Map My Ancestors: Heart’s Home

“Home is where the heart is.” Although home does not mean the same thing to every person, it’s symbolism causes our hearts to swell with a sense of belonging. The Civil War forced decisions about belonging. Uncle Joseph H. Burch leaves Texas to join the Confederate Army. We cry with him in Richmond, VA 1862, when at the age of 19 his heart stops beating for a cause he believed in. It was an undercover cause that required a whole heart, no looking back, that gives us a snapshot of the Bayles family. Grandpa Herman Daggit Bayles was the 3rd generation surrounding the legends of General George Washington’s culper spy ring. It would be 100 years before Setauket, NY would reveal it’s deeply buried secrets to helping win the Revolution. Grandpa Bayles would not leave his heart here, but would move it to Nauvoo, IL and then grow it on the Mormon Trail to Utah. Cousin President Theadore Roosevelt is learning his family history right down the coastline. His heart’s commitment would lead him to say, ” A household of children, if things go reasonably well, certaily makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison .” His family came first and a nation knew it! Stopping in for lunch with Franklin D Roosevelt and beloved Eleanor gives us a greater understanding of the man who said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” His heart’s desire….a vaccine! Stricken with polio in his adulthood, he would go on to serve four presidential terms as the 32nd President of the United States. Because of his determination, few people would know the severity of his paralysis. His efforts lived on when in 1955, 10 years after his death, the suffering of future generations was removed with a polio vaccine. Wether dining with the Vanderbilt’s in Hyde Park, NY or Lucy Mack Smith’s family in Palmyra, NY, one thing becomes evident…..the heart of the home is the kitchen! It takes raw courage to venture to a place you don’t belong and make it home, and that is what we find at the heart of Jamestown, Virgina, the first english settlement whose beginnings would lead us on a highway to Yorktown. The revolutionary victory at Yorktown, Virginia gave home a new definintion…..The United States of America. America finally finds her heart in We The People!

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Does Map My Ancestors on the family search app help you discover any ancestors from Virginia? New York?

Census Records can help us discover the places our ancestors called home. Watch a short video to understand what these records are.

What census record years are already attached to your ancestor under sources? What years are missing? Use your device and the app to begin a search for missing census records. Open up sources on a persons page. Hit the blue + sign. On the next page touch search records in the blue circle. Select FamilySearch. On this page change from records( a list of all possible records your ancestor might be in) to collections. I highlighted in red so you could see where to make the change. Scroll down the page until you come to Census and List. Begin by opening a census year you are looking for and alway view the image. Can you find your ancestor listed in the image? Read headings and scroll left to right to make your discoveries. Examples below.

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