FIND YOUR ROOTS IN A WEEKEND! Easy

Transcription

23 SECRETS ERROR-PROOF YOUR GENEALOGY
TO SEARCH
SMARTER
W W W. FA M I LY T R E E M AG A Z I N E .CO M
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012
FIND YOUR ROOTS
IN A WEEKEND!
Easy Projects
7
Explore Your
Hispanic Heritage
5
Steps to Analyze
Genealogy Finds
Discover
Long-Lost
Family
Heirlooms
PLUS
+ Tips to Trace
Quaker Ancestors
+ Clip-and-Save
City Guides
11
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Qy1BDDA3NDgwODAyMDAzNAA=
JUYrVyBQdWJsaWNhdGlvbnMsIEluYyAo
SW9sYSBkaXZpc2lvbikPR3JlZ29yeSBL
cnVlZ2VyAE7vC+sEMTAuNAI4MAExBVVQ
04 0120
+ Behind the Scenes
of TV’s “Antiques
Roadshow”
US $6.99
74808 02003
4
Display until November 26, 2012
1112FT COVER.indd 1
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Finding the right resources can be
fantastic.
eye-opening.
confusing.
At NEHGS, we understand what it takes to
research your family history.
Information on your ancestors can be
found in many locations, within many
resources, and in a variety of publications.
We know that trying to make sense of all
of this can sometimes seem daunting.
Let NEHGS help you navigate the
information and resources so you can
discover more about your family history.
Learn more at AmericanAncestors.org
We can help.
New England Historic
Genealogical Society
FamilyHistoryExperts
AmericanAncestors.org
1112FT TOC.indd Sec1:4
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contents
14
feature articles
19
23 SECRETS ERROR-PROOF YOUR GENEALOGY
TO SEARCH
SMARTER
W W W. FA M I LY T R E E M AG A Z I N E .CO M
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012
28
FIND YOUR ROOTS
IN A WEEKEND!
Easy Projects
48
Explore Your
Hispanic Heritage
24
42
7
5
Steps to Analyze
Genealogy Finds
Discover
Long-Lost
Family
Heirlooms
54
PLUS
+ Clip-and-Save
City Guides
+ Behind the Scenes
of TV’s “Antiques
Roadshow”
US $6.99
11
0
01
02
03
04
FnL1
cnVlZ2VyAE7vC+sEMTAuNAI4MAExBVVQ
SW9sYSBkaXZpc2lvbikPR3JlZ29yeSBL
Qy1BDDA3NDgwODAyMDAzNAA=
JUYrVyBQdWJsaWNhdGlvbnMsIEluYyAo
04 0120
october/november 2012 • volume 13, issue 7
+ Tips to Trace
Quaker Ancestors
74808 02003
4
Display until November 26, 2012
HOW TO RESEARCH
LIKE A PRO
14 Stolen Moments
| By
Lisa A. Alzo
Make more genealogy time in
your busy schedule with these 23
secrets to researching smarter.
19
Preventive
Medicine
| By
Sharon DeBartolo
Carmack
Don’t let your family tree fall
victim to diseased records. Our
family tree doctor will show you
how to recognize sick sources
and prevent them from infecting
your research.
24 Genealogy GPS
|
33
6
42
28
Weekend Warrior
|
By David A. Fryxell
You don’t need tons of time to trace
your family tree. These seven splendid
genealogy projects are do1able in less
than two days.
42 Heirloom Hunting
| By
Sunny Jane Morton
Longing for tangible connections to
your past? Mourning a missing ancestral treasure? We’ll help you launch
a five-step reconnaissance mission for
family keepsakes.
48
Your Latin American
Genealogy Journey
| By Chris Staats
Plot your Latin American and Caribbean family history search with these
eight essential resources.
19
54
Researching
Quaker Ancestors
| By James M. Beidler
By Sunny Jane Morton
Want to keep your family history research on course? Let the
Genealogical Proof Standard
be your guide to evaluating and
citing research sources.
Fill in research gaps and discover
n e w a n c e s t o r s t h ro u g h yo u r
family’s religious records.
1
<familytreemagazine.com>
8/29/12 10:18 AM
contents
columns & departments
4 Out on a Limb
| By Allison Dolan
A letter from our publisher.
6
Genealogy Insider
| Edited by Diane Haddad
5 Making Connections
Readers respond to
Family Tree Magazine.
What’s new in discovering, preserving
and celebrating your family history:
Behind the scenes at PBS’
“Antiques Roadshow”
Presidential candidates’ roots
revealed
1940 census update
Recommended roots reading
»
»
»
»
10 History Matters
| By David A. Fryxell
Shooting the breeze about windmills.
58 Family Archivist
| By Sunny Jane Morton
Estate planning for family heirlooms.
33 City Guides
60 Now What?
| By David A. Fryxell
Quickly access the essential facts, advice and resources you need to find your
ancestors in cities across the USA! Our pullout guides are perfect for stashing in
your research binder or toting to the library. In this issue:
» Houston |
» Fort Wayne, Ind. |
By Amy Coffin
Answers to your questions on
researching nonconformists in
Scotland, Canadian airmen and more.
62 Everything’s Relative
By Sunny Jane Morton
Tales from the lighter side of
family history.
64 Photo Detective
| B y M a u r e e n A . Ta y l o r
66
The Toolkit
|
Jumping on clues in a candid photo
featuring a large grasshopper.
Edited by Allison Dolan
Reviews and roundups of the latest
and greatest family history resources:
Tutorial: ordering Family History
Library microfilms online
Quick Guide: comparing Picasa
and Windows Live Photo Gallery
Heredis for Mac software review
72 Time Capsule
| By Sharon DeBartolo
»
»
»
Carmack
An 1800s woman wrongly
institutionalized, in her own words.
IN OUR NEXT ISSUE
Family Tree Magazine (ISSN 1529-0298) is published seven times per year: January/February, March/April, May/June,
July/August, September, October/November and December by F+W Media, Inc., 10151 Carver Rd, Suite 200, Cincinnati,
OH 45242; telephone (513) 531-2690. Copyright ©2012 F+W Media Inc., Vol. 13, No. 7, October/November 2012.
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N9A 7C9. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio and additional mailing offices. Produced and printed in the USA.
» 75 Best State Websites for 2012
» DNA testing for first-timers
» Austrian and Swiss roots
Available Nov. 27 on newsstands and
from ShopFamilyTree.com.
2
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2012
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Look for these icons throughout the magazine to find related online articles, blog posts and forum discussions.
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» CLEAR UP COUSIN CONFUSION
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that Facebook friend who’s descended from your great-greatgrandfather’s brother? We’ll help you sort it all out with our easyto-understand answers on cousin relationships and our handy
downloadable relationship chart.
<familytreemagazine.com/article/cousin-confusion>
FACEBOOK
FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE PLUS
HAVE YOU EVER MADE A
»GENEALOGY
SCENE?
RESEARCHING AT
»GENEALOGY
CENTRAL
The first time I found a relative, my mother’s father, I was in the
library. I burst into tears and hollered “Papaw!” » Robbi Ann Morris
I was on a tour [at the National Archives] and saw Charles Ingalls’
land claim in De Smet, SD. A Laura Ingalls Wilder fan since age 6,
I let out a little “eeeeeppp!” of my own. » Melanie Pancho
Genealogists recognize October as national Family History Month.
