WOW, if that isn’t a number.  Hope you all are having a lucky day.

OCTOBER, the month of changes; the beginning and ending of so many things.  Not just the everyday visible, like vegetation and the weather, which in some parts of the country Mother Nature seems so conflicted, but the beginning of family celebrations, which have changed locations from outside to in, the end of the long warm evenings, the beginning of cold and flu season, the end of special local community events, the beginning of the gathering of the harvest, the end of summer road-improvement, the beginning of long evenings in front of the TV, the end of the baseball season, the beginning of serious football viewing, the beginning of fall cleaning (inside and out), the end of lighter clothing, the beginning of higher fuel bills and the end of  water bills.  In no other month are there so many changes.  One might argue, the change of one season to the other; Spring can come in months, March through June, Summer often drags on to the end of September and Winter can begin in November and last through May.  But Fall is truly October.

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Notes of Special Interest

I hope you read a couple of newspaper articles posted last month, ”The Obituary for Margaret Ware Parrish,” a wonderful historian and accomplished member of the Ware family, and an article in The Todd County Standard, entitled “California Woman Tries to Research Family History Through Local Cemetery,” about my efforts to find the graves of my great-great-grandparents in Kentucky.  The article was not everything I hoped it would be, but I may have found help to ”dig” up the property looking for gravestones.

Joe Ware submitted a couple of personal stories which were very interesting.  He wanted me to remind our members  this website is dedicated to submissions regarding Ware Family History.  It is a place to submit your stories about your Ware ancestors or yourself.  Some of you may be concerned about privacy issues.  I don’t want you to submit anything  that you feel uncomfortable about others viewing.  If you do not understand how to post, send your draft to me in jpeg format and I will attach it for you.  I would appreciate the same for the Photo Gallery; again send them to me with all pertinent information.

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LIST AND DIRECTORIES

Our new category is proving to be a gold-mine of information.

City directories list Wares, their occupations, place of residence or work address, marital status for a woman, and sometimes death dates or change of locality.

University Catalogues contain the names and address of Ware students or faculty at a particular college.

Military Lists have Ware’s and which Regiment or Militia they were attached to by state.

There are Tax Lists, Railroad Records and Educational Entries to name a few more.

The Miscellaneous Category contains the most unique entries; including The American Film Institute Catalog and Virginia Slave Births 1853-1865.

I know you will find something interesting in this category.  COME CHECK IT OUT!

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“The Calendar Change
Old Style vs. New Style

Reform of the calendar took place in 1582.  At that time the old Julian calendar was modified to conform more closely to the actual length of the year and seasonal changes.   The new calendar, known as the Gregorian, started the year on January 1, where it begins today, instead of March 25 where it began in the Julian calendar. Although most other countries adopted the new Gregorian calendar, England continued to use the Julian calendar for almost 200 years; it wasn’t until 1752 that England – and its colonies – finally switched over to the new system. This can be troublesome when one is dealing with dates during that period. The difficulty stems from the fact that, before 1752, most dates occurring during the first quarter of the year had to be considered two ways to be accurate. For example, George Washington’s birth, February 22, occured in 1731 by the Julian calendar, for the Julian year 1731 did not end until March 25. Consequently the date in those days would be written February 22 1731-2 (1731 by the old style of reckoning and 1732 by the new). The two forms are usually abbreviated: O.S. (old style) and N.S. (new style). Genealogists have to keep these circumstances in mind when dealing with dates in the first quarter of the year before 1752 in this country and England. For the colonial United States were then provinces of the British Crown, and, with the exception of such interruptions as the Dutch periods of possession of New York State (The Dutch had adopted the new calendar), the British calendar was the old Julian calendar. Otherwise a birth, death or marriage written by one method could be a year out of whack with a recording by the other.” Submitted by John Stein ********************************************************************************************************

ONE OCTOBER NIGHT

I was awaken last night by an odd , errie sound,

T’was the mournful baying of a lonesome ‘ol hound!

Was there something afoot, just what was about?

So I threw up the sash to give him a shout!

The moon was full, and put the lawn all aglow.

What was those creatures, on the lawn, down below?

There were monsters, and witches, and goblins galore,

I was shaking so bad, could there be more?

I saw ogres, and devils, and creatures unknown!

There were large ones, small ones, and some yet un-grown!

There’s an angel, a cowboy, an Indian or two,

And I expected a chorus of spine chilling BOOS!

As I gathered my wits for another good look,

I saw a weird creature dressed as a cook!

As I looked o’er the group, I saw an old hag,

Just like the others, she was holding a bag!

Their use for the bag became my most dread!

Did they ring them along to carry off my head?

It was about then that my heart missed a beat,

In one large crescendo, came, “TRICK OR TREAT!!”

It was then that I realized the cause of the sight!

Good heavens, my man, it’s Halloween Night!

