Dad Remembers the Atlanta Crackers

     It can be hard to get family stories out of my dad; I can't really ask him specific questions, rather, he has to share his stories as the memories come to him.  The other day, while we were watching the Atlanta Braves get stomped by the San Francisco Giants, he threw this tidbit out:

"I remember going to an Atlanta Crackers game once."

     For those of you (all of you?) not in the know, the Crackers were Atlanta's minor league team in the first half of the 20th century, before the arrival of the major league Atlanta Braves (formerly of Milwaukee).

     Dad couldn't give me much more information, except that he was young enough to mostly just remember enough to remember that he went, that they were playing at their own stadium, Ponce de Leon Park (as opposed to Atlanta-Fulton County, where they played their final year), that he got lost and was fussed at, and that he went with a kids' team, likely his older brother Gary's.

     When it's all typed up and combined with information I can find online about the team and Ponce de Leon Park Stadium, it actually fills out a pretty good picture.  Based on what I've found out, he would have attended sometime between 1960 and 1964, when he was 9 years old.  And every time I hear a story like this, it gives me one more connection to a place and time in history.

     I mean, just imagine this little boy enjoying his first game of professional baseball:

A Guardianship Question

     I found this document on FamilySearch.org in alphabetized Estate Records for Elbert County.  I'm confused by it and hoping someone can provide some insight.

     I'm reading that John Craft Sr is being made guardian of John Craft Jr and Willis Craft, sons of John Craft Sr.  Is this record giving guardian ship of a father to his sons, or are there two John Craft Seniors? Where John Craft Sr is named as the father, the words "late of said county, deceased" are crossed out, indicating that he is alive.  But why does a father need to be named guardian?  This record is in the Estate Records; is he becoming guardian of property they have inherited?

Beta Testing Ancestry.com's New Shoebox App

     A while ago, Ancestry.com put a notice on their Facebook page, looking for anyone interested in beta testing a new app.  A few days ago, I received an invitation to try out this new app, called Shoebox.

     In the words of Ancestry.com, Shoebox is designed as a way to "quickly scan your paper photos, tag people in your family tree, and add important historical information like dates and places. You can also share your photos with family and friends."

     I downloaded the app to my iPhone, but it's also available for Android phones.  I found the app to be quick, clean, and intuitive, though missing a few features.

     It's easy to figure out: you take a picture of a person, object or old photo, tag it to a person in your family tree, add a few details, and you're done.

     What Works?

• You can upload photos already on your phone, or take new photos.
• You can easily switch between multiple trees on your account.
• The app has an intuitive cropping tool, or you can turn off cropping.
• You can tag faces in the photo and instantly add the photos to the appropriate people in your tree.
• Your photos are stored in the app in an attractive scrolling view.
• I have not experienced any crashes.

     What Doesn't Work?

• If you don't have an Ancestry.com family tree, there's no point to the app.  This is not a bad thing, but simply something to keep in mind.
• There is no way to rotate your photo to horizontal if the app sees your photo as being vertical. Suggestion: Add a rotation tool.
• There is no way to edit photos taken with the app (so you might want to take them with your phone's camera and import them). Suggestion: Add basic photo editing tools such as brightness and contrast. 
• There is no way to sort the photos stored in the app. Once you have a few dozen photos, there's no way to find a specific one. Suggestion: Add a search tool, that will search tagged faced and information from the descriptions.
• Tagging is inconsistant.  I've uploaded three photos, each with two people; only one person ends up with a saved tag. Bug.
• Once you've saved a photo, you cannot edit it again. 
• You cannot access any photos in your tree that you did not add using this app.

     The last two bullet points go to my major complaint about this app: it's a one-trick pony and doesn't really stand on its own. I don't know why they created an entirely new app for a feature that should have simply been added to their existing Family Tree app.  For the most part this app does work very well, but then again, it doesn't do much.  It's an upload tool, but I would expect it to also be an editing tool.  I can see myself using it a bit if I have photos on my phone that I want to add to my Ancestry.com tree, but I can also see myself forgetting that it exists.  

     Here's a scenario that I'd love to see with an app like this.  You're visiting a relative and taking photos of old photos that they own using this app.  You upload them to your Ancestry.com tree and tag the appropriate ancestors.  You then review other photos already on your tree.  Your relative provides additional information, maybe identifies an unknown person in a group photo, and you can then edit the photo to add this information.  Right now you can't do all of that with this app.

     The Shoebox app is brand new and still in beta, so there's hope yet.  I hope that Ancestry.com takes the suggestions of its testers and adds more features or even combines it with their Family Tree app.

Favorite Records: Homestead Exemptions

     One of my favorite records are Homestead Exemptions.  I've used these records to help better understand the lives of my ancestors and fill in the blanks between census years.  So far I've used them to research my Georgia ancestors.  Georgia's records began in 1852 but, as these were state created laws, they began at different times in different states.  According to the Georgia Archive, "the basic purpose of this exemption is to make a certain amount of person's property untaxable."

     Given the purpose of the records, you might be able to guess what kind of information is included: the person who is seeking tax protection and details on the property needing protection.  These records will list the head of the household and in some list his family members.  Often, every member of the household will be listed by name; it's like a mini census!  Then there is a list of property, such as acres of land, livestock, furniture, and seemingly random items such as sewing machines and guns.  Sometimes you'll luck up and the record will include a plat map.

     For example, you can see the Homestead Exemption application for my Great-Great-Great Grandfather, William W Sprouse.  This record was filed in 1889 - hey, look at that! It's like a stand-in for the destroyed 1890 census.  It lists William, wife Nancy, and children Tully, Walter, Nina, Miller and Bernie.  This was exciting for me, in part because my Great-Great Grandmother, Nina Sprouse, never appeared on a census record with her parents.  The record also lists the family's property and it's value.  It's interesting to see the price of things in 1889.

     Finding these records is always exciting for me, even though they tend to indicate that my ancestors were struggling financially.  They are a bit of a gold mine and may help you learn something new about your ancestors.