Here’s a celebration suggestion: Treat yourself with a visit to your
local FamilySearch Center to access its references, records and
more. But first, consult our guide to the treasures at FamilySearch
Centers so you can make the most of your trip.
<facebook.com/familytreemagazine>
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»ACROSS
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Guides! We’ve fully revised and
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and Puerto Rico—with new
records information and online
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3
8/29/12 10:19 AM
outonalimb
Good Timing
OCTOBER /NOVEMBER 2 01 2
VOLUME 13, ISSUE 7
3 MY GENEALOGY HAS gone missing.
No need to alert the authorities: This
isn’t a case of pilfered pedigree paperwork or deleted ancestor data. My family history didn’t get tossed in the trash
(thank heavens). Perhaps my problem
would be better described the other
way around—that is, I miss my genealogy. I haven’t had time to devote to the
projects on my family tree to-do list in
what feels like ages.
I know I’m not alone, because I often
hear from other genealogists how they
wish they had more time for family history. Alas, I haven’t figured out how to
add more hours to the day—my brilliant
plans to hire a car service so I could
search genealogy websites during my
commute and an assistant to catalog my
family archive while I sleep were foiled
by budget realities. But happily, this
issue is full of tips and tricks to help you
make the most of the hours you do have.
For those of us who work full time
or have other commitments to fill up
our weekdays, the weekend is our best
bet for cramming in some dedicated
genealogy time. You’ll definitely want
to try out the weekend genealogy projects suggested by contributing editor
David A. Fryxell (page 30): With seven
Publisher/Editorial Director » Allison Dolan
Managing Editor » Diane Haddad
Art Director » Christy Miller
Associate Editor » Jacqueline Musser
Online Community Editor » Tyler Moss
Online Community Manager » Clay Seal
Editorial Intern » Jennifer Saltsman
Contributing Editors » Sharon DeBartolo Carmack,
Rick Crume, David A. Fryxell,
Nancy Hendrickson, Sunny Jane Morton,
Maureen A. Taylor
•••
quick projects, there’s enough to keep
you busy each weekend until our next
issue arrives.
Of course, a surefire way to save
time is to research more efficiently—
you don't want to waste your precious
genealogy time going in circles. On
page 14, Lisa A. Alzo comes to the rescue with 23 secrets to working smarter,
not harder.
As Lisa points out, setting aside a
mere 15 minutes per day for some sort
of genealogy job—whether it’s reviewing a record or squeezing in a quick web
search—adds up to almost two hours of
family tree progress per week. At that
rate, I won’t be missing my genealogy
for long.
F+W MEDIA, INC.
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•••
Family Tree Magazine, published in the United States,
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Please specify publication month and year.
ALLISON’S TOP 3 TIPS
from this issue
1 Consult as many sources as possible for any genealogical
“fact.” Even primary sources can contain errors.
2 Cite your sources to keep track of what records you’ve
already checked, and assess how reliable the information is.
3 Search the Daughters of the American Revolution website
even if your ancestor wasn’t a patriot—your forebear may
appear by virtue of marrying a patriot’s descendant.
NEWSSTAND AND INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION:
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Copyright © 2012 F+W Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Family Tree Magazine is a registered trademark of
F+W Media, Inc.
4
1112FT ED LETTER.indd Sec1:4
2012
8/31/12 11:03 AM
makingconnections
Readers respond to Family Tree Magazine
Take It Slow
As a professional curator with decades of experience in collections management and archival research, I hope you’ll warn your correspondent Lynda
Peach of “Moving Mountains” (Making Connections, March/April 2012)—and all
your readers—that it’s best to resist the urge to immediately start rearranging and
reorganizing a newly acquired family archive.
Even family collections that have been combined, divided, and perused for
years very likely maintain some important juxtapositions that could be lost forever—especially for unidentified materials. Yes, it seems like a daunting task, but
first spend time going through the materials, maintaining the original order, and
familiarizing yourself with (and enjoying) the contents of the collection. Important
associations often reveal themselves only after time and study.
I hope you will offer an article or other resource in the future to help guide the
keepers of family archives, giving them the benefit of some of the professional
secrets of curators and archivists. We know whereof we speak—we get the
assignment for our own families’ archives, too.
Steph McGrath » Wheaton, Ill
Site to See
I’m disappointed the GeneaMusings blog <www.geneamusings.com>
by Randy Seaver didn’t make your list
[101 Best Websites, September 2012]. It’s
educational and informative.
John Carruthers » Victoria, British Columbia
Looking in Louisville
Anyone within a drive to Louisville [City Guides, September 2012]
might want to visit the National Society
Sons of the American Revolution library
<library.sar.org> for records of Revolutionary War ancestors.
Bob Folk » via email
LET US
HEAR
FROM
YOU!
1112FT CONNECTIONS.indd 5
Write to [email protected] or leave a note on our Facebook page <www.facebook.
com/familytreemagazine>. Letters are subject to editing for space and clarity.
8/29/12 10:21 AM
genealogyinsider
Behind the scenes of family history news and trends
{BY DIANE HADDAD}
Hitting the ‘Roadshow’
Go behind the scenes of PBS’ popular series exploring everyday folks’ antiques.
3 A HUGE WOODEN likeness of
Abraham Lincoln’s head rolls by on the
left as a laundry basket holding a painting and a figurine-base lamp nudges you
from the right. Where are you? At the
“Antiques Roadshow” <www.pbs.org/
wgbh/roadshow> Cincinnati appraisal
event, where more than 70 antiques
specialists from auction houses across
the country offered free appraisals of
the locals’ family heirlooms.
Appraisals filmed there will be
blended into three hourlong episodes of
the popular “Antiques Roadshow” series
on PBS. Launched in 1997, it’s modeled
after a British show of the same name
that premiered in 1979. The particular
combination of treasure hunt, history
lesson and personal stories has caught
on, attracting about 10 million viewers
each week. “I would say we’re the first
show that came along to appreciate old
things and cause the masses to take a
second look at their objects,” says executive producer Marsha Bemko, now in
her 14th year with “Roadshow.”
A record-breaking 37,422 hopefuls
entered a lottery for 3,000 pairs of tickets. Another 600 pairs were distributed
during pledge drives for local PBS station WCET and to encourage a diverse
crowd. They travel an average of 100
miles, Bemko says. Jamie (for security
purposes, “Roadshow” forbids publishing guests’ last names) drove 10.5
hours from Montgomery, Ala., with a
spoon that dates back to the American
Revolution and her great-grandfather’s
WWI-era pocket watch.
THE NEWS TICKER:
Ticketholders for an appraisal event
are assigned hourly time slots. After
standing in a long “triage” line, treasures in tow, each guest gets another
ticket for one of about 20 categories of
collectibles, such as clocks, glass, toys,
documents or folk art. An expert’s evaluation awaits at the end. Appraisals for
select objects are filmed amid the bustle,
inside a ring of appraisers’ tables.
Selecting those special objects from
the 12,000-plus that walk in the door
falls to Bemko and two of her staff. “The
experts are the ones on the front lines,”
Bemko says. “Unless it’s too small, they
see a great object from across the room.
