Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog

What was $12 worth in 1814?

2013-05-22T00:30:00.001-07:00

Anyone who studies the past soon comes up against the question of what the money amounts mentioned really meant. There are a number of sites that will "tell" us, but translating 200-year-old dollar values into today's economy is a very difficult and dubious task. I proposed some alternatives in a blog post last year and recommended the site Measuring Worth if you're determined to try to make such a statement.

But for several reasons it seemed more reasonable to compare apples to apples and describe purchases from back then that we might be able to grasp in in-kind terms today.

So when I wanted to know what it meant for a War of 1812 soldier to be paid about $12 for a couple months' service (two separate hitches), I went looking. I found that that in 1812 in near-frontier Cincinnati that amount of money would have bought

"more than 250 pounds of beef.¹ In Jefferson County [New York] some 20 years later it would have bought about 100 pounds of maple sugar.^2"

1 Thomas Senior Berry, Western Prices Before 1861: A Study of the Cincinnati Market (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1943), Table 23, “Median Annual Prices of Fourteen Leading Commodities in the Ohio Valley, 1786-1817,” pp. 568-69; digital images, Food Timeline (http://www.foodtimelines.org/prices1786-1817.pdf : accessed 9 April 2013).

2 Henry H. Lyman, “Sugar-Making,” in Memories of the Old Homestead: A Story about Lorraine, NY (1900; reprint, Historical Association of South Jefferson, 1999), 23rd paragraph; digital image, Adams, New York History and Genealogy (http://www.adamsny.net/lyman.html : accessed 9 April 2013).

These were the most intuitive comparisons I could find on short order. I was reminded that prices were very local back then, and how few things are directly comparable. (I hardly ever have occasion to buy that much beef or maple sugar.) If others have found useful sources for this purpose I'd love to hear about them.

Harold Henderson, "What was $12 worth in 1814?," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 22 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Paul Graham's Georgia Courthouse Disasters

2013-05-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Courthouse disasters are the stuff of legend. My grandmother believed the records of all four of her grandparents had been destroyed; in fact, none were.

Paul K. Graham, CG, AG -- one of a handful who holds both genealogical credentials -- has documented 109 disasters, many causing record losses, in 75 of Georgia's 159 counties since the American Revolution. Each county's brief narrative has a source list attached, although specific statements of fact are not directly documented. (To put it technically, he has provided direct evidence of negative evidence!) Two counties have claimed disasters for which there is zero contemporary evidence (Emanuel and Polk), whereas two others have massive record loss with no documentation of how it happened (Bryan and Union).

The book's value is enhanced by maps showing the areas affected beyond the named county. Although 1864 was the worst year for Georgia courthouses, overall 95 of the 109 disasters came from things like arsonists and faulty heating equipment, not the Civil War.

To a researcher who rarely does Georgia, this looks like an enviable resource. Graham prudently did not attempt to record exactly which records had been lost in each county (indeed, in multiple-disaster counties, later fires obliterated evidence of the damage done by earlier ones). Graham says he has given up an ambitious scheme to produce similar books for the other states. Perhaps this handsome little book will inspire imitators.

Unfortunately disasters come in other flavors. Those of us following the ongoing saga of the Georgia Archives' near-death experience, or the Indiana State Archives' chronic neglect, can only hope that some 22nd-century genealogist will not have to chronicle 21st-century record losses caused by underfunding (instead of war), mismanagement (instead of tornadoes), and ignorant politicians (instead of arsonists).

Paul K. Graham, Georgia Courthouse Disasters (Decatur GA: The Genealogy Company, 2013).

Harold Henderson, "Paul Graham's Georgia Courthouse Disasters," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 20 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Specific good news for Illinois and Indiana researchers

2013-05-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

FamilySearch announced on the 16th increases in two online collections of great interest to those with Midwestern ancestors. But the official information about the collections is somewhat incomplete and inaccurate.

"Indiana, Marriages, 1811-1959," is reported to be 82% complete, with material from all counties except Scott, Shelby, Spencer, Starke, Switzerland, Tipton, and Vermillion.

In fact, there are substantial numbers of indexed marriages in all 92 Indiana counties. All appear to offer images, but some were unavailable when I clicked them.

"Illinois, County Marriages, 1820-1934," is reported to include both index and images, 63% complete, with no names of counties covered (earlier iterations had named them).

I did not see any images. Counties with index entries are

Adams, Alexander,
Bond, Boone, Brown,
Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford,
DeWitt, Douglas,
Edgar, Edwards, Effingham,
Ford, Franklin,
Gallatin, Grundy,
Hancock, Henderson, Henry,
Iroquois,
Jackson, Jefferson, Jo Daviess,
Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Knox,
Livingston,
Marion, Massac, McHenry, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie,
Ogle,
Pike,
Randolph, Rock Island,
Shelby,
Warren, White, and Williamson.