I ran to the door with flopping shoelaces,

To fill up their bags, and get their good graces!

They went  on their was with bags full of loot,

For that they can thank this crazy old coot!

Now that it’s over, and I still have my head,

I’ll call it a night and go back to bed!

(BOO!  To you too!)

Raymond Ware

8/10/10

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DNA TESTING

Pros and Cons

I have never been a believer in this tool as a means to gather information regarding ones ancestors, primarily because of cost and only males can participate.  Contact names of others matching your DNA are provided for your inquiry.  For some people who can not find their ancestors, this is proving helpful.

Conrad “Wayne” Ware had been searching his ancestors for many years and has only been able to go back a few generations.  Judy Ware and I have been trying to help, but have not been successful either.  Recently, Joe Ware sent in some information about his lineage to Edward Ware (1704-1786) and Leticia Powell.  Joe tested a few years ago through a service provide by Ware researcher Wanda DeGidio.  (A link to her site is posted in Other Places.)

”Ware Family Mystery

By Joseph M. Ware

Edward Ware and Leticia Powell left Caroline County, Virginia around 1750 and moved to Amherst County. They brought children with them including three boys, Edward, John and William.

In his will, Edward referred to these boys as Edward Powell, John Powell and William Powell. They were later sometimes referred to as Powell, sometimes as Ware and sometimes as Powell alias Ware.

Question; Was Edward the father of the three boys or were they perhaps Leticia’s by a previous marriage?

This situation has been researched by a number of Ware descendants over the years. They found that Leticia had been fined  in Caroline county for having children out of wedlock. Edward had paid the fine. There was no record of their marriage in Caroline County but both families were long established there. The Ware and Powell families were dissenters from the established Church of England so the two may have been  married outside the church.

This only led to speculation and didn’t answer the question of paternity.

In 2004 members of the Ware family decided to participate in a DNA project with the objective of linking the several known Ware branches in the US and abroad.  Joseph M Ware was a DNA test subject from the Amherst branch. His descent from John Powell Ware was documented.

Julian Wayne Ware was a DNA test subject who descended from Edward’s brother Henry who had migrated from Caroline County to Georgia.

The two DNA samples matched although the families had been separated for about 250 years.

This is considered conclusive evidence that John Powell was Edward’s son since both Joseph and Wayne have the DNA of the father of Edward and Henry. A mystery of some 250 years had been solved by modern science.”

With this in mind, I suggested to Wayne, he might try this resource.  Here are his results:

”ANCESTRY DNA TESTING

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered the paternal DNA testing kit from Ancestry.com. Ancestry gives you the option to also order a maternal kit or both.  When the kit came in the mail, I completed the test and sent it in. The directions included were very straight forward and simple. Just a few swabs of your inner cheeks, place the three swabs in the included postage paid envelope, mail it and you are done. This week, a response came from Ancestry by e-mail, listing a web site to view and print the results of the rest. I had elected this e-mail option rather than postal mailing. There were over 250 names listed from very close matches to progresvely distant matches. At the present time, I am trying to familiarize myself with this information, analyze it and hopefully find what I’m looking for.

The results of the test reveal that I am in the Haplogroup R1b, ancient ancestry, the Artisans group, who first arrived in Europe from West Asia about 35,000 to 40,000 years ago at the dawning of the Aurignacian culture. The report also states that about 70% of individuals currently residing in Southern England are members of the Artisans.

My reason for DNA testing is, although I have positive proof of my paternal ancestry back to my great great great grandfather John Ware to include his grave site, his marriage, children, census reports and newspaper articles, this is where I hit the proverbial genealogical wall. I believe DNA testing will prove to be the research method of the future. I fully recommend that anyone searching for ancestors and have seemed to come to a dead end, use this approach.

So far, I am well pleased with the information I have received, it’s just a matter of time for my now ongoing research to produce results. Hopefully I will have some good news to share with you in the not too distant future.

Conrad Wayne Ware

Cedar Falls, IA

Wayne was given the name of Steve Wear, much to his disappointment.  He was sure he would find the Ware family link he was searching for.

Wayne Ware DNA Search Update

”Vicki,

I received this from Steve Wear today. This Priscilla Stark he talks about in message I found to be married to a William Keyes Ware, born in Pennsylvania whom Steve says was one of his cousins. I am going to investigate the Sharp family as he mentions.  One of Priscilla’s sisters, Louise Stark was married to my g g grandfather David H Ware and I am positive about this with documentation of birth, marriage to David H, her death and burial site with photographs of her tombstone.

I’m beginning to believe Steve can fill me in on lots of info. I don’t have. Also, I sent him an invitation to my family tree with option to view living people. I believe he can connect the Ware’s or Wear’s back further than I have been able to.

Wayne”

If you would like more information on DNA testing please contact either of these two members, though me at www.warefamilies.org