Methias Auville Mystery!

I was studying this census entry for Susan (Hatfield) Auville because I wondered who that Susan Kyser is - I found out and I will write in another post - but then I stumbled on a mystery - who was this Methias Auville?? Obviously he must be a grandson of Susan, but who were his parents and why is he living with her and what became of him?? So I entered his name in a search and nothing came up for a match to any Auville parents and he seems to just drop off the map. But there was ONE curious search result - In 1860 there is a young boy, Matth Oval, born in Virginia in about 1844, an inmate of the House of Refuge (jail or reformatory) in Pennsylvania for larceny!

Because I think that 90% of all Ovals and Anvils are really mis-spelled Auvils I think he may be our Methias Auville.

One clue I have searching the House of Refuge is that I found a message board post for the Edward Owen that is next in the census list after Matth. His descendant says that he was a soldier in the Civil War just the next year. Could our Methias be a soldier - under any odd spelling? We have to find out if there are any Ovals or Anvils in the Civil War. The post says that Edward enlisted in the 61st Pennsylvania Volunteers. Are there any Auvils studying the Civil War right now?

ΣAuvil

Marriage of David Nestor and Elizabeth Cox

I was looking for the marriage record of David Nestor and Elizabeth Cox, married in Randolph County, Virginia in 1812 and I found this entry - David Unreadable (Keter) and Elizabeth Cocks Randolph County 1812. Cox is often spelled Cocks so that is no problem. But I think this Keter is our David Nestor - one reason is I don't think there was a David Keter.
I'm not really sure what this document is because it doesn't really look like 1812 writing - it looks like it was a transcription of an earlier document. I wish I could see the original document. Here is the full page if you would like to see it.

ΣAuvil | ΣNestor | ΣCox

Who owns the Agnes Tazewell Tizah-nee (Bailey) Cline daguerreotype?

Who owns this daguerreotype of Agnes Tazewell Tizah-nee (Bailey) Cline and scanned it for the Internet? I'd like to ask them if we could use it for our *Nikitie group.

*Nikitie Group: We have a study group for all the people who are descended from the Longhunters who inter-married with the Shawnee, Cherokee, Powhatan and other tribes and lived in a place called Indian, Virginia from about 1700 to present day. If you are a descendant or you would like to study this group please join here: Nikitie Group

ΣCline | ΣTBC

Tracing Genealogy Through Design Motifs

This is something I have been wanting to write about for awhile - how some design motifs - quilt appliques, rug design, beadwork, stone carvings and petroglyphs could give us clues to how people migrated. The first one I have thought of is Maori > Seattle (Pacific Northwest Coast). Compare these designs and then tell me what you think * In my Google searches I use to illustrate this post not every picture is the exact searched term. It is intended to just give a broad idea of the subject. First "Maori Fish Design"

Maori Fish Design

"Haida Fish Design"

Haida Fish Design

"Tlingit Fish Design"

Tlingit Fish Design

The second set that caught my eye is Central Asian to Pennyslvania Dutch. I was really shocked to read a blog post by a quilter who saw Central Asian design elements in Pennsylvania Dutch needlework. Then I found out as far back as 2003 genealogists have been speculating that the people we call the Pennsylvania Dutch may be Central Asian or they traded heavily with Central Asia before coming to America. Some of this speculation is based on DNA testing. Here are some Google image searches:

"Pennsylvania Dutch Applique"

Pennsylvania Dutch Applique

"Central Asian Design"

Central Asian Design

Another one I read about in the National Geographic gift catalog in the description of a Talavera-style bird planter "The distinctly Mexican pottery called talavera traces its origins to Spanish majolica, which was itself an adaptation of tin-glazed ceramics introduced by the Moors."  Googling those terms I found historians that said that this kind of pottery originated in Baghdad and traveled like this - Baghdad > North Africa (the Moors) > Spain (Majorca) and then on to Italy and Mexico (Talavera-style) with Spanish Catholic priests.

"Tin-glazed Ceramics of the Moors"

Tin-glazed Ceramics of the Moors

"Spanish Majolica"

Spanish Majolica

"Talavera Style"

Talavera Style

This one I found researching my own genealogy because our Haplogroup has been traced to Kazakhstan and while studying Kazakh design I was struck by how similar some of the design motifs are to the Metis of Canada.