Notably missing at this point are the big ones including Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, Peoria, and Winnebago. Where the two overlap, it would be interesting to compare the coverage of this new index to that of the Illinois State Archives' venerable "Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900" (also a volunteer project), but I haven't done that. If you do post such a thing on your blog, kindly add a comment with the link!

Harold Henderson, "Specific good news for Illinois and Indiana researchers," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 18 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Cynthia Inez Thrall Klein from Illinois to Texas

2013-05-17T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Utah Genealogical Association quarterly Crossroads has just published my account of my grandfather's second cousin Cynthia Inez (Thrall) Klein. The story spans three states so it is a good fit for Crossroads, which is aiming for a more national audience and recently began paying for articles. (Those with multi-state articles take note!) I like the layout and the professionalism of the staff.

The magazine is a benefit of UGA membership; since they also offer a member discount for their week-long Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy in January, it's an investment worth considering.

A few other branches of this mostly New-England-to-the-Midwest Thrall family went to Texas. Someday I hope to get to them. For that matter, I know there is more information on Cynthia and her family in Wharton County, Texas, where they settled.

For those interested in procedure, this article is based on roughly the last third of my Kinship Determination Project submitted to BCG last year. Don't forget to publish those puppies once the judges have had their say!

Harold Henderson, "Cynthia Inez Thrall Klein (1867-1932): An Enterprising Illinois Woman in Texas, with Allied Families Reavis and Whyde," Crossroads 8, no. 2 (Spring 2013), 6-17.

Harold Henderson, "Cynthia Inez Thrall Klein from Illinois to Texas," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 17 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

"I" and "we" in genealogy writing

2013-05-15T00:30:00.001-07:00

This year's Ohio Genealogical Society conference in Cincinnati sparked some good discussions, including one that came out of Ohio Genealogy News editor Sunny McClellan Morton's Friday morning talk. Like many of us, she's trying to encourage new writers to take up the pen or word processor as the case may be.

I admit to being a bit surprised that there was anything to discuss. There are many kinds of good genealogical writing, and the first person can be effectively wielded in most of them.

. . . Except at the top of the pyramid. In the five most scholarly magazines -- NEHGR, NGSQ, NYGBR, TAG, and The Genealogist -- the first person singular or plural is out of bounds, I think reasonably so. The focus there should be on the methods, the records, and the people being researched -- not on the researcher's false trails and travails. Having journals like this is one of many factors that will make genealogy more respectable as an intellectual endeavor and not just a harmless obsession of geezers. Also, once you get the hang of it, leaving yourself out of the picture actually makes it easier to tell one story, without having to shift back and forth from the story of the past to the story of your attempt to reclaim the past. Scholarly accounts deliberately suppress process details because the logic of proof is often very different from the travelogue of discovery.

But this is not the only way to tell these stories, and it is not always even the best way. For one thing, up-and-coming researchers have a natural hunger for accounts of how it went. A research find can look very different in the heat of battle (or more likely in the courthouse basement) than it does in a polished article. And nothing prevents such accounts from being well-written and well-documented.

So, pretty much everywhere else -- in commercial popular magazines, in trade publications (APG Quarterly), and in quality mid-level publications (such as NGS Magazine, Ohio Genealogy News, and many state publications) -- I would expect good editors to be open to the possibility of using first person to tell a solid genealogical story. (I blogged about a couple here; Sunny has been publishing research travelogues under the heading "Genealogy Journeys" in OGN.)

Many people may find it more natural to write in the first person at first, and I'm in favor of any approach that will get more of us writing (as opposed to dying with file cabinets full of uncommunicated discoveries). But writing WELL in the first person is much harder than it looks, for at least three reasons:

(1) All storytelling and all writing is about selection, and when you write about your own experience you have to do all the selection. You know too much. (In an interview-based article, for instance, both the interviewee and the interviewer filter the direct experience, so that the result of the interview has already been winnowed down considerably from the raw experience, making it easier to craft a readable narrative out of it.) It can be hard to see the forest because you know so much about each individual tree -- but if you tell all, the reader will quit rather than figure it out.

(2) First person can tempt us into careless writing. As beginners we often rely too much on adjectives and adverbs, and on general ones at that. First-person may make it harder to realize that we are emoting vaguely, rather than painting a clear picture.

(3) First person poses a special technical problem in genealogy. We then have at least two separate narratives going: our own research chronology, AND the life we are researching. It takes considerable skill and experience to keep both stories on track, separate, and memorable.