Whoever is available when the person
pulls that item out of their bag is the
one who gets to evaluate it. If that item
is of interest, the expert doesn’t tell the
guest anything.” A producer is summoned to listen to the object’s story and
ask questions.
High-dollar items make an impression on viewers, but that’s not all
Bemko looks for. She wants to show
something different and let the owner
hear new details about it. “If another
Findmypast.com announces official launch into US market • Tips from our online genealogy records workshop • Access free
6
1112FT INSIDER.indd 6
2012
8/29/12 10:22 AM
I
»
Unidentified Family Object
Even the assemblage of experts on “Antiques Roadshow” gets
stumped once in awhile. Barbara from Cincinnati calls her
jewelry, purchased from an auction catalog, a Christmas bracelet for its colors and the Bible stories depicted on the panels.
“People stop me everywhere to ask about it,” she says.
Such uniqueness is a boon to collectors, but it can hamper
an evaluation. “The appraisers said in order to give a value, they
have to have seen something similar, and no one had,” Barbara
says. Nor does the bracelet sport a manufacturer’s mark to offer
any clues to its origins.
Opposite, clockwise from top left:
“Antiques Roadshow” viewers can look
for more about this large wooden bust
of Abraham Lincoln, one of the items
selected for filming at the Cincinnati
appraisal event, in early 2013. Longtime
Roadshow appraiser Wes Cowan
specializes in prints and documents.
Artwork, says Roadshow executive
producer Marsha Bemko, is difficult to
appraise. Appraisals and filming took
place inside a screened area.
This page: Producers filmed the appraisal
of a daguerreotype camera belonging to
Kentuckians Ron and Lori, who discovered
the camera in an old building Lori
inherited.
Tiffany dragonfly lamp comes to us,
chances are we’re not going to tape it.
You’ve seen a few. We’re not discovering America’s hidden treasures anymore at that point.”
Once an object is selected for filming, its owner is sent straight to the
green room to await the appraisal. “If
you watch ‘Roadshow,’ that’s the first
time the guest is learning it. Nothing’s
faked,” Bemko says.
Not often does the surprise include
what Bemko calls a “life-changing”
amount of money—and that’s OK with
most guests. “Mysteries like paintings,
which are hard to look up and determine authenticity by yourself, people
may be having fantasies. But most people don’t own things in our homes, no
matter what corner you look into, that
are worth $50,000. It’s rare stuff.”
Instead, they’re out to satisfy curiosity about something they’ve been looking at their entire lives. “They come
with questions like ‘I’m not sure if this
came from the South or the North,’ ‘Did
it come from this side of the family or
from this era?’
It’s really a discovery of self,” Bemko
says. “And no matter what it’s worth,
most people don’t sell.” Those curious
about the fate of seen-on-“Roadshow”
t re a s u re s c a n l o o k f o r t h e m o n
“Antiques Roadshow FYI” <www.pbs.
org/wgbh/antiquesfyi>.
A woman named Carolyn learned
her figurine lamp, which a great-aunt
brought back from Austria in the 1920s,
is worth “just” $80. “It was my bedroom light when I was a child, and now
it’s in my guest bedroom,” she says. And
there it will stay.
Iceland censuses back to 1703 • Search 140 years of Scottish post office directories free online • No. 1 resource for cluster and collateral genealogy •
7
8/29/12 10:22 AM
genealogyinsider
Feat Completed
In August Ancestry.com became the
first genealogy website to complete
its 1940 census index, making all
states and territories searchable by
name. The index will remain free
through 2013.
At press time, Volunteers for
FamilySearch’s 1940 Census Community Project, a partnership with
commercial sites Archives.com and
findmypast.com, had finished indexing. A few states’ data remained
to be posted online. MyHeritage’s
index is still in progress.
Genealogists’ reviews of the
indexes’ accuracy are still coming
in, with Ancestry.com’s—created
by trained, overseas indexers—
receiving the brunt of negative reactions
on Facebook and genealogy blogs. On
Facebook, Melissa Macri called it “atrocious.” “I’m entering corrections for
virtually every name and street in the
district where my father grew up. Dotted i’s are clearly not as and es.”
Ancestry.com senior director of document preservation Todd Jensen says
indexes are audited before publication,
and that the site’s search algorithms
help users overcome errors resulting
from problems inherent in reading
handwritten records. Searchers also
can add corrections to the index.
That option isn’t available for FamilySearch’s index, where most complaints came from indexers frustrated
the
genealog y
event
at the Metropolitan
with corrections by arbitrators—
volunteers who resolve differences
between two indexers’ work on
the same record. “Arbitrators are
constantly changing things on my
work that I am certain are correct
based on the keying guidelines and
project instructions,” read a post on
a FamilySearch forum.
“Many of the names I wrote
were easily distinguishable as such
but changed by the arbitrator to
ridiculous names you’d never find
in a phone book,” wrote another
indexer on the FamilySearch blog.
FamilySearch outlined its quality control process at <www.family
search.org/blog/paying-price>.
Uncover a Mystery,
Discover your History
TM
Pavilion, N Y, N Y
Friday, Oct. 26th & Saturday, Oct. 27th, 2012
BOOK NOW AND SAVE!
Advance Tickets: $15.00 per Day
ATTEND a Speaking Session
MEET Exhibitors for Genealogy Industry
Updates, Products & Services
GAIN New Research Tips from Experts
PARTICIPATE in “Past to Apron”, a Food
and History Talk & Tasting *
ENJOY a Limited Edition Event T-Shirt*
For more information and to buy tickets please visit:
www.thegenealog yevent.com .
*
additional charge
8/29/12 10:22 AM
»
» Sharon DeBartolo Carmack
Playing Politics
NCE
REFERE
Mark Twain may or may not have been the first
to ask “Why pay money to have your family tree
traced? Just go into politics and your opponents
will do it for free.” Whoever did say it could’ve
added “unless a genealogy company does it first.”
With election season upon us, the ancestral revelations about the two major presidential candidates
are coming fast and furious. How well have you
been paying attention? Find out with our quiz (the
answers are below):
O
HOW-T
1
Which candidate
can claim six former commandersin-chief, including the
two George Bushes
and Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his family
history?
SPIR
I
SHUT
2
3
Barack Obama
T OF
A
TERS MERICA
TOCK
/
.C O M
Which candidate
is the subject of a song about his
roots in Moneygall, Ireland?
N
FICTIO
Which candidate is sixth cousin
four times removed to the 14th US president,
Franklin Pierce?
4
5
The great-greatgrandfather of
which candidate
had 12 wives?
Mitt Romney
ORAN
HALL
HER
M
STOP
K .C O
CHRI ERSTOC
T
SHUT
/
Y
HISTOR
SOCIAL
Which
candidate is
related to a
1640 American
slave named John
Punch?
Genealogical Publishing Co.’s Genealogy at a Glance series is expanding
to cover US states. Virginia Genealogy Research by Carol McGinnis, for
example, is a condensed version of
her classic book Virginia Genealogy:
Sources & Resources. The four-page,
laminated guide covers settlement,
basic record sources, major repositories and online resources.
Explore Civil War history while making a replica quilt from Rosemary
Youngs’ The Civil War Anniversary
Quilts: 150 Blocks to Commemorate 150
Years (Krause). Youngs includes diary
entries, letters and 150 quilt blocks
along with clear sewing instructions
and templates. You can combine the
blocks into your own design or make
the three quilts featured in the book.
