by Juliana Smith
My mother started work on our family history back in the 70s, when I was growing up. While we were in school, she would visit libraries, Family History Centers, and the National Archives-Great Lakes. More research was done through correspondence via what we now consider "snail-mail."
Now we can sit at home in our jammies and fuzzy slippers in front of our computers and with the click of a mouse, locate and view images of census records, military records, passenger arrival records, and so much more. With this convenience though, there is sometimes a cost. We may be so focused on what's available online, that we may be overlooking a treasure-trove of resources that reside in the physical world--in libraries, archives, courthouses, and with historical and genealogical organizations.
It can be intimidating to venture out beyond the relative comfort of our computer chairs (and we may want to shed the jammies and fuzzy slippers in favor of more conventional clothing if we're planning on visiting a repository in person), but through correspondence, interlibrary loan, and library visits, we may find that the tools we need, aren't as far away as we thought.
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June 26, 2007
The Year Was 1947
The year was 1947 and the effects of World War II were still being felt. The Cold War had begun, and in 1947, Communists took control of both Poland and Hungary. Much of Europe had been devastated by the war. Economies were in ruins and hunger and desperation fed the general discontent. With the balance of power in Europe in play, the United States and Russia were in a stand-off.
At a commencement ceremony at Harvard University, George C. Marshall proposed an economic aid program that would lead to recovery with the Western European governments that chose to accept it. The Marshall Plan, as it became known, dispensed today's equivalent of $17 billion to the countries that chose to accept it and allowed democracy to keep a hold on much of Western Europe.
The "Red Scare" made it to the United States as the House of Un- American Activities Committee (HUAC) launched an investigation of the movie industry. Following inquiries with industry insiders, nineteen people were named as having communist views. Ten of these people refused to cooperate, citing their First Amendment rights and became known as the "Hollywood Ten." They were blacklisted in response to their refusal to cooperate.
In Canada, a blizzard swept in on 30 January and lasted ten days, burying towns from Calgary to Winnipeg and shutting down some railroads until spring.
In Wisconsin, a blizzard dumped 18.1 inches of snow and ten-foot drifts were created by sixty-mile-an-hour winds. You can read reminiscences from that storm on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website. There's also a photo gallery from the storm online at WisconsinStories.com.
That year also saw the coldest temperature recorded in North America at Snag, Yukon--63 degrees below zero. Brrr!
In Texas, a man-made disaster unfolded on 16 April when the French freighter, the "Grandchamp," loaded with ammonium nitrate exploded in a Texas City slip. That and the explosion of a ship in an adjoinging slip caused significant property damage and the "Grandchamp" explosion killed 568 people, and it's estimated that 3,500 more were injured, making this the worst industrial disaster in U.S. history.
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At a commencement ceremony at Harvard University, George C. Marshall proposed an economic aid program that would lead to recovery with the Western European governments that chose to accept it. The Marshall Plan, as it became known, dispensed today's equivalent of $17 billion to the countries that chose to accept it and allowed democracy to keep a hold on much of Western Europe.
The "Red Scare" made it to the United States as the House of Un- American Activities Committee (HUAC) launched an investigation of the movie industry. Following inquiries with industry insiders, nineteen people were named as having communist views. Ten of these people refused to cooperate, citing their First Amendment rights and became known as the "Hollywood Ten." They were blacklisted in response to their refusal to cooperate.
In Canada, a blizzard swept in on 30 January and lasted ten days, burying towns from Calgary to Winnipeg and shutting down some railroads until spring.
In Wisconsin, a blizzard dumped 18.1 inches of snow and ten-foot drifts were created by sixty-mile-an-hour winds. You can read reminiscences from that storm on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website. There's also a photo gallery from the storm online at WisconsinStories.com.
That year also saw the coldest temperature recorded in North America at Snag, Yukon--63 degrees below zero. Brrr!
In Texas, a man-made disaster unfolded on 16 April when the French freighter, the "Grandchamp," loaded with ammonium nitrate exploded in a Texas City slip. That and the explosion of a ship in an adjoinging slip caused significant property damage and the "Grandchamp" explosion killed 568 people, and it's estimated that 3,500 more were injured, making this the worst industrial disaster in U.S. history.