These caveats aside, I think first person opens realms of possibility. Some of the most memorable genealogy or family history books I have ever read use it: Leonard Todd's Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave; Martha Hodes's The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Love, Race, and War in the Nineteenth Century; and (in a somewhat different and slightly less documented vein) Ian Frazier's Family. I found them impossible to put down, and well worth rereading and learning from. It's true, these are world-class writers. Few if any of us can use the first-person tool as well as they do, but that is no reason to banish it altogether from our toolbox.

Harold Henderson, "'I' and 'we' in genealogy writing," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 15 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

You can have any lecture format as long as it lasts an hour

2013-05-13T00:30:00.000-07:00

The NGS conference in Las Vegas was a big success from my viewpoint as speaker and participant, and I anticipate great things from the upcoming FGS conference 21-24 August in Fort Wayne (yes, I am on the publicity committee). But they both could be better, and within the past few months I have heard almost the same sentiment from two genealogy leaders, a veteran and a new one, who to my knowledge are not acquainted: stop relying exclusively on the one-hour lecture format!

Tina Lyons is vice-president of the Indiana Genealogical Society and publicity chair for the aforementioned FGS, where she will also be speaking. She'd like to see some 20-minute sessions, perhaps modeled on the TED talks. She notes that her on-line Coursera classes come in 5- to 15-minute segments. And she may work an interactive game into her one-hour FGS talk.

Last Wednesday at NGS, Melinde Lutz Byrne -- who is, among other things, Fellow and President of the American Society of Genealogists, director of the Genealogical Research Program at Boston University's Center for Professional Studies, and co-editor of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly -- said that her talk that day (on advocacy and privacy) would be her last one-hour presentation. She gave similar reasons, and urged more panel discussions and workshops, as well as "poster sessions" like one she found worked well at the New England conference and lasted no more than 20 minutes, with everybody standing.

Just as many professional-development programs grew up outside of the umbrella of the Association of Professional Genealogists when it was slow to adapt, the major national and regional conferences might find themselves playing catch-up if they don't consider a more diverse format. Just sayin'.

Harold Henderson, "You can have any lecture format as long as it lasts an hour," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 13 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

NGS Day 3 Friday May 10

2013-05-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

For logistical reasons only, Friday was my last real day at the conference. Please refer to other bloggers for Saturday!

My day began about 6 am in the nearly deserted free internet area (no problem with too many connections) and segued into the invitational FamilySearch breakfast (assigned tables and assigned places at each), where we learned that they add about 1.7 million new records per day, are desperately in search of Italian-speaking volunteer indexers, and are exploring ways to adapt facial-recognition software to word recognition as a way of indexing handwritten documents.

Dawne Slater-Putt's 8 am talk, "Fail! When the Record Is Wrong," was a boon to note-takers in that she spoke clearly and not too fast. Her bouquet of original records giving direct but erroneous evidence was striking. Takeaway: "Know your ancestor as a person so as not to be blinded by incorrect evidence."

I spent the rest of the morning in a New York intensive. NYGBR co-editor Karen Mauer Green emphasized the difficulties researchers from record-rich areas like New England and the Midwest will find in New York, where some record types are missing, and each of the 62 counties was to some extent a law unto itself. "Clerks essentially did what they want . . . plan to start over with each new county." A substantial aid in this process, the New York Family History Research Guide and Gazetteer, is forthcoming later this year.

NYGBR co-editor Laura DeGrazia gave a more upbeat perspective on the same situation, showing some of the records finds there to be made, such as town clerks' Civil War registers that can include time and place of birth and parents' names. I concluded that New York is the mother of innovative research techniques. And I have to say that if you must leave home for days to hang out in a desert filled with casinos in order to learn about genealogy, there is just no better place to be than in the front row of the hall, hearing DeGrazia and trading thoughts and wisecracks with Kimberly Powell and Michael Hait.

Melinda Henningfield and I chatted with visitors to the APG table in the exhibit area during the lunch hour, and then I retreated to become ready for my 4 pm talk on a Chicago-to-Ohio case study. The evening saw a meeting of mentors in preparation for the early June debut of small discussion groups on Tom Jones's popular new book Mastering Genealogical Proof, being organized by Angela McGhie.

And I know just from syllabus browsing that I had to miss great talks by Debbie Parker Wayne on DNA and Elizabeth Shown Mills on discoveries in the details.

It's now five years since my first NGS conference and I haven't even come close to regretting attending one yet. Don't miss it when it comes within your travel area.

Harold Henderson, "NGS Day 3 Friday May 10," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 11 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

NGS Day 2 Thursday May 9

2013-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you can't both attend a conference and blog about it! Yesterday was that sort of day. For me it started with an internet session in the foyer area where sponsors have provided free wi-fi (when not too crowded), followed by the ProGen Study Group breakfast, which shared members and the buffet table with the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy breakfast. ProGen groups (18 months of study per each) are well up in double digits now, far enough so that even our mega-organizer Angela McGhie can't always recall who is from which group any more!