Based on the lives of Andriana
Trigiani’s grandparents, The Shoemaker’s Wife (Harper) is a historical
epic about love, war, family and the
Italian-American immigrant experience. “I wanted the reader to have
the experience I had when stories
were told to me by the woman
who lived them,” Trigiani says.
Richmond, Va., was a vibrant city until
Dec. 26, 1811. Then a devastating fire
consumed the playhouse, killing the
governor and almost 100 citizens.
In The Richmond Theater Fire: Early
America’s First Great Disaster (Louisiana State University Press), Meredith
Henne Baker explores this forgotten catastrophe and its impact on
Richmond society through survivor
accounts, diaries, letters and other
documents.
A N S W E R S : 1 . R O M N E Y, 2 . O B A M A , 3 . R O M N E Y, 4 . R O M N E Y, 5 . O B A M A
Record your relatives’ stories with free Saving Memories Forever iPhone app • More @ <blog.familytreemagazine.com/insider>
9
8/29/12 10:23 AM
historymatters
Innovations and trends that shaped your ancestors’ lives
L I B R A RY O F C O N G R E S S P R I N T S A N D P H O T O G R A P H S D I V I S I O N, L C - U S Z 6 2 - 6 6 8 9 1
{ B Y D AV I D A . F R Y X E L L }
Gone With the Windmills
3 IT’S UNLIKELY OUR ancestors could have settled the
the wind. Halladay and Burnham moved their operations to
parched Great Plains or water-starved places such as the Batavia, Ill., closer to potential western customers, and began
Southwest without windmills. The American windmill, also operation as the US Wind Engine and Pump Co. in 1863.
known as a wind engine or wind pump, brought water from
Windmills, of course, have been around for centuries,
the ground where otherwise there was none. Not only thirsty although early versions were different from the simple
farms but railroads, too, relied on wind power in areas enjoy- structures that populated America’s prairies. The Greek
ing more wind than water. At the peak of the “windmill
engineer Heron of Alexandria designed a wind-driven
wars” in 1928, competing American manufacturers
music organ in the first century. The Persians
cranked out 99,050 wind engines—the first massbuilt the first practical windmills sometime
More than a
produced wind-power devices in history. Over
between 500 and 900, using the vertical-axis
thousand factories
the years, Americans have installed some 6 milengines (spinning like a merry-go-round,
have produced windmills in
lion mechanical-output wind machines, with
as opposed to the now-familiar horizontalthe United States. Many were
Texas deploying the most.
axis design) to pump water and grind grain.
small operations that failed
Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the
It’s a matter of debate whether windafter the first windstorm
practical start of the windmilling of America.
mills in Western Europe were inspired by
revealed the flaws in
Connecticut inventor Daniel Halladay had develthese early models or developed indepentheir designs.
oped a working wind engine as early as 1854, but
dently. The earliest English windmills were
found little market for it in water-rich New England.
“postmill” structures, in which the entire mill—
His partner, John Burnham, challenged Halladay to perfect
sails and grinding house—turned to face the wind.
a cheaper, simpler windmill that could operate without regu- By about 1390, the Dutch improved on this design with the
lar tending by a “miller.” The result was a four-sail, pivoting tower mill, in which only the top floor moved with the wind,
wind engine with a tail vane that automatically turned it into and the smock mill, named for its distinctive apron-shaped
10
1112FT HISTORY MATTERS.indd 10
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8/31/12 11:00 AM
Because of their efficiency, horizontal-axis windmills were more
popular than the vertical-axis variety.
500-900 |
Henry
Ford was
inspired to create the
automobile assembly line
in part by a childhood visit
to a windmill factory, which
could turn out a complete
windmill every three
minutes.
sides. These enabled larger mills
with lower floors for grinding
and storing grain, as well as living quarters for the windsmith
and his family. More aerodynamic sails improved efficiency,
beginning a series of incremental improvements that would take
another 500 years to perfect.
As wind-power historian Darrell M.
Dodge puts it, “These mills were the ‘electrical motor’ of
pre-industrial Europe. Applications were diverse, ranging
from the common waterwell, irrigation, or drainage pumping using a scoop wheel, grain-grinding, saw-milling of timber, and the processing of other commodities such as spices,
cocoa, paints and dyes, and tobacco.”
Halladay’s design and competitors such as the Eclipse
windmill—an 1867 invention of Rev. Leonard H. Wheeler, a
missionary among the Ojibway tribe—were different from
the iconic Dutch windmills of landscape paintings. American
windmills were small, one horsepower or less, and sat atop
a simple stand rather than a mill building. After the 1870
development of more efficient curved steel blades, windmills
became as common on the prairie as tumbleweeds.
Barbed wire also spurred the spread of windmills by
fencing off the range and limiting access to surface water.
Drillers followed the fence crews, guessed at the location of
water, and used horse-powered rigs to bore wells. Range riders visited windmills twice a week to grease the works with
lubricant kept in a can or beer bottle tied to the saddle. Selflubricating designs, introduced with the Wonder Model A
from the Elgin Wind Power and Pump Co. in 1912, eliminated
this chore; similar to the lubrication of car engines, the moving parts in a self-lubricating mill operated in a “bath” of oil.
But the prairie windmill couldn’t survive rural electrification. In the 1930s, as technology grew and wires spread
across America, windmills were put out of work. The last
census of windmill manufacturers, taken in 1963, counted
only 7,562 units sold in the whole country
(3,000 of them in Texas).
Early
Could wind power deliver elecwindmills
tricity as well as water? Scottish
used sails made of
Professor James Blyth began
cloth, much like ships.
experiments with wind turbines
In cold climates, wooden
in 1887, succeeding in powering
slats, which proved easier
his Glasgow home for 25 years. The
to handle in freezing
first large-scale attempt to harness
conditions, replaced
cloth sails.
IN TIME
11
Persians develop
first windmills for
grinding grain and
pumping water
1219 | China
builds its earliest
documented
windmill
1854 | Daniel
Halladay develops
a working wind
engine
1863 | US
Wind Engine and
Pump Co. begins
operations in
Batavia, Ill.
1888 | Charles F.
Brush completes
his 12-kilowatt
wind turbine
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historymatters
the wind for electrical power was a 164-foot diameter, 144blade rotor Charles F. Brush built in Cleveland in 1888. It
operated successfully for 20 years, generating a modest 12
kilowatts of energy at its peak.
In 1891, Danish scientist Poul La Cour adapted the aerodynamic principles used in the most efficient European
tower mills to generate electricity. Capable of producing 25
kilowatts, these four-blade airfoil wind generators spread
throughout Denmark in the early 20th century—until big
fossil-fueled steam plants put them out of business.
Rural areas of the United States also adapted the familiar
wind technology to generate power for lighting and crystal
radios. In the 1920s, companies including Parris-Dunn and
Jacobs Wind Electric sold one- to three-kilowatt wind generators throughout the Midwest.
As the electric grid covered the Western world, wind
power development shifted from small-scale designs to
“bulk” electrical generation. In 1931, the Soviets built the
100,000-kilowatt Balaclava wind generator by the Caspian
Sea. Americans gave it a try with the 1.25 megawatt SmithPutnam machine built in 1941; its two blades spanned 175
feet and the stainless-steel rotor weighed 16 tons. But after
only a few hundred hours of operation, a blade broke near
the hub—apparently due to metal fatigue from the heavy load
generated in a structure, according to historian Dodge, “that
had a lot in common with a gigantic rotating Erector set.”