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Tips from the Pros: School Recordsm
Remember how your parents had to provide information about you, such as date and place of birth, as part of registering you for school? Many schools maintain their records indefinitely, usually in some records retention facility. Registration, grades, yearbooks, and all sorts of other information may still exist.
If you can determine the location of the school that your ancestor or relative attended, and the county it is/was in, chances are that you may be able to obtain copies of school records. Also, don't overlook...
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If you can determine the location of the school that your ancestor or relative attended, and the county it is/was in, chances are that you may be able to obtain copies of school records. Also, don't overlook...
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June 17, 2007
Tips from the Pros: Go Back and Get it Again
Have you gone back and reviewed documents that you located early in your research? Family historians should not only review copies of records in their files, but also original materials from which notes and comments were made. Re-reading the complete records from which notations were made may cause overlooked clues to be discovered.
I was fortunate that I grew up within a few miles of the courthouse that contained many court and probate records of my ancestors. My initial viewing of these materials was done early in my research when I was still partially in what I call my "name-collecting" phase. If it didn't mention a known or obvious relative, I did not always write it down. I only copied...
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
I was fortunate that I grew up within a few miles of the courthouse that contained many court and probate records of my ancestors. My initial viewing of these materials was done early in my research when I was still partially in what I call my "name-collecting" phase. If it didn't mention a known or obvious relative, I did not always write it down. I only copied...
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
Determining Your Ancestor's Religion
Sometimes determining your ancestor's religion is as easy as looking at the name on the door of the church they attended. For some of us it is not that easy. This week we look at some clues that may help us in our search for our ancestor's church and the records that church left behind.
Why Church Records?Records from our ancestor's church may help us document his or her birth, death, and marriage. In some cases, they may help us learn other details about his or her life. The content of church records varies greatly among different denominations. However, these records should still be a part of any comprehensive research plan. We start by looking at ways to determine the denomination of your ancestor.
The "Obvious" SourcesFamily tradition may mention the religion of...
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
Why Church Records?Records from our ancestor's church may help us document his or her birth, death, and marriage. In some cases, they may help us learn other details about his or her life. The content of church records varies greatly among different denominations. However, these records should still be a part of any comprehensive research plan. We start by looking at ways to determine the denomination of your ancestor.
The "Obvious" SourcesFamily tradition may mention the religion of...
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
The Year Was 1907
The year was 1907 and in Belfast, Ireland, Protestant and Catholic dockworkers set aside their differences for a short time to unite in a four-month strike for better wages, better working conditions, and union recognition.
In Romania, a growing economy was making the rich richer, but peasants, who had very little representation in the government were still struggling and they revolted, destroying the homes and crops of the wealthy. The Romanian Army was called in and the revolt ended with the deaths of an estimated 10,000 peasants.
October brought with it the Panic of 1907 in New York. Rampant speculation and a faltering economy brought a "run" on several large trust companies with scared depositors withdrawing their funds. J.P. Morgan and several other leading Wall Street financiers were called in by President Theodore Roosevelt to turn things around. Working with the government, they put together a plan where $25 million dollars from the U.S. Treasury was invested in the neediest banks to prevent future runs on the institutions. Many financial historians attribute the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 to the Panic of 1907.
On November 16, Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory joined together to become the 46th U.S. state. The state had grown with western expansion and demand for the rich lands led to six land runs between 1889 and 1895. That and the discovery of oil in the state helped boost the population to the necessary levels to achieve statehood.
There were several notable disasters, the worst of which was a plague in India. A plague pandemic had begun in Asia in 1894 and rats aboard steamships spread the disease around the world. In India the disease killed an estimated 13 million people.
Earlier that year, an earthquake ravaged the city of Kingston, Jamaica. Fires soon began that would burn for four days. The death toll from the earthquake was nearly 800 and the devastation was extensive. Most of the dead did not receive proper burials, but were cremated or buried in mass graves for fear of disease.