At 8 am, Greg Hise, UNLV history professor with a seemingly endless knowledge of Los Angeles, spoke on the ways in which it was "born global" and multicultural. If you had a question, he had a book title -- several book titles -- and author. At 9:30 Mara Fein spoke about LA area records. When seeking vital records there, "Avoid the state level." Such requests can take 18 months to turn around, and sometimes never. Go to the counties, and make sure you know when they were created, and in which years the city and county of Los Angeles created separate records.

At 11 am, I introduced friend and colleague Kimberly Powell, who provided a wealth of information -- not to tell us which genealogy program to buy, but how most efficiently to find out for ourselves which one(s) would best suit our styles. I like that approach and I think the audience did; anyway she was besieged with questions afterward. One takeaway: when dealing with on-line reviews, "Ignore the groupies and the haters" -- those who publish brief one-star or five-star reviews -- and concentrate on the longer ones that explain in some detail what they loved or hated.

(By the way, introducing speakers is one low-stress way of starting to find out whether you would like to get into actual speaking at conferences. No creativity or long-lasting vocal cords are required. Join the Genealogy Speakers Guild and get in on the action. Often there are more speakers than there are available introducers.)

Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, entertained the big crowd at the BCG luncheon with improbable tales of ancestral idiocies as they have appeared in court records from colonial times to the 20th century. Sorry, I was too busy laughing to take notes.

I took lots of notes during Elizabeth Shown Mills's 2:30 talk: "Information Overload? Effective Project Planning, Research, Data Management & Analysis." If you have ever collected a difficult ancestor's 20 census neighbors on each side and then wondered what to do with them, this is a talk you must hear. The audio should be a reasonable substitute if you just can't be there.

Finally, at 4 pm I introduced friend and colleague Jane Wilcox, who gave an unusually fast-paced and visual talk about what she found out about many of her female forebears -- a deft presentation that kept introduction and conclusion to an absolute minimum, and eschewed words on screen. Maybe I could learn something there!

The rest of the day was full of good discussion that went on into the night, and which I was not the last to leave. I know people who attend conferences simply for the purpose of joining in these meetings, formal and informal, and I can see why. These folks are worth spending time with, even if I have to come to a casino to do so.

Harold Henderson, "NGS Day 2 Thursday May 9," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 10 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

NGS Day 1 Wednesday May 8

2013-05-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas is an improbable (and noisy) part of the universe. The day started with one of those serendipitous encounters that make conferences such fun -- a friend and I got on the elevator simultaneously around 6 am and we made a run for affordable edibles to help us last out the week.

Marian Smith told a great story of her quest for the origins of the 1931 Morton Allan steamship arrival directory. "Some projects take years," she said, "Be prepared to be surprised." We were. "When you see a piece that might fit but are not sure, you've got to pick it up."

Tom Jones was stellar in the 11 am slot on "Debunking Misleading Records." He described alphabetizing records (that were originally chronological) as a form of error, because it strips out contextual information that might be used to correct an error. And he advised us that using genealogy programs can cause us to miss a "huge piece of genealogical reasoning," the piece that takes place when you're writing out your proof. He even finished two minutes before time.

I'll let others comment on my APG luncheon talk on advocacy and how to think about it. (Shortest possile version: Don't overlook the regulation-writing process that inevitably follows legislation.) A version of it will be available for the new APG Quarterly editor, Christy Fillerup, to use as needed.

Melinde Lutz Byrne spoke on advocacy for record access. By accumulation of well-known facts, she showed that birth, marriage, and death records are not in fact private -- directly undercutting some lawmakers' arguments to try to make them otherwise. Meanwhile I hear that Kimberly Powell encouraged a lot of folks to use and learn Scrivener.

Lots of interesting conversation at the exhibit hall BCG table late in the day about how many certificants "overachieve," as in producing kinship determination projects 70 or more pages long. Don't be intimidated. Length is not a genealogical standard.

Harold Henderson, "NGS Day 1 Wednesday May 8," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 9 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Objectors to war have descendants, too

2013-05-06T04:54:00.000-07:00

Cindy Freed at the group blog In-Depth Genealogist calls attention to a Civil War database of Pennsylvanians whose religious convictions prevented them from accepting a draft to serve in the Union army. Her title ("Bet You've Never Researched This") may grate on those with lots of Quaker ancestors, or those from the German Brethren churches who took a similar stand. But her title does reflect an ambivalence in genealogy between honoring individual service and sacrifice in war, on one hand, and support of war in general, on the other. (An earlier post along these lines is here.)

