Thursday, May 1, 2008

Free HAM Book GiveAway Contest - May, 2008


Free "HAM" Book Giveaway Contest

May, 2008

This time, the question I want to know is:


How well do we know our HAM Revolutionary War veterans from Virginia?


This month, we having
a Free HAM Book Giveaway Contest based on the Revolutionary War Poll questions at the HAM Country blog. The Contest is to win a free three volume set of our book "A Short History of the HAM Surname in Virginia & NC."


The person who gives the best answers to this month's Revolutionary War Poll wins.

Here's how you can enter. You can enter by either:

- Commenting to the HAM Country blog under the Revolutionary War Poll (or Free Book Giveaway Contest).

- OR, you can enter by posting a video (to You Tube, etc).



I have decided NOT to accept email entries, except under special circumstances. That's
because the Blog and You Tube are public, and it would just not be fair to accept non public entries. (I will post any special circumstance entries to the blog.)

I'll take either of those two - comments or video. The comments should contain the "correct" answers to the Poll questions. (This is separate from just voting in the Poll. That is, you can vote in the Poll without entering the contest. To enter the contest, post a "comment" to the Contest with the answers to the Rev War Poll.)
If two people tie for the best answers, and one has a video on You Tube and the other has a comment on the HAM Country blog, then I will give more points for the You Tube video. That's because it takes a little bit more effort to do a video, and the HAM Country Blog answer will be public.
However, I WILL be checking to make sure that people aren't making videos from a blog, or blogging from a video. But, if both belong to you, then that's fine.

The answers don't need to be anything too technical, nothing too fancy. You just have to give the best answers to the HAM Revolutionary War Poll questions. You might want to remember that "real" genealogists will cite their sources.

Just convince me that your answers are the best.

There are ten questions in that Poll. (This may make it tough to get into one You Tube video.)
This contest is going to run until the "HAM veterans of the Revolutionary War Poll" is over. It closes May 31st, 2008 at 11:59 PM. After that, there will be no more responses accepted.

I'll take a few days and read them all, or watch the videos and figure out which one I think is the best, and that person will be the winner. I will need to be able to identify who you are, so that I can announce the winner and send the book to you.
This is a nice set of books, about 10 years in the making. It's a good book to have in your library.

The winner gets all three volumes. It's got research in England, France, Virginia, and North Carolina. It's got Mordecai HAM Bible records, Revolutionary War records. It's got a lot of early HAM information by County and time line.
If you're a HAM genealogist, it's a handy reference for your library.
So, go ahead and enter the contest. Just make sure that you have the best answer. There are tough questions on this Poll. If you know your stuff, then you just might be able to figure that out and get some bonus points. I will also give bonus points for primary source records on a You Tube video.
You've got the month of May to enter. The Contest closes May 31st, 2008 at 11:59 PM.

Have a good time, and while you're at it, vote on the Revolutionary War Poll questions.



(Free HAM Book GiveAway Contest You Tube video was removed after this contest.)

To post comments, click on the title and scroll to the bottom.

Poll: HAM Revolutionary War Veterans

Poll: HAM Revolutionary War Veterans

May, 2008



Out of all of my research in Virginia, I have to admit that nothing nothing is more interesting than to read the Revolutionary War Pension papers. With Memorial Day coming up, I thought this might be a good topic for this month's HAM Country Blog Poll.


Susan Bullock is the co-author that can claim descent from a Revolutionary War Veteran. Also, the HAM DNA Project participant Linzey Ham descends from a Revolutionary War veteran. They de
scend from Mordecai Ham, who participated in one of the most important battles of the War.



Mordecai HAM Pension papers



In fact, there were HAM's in nearly all of the major battles that are considered to be among the turning points of the American R
evolution. Do you know who they were, and which battles they participated in?

This was one of the areas that we covered in our book, but this is also a subject that has never had comprehensive coverage by genealogy books on the HAM surname.
Organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) hold a good library of records, but they do not publish genealogy books on the HAM surname.


We didn't explain the battles, show much in the way of on site battlefield pictures, or show maps of the battle campaigns. We didn't show existing pictures of the generals, or soldiers in uniform. We didn't show ships on the ocean in battle formation, or explain how the War played out. That type of information would probably require a separate book in itself. However, we did include a number of existing records on Revolutionary War Veterans, and some information about their residence and family, when possible.

One of my favorite pension papers to read has to include that of Drury Ham, who had also participated in the Revolutionary War.


There has never been a video documentary on HAM's in the Revolutionary War. There have been no books on the campaigns that our HAM ancestors fought during that war. This isn't because the stories are not there, it is simply because it has never been done. These stories are not often told. The Revolution has been told elsewhere, but only in general terms of the commanding officers or the battles. Research on the HAM name in the Revolutionary War has been poor, at best.


Yorktown Battlefield


You might recall Mel Gibson in the movie "The Patriot," a dramatization of one of the battles that a Ham participated in. Of course, the name "Ham" does not appear in this movie as one of the characters, and the ending is entirely fictional. In that regard, the movie does little more than call to mind a more romantic version of the actual events, and does little to address the history behind "Ham" Revolutionary War veterans. It does, however, give you an impression of the conflicts that families may have experienced during the war.