In 1907, the Lusitania, the largest steamship in the world, departed Queenstown, Ireland, on its maiden voyage to New York. On a later voyage in October, it would set a record by making the trip in four days, nineteen hours, and fifty-two minutes. In November it was eclipsed by its sister ship, the Mauretania, and in May 1915, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland and sank killing 1,198 people. Photos of the voyage can be found at Old-Picture.com.
Another innovation from that year came out of Hershey, Pennsylvania, in the form of the Hershey Kiss. The Hershey website theorizes that the name came from the "sound or motion of the chocolate being deposited during the manufacturing process."
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[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
June 11, 2007
Finding My Family on the 1895 Minnesota State Census!
by Paula Stuart Warren, CG
Never give up. Recheck what you checked before. Review your notes. Step away from it for a while. I did all this and still never found one of my ancestral families in the 1895 Minnesota State Census.
A couple of weeks ago I was at the National Genealogical Society Conference in Richmond, Virginia. While there I had a couple of conversations with fellow genealogists about how those of us who had been working on our family history for many years sometimes forget to return to the basics.
I thought about it and for my Stuart family I believed I had gone over the basics several times. I had them on every other applicable state and federal census, but using city directory addresses, ward maps, and other tools, I still could not find them in the mostly unindexed 1895 Minnesota State Census.
Of course, the frequent moves of this family added to the problem. Then that surname of Stuart made it worse: Stuart, Stewart, Stuard, and all the other variations you might expect. My great-grandfather was Alexander Charles Stuart, or A.C. Stuart, or Alexander Stuart, or Alex Stuart. I even have his own signature using the spelling of Stewart. (Not a helpful man.) Several clues told me they were either in Stillwater or St. Paul, both of which are in Minnesota. I figured they arrived in Minnesota in 1893-94. His brother James E. Stuart, a well-known Postal Inspector, was extremely easy to find year after year in Chicago; newspaper indexes yield much on his postal and military career.
My branch was definitely not a wealthy family and I suspect that many of the moves from state to state, within a state, and just about every year once they arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota, was due to keeping one step ahead of the rent collector. Alex also left his family behind and lived with his brother Robert's family in Salina, Kansas, in the early twentieth century. I have family information and also the World War I draft registrations from Ancestry.com that show details on Alex's sons that helped place their arrival time in Minnesota.
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[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
Tips from the Pros: Go Back and Get it Again
from Michael John Neill
Have you gone back and reviewed documents that you located early in your research? Family historians should not only review copies of records in their files, but also original materials from which notes and comments were made. Re-reading the complete records from which notations were made may cause overlooked clues to be discovered.
I was fortunate that I grew up within a few miles of the courthouse that contained many court and probate records of my ancestors. My initial viewing of these materials was done early in my research when I was still partially in what I call my "name-collecting" phase. If it didn't mention a known or obvious relative, I did not always write it down. I only copied...
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
Have you gone back and reviewed documents that you located early in your research? Family historians should not only review copies of records in their files, but also original materials from which notes and comments were made. Re-reading the complete records from which notations were made may cause overlooked clues to be discovered.
I was fortunate that I grew up within a few miles of the courthouse that contained many court and probate records of my ancestors. My initial viewing of these materials was done early in my research when I was still partially in what I call my "name-collecting" phase. If it didn't mention a known or obvious relative, I did not always write it down. I only copied...
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
Determining Your Ancestor's Religion
by Michael John Neill
[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
Sometimes determining your ancestor's religion is as easy as looking at the name on the door of the church they attended. For some of us it is not that easy. This week we look at some clues that may help us in our search for our ancestor's church and the records that church left behind.
Why Church Records?
Records from our ancestor's church may help us document his or her birth, death, and marriage. In some cases, they may help us learn other details about his or her life. The content of church records varies greatly among different denominations. However, these records should still be a part of any comprehensive research plan. We start by looking at ways to determine the denomination of your ancestor.
The "Obvious" Sources
Family tradition may mention the religion of...
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
The Year Was 1907
The year was 1907 and in Belfast, Ireland, Protestant and Catholic dockworkers set aside their differences for a short time to unite in a four-month strike for better wages, better working conditions, and union recognition।
In Romania, a growing economy was making the rich richer, but peasants, who had very little representation in the government were still struggling and they revolted, destroying the homes and crops of the wealthy। The Romanian Army was called in and the revolt ended with the deaths of an estimated 10,000 peasants.
October brought with it the Panic of 1907 in New York। Rampant speculation and a faltering economy brought a "run" on several large trust companies with scared depositors withdrawing their funds. J.P. Morgan and several other leading Wall Street financiers were called in by President Theodore Roosevelt to turn things around. Working with the government, they put together a plan where $25 million dollars from the U.S. Treasury was invested in the neediest banks to prevent future runs on the institutions. Many financial historians attribute the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 to the Panic of 1907.
On November 16, Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory joined together to become the 46th U.S. state। The state had grown with western expansion and demand for the rich lands led to six land runs between 1889 and 1895. That and the discovery of oil in the state helped boost the population to the necessary levels to achieve statehood.
There were several notable disasters, the worst of which was a plague in India. A plague pandemic had begun in Asia in 1894 and rats aboard steamships spread the disease around the world। In India the disease killed an estimated 13 million people.
Earlier that year, an earthquake ravaged the city of Kingston, Jamaica। Fires soon began that would burn for four days. The death toll from the earthquake was nearly 800 and the devastation was extensive. Most of the dead did not receive proper burials, but were cremated or buried in mass graves for fear of disease.
In 1907, the Lusitania, the largest steamship in the world, departed Queenstown, Ireland, on its maiden voyage to New York. On a later voyage in October, it would set a record by making the trip in four days, nineteen hours, and fifty-two minutes. In November it was eclipsed by its sister ship, the Mauretania, and in May 1915, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland and sank killing 1,198 people. Photos of the voyage can be found at Old-Picture.com।
Another innovation from that year came out of Hershey, Pennsylvania, in the form of the Hershey Kiss। The Hershey website theorizes that the name came from the "sound or motion of the chocolate being deposited during the manufacturing process."
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
In Romania, a growing economy was making the rich richer, but peasants, who had very little representation in the government were still struggling and they revolted, destroying the homes and crops of the wealthy। The Romanian Army was called in and the revolt ended with the deaths of an estimated 10,000 peasants.
October brought with it the Panic of 1907 in New York। Rampant speculation and a faltering economy brought a "run" on several large trust companies with scared depositors withdrawing their funds. J.P. Morgan and several other leading Wall Street financiers were called in by President Theodore Roosevelt to turn things around. Working with the government, they put together a plan where $25 million dollars from the U.S. Treasury was invested in the neediest banks to prevent future runs on the institutions. Many financial historians attribute the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 to the Panic of 1907.
On November 16, Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory joined together to become the 46th U.S. state। The state had grown with western expansion and demand for the rich lands led to six land runs between 1889 and 1895. That and the discovery of oil in the state helped boost the population to the necessary levels to achieve statehood.
There were several notable disasters, the worst of which was a plague in India. A plague pandemic had begun in Asia in 1894 and rats aboard steamships spread the disease around the world। In India the disease killed an estimated 13 million people.
Earlier that year, an earthquake ravaged the city of Kingston, Jamaica। Fires soon began that would burn for four days. The death toll from the earthquake was nearly 800 and the devastation was extensive. Most of the dead did not receive proper burials, but were cremated or buried in mass graves for fear of disease.
In 1907, the Lusitania, the largest steamship in the world, departed Queenstown, Ireland, on its maiden voyage to New York. On a later voyage in October, it would set a record by making the trip in four days, nineteen hours, and fifty-two minutes. In November it was eclipsed by its sister ship, the Mauretania, and in May 1915, the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland and sank killing 1,198 people. Photos of the voyage can be found at Old-Picture.com।
Another innovation from that year came out of Hershey, Pennsylvania, in the form of the Hershey Kiss। The Hershey website theorizes that the name came from the "sound or motion of the chocolate being deposited during the manufacturing process."
[ Next Page ] - Click Here
[ Read Past Helps ] [ Read Past Tips ]
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