Additional sources for more recent conscientious objectors can be found in National Archives Record Group 163, "Selective Service System (World War I), 1917-1939," and Record Group 147, "Records of the Selective Service System 1940-," and in various federal court records.

Cindy Freed, "Bet You've Never Researched This," The In-Depth Genealogist, posted 6 May 2012 (http://www.theindepthgenealogist.com/?p=6448 : accessed 6 May 2012).

Harold Henderson, "Objectors to war have descendants, too," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 6 May 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Milton maintains his mystery

2013-05-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

Last year I wrote all around the subject of Milton Reynolds, documented resident of Jefferson County, Indiana, in 1850, but not found since, in the Indiana Genealogist. Since the article won the Elaine Spires Smith writing award at the 2013 Indiana Genealogical Society conference last week, I get one more chance to pass on the message to anyone who might catch sight of a hint of him: HELP!

I called this article "the world's longest query" because a close look at the main Reynolds families in the county didn't find a definite place for him. Previous blog post here, or you can find the article in the members-only section of the IGS web site.

Harold Henderson, "Milton maintains his mystery," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 3 May 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Harold Henderson, "The Mystery of Milton Reynolds in Jefferson County," Indiana Genealogist vol. 23, no. 4 (December 2012):5-32; http://www.indgensoc.org/membersonly/igs/quarterly/index.php : accessed 23 December 2012.

Finding parents and grandparents despite multiple missing records

2013-05-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

The landscape of eighteenth-century Maryland is littered with tax, property, probate, and vital records that aren't there. Well, not exactly, but you know what I mean. My friend and colleague Michael Hait has taken these genealogical lemons and made them into an astonishing amount of lemonade in a sixteen-page tour de force in the current National Genealogical Society Quarterly.

He starts with three records for Thomas Burgan, born in the 1740s. From there he distinguishes two men from two different localities, and goes on to identify both parents and all four grandparents for the man associated with "Dear Bit" and "Black River Hundred," even though direct evidence is sparse and the indirect evidence is constantly interrupted by the static of missing deeds, missing probates, missing tax records, and mislabeled records.

The basic principles are not complicated -- most notably, follow the land even when inadequately described -- but in this records environment the application of them is intricate. Separate arrays of indirect evidence support this Thomas's descent from Philip the father, Rebecca Green the mother, and them as a couple.

William Litchman recommends reading studies of this kind four times for best understanding. Anyone who claims to understand this article after only one or two readings is either a liar or a prodigy.

Michael Hait, "Parents for Thomas Burgan of Baltimore County, Maryland," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 101 (March 2013): 19-33.

Harold Henderson, "Finding parents and grandparents despite multiple missing records," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 1 May 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Good news for Michigan researchers!

2013-04-30T11:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday (Monday) FamilySearch posted a new collection, "Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952." The official description says it includes images, but at this time it's just an index. Still a big help . . .

For the immediately prior period (1897-1920) the go-to source, index plus images of the original records, is at Seeking Michigan (use the "Advanced Search" button).

Speaking at NGS in Las Vegas

2013-04-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

After a hectic but very enjoyable time at both the Ohio and Indiana genealogical societies' conferences this past weekend, I will be speaking twice at the National Genealogical Society gathering in Las Vegas, "Building New Bridges," next week:

Wednesday, 8 May -- APG luncheon talk on some ways to be advocates and still be genealogists.

Friday,10 May, 4 pm -- A case study, " 'Are We There Yet?' Proof and the Genealogy Police," in the Board for the Certification of Genealogists' BCG Skillbuilding track (go here and then do a search) on a not-too-difficult name-changing ancestor and the lessons we can learn from it for our own research. Is there a place in genealogical methods for the term "flying leap"?

Hope to see y'all there!

Harold Henderson, "Speaking at NGS in Las Vegas," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 29 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Self-referential Friday with new web site intro

2013-04-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

The old web site introduction seemed a little long-winded, so I'm trying the following on for size:

Welcome to Midwest Roots!

I have been a professional writer since 1979, a genealogist since 1999, a professional genealogist since 2009, and a Board-certified professional genealogist since 1 June 2012. Use the “Contact Harold” box to get in touch.
I hope this site will help your genealogy quest in at least one of the following ways:

(1) Use free resources here, including

(2) Hire research help. I can do lookups (flat fee) or research brick-wall problems (hourly rate). If you’re not sure whether this will help, check out my list of genealogy publications or use the form to ask for free advice. I am based in northwest Indiana, near Michigan and Illinois. I have researched in many areas but am most familiar with the Midwest and upstate New York.

