reports. I just started going through my collected genealogical programs
to see what does print out, and PAF Companion was the first one in my folder
of shortcuts to genealogy programs. I checked. It is so stupid not to
include all the children of all the spouses for each ancestor that I don't
readily accept that they aren't there.
I never would have thought it, and noone said so. Maybe because everyone
thinks too much of Roots Magic, Legacy, and FTM. Well, I would, too, if
only those programs could print a basic genealogy report. With the
irregular dates intact.
It should have occurred to me as a possibility; PAF products have always
done plain old common sense genealogy long before any other program did.
PAF Companion is available for just $15 from LDS, last time I knew about it;
it could be more now. There are things it does not do, and its reports
aren't formatted as nicely as some of the others, but it is readable, and
this is what I most need!
It leaves irregular dates alone, too. All PAF products do that.
Here's an example from my ahentafel report.
20. Eli5 Thompson , born 4 Dec 1770 in Mill Creek, New CAstle, DE; died 19
Sep 1840 in London Britain, Chester, PA, son of 34. Daniel Thompson and 35.
Elizabeth Chambers . He married (1) on 11 Jun 1798 in London Grove,
Chester, PA 21. Elizabeth Wilson , born 16 Jul 1777 in "of" London Grove;
died 11 3rd mo 1803 in New Garden Mtg, Chester, PA, daughter of 36. Ephraim
Wilson and 37. Elizabeth Johnson ; (2) on 19 Aug 1806 in New Garden,
Chester, PA Sarah Scarlett , died 1 Mar 1859 in London Britain, Chester, PA.
Notes for Eli Thompson
settled in White Clay Creek, it may have belonged to New Garden at the
time as part of New Garden was absorbed into London Britain.
b 2/4/1770 MC settled WC m (1) LG m (2) 1806 NG d 9/19/1840
Inconsistency of dates and a registration omission leave it unknown which of
the two wives was Ezra's mother. It strongly appears that Ezra's mother was
Elizabeth Wilson, who died giving birth to him or soon after, in early 1804.
Eli Thompson b 12/4/1700 Mill Creek m (1) 6/11/1798, Elizabeth Wilson
m (2) 8/19/1806 Sarah Scarlett Settled in WC, I don't now when, d
9/19/1840, family records at New Garden mm.
Eli seems to have been a very quiet person. I don't know what role he
may have played in his meeting. But he signed the wedding certificate only
of one of his brothers. This means the only wedding he ever went to of his
small, close-knit community was that of one of his brothers. All present
signed a Quaker wedding certificate, and that was almost always alot of
people; usually from half to most of the members of the meeting.
Notes for Elizabeth Wilson
Elizabeth Wilson b 7/16/1777 d "11, 3rd mo, 1803"
(New Garden meeting records)
Translate: January 11, 1803.
I think it possible she really died January 11, 1804, but so far
cannot confirm. If she died in 1803, Ezra was born to a ghost, or else
illegitimately several years before his father remarried.
This is exactly how it is recorded in the New Garden meeting records,
and because it appears to be mistaken, it is important to preserve it
exactly as the Quaker clerk wrote it. The Quaker calendar differed from the
English calendar by two months, and I've never seen an explanation of what
happened when the Quaker and English calenders were in different years;
people must have gotten very confused constantly. Further, people write the
previous year all of the time when writing dates in early January. I think
she really died on January 11, 1804, the only logical way to account for
Ezra's birth in 1804. Eli didn't marry his second wife until August, 1806!
Ezra's birth is not recorded in the New Garden records, though a Miller
genealogy says Ezra was a son of Eli, and Eli passed some of his land on
White Clay Creek to Ezra upon Ezra's marriage, and both naming patterns and
patterns of family political participation as well as the fact that Ezra
became an Orthodox Quaker make it clear that Ezra was close kin to Eli. I
suspect Elizabeth died of giving birth to Ezra. Her death is recorded, but
they would have had a funeral, the abnormally quiet, probably depressed
father forgot to register the birth of his son! In addition, Ezra's birth is
not recorded at ANY Quaker meeting, to anyone- and he was a Quaker.
Children of Eli Thompson and Elizabeth Wilson were as follows:
i Joel4 Thompson , born 12 Jun 1799 in London
Britain, Chester, PA. He married (1) on 11 May 1829 in New London, Chester,
PA Rachel Spencer , born 14 Jun 1803 in prob New Garden, New London,
Chester, PA; died 24 Feb 1851 in New Garden, Chester, PA; (2) bef 1827 in
Chester Co, PA Mary Matlack (Hickman) , died in West Chester, PA. Notes:
settled in New Garden Township.
ii Daniel4 Thompson , born 13 Mar 1801 in London
Britain, Chester, PA; died 25 Jul 1868 in London Britain, Chester, PA. She
married bef 1826 in New Garden, Chester, PA Beulah C. or G. Hughes , born
1802 in Chester County, PA; died 1882 in London Britain, Chester, PA.
Notes: Daniel and/or Ezra were the elders of the London Britain (Orthodox)
Meetting. The London Britain meeting was Orthodox and starteda t about the
same time as the Mill Creek Hicksite Meeting, the leader of which was a
James Thompson, another member of this clan. But the Hicksite/ Quaker split
was about the developing middle class (who were assimilating into the
mainstream) vs traditional farmers with a more traditional outlook who in
fact opposed the developing Capitalist economy as a threat to their
livlihoods. Eli was one of the sons of his father whose sons and grandsons
were upwardly mobile, and they went with the minority in rural Chester
County orthodox position. The Orthodox Quakers held something fairly closely
resembling ordinary Protestant church services, and adopted a belief in the
Trinity, the Hicksites maintain to this day their traditional Quaker ways of
thinking and mode of worship.
10 iii Ezra Sr.4 Thompson , born abt 1804 in London
Britain, Chester, PA; died 1873 in London Britain, Chester, PA. He married
prob 1832 in prob London Britain, Chester, PA Mary Webster Miller , born 17
Nov 1808 in New Garden, Chester, PA; died 1887 in London Britain, Chester,
PA, daughter of John Miller and Mary Webster .
iv Joshua4 Thompson , born 20 May or Jul 1786 in
New Garden, Chester, PA.
Children of Eli Thompson and Sarah Scarlett were as follows:
i Mary4 Thompson , born 15 May 1810 in London
Britain, Chester, PA. She married in 1827 in Spencer's Mtg, New London,
Chester, PA Jeremiah Starr , born in New Garden, Chester, PA.
I will find out who are the most important stockholders of FTM, Legacy, and
Roots Magic, and write to them with examples. And I will post that
informaition when I find it.
Maybe the programmers and executives of those companies themselves don't
care, and may be they'll never grow brains, but they WILL learn how to earn
their paychecks.
--
Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, TX
tiggernut24@yahoo.com