Which might say something about the sorry state of affairs when it comes to genealogy work on the HAM name. I would say that not near enough has been completed. And again, unfortunately, even the Revolutionary War Veterans have some bad information listed on the internet. HAM genealogists from Virginia still have a lot more work to do. This month we are having another poll at the HAM Country blog for the HAM researchers. This time, I would like to know how well we know our Revolutionary War Veterans from Virginia. As in the previous poll, the answers can be found in (or figured out from) our book "A Short History of the HAM Surname in Virginia & NC."

Yorktown battlefield


The questions are:

- What HAM's fought at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse?

- Which HAM wa
s a Lieutenant in the Navy during the Revolutionary War?

- What was the name of the ship commanded by a HAM during the siege of Y
orktown?

- Which HAM was an Indian Spy during the Revolutionary War?

- Which HAM Received a severe head wound during a skirmish with the Tories during the Revolutionary War?

- When was Mordecai HAM finally discharged from the service?

- Who was most likely to be Drury HAM's father, based upon the County land survey?

- Who served
under Captain Daniel Sparks?

- Who was denied a pension (due to lack of records) after serving under General Sumpter?

- Who served as a surgeon during the Revolutionary War?


You will find the poll at the HAM Country blog.


The poll questions close on May 31st at 11:59 PM.






Contest Results: Jerome HAM - April 2008


HAM Book Contest Results
Jerome HAM Poll Questions

April, 2008


We had a tie between "mynaime05" and "Hammer." Technically, "mynaime05" was the first of the two to submit their comment and therefore would be the winner for reasons of time.


I have discussed this with Geneva and Susan, and they agree to waive the fastest response this time, and permit both to win. That's mainly because there was some confusion about "how to" enter the contest. However, from now on, if there is a tie, the prize will go to the earliest entry.


There were three total entries in the contest. Both entries for
"mynaime05" and "Hammer" had two correct answers (Missy entered twice, but I only counted her "official" answer. Missy answered one question correctly.) There were four multiple choice questions in the Poll. So, the winners got two answers correct out of a total of four questions.

Both "mynaime05" and "Hammer" got the number of children correct, but differed on when Jerome HAM was born, and whether or not the Jerome HAM of Bristol and Jerome HAM of Virginia was the same man.


For when Jerome HAM was born, the Poll would accept more than one answer (there was more than one correct answer). "Hammer" selected the wrong birth date.


For the last question, the two Jerome HAM's were different men. "mynaime05" selected the wrong answer.

So, both answered two of the questions correctly.

If "mynaime05" and "Hammer" will send me an email privately, I would like to gather their contact information so that we can send the books out. My email: odoniv (at) earthlink.net

Congratulations go to the contest winners,
"mynaime05" and "Hammer."


To post comments, click on the title and scroll to the bottom.

POLL Results: Jerome HAM

POLL Results: Jerome HAM

April 30, 2008

The HAM Country POLL results for Jerome HAM are in. The Poll closed on April 30th at 11:59 PM.

The questions focussed on the High Sheriff and Burgess of York County, Virginia.
Folks on my email list had over two weeks to respond. I must have received hundreds of emails about this over the past decade, and about 100 genealogists were able to read the Poll questions prior to the close of that Poll. In preparation for the Poll questions, I did a quick survey of Family Tree entries for Jerome HAM on several internet web sites. The one with the most trees was the pay service, Ancestry.com with well over 600 Jerome HAM Family Trees. Another was the Rootsweb WorldConnect web site. A third search was done at FamilySearch.org.

About 97% of the Jerome HAM family trees on the internet have bad information about Jerome HAM.

The Poll generated only about 12 votes. Pretty poor response. There were 141 page loads of the Blog, and 93 views of the You Tube video.

I would gather that people were not voting. I would also gather most folks do not know the answers, since most of the responses to the Poll pretty much reflected the WRONG information on the internet.

All of the answers to the poll questions can either be found in or figured out by using our book. It is hard to believe that people are not using our book for that time frame.



The Poll questions were:

- When was Jerome HAM born? - Jerome HAM married Sibella. What was Sibella's maiden name? - How many children did Jerome HAM have by wife Sibella?

- Were Jerome HAM of Bristol and the Jerome HAM of York County, VA the same man?
Jamestown Church in ruins

Here are the results from the Jerome HAM Poll:



72% have responded that they believe Jerome HAM was born about 1580.

18 % believe that he was born about 1659.


9 % believe that Jerome HAM was born about 1650.


9 % believe that Jerome HAM was born before 1565.
(You could select more than one date on this question.)







66 % have responded that they believe Sibella's maiden name was CAINHOE.

32 %
did not know Sibella's maiden name.












36 % believe Jerome HAM had five or more children by wife Sibella.

27 % believe Jerome
HAM had three children by wife Sibella.

27 % believe Jerome
HAM had two children by wife Sibella.

9 % believe they had four children.







42 % of those that responded believe that the Jerome HAM of Bristol was the same man as the Jerome HAM of York County, Virginia.

42 % of those that responded believe that the Jerome HAM of Bristol was NOT the same man as the Jerome HAM of York County, Virginia.


16 % said they did not know.





Which, I suppose explains why there are so many errors posted to the internet web sites (such as ancestry.com). Most likely, folks are not using our book as a reference when posting information about Jerome HAM to the internet.