(3) Hire writing or citation help. I can critique or edit your draft of an article or presentation. (If you’re not sure whether this will help, send me 5 pages and I’ll send you a free critique.) Or I can focus on bringing your source citations closer to Evidence Explained standards.

(4) Find a presentation that appeals to your society.

(5) Find a useful blog post at midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com.

Harold Henderson, "Self-referential Sunday with a new web site intro," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 14 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Tracing an informal adoption using ordinary sources

2013-04-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

In the lead article of the March National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Paul K. Graham, CG, AG, finds the well-hidden facts of the parentage of Mrs. Florence Nelson (1862-1942), who died at one end of Indiana (Elkhart County) and was buried at the other (Switzerland County).

The article uses commonplace genealogy sources from Indiana and Missouri, but deploys uncommon logic in analyzing, correlating, and resolving their contradictions. Florence's death certificate was filled out wrong, but even that error provided a clue. Her 1887 marriage record named her parents -- but that was only the beginning. She was completely unmentioned in her father's probate. Was her own statement in her marriage record wrong?

Get your copy of the Q to find out how the apparent contradiction was resolved -- it's in good genealogy libraries everywhere and is a benefit of NGS membership. The article solved the genealogical question, but it stands as a reminder that even the best genealogy cannot always explain the family history. "The most consequential event of her life -- separation from her family -- remains unexplained."

Paul K. Graham, "A Family for Florence I. (Crouse) Nelson: Unraveling an Informal Adoption in Missouri or Indiana," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 101 (March 2013): 7-18.

Harold Henderson, "Tracing an informal adoption using ordinary sources," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 24 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Illinois roads almost a century ago; Indianapolis almost 2 centuries ago

2013-04-22T00:30:00.000-07:00

Fulton County, Illinois, and vicinity -- state road map 1925

The ever-faithful University of Wisconsin Internet Scout's Report for 12 April 2013 (volume 19, number 15 -- quite an old resource in internet time) alerted me to a digital collection of State of Illinois road maps beginning in 1917. (The interface will require a little patience if you're looking for a particular year.)

In 1925 paved roads (solid lines) were scarce. Dotted lines were projected roads. Black-and-white roads were "graded." White roads were "dirt." Passenger trains were not superfluous at this time! -- but construction was moving rapidly. The 1926 map shows impressive changes (the series itself provides a microhistorical overview of road construction). And by 1929 the state published a map in two colors, with red solid lines indicating "interstate" highways.

This 1925 map shows no county lines, but does give population figures (hard to see in this image) for incorporated towns. It includes many hamlets now all but forgotten. Also check out the "stairstep" roads (Vermont to Ray, for instance) where the road evidently followed right-angle section lines rather than a diagonal path.

For a significant further step back in time, check out the named roads (no claims as to pavement!) in 1917, complete with their colored or symbolic insignia and individual names (no route numbers). Yes, in those innocent days there was a Swastika Line, and the roads themselves are shown in railroad style, with the towns as little circles within the route line.

Three generations of my family grew up in the range of this map -- my mom's generation in San Jose (on the Mason-Logan county line) in the early 1930s, mine in Farmington in the 1950s-60s, and our kids' near Summum in the 1970s-1980s, both in Fulton County.

Moving east a bit . . .

If you want to delve into the deeper past, IndyGenealogist Ron Darrah has a much-used three-volume find for you in the Indiana State Library, Thelma M. Murphy's 1985 typescript, "Marion County, Indiana, Pioneers Prior to June, 1830." She wrote, "It was a labor of love and it helped to be told 'it can't be done.'" That's the spirit. Thanks, Ron.

"Illinois State Highway Maps," Illinois Digital Archives (http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/isl9 : accessed 12 April 2013).

Ron Darrah, "248. Indy Source for Pre-1830 Ancestors," IndyGenealogy, posted 10 April 2013 (http://indygenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/248-indy-source-for-pre-1830-ancestors.html : accessed 12 April 2013).

Harold Henderson, "Illinois roads almost a century ago; Indianapolis almost 2 centuries ago," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 24 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Speaking in Cincinnati and Bloomington

2013-04-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

FYI -- hope to see you there!

Next Friday (the 26th) I'll be speaking at the Ohio Genealogical Society conference in Cincinnati on "First Steps in Indiana Research." (Tom Jones keynotes the day before.)

On Saturday the 27th I'll be speaking at the Indiana Genealogical Society conference in Bloomington on "Land and Property: The Records No Genealogist Can Do Without" and "Probate Will Not Be the Death of You." (Josh Taylor is the featured speaker.)

Harold Henderson, "Speaking in Cincinnati and Bloomington," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 19 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

The treasure of Jasper County -- 1918 women's registration!

