s. About ten years ago I came upon Double Cousins and that added to my knowledge. I am so glad to see distant cousins and others have added to what we know and certainly to what I know about the Sanchez family.

When I get my new box of wires, er, computer, I will scan some pics of the family. I have Pictures of Henry Martyn Olmsted, His two daughters and other descendants. I will only be posting people who are deceased unless I get permission otherwise. I know some people do not like their pics on the net. I even have some early twentieth century pics of some of my relatives visiting Florida. Hopefully I can gain access to the photo of Margaret P. Sanchez.

By the way, my aunt Anna thought that the P. in Margaret P. Sanchez stood for Ponchetta but we never saw a document to confirm this. Is this a correct guess?

David Bartlett