Google Books, genealogy and the Metcalfs

I was reading an article about Google scanning books and putting them on-line, and I decided to see if I could use some of these books to help me with genealogy research. I found out that one of the books scanned was "Metcalf Genealogy", published in 1898. As it turns out, my great-great-great aunt married a Metcalf...

This snippet was of some interest:

Ann Elisabeth Howes, born March 31, 1847; lived,
after her parents' death, with Clark Eldred, Elyria;
taught school many years in Lorain County, O., and Grant
Co., Wis.; married, October, 1879, to Alexander Cairns,
of Bloomington and Mt. Hope, Wis. One son, Earl
Cairns, born Aug. 9, 1880.

(Earl Cairns was my great-grandfather.)

My great-great grandmother Ann Elizabeth Howes was born in Northampton, England. Her parents, William and Elizabeth Howes, came to Ohio from England some time between 1850 (when their 5th child was born) and 1852 (when their 6th child was born). Not long after that, they got sick and died. Their children were adopted out to six different families in Elyria, Ohio. Ann's two oldest brothers fought in the Civil War; both died, although one of them, a doctor, survived with his wounds until 1874. Two other siblings married their adoptive siblings (ewww). (The remaining sister was the one who married a Metcalf.)

Of Ann's parents, the book says this:

William Elliot Howes, born March 22, 1818; married
Elisabeth West, who was born Sept. 27, 1817, at Gaton-
wood House, Northampton, Eng., where the family had
lived for three hundred years. Elisabeth West's father,
Thomas West, was born March 23, 1785; died Jan. 3,
1828. His wife, Ann Fairbrother West, was born June
18, 1785. After her husband's death she managed the
great Gatonwood Farm herself for nearly forty years, dy-
ing Jan. 29, 1866.

Gaytonwood Farm appears to be a campground now; here is a picture.

This book contains a lot more information about this branch of the family than had before. I have now added a lot of information about Ann Elizabeth Howes and her family to my database. Learning from past mistakes, I have footnoted it carefully with the source. Google Books gets a thumbs-up for its treatment of out-of-copyright books. (I am taking no position on their handling of in-copyright works.)

4% More German

In honor of (not celebrating) St. Patrick's Day, I decided to take another look at a project that I last seriously pondered about eight years ago -- genealogy, or more specifically trying to figure out my ethnicity.

I have 256 great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents -- well, we all do. So if I can figure out their ancestry, I can figure out how many parts in 256 I am whatever. For example, my great-great-grandfather, William Grantham, came from England. For the sake of simplicity, I'll assume that all 16 of his great-great-grandparents (my great⁶-grandparents) came from England, too. So that contribution alone tells me I'm 16/256=1/16 (6.25%) English. Add in another English great-great-grandparent on my mother's side and I'm 32/256 (12.5%) English.

When I last left things in 2001, I had figured out 140 of these 256 parts. I was hoping with more information on the web these days, I'd be able to make progress with little further effort (ah, the American dream).

I succeeded, but I didn't make it much further. My paternal grandmother (Oma) has the most unresolved lineage, so I was happy to figure out more about her. Her great-grandmother, Elizabeth Keffer, is of German descent. Her great³-grandfather, Peter Putman, was born in Germany.

So that's 10 more parts out of 256. 10/256=5/128=3.90625%. So I'm about 4% more German than I realized. Approximate tallies to date: 24% German, 14% Scottish, 13% English, 6% Welsh, 2% Dutch, 41% Unknown.

None of this is too important, but if I find any Irish ancestry by next St. Patrick's Day, I promise to put on a silly leprechaun hat and celebrate to make up for previous days gone unobserved.

On a more substantive note, if you go to Google Books and search for "Alexander Cairns" and Wisconsin, the first result is for my great-great-grandfather, who is listed as a leading progressive in Grant County, Wisconsin.