2013-04-17T00:30:00.001-07:00

As part of the national mobilization for World War I, in April 1918 thousands -- perhaps millions -- of American women filled out cards giving their names, ages, birth countries, marital status and husband's name if any, employment if any, educational level, skills, and detailed health status. All this was done under the auspices of the quasi-governmental Council of National Defense.

In Jasper County, Indiana (population under 14,000), more than 3,200 of these cards were preserved. According to Sue Caldwell, the Indiana Genealogical Society's county genealogist for the county, a cabinet was specifically designed to hold them. The cabinet resided in the Rensselaer courthouse for years

"prior to being given to the Jasper County Historical Society for display in their museum. Unfortunately, the members looked on the old cabinet as a treasure to be displayed and for many years didn’t recognize the value of the contents. It is not known what other counties did with their cabinets or registration cards. Research is continuing to locate the balance of Indiana’s registration records."

Above is the front side of one of the Jasper County cards, for 66-year-old Miss Elizabeth E. Alexandera of Kniman, who was knowledgeable about dairying, gardening, poultry raising, cooking, housekeeping, and sewing and millinery. (The back had room for remarks and health issues.) The historical society has indexed the cards by name, husband, and address, but the index is not yet on line. Plans for analyzing and imaging the cards are afoot.

Caldwell notes that

"Fields were provided for age, country of birth, country of naturalization, color or race, persons dependent upon them, present occupation and by whom employed, education level completed and details on advanced education, and the type of business experience and training broken down into 154 different categories. Women could volunteer to be trained in some categories such as making bandages for the Red Cross. Comments were to be made on the 'Personal Equipment' of the woman including health, physical defects, voice, sight, and hearing."

Jasper County is big enough to have a historical society, and small enough that these days the society is open just six hours a month. These cards are not known to have survived in any other Indiana county, nor had the state archives staff ever seen one. Says Caldwell, "These cards could be the greatest genealogical find of the last hundred years if cards from all of the states could be located. No other survey contains the mass of data about women that the registration cards do."

A seemingly well-documented Wikipedia article surveys the CND's history and refers to a 1984 scholarly book by William N. Breen, Uncle Sam at Home: Civilian Mobilization, Wartime Federalism, and the Council of National Defense, 1917-1919, available in numerous college and university libraries. A quick Google search reveals that many states do have records of the Council for National Defense in their archives. It's not clear whether any of them include any of these registration cards. The agency also appears in National Archives Record Group 62.

If nothing else the cards offer brief glimpses of life 95 years ago:

Mary Prohosky (Mrs. J) “cannot talk English and is not able to do hour work. Went to school in the old country and is not the same in here.”

Miss Nettie J Ellis had a Dayton, Ohio address, but was serving as acting principal at Monnett School.

Belle Warne’s card noted “This woman is physical unable to do anything and has six children under eight”.

Julie Nafziners was “born in France, naturalized US, 4 yrs experience in a post office and 4 yrs experience as a bookkeeper”. She also attended Onarga Seminary.

Stella Newbold has “14 yrs experience in teaching music, but health has failed since injured in tornado”.

Olden Ouida has “2 ½ yrs in Mexico—knows some Spanish, 2 yrs work under Kate J Adams of Coulter House Chicago. Can use typewriter. Has travelled all over U. S. capable, reliable, has ability (executive ability)”.

Almira Prather completed a card but disclaimed any responsibility for the war work because she didn’t start the war.

Anyone with thoughts -- or better still, knowledge -- about these cards and where any more like them may be found, inside or outside of Indiana, please comment below, or communicate with Sue Caldwell at suecald1 "AT" embarqmail "DOT" com.
.

Harold Henderson, "The treasure of Jasper County -- 1918 women's registration!," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 17 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

What online catalog?

2013-04-15T00:30:00.000-07:00

Librarian Pamela J. Cooper of Indian River County surveyed members of five Florida genealogy societies and got over 600 replies. A majority of those replying said they had never used online catalogs -- whether from home, at their hometown library, or elsewhere. (First posted on the Genealib mailing list, mentioned here by permission.)

What do you think this means?

Find out what she thinks at the National Genealogical Society conference next month, Friday morning at 8 am.

Harold Henderson, "What online catalog?," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 15 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Good news for Midwestern researchers!

2013-04-13T17:49:00.002-07:00

Admit it -- you turned your back on FamilySearch for a few minutes, just to do your taxes or watch the snow fall. And now you find that they've put up browseable images of:

Chicago Catholic Churches 1833-1925, and
Ohio Probates 1789-1996.