"Kazakh Needlework"

Kazakh Needlework

"Metis Quillwork"

Metis Quillwork

"Metis Beadwork"

Metis Beadwork

I have one more. The Etowah plates, found near Cartersville, Georgia in 1885 are very plainly Mayan design and have lead researchers to speculate that the American southeast was colonized by Mayans. DNA testing should shed light on these findings. If you would like to read more about these ideas you can go to People of One Fire. See also: The Willoughby Disk and Moundbuilder Pinterest board

Rogan Plate 1, falcon dancerplate found at Etowah

Image of Maya Grolier Codex

I'd like to do more one-on-one comparisons when I have time, but just wanted to get this out there and see if anyone else has some comparisons they have been thinking about or know anyone who is studying this area of genealogy/ art history.

Getty Images Now Free for Blogs and Social Media

Getty Images has just announced a legal, and free option to share Getty images on websites, blogs, and social media. That is pretty shocking. I'm just going to embrace it. Can't put toothpaste back in the tube. So here is a picture of a woman walking by grafitti on a wall on March 17, 2014 in Simferopol, Ukraine by Spencer Platt. I think this is going to be fun actually. And the image links back to Getty where you can license it. This is similar to how I feel about Pinterest - as long as a pin links back to the source where you can find out how to buy a print or purchase a digital download of a high res version - then I believe Pinterest is only good for photographers.

Photoshelter Help

I've been getting really serious about adding to my portfolio at Photoshelter. And I had to draw out what goes where when you add metadata like headline, title, description. I have a Beam website because I want my website to be smart phone compatible. I am pretty happy with it so far. I made a graphic and I am sharing it here. The more people who are successful at Photoshelter the better for me, I figure. Clicking the picture will bring up a larger, more readable size.

The one tip I want to pass on is that you should keep the file extension for the name of your image. I know, it doesn't look that great, but I found out the hard way that if you take it off, when the client downloads the image they will have to re-name it in order to see it and some clients will not know how to do this. Who has time for that?!

If you have any problems at Photoshelter, customer service is great. You may have the first reaction to post on the forums for help but they are not very active and you may feel frustrated with no responses. Just call customer service - they have always been great for me. I've been with Photoshelter since the beginning.

One last thing - If you sign up with Photoshelter would you consider using my referral link? Thank you! Catherine

Magdalena's sister Margreth Ditlo and Hessian Christian Schneider

I was looking into the Ditlo family and came across the husband of our Magdalena's sister Margreth. His name was Christian Schneider and I have found two entries for him:

Frederick, Maryland, Lutheran Marriages and Burials 1743-1811.
p. 32
1782, Dec. 26 #38 Christian Schneider Surgeon with the Hessian 
regiment from Bosen, and Margreth Ditlo. Porc. Dec. 15, 22, 25. 
Witnesses: ... [torn away] ... Juliana Wittmann, Dct. Rau.


Pennsylvania German Society (Pennsylvania). Der Reggeboge : (the rainbow). (Breinigsville, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania German Society, 1967).
Christian Schneider, b. 1759/61, X5400 Sondershausen. Surgeon,
Hessian von Bose Regt., Maj. Scheer Co., deserted by May 1783 (HET
ll:9594).
Christian Schneider, "surgeon with the Hessian Regiment von Bose,"
married Margreth Ditlo 26 Dec. 1782 (Frederick Lutheran Rsgister).
Son Christian Wilhelm b. 22 Feb. 1783, baptized 26 Feb. with
Christian Wilhelm Warffelmann, the Regimental Surgeon, as sponsor
(Frederick Lutheran).

After this their trail goes cold for me because I suspect they started spelling their surname Snider or Snyder but maybe they kept the original Schneider spelling. And I think, since there is no news of them from Frederick after the marriage, I suspect they migrated to Pennsylvania and then to Virginia like all our other relatives. Do you know how many Schneider, Snider, Snyder entries there are for graves in Pennsylvania at Findagrave?!


I wrote a question at Ancestry.com at the Frederick, Maryland message board. Here is the response I received:

"According to Frederick's Evangelical Lutheran Church records, Christian Wilhelm, son of Christian Wilhelm and Margreth Schneider was born 22 Feb. 1783; bp. 26 Feb. 1783. Bp. Sponsor was Christian Wilhelm Warffelmann.

Christian, the surgeon had been a Prisoner of War at the Hessian Barracks here in Frederick and Christian Wilhelm Warffelmann was the Regimental Surgeon.

After 1783, Christian and Margreth Schneider no longer appear in the Evangelical Lutheran Church records or have any known gravemarkers here in Frederick County."

Bob Fout

You can read the thread here.

Have you found anything about Margreth's family?

Catherine dee Auvil Sept. 2013

ΣAuvil | ΣDitlo