Such fits and starts continued to characterize wind power
generation. The first “wind farm” wasn’t constructed until
1980 in New Hampshire—and it failed due to inadequate
wind and unreliable turbines. But as the world looks for
alternate energy sources that don’t contribute to global
warming, electricity from the wind may finally have its
moment. Even as the windmills that once dotted the American prairie become quaint curiosities, soaring new wind
turbines are beginning to provide the very electricity that
made rural windmills mostly obsolete. Five US states—South
Dakota, Iowa, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wyoming—now
produce 10 percent or more of their electricity from wind,
and the US Department of Energy says wind could generate
20 percent of all America’s electricity by 2030.
After 2,000 years of tinkering, the answer may at last be
blowin’ in the wind.
8/29/12 10:25 AM
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HOW TO RESEARCH LIKE A PRO
Stolen Moments
Make more genealogy time in your busy schedule
with these 23 secrets to researching smarter.
BY LISA A. ALZO
I L L U S T R A T I O N S : R AY A L M A
3 ARE YOU PAYING enough attention to your ancestors? In our time-crunched
world, we’re busier than ever with family obligations, jobs and endless errands.
Time management gurus are always telling us to “work smarter, not harder,” a
principle that certainly applies to genealogy research. But how? If you’re feeling
time-challenged, listen up: These 23 secrets will help you research more efficiently
and squeeze just a little more family history into your busy life.
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1112FT 23 SECRETS FEATURE.indd 14
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8/29/12 10:27 AM
1
PLAN IT. When it comes to seeking out ancestors, genealogists can be a bit overzealous. We want to know
everything right away, and the instant gratification of
online searching makes us even more impatient. But before
you even start the research process, you need to determine
what you’re looking for (such as when your family arrived on
US shores, or whether you have a Civil War ancestor). Then
you can figure out what records you should consult and plan
specific research steps to get them. This might sound like it’ll
add to your task load, but it’ll actually save you time in aimless or redundant searching.
Find an example of a research plan at <familytreemagazine.
com/article/sample-research-plan>, and see the January 2011
Family Tree Magazine <shopfamilytree.com/digital-issuefamily-tree-magazine-january-2011> for advice on developing a
research plan.
2
to borrow. You’ll find downloadable research trackers and
forms to help keep you organized at <familytreemagazine.com/
info/researchforms>.
5
FILE ON THE FLY. Do you have to step over piles of paper
to get to your genealogy workspace? Save time spent
searching for papers you need by getting into the
habit of filing documents, notes and other research material right away. You can use manila folders in hanging files
(you can buy these in different colors for your surnames)
and keep them in a filing cabinet or file boxes with lids. We
outline how to set up a genealogy filing system by family at
<familytreemagazine.com/article/now-what-file-organization>.
If you feel really ambitious, try going paperless and storing
most or all of your information electronically. For inspiration,
read why and how veteran genealogy blogger Dick Eastman
went paperless at <blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/
2011/12/why-i-went-paperless.html> . Still organizationally
challenged? Sign up for Family Tree University’s Organize
Your Genealogy course at <familytreeuniversity.com>.
MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH GREAT-GRANDPA. Let’s
face it, tasks are much easier to forget or bypass if you
don’t write them down or put them on your calendar. I
find if I block out time for specific research tasks, I feel more
accountable and I tend to get them done. Schedule research
sessions and library visits in your planner. If you have a free
Google account <google.com>, you can set up a Google calendar. You also can get reminders and make to-do lists using
smartphone apps such as Clear ($2.99 for iPad, iPhone, iPod
Touch) and Remember the Milk <www.rememberthemilk.com>
(available free for Android and Mac platforms, and you can
even use it with email and Twitter <www.twitter.com>).
6
SEEK THE SPOTLIGHT. No, we’re not suggesting you
per day to work on some aspect of your genealogical
research, it would add up to 105 minutes per week.
Sure, it doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but at the very least get
in those 15 minutes and you’ll feel like you’re making some
progress every day. Set a timer or the alarm on your smartphone, and on less busy days, try to sneak in a little more.
A few short tasks you can do: Search the free databases
at FamilySearch.org <www.familysearch.org> or the subscription ones at Ancestry.com <ancestry.com>, catch up on new
resources from your favorite genealogy blog or magazine,
run a Google search on a surname, or e-mail a research query
to a library. See page 28 for quick online projects doable in
a weekend. Check the January 2009 Family Tree Magazine
<shopfamilytree.com/digital-issue-family-tree-january-2009> for
a list of genealogy jobs you can do over your lunch hour.
become a diva, but rather that you find sites that let
you save, annotate or spotlight research results. For
example, on your Ancestry.com home page, the Searches
section saves your recent searches. If you’re a subscriber, you
can save records you’ve found to your Shoebox to examine
more closely later. On the free Ellis Island passenger search
site <www.ellisisland.org>, you can save searches in the Your
Ellis Island File. Subscription site Fold3.com <www.fold3.
com> lets you annotate or label record images, comment on
them, save them to your Gallery, or use the Spotlight to leave
a note on them. All these are stored on your profile page, so
you can quickly find your notes and return to the record. You
also can put Watches on records to get updates when others
add notes.
For other sites, consider note-taking applications such as
Microsoft One Note (available with Microsoft Office 2010)
or Evernote (a basic account is free). These let you track
your online research by electronically storing notes, clipped
web pages and more. You can access your account from your
desktop, notebook, tablet or smartphone. To learn more
about these tools, watch the free tutorials by genealogists
Caroline Pointer <www.4yourfamilystory.com/1/post/2012/05/
using-onenote-to-keep-up-with-those-ancestors.html> and
Thomas MacEntee <vimeo.com/28438536>.
4
7
3
FIND 15 MINUTES. If you schedule just 15 minutes
LOG IT. I tend to bounce from one family history
project to another, often starting and stopping my
research. When I do find time to get some genealogy
done, I don’t want to have to repeat steps. To keep track of
where I left off, I maintain a detailed list of my genealogy
searches—whether successful or failed—along with a to-do
list of other databases to check, records to request and books
CITE IT RIGHT. Failing to document where you got your
family tree information isn’t good genealogy practice,
and it’ll inevitably lead to confusion down the line
when you have to rely on your memory. Develop the habit of
citing sources accurately at the time you obtain the information. Two must-have books on the topic are Elizabeth Shown
Mills’ Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources From
15
8/29/12 10:28 AM
to search it. To find individual databases on Ancestry.com,
you can use the Card Catalog <search.ancestry.com/search/
CardCatalog.aspx> or browse by place on the Search page
<search.ancestry.com/search> . On FamilySearch.org, click a
region and then use the filters on the left side of the page.
Once you find your database, read the information about
it. If there’s a customized search form for that database, use
it. Look for an FAQ or help section, as well as search tips to
find out whether you can use wildcards or exclude certain
words. You’ll save yourself time and possibly the frustration
of fruitless searches.
Artifacts to Cyberspace, 2nd edition, and the shorter companion Evidence! Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian (both from Genealogical Publishing Co.). See page 24 to
learn more about source citations and letting the Genealogical Proof Standard guide your research.