67 Allegany County NY decedents

2013-04-12T00:30:00.000-07:00

FamilySearch's uploading of more than 14 million New York probate images from 1629 to1971 is an immeasurable boon to genealogists with research targets in the Empire State. It can, however, be immeasurably frustrating to find any particular person in the browse-only collection! It's divided by counties, and within counties by type of record and within that by volume or box. The boxed loose papers, organized by decedent, are among the most valuable probate records, and they don't even have page numbers!

Since I had to root through one of these virtual boxes anyway, in order to find my wife's ancestor William Berry, I kept track of all the other decedents whose estate papers had lodged in Box #2 from rugged Allegany County. The list of 67, with initial image number for each, is now on my web site. They are in order of appearance; if you don't have time to read all the names, use control-F to search them. They appeared to me to all be in the 1830s-1860s time range, where such records are most valuable. There are way plenty more materials in this one collection that would benefit from any sort of finding aid.

Here's a May 1845 summons to the next of kin of the late Gideon Hayward. James Hayward was living in Vigo County, Indiana, and Jane Davis nearby in Clay County. These are not just "New York records."

Gideon Hayward estate, Estate Papers 1807-1930, Box 2, Allegany County, New York; image 755 of 770, “New York, Probate Records, 1629-1972,” FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 10 April 2013), citing FHL microfilm 594,806.

Harold Henderson, "67 Allegany County NY decedents," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 12 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

In praise of research travelogues

2013-04-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

It can't do everything, but a research chronicle can teach as much as a logical reconstruction. Two of my favorite genealogy periodicals reminded of this recently.

Malissa Ruffner, "The perfect puzzle piece," NGS Magazine vol. 39, no. 1 (January-March 2013), 40-43. "Recently I found a piece that didn't belong to my puzzle but it was so unique and well-defined that I was compelled to look for a puzzle that needed it" -- in the Green and Lanterman families.

Tami K. Pelling, "In Search of Medda," Crossroads vol. 8, no. 1 (Winter 2013), 26-30. "To prove or disprove Medda Sissie Hay as a child of Rubin and Mary, a timeline for the family was created, and the quest for Medda began" -- in Vigo and Vermillion counties, Indiana.

NGS Magazine is a benefit of membership in the National Genealogical Society. Crossroads is a benefit of membership in the Utah Genealogical Association.

Harold Henderson, "In praise of research travelogues," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 10 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Saturday in Lafayette

2013-04-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

Tami Pelling and Barbara Fitzpatrick put together a nice one-day genealogy gathering called "History Begins with You" in downtown Lafayette this past weekend. Ron Darrah of Indianapolis (and of the IndyGenealogy blog) alternated giving talks. The audience had lots of thoughts and questions.

Ron totally persuaded me to spend more research time on fraternal and similar organizations that became especially common after the Civil War. After church and school, they were often the main thing in small towns and ethnic neighborhoods, and even those groups that no longer exist left many traces in obituaries and on tombstones. Their records, if you can find them, are not just context-providers but potential alternative sources of vital records -- especially since many of these gruops were insurance organizations as well.

Do catch Ron's talk ("The Fraternal Order of Everyone") if you get a chance. And if you don't, check out Kay Haviland Freilich's article in The Source on "Business, Institution, and Organization Records."

Harold Henderson, "Saturday in Lafayette," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 8 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Your Unsourced Undated Newspaper Clipping, Blogging, and Michigan State Censuses

2013-04-04T00:30:00.001-07:00

Sometimes other genealogists provoke us to remember things we had forgotten.

* I once had one of those classic unlabeled newspaper clippings, one that would gain credibility if it could be properly sourced. And there is one often distinctive identifier that even the most clueless newspaper-clipper can't erase: the font, typeface, and layout. Fortunately I had reason to think that it belonged to a particular town and an approximate point in time. I made a copy of it and took it to the local library, and compared it to the two local newspapers being published then. One of them matched, reducing the search time required to find the original -- but not to zero!

* Wondering what to blog about, or whether even to start? Although I don't use them, Geneabloggers offers a myriad of "blogging prompts" keyed to days of the week. There are some basic decisions to make: do you want mainly to contribute original material, or be an aggregator of others (by mentioning and linking, not wholesale copying!)? In either case, what really "gets you going" about genealogy: a particular region? methodology? theory? family stories? technology? conferences and institutes? Start out with a focus based on the passion within your passion; over time you will find that it changes, as this blog has. Finally, plan a schedule and work far enough ahead of it so that you can read your draft posts "cold" one more time before publishing them. That way you can be a perfectionist within reason and still get it done.

* I've said this before, and now I'm saying it again: if you have Michigan people, you should be reading Bushwhacking Genealogy, which just reported on progress in digitizing early Michigan state censuses.

Harold Henderson, "Your Unsourced Undated Newspaper Clipping, Blogging, and Michigan State Censuses," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 4 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]