My "Easter" Ancestors

By Cliff from Arlington, VA (Outside Washington DC), USA
[CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

Four women in my family tree were named Easter:

• Easter A. Owens, my 1st cousin 3 times removed, born about 1852 in Alabama, died unknown
• Easter Lillie Eaton, my 2nd cousin twice removed, born 15 April 1900, died 6 October 1917, buried in Washington County, Missouri
• Katie Easter Spurlock, my half-grandaunt, born 27 March 1910,  died 5 November 1888, buried in Jackson Parish, Louisiana
• Easter Terralyn Donaldon, my half-first cousin, once removed, born 1942, died 1946, buried in Jackson Parish, Louisiana

Both Easter Lillie Eaton and Katie Easter Spurlock were born on Easter Day. I suspect the other two might have been as well, although Easter Terralyn Donaldson might have been named in honor of her aunt Katie Easter Spurlock.

I thought it interesting that all of these women are related to me on my paternal line.

Do you have anyone in your family tree named Easter? Were they born on Easter Day?

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (Sunday edition!) - 2,331 Surnames

Yesterday, Randy Seaver of GeneaMusings offered up his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge:

1)  Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.
2)  Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.
3)  Tell us how many surnames are in your database and, if possible, which Surname has the most entries.  If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5!  Or 10!
4)  Write about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a status or comment on Facebook, or in Google Plus Stream post.

I'm a day late (and probably a dollar short as well!), but here goes:

I use Legacy Family Tree software, and it has a simple report called "Surname Summary." Using that feature, I found that I have 2,331 surnames in my database.

I exported the list so that I could open it in Excel and sort to find the top 10 names. They are:

1. Yawman - 257 instances - date range of 1750-1994
2. Spurlock - 230 - 1807-1997
3. Burton - 144 - 1784 - 1998
4. Horton - 144 - 1722-1899
5. Eaton - 127 - 1659-1914
6. Gandy - 125 - 1670-1879
7. Wallen - 124 - 1759-1915
8. Justice - 117 - 1695-1847
9. Parsons - 117 -1783-1999
10. Smith - 100 - 1589-1966

At spot #11 were 89 individuals with no surname listed; however, that number is not reflective of the true number of individuals without surnames. For those women for whom I have no maiden name, I enter their married name in parentheses; this helps me keep all those named Mary and Elizabeth sorted out!




© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - A Yellow Easter Suit

Digital image. Original photograph held by Denise Spurlock, [ADDRESS
WITHHELD FOR PRIVACY], Lomita, California, 2013.

Christopher Morris

Easter 1977

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - With Our Easter Baskets

Digital image. Original photograph held by Deanne Golden, [ADDRESS
WITHHELD FOR PRIVACY], Portland, Oregon, 2012.

Glen Hutchcraft, Denise Spurlock

Jennifer Spurlock and Roger Hutchcraft

April 1960

© 2013 Denise Spurlock

Wordless Wednesday - The Easter Bunny Brought It?

Digital image. Original held by Deanna Golden, [ADDRESS WITHHELD
FOR PRIVACY], Portland, Oregon, 2012.

Denise Jacqueline Spurlock

Easter 1956

© 2013 Denise Spurlock