8
STAY ALERT. Ever wished you could do genealogy
even while you sleep? You can. Setting up free Google
Alerts <google.com/alerts> tells Google to keep searching when you’re away from the computer. Create or log into
your Google account and enter the keyword(s) you want
searched, such as a surname plus a place or the word genealogy. From the drop-down menus, select where you want
results from (blogs, news, books), how often you want an
alert (once a day, once a week, as it happens), how many you
want to see (all of them or the ones Google thinks are best),
and the delivery e-mail address. Use the Manage Your Alerts
link at the bottom of the page to update or delete your alerts.
10
the biggest obstacles to tracing ancestors are
the names you’re researching. Spelling and
transcription errors in historical records and indexes are
common stumbling blocks. Do yourself a favor and make a
chart of the surnames you’re searching using our template
<familytreemagazine.com/info/researchforms>. For each name,
come up with as many spelling variants as possible. Take into
account various pronunciations of the written name, how it
sounded when spoken by an immigrant ancestor, its “translation” into English (such as Brown for the German Braun),
and likely transcription errors for the letters in the name (for
example, a c might look like an a to indexers). Get tips for
finding surname variants at <genealogy.about.com/od/name_
changes/tp/spellings.htm> . Create a similar chart with first
names. When searching genealogy databases and indexes,
methodically move down your list (use search wildcards to
find several variants at once).
9
BE INFORMED. How many of us use the dartboard
approach when searching databases or websites?
Rather than blindly typing in names, learn what
records a database contains (including any gaps—the year
range in the database title might not be inclusive) and how
YZ
If you schedule just 15
minutes per day to work
on some aspect of your
genealogical research,
11
ORGANIZE, PURGE AND UNSUBSCRIBE. Clutter eventually creeps in to every genealogist’s workspace.
Secret 5 will get you started, but you’ll also want
to purge what you don’t need, such as duplicate copies of
documents or books you never use. Keep your inbox clean
by unsubscribing from mailing lists and newsletters you no
longer read. Gain bookshelf (and mental) space by opting for
CD or digital versions of publications. That includes Family
Tree Magazine: Digital subscriptions, downloadable issues
it would add up to 105
minutes per week.
MORE
ONLINE
Free Web Content
101 Best Websites: High-Tech
Tools <familytreemagazine.com/
article/101-best-websites-2010high-tech-tools>
WorldCat tutorial
<familytreemagazine.com/
article/toolkit-tutorial-searchingworldcat>
What to Keep and What to Toss
<familytreemagazine.com/article/
what-to-keep-and-what-to-toss>
THINK LIKE A TRANSCRIPTIONIST. Sometimes
For Plus Members
How to declutter your genealogy
space <familytreemagazine.com/
article/wide-open-spaces>
Build a research toolbox
article/feb-2012-tools-of-thetrade>
Evernote Tutorial
article/tutorial-note-takingevernote>
ShopFamilyTree.com
Organize Your Genealogy Life! CD
<shopfamilytree.com/organize-yourgenealogy-life-cd>
Time Management for Genealogists
Family Tree University Course
<familytreeuniversity.com/timemanagement-for-genealogists>
Managing Your Genealogy Data video
class <shopfamilytree.com/digwmanaging-yr-geneal-data-class>
16
2012
8/29/12 10:28 AM
back up your updated files. Applications such
as Dropbox <www.dropbox.com>, SugarSync
TIP: Planning to hire a
<www.sugarsync.com> , or Google Drive
Plus membership gives you online access
professional researcher for a
<drive.google.com> will let you keep family
to articles from past issues on our website.
genealogy job? Check the pro’s
tree files, photographs and documents in
Finally, instead of visiting your favorite
references, request a quote,
the cloud. Most services offer limited free
genealogy blogs every day, have new posts
and establish a schedule for
storage space with subscriptions for more
sent to a free blog reader such as Google’s
reporting progress on
<google.com/reader> or one of those menspace. You’ll also want to check whether the
your project.
tioned at <email.about.com/od/rssreaderswin/
service automatically syncs files on your hard
tp/top_rss_windows.htm>.
drive or you need to manually copy files over.
Gizmodo outlines cloud storage options at <gizmodo.
TOOL AROUND. Just as a carpenter frequently com/5828035/the-best-way-to-store-stuff-in-the-cloud>.
uses a hammer and saw, genealogists turn to
STAY INFORMED. With so many new online datacertain online resources or tools time and again.
bases, up-to-the-minute genealogy apps, changPerhaps you’re a frequent user of FamilySearch.org or Rootsing privacy laws and evolving technology, it’s
Web <rootsweb.ancestry.com>. But you may be missing other
great sites, as well as timesaving tools such as a relationship hard to keep up with new resources, research techniques and
calculator, gazetteer, historical maps site, language translator tools of the trade. If you’re perpetually short on time, the last
and more. Explore the sites on our 2012 list of the 101 Best thing you want to do is check Ancestry.com or Fold3.com or
Websites for genealogy <familytreemagazine.com/article/101- FamilySearch.org every day to see what record collections
best-websites-2012>. MacEntee recommends genealogy tools have been added.
at <genealogytoolbox.weebly.com>.
Follow these and other top genealogy websites on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for e-mail updates so you can
PLAY FAVORITES. Speaking of bookmarks and be notified of any breaking news.
favorites, once you start adding a page here and
Another way to stay in the know is by reading geneala page there, pretty soon you’ll find your book- ogy blogs (subscribe to new posts through a blog reader
marks list is one hot mess. And what happens if you want to (see secret 11) so you can read all your favorites in one
access a favorite genealogy website at work or the library?
place). Ask your genealogy pals for recommendations and
Go through your bookmarks, deleting those you no longer check out some of the top ones at <familytreemagazine.com/
use and renaming the ones you keep so you’ll know at a glance article/40-best-genealogy-blogs-2011>.
what those bookmarks are for. Social bookmarking sites such
GO BEYOND GOOGLE. Google is popular for searchas Xmarks <www.xmarks.com> and Diigo <www.diigo.com>
let you access your bookmarks no matter where you are or
ing names, locations and other genealogy inforwhich computer you’re on. MacEntee offers more ideas for
mation, but sometimes your search results can
making bookmarks accessible from multiple devices in the be overwhelming. To weed out excess results, use the tips at
February 2012 Family Tree Magazine <shopfamilytree.com/ <familytreemagazine.com/article/google-your-family-tree-tips>
digital-issue-family-tree-magazine-february-2012-w2164>.
to construct your query or try the free Genealogy Search
Help for Google site <www.genealogy-search-help.com>.
LIVE SOCIAL. Have a social media presence. Blogs
In some cases, a genealogy-specific search engine, which
(also commonly known in the genealogy com- “crawls” only family history-related websites, is a better
munity as “cousin bait”) can draw out those long choice. Mocavo <www.mocavo.com> offers a free geneallost relatives who come across your posts about ancestors ogy search and a premium search with enhanced features.
you share. Being on Facebook <www.facebook.com>, Twitter The free Live Roots <www.liveroots.com/search> searches
<www.twitter.com> , LinkedIn <www.linkedin.com> , Pinter- resources such as transcribed or digitized records, books
est <www.pinterest.com>, Google+ <plus.google.com> and/or available for purchase and individual websites. To speed
GenealogyWise <www.genealogywise.com> helps you connect up searches for materials in libraries, use WorldCat <www.
with cousins, researchers and repositories around the world. worldcat.org> or Hathitrust <hathitrust.org> (note that these
You’ll stay up-to-date on new resources and possibly save searches don’t cover the FamilySearch catalog—you’ll have
countless hours of research time if you find someone else to search it separately).
who has the ancestor answers you seek.
PLAN A GENEA-CATION. With a bit of creative
WORK IN THE CLOUD. With cloud storage, you can
arranging, you often can build family history
access your tree from anywhere, anytime you have
activities into a vacation, family reunion or worka few minutes, and you may not have to manually related trip (perhaps by tacking on a personal day or two).
and back issue CDs are available at <shop
familytree.com> . A Family Tree Magazine
12
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8/29/12 10:28 AM
Scout out nearby libraries, courthouses, cemeteries and
churches that may hold materials related to your family and
search the holdings to determine if a visit is worth the time.
Call ahead to verify hours.
Historic sites are a natural for family trips. Tour Ellis
Island’s Immigration Museum <www.ellisisland.org /
genealogy/ellis_island_visiting.asp> if your immigrant ancestors arrived there and add the National Archives <archives.
gov> to your Washington, DC, travel itinerary. Headed for
Salt Lake City? Perhaps your family can take in the Great
Salt Lake or This Is the Place Heritage Park <www.thisisthe
place.org> while you dive into research at the Family History Library <familysearch.org /locations/
saltlakecity-library>.
no-cost apps for genealogists listed at <familytreemagazine.
com/article/software-steals>.
So you don’t have to spend time packing for a trip to the
cemetery or FamilySearch Center, keep a tote bag stocked
with a notebook and pens or pencils, change, a USB drive,
bug spray and other essential supplies. Consider investing in
a portable scanner such as the Flip-Pal mobile scanner <www.
flip-pal.com> for copying photos and documents at the library,
courthouse or a relative’s house.
22
TURN TO A PRO. Some tasks, such as
getting records from a faraway archive
or translating documents in an unfamiliar language, may be best left to a professional genealogist. Of course, doing your
EDUCATE YOURSELF. Stop spinown research has its benefits, but once
TIP: Try to set up a dedicated
ning your wheels as you try
you tally up the expenses for travel, lodggenealogy space in your home
to figure out what the next
ing, food, parking and your own time,
where you can keep your research
step in your research should be. Learnit might be more cost-effective to use
materials. You’ll have more time
ing about family history resources and
the research services of a professional
for genealogy if you don’t have to
strategies and record groups can help
genealogist based where the records
move everything from place to
you achieve your genealogy goals more
are. Fortunately, you can hire experts for
place for each research
efficiently. Start with a genealogy guide
everything from a quick look-up to a comsession.
such as Unpuzzling Your Past, fourth ediplicated research project. The Association
tion, by Emily Anne Croom (Genealogical
of Professional Genealogists <www.apgen.org>
has a member directory you can search by research
Publishing Co.) or Discover Your Family Hisspecialty, location and more. You could use a service such
tory Online by Nancy Hendrickson (Family Tree Books)
<shopfamilytree.com/discover-your-family-history-online>. Look as Genlighten <genlighten.com> or Genealogy Freelancers
for classes from your local library or genealogical society, or <www.genealogyfreelancers.com>, or ask another genealogist
try the wide variety of online courses, webinars and virtual to get recommendations.
conferences from Family Tree University.
BUDDY UP. Never has the old adage “two heads
MANAGE MULTIPLE PROJECTS. Most genealoare better than one” been more applicable than
gists have more than one family history project
to genealogy. Bouncing problems off another
in the works at any given time. Juggling them person doubles your efforts to solve complex research proband trying to figure out where you are with each one when lems, break through brick walls and reach your goals. This
you start a new research session can lead to wasted time. can be another family member or a fellow genealogist who
Some people use spreadsheets to keep track of steps they’ve shares your passion. Don’t have a research buddy? Joining
taken for each project. Microsoft Excel works well, or you a local genealogical society and friending or following famcan use GoogleDocs <docs.google.com> (you’ll need a free ily historians on social networking sites (see secret 14) can
Google account) to create a spreadsheet accessible from help you meet one. I check in with my buddy by email and
anywhere through your Google account. I like Trello <trello. monthly via Skype <www.skype.com> , and we encourage,
com>, a free online collaboration tool that organizes proj- support and push each other to cross off those items on our
ects into boards. Remember using index cards on a bulletin respective to-do lists.
board? It’s like that, only virtual.
You and your genealogy buddy—and most of the rest of
us—can only dream of having unlimited hours to devote to
BE PREPARED. You never know when your next family tree research. The reality is that life happens, and
genealogical adventure will arise—you might we need every timesaving secret at our disposal to make the
run into a cousin at the post office or have a most of the genealogy hours we have.
few unexpected minutes to search a database—so always
be ready. Look for mobile apps to help you store your fam- Genealogy author and instructor Lisa A . Alzo teaches
ily tree, navigate genealogy conferences, “scan” photos several Family Tree University courses, including Time Manand documents, search Find A Grave <www.findagrave.com> agement for Genealogists: Make Time for Your Tree, Yourself
or WorldCat and more. You’ll find our favorite low- and and Your Sanity.
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Preventive Medicine
Don’t let your family tree fall victim to diseased records.
Our family tree doctor will show you how to recognize sick
sources and prevent them from infecting your research.
BY SHARON DEBARTOLO CARMACK
3 I’M A FAMILY tree doctor. Some might call me an editor
or a proofreader of genealogies, but what I’m actually doing
is diagnosing diseased family trees. Here are some of the ills
I’ve seen: A woman in her 70s having babies. A man getting
married at age 9. Twins born in different counties. A baby
who came into the world 10 years after his mother died. Siblings who were born only three months apart. And one man
married to two (or more) women at the same time. (Well, OK.
Sometimes that really does happen.)
As a tree doctor, my job is to ensure that these diseased
genealogies get the proper treatment so family historians can
learn the truth about their ancestors—and so the infections
don’t spread to other researchers’ trees.
But it’s not just genealogical trunks, branches and leaves
that harbor diseases. The roots of our research—the records
we use as sources—also might contain ailments. Not to
worry: The cure isn’t complicated. All it takes to thwart the
spread of common maladies into your family tree is an ounce
of prevention. By learning how to spot nine sicknesses in
genealogical resources, you can avoid contaminating your
family tree. Consider this your bulletin from the Genealogical Centers for Disease Control.
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Inaccurate Index Infection
When you do find an index entry for your ancestor, always
seek the original record and ask yourself whether the information in it makes sense given what you’ve discovered about
your family. This disease also speaks to the importance of
accurately recording your online searches. Keeping track
of databases you search and the search terms you enter will
make it easier to find the person again.
SIGNS: You just know your ancestor should be named in
a particular record set. Maybe you even think you’ve found
him before in an online index to those records. But for the life
of you, you can’t find him in the index now.
What’s the deal? The database you’re searching might be
suffering from inaccurate index infection. Online indexes
make searching quicker than in the olden days of scrolling
microfilm, but we also love to hate them. Find your ancestor
on the first try, and you’re happy. By the third, fourth or 20th
try, your enthusiasm wanes. Why is this so hard? you wonder.
You might have several things working against you.
Humans created the indexes, and we all know humans aren’t
perfect. We’re prone to making typos, misreading unfamiliar
names and handwriting, and transposing letters unintentionally. Some indexes on large subscription websites are created
abroad by trained but nonnative English speakers. Or you
might be searching an index generated by optical character
recognition software, in which a computer “reads” digitized
records and turns the words into a text file. Combine any of
these factors with the county clerk’s or census taker’s errors
on the original, or a fuzzy scan, and the potential for indexing
problems is compounded.
TREATMENT: Get creative with your searches. Say you’re
looking for an ancestor in a census database. If his name isn’t
coming up, use wildcard searches to catch odd variant spellings. Try just the surname and place, in case the first name is
abbreviated or misspelled. Take the name out altogether and
search on other factors, such as (for the 1920 census) country
of birth and immigration year. Try another family member’s
name. Still no luck? Check the street section of a city directory to see who the neighbors are, and search for them.
If all else fails, you might have to browse the actual records
page by page. Keep in mind, too, that websites periodically
change search algorithms in an effort to improve your search
results—so keep trying.
Death Certificate Deficiency
SIGNS: Even though death certificates are what many
genealogists call a primary source—that is, a record created
at the time of the event—the information on the certificate
contains both firsthand and secondhand evidence. Interpret
the information incorrectly, and an infection in the record
could lead to disease in your family tree.
The firsthand evidence is the information the physician
or his attendant provided on the cause of death, the date
and contributing factors. Understand, however, that even
this information can be in error. The cause of death could
be obscured or misstated to protect a person’s reputation
and privacy: Instead of “suicide,” for example, the cause of
death might be described as “accidental.” Physicians can
misdiagnose the cause of death, especially when no autopsy
is performed. Given our ancestors’ medical knowledge, the
cause of death could be erroneous based on what we know
about diseases today. A diagnosis back then wasn’t supported by sophisticated tests such as X-rays, blood analysis or
microscopic tissue examinations. It was based on signs and
symptoms only, and many diseases have similar symptoms.
It can be difficult, if not impossible, to determine a modern
equivalent to a 19th-century cause of death.
Secondhand information on a death certificate concerns
factors not related to the death. An informant—perhaps
a child, sibling or neighbor—provided details about the
deceased, such as date and place of birth, age, parents’ names
and birthplaces. The informant could know only what the
deceased or other family members told her, so you can’t be
certain of the accuracy of this information. Also keep in mind
that grief may have clouded the informant’s thinking. Informants have been known to accidentally give their own mothers’ maiden names, for example, instead of the deceased’s.
TREATMENT: Analyze each piece of information on a death
certificate, determining whether it’s firsthand or secondhand
evidence. Though you might not be able to corroborate the
cause of death, you can verify much of the secondhand evidence by searching other records: cemetery, obituary, funeral
home, birth, baptismal and military records, and so forth.
YZ
Personal information
that’s important to our
identities, such as age
and birthplace, generally
Census Inconsistency Syndrome
wasn’t as meaningful to
SIGNS: Federal census records are the backbone of genealogical research, giving you a snapshot of families at 10-year
intervals. Say you found your ancestor in each surviving
census from 1850 through 1900. Does all the information
from one census to another match? If so, you’ve got a rare
our ancestors.
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MORE
ONLINE
Free Web Content
Will and probate glossary
will-probate-glossary-1>
How to evaluate pedigree databases
downloading-your-family>
10 tips for searching online
databases <familytreemagazine.
com/article/give-me-10>
For Plus Members
Do you have a sick genealogy?
article/the-tree-doctor>
Finding clues in online trees
article/gold-digging>
Master the Census
article/master-the-census>
situation. Most of us find slight to significant discrepancies
from one census to another, which can wilt a family tree.
One census says the birthplace was New Jersey. Another
says New York. One records the ancestor’s name as William.
Another gives it as John. According to one census, Greatuncle Joe immigrated in 1894. According to another, the year
was 1897. Great-grandma’s age is 52 in one census; 10 years
later she’s 58. How does this happen?
For one thing, census records don’t give you the name of
the informant. It could be the husband one census, the wife
the next, and a neighbor after that. And personal information
that’s important to our identities, such as age and birthplace,
generally wasn’t as meaningful to our ancestors. They might
go by different nicknames at different times in their lives, or
use various name spellings. As time passed, people could forget exactly when they immigrated or where the oldest child
was born.
TREATMENT: As a general guideline, you can consider
census information recorded closest to the time of the event
as most trustworthy. For example, if three different censuses
say Great-grandpa came to the United States in 1881, 1880
and 1882, generally, the earliest census that records the
immigration information is likeliest to be accurate.
If Susie is age 2, 11 and 19 on three consecutive censuses,
you have to look at two things. First, the census closest to
the original event, her birth, is mostly likely correct. Second,
check the official census day for that census. The census
taker was supposed to record people based on that day.
For example, the census day for 1900 was June 1, for 1910 it
was April 15, and for 1920, it was Jan. 1. So an ancestor whose
birthday is, say, May 10, 1885, should be 15 in the 1900 census, 24 in 1910, and 34 in 1920. See <familytreemagazine.com/
article/thatll-be-the-day> for a list of official census dates for
US censuses from 1790 through 1940.
The Family Tree Problem Solver
<shopfamilytree.com/the-family-treeproblem-solver-x3302>
Research strategies for immigrant
ancestors <shopfamilytree.com/
research-strategies-trace-immigrantancestors>
Online Genealogy Crash Course
DVD <shopfamilytree.com/onlinegenealogy-crash-course-w3450>
While some people actually did sneak aboard ships, it
wasn’t a common practice, so you should still look for your
ancestor on passenger lists. If a stowaway was discovered en
route, he should be recorded on the last page of the list.
Along with stowaways, another story seems to blossom
in families like dandelions in the spring. Not long ago, I saw
someone post on Facebook <www.facebook.com> that Ellis
Island officials changed immigrants’ names. I thought this
myth had been eradicated a long time ago, but some beloved
myths continue to spread no matter how you treat them.
No evidence whatsoever exists to suggest that names were
changed on Ellis Island. During its operation as an immigrant
receiving station from 1892 to 1954, Ellis Island was staffed
with hundreds of interpreters who collectively spoke more
than 30 languages. Inspectors asked immigrants their names,
and then compared them what was recorded on the passenger lists. These lists were created at the ports of departure as
passengers bought their tickets.
Inspectors were told not to change anything on the list
unless there was an error, and there was no reason to change
anyone’s surname. These pervasive family stories likely
arose because immigrants changed their own names after
they settled in America to avoid prejudice and blend in more
easily. Another typical time for first and sometimes last
names to be changed was when immigrant children entered
school—American teachers sometimes couldn’t pronounce
foreign names. They might call Francesco “Frank” and write
the Polish surname Adamczyk as “Adams.” See <www.ilw.
com/articles/2005,0808-smith.shtm> for more on family name
changes and Ellis Island immigration procedures.
TREATMENT: If one of these myths exists in your family,
it might be hard to convince some relatives it might not be
true. That’s OK. Some stories will live on no matter what you
do. What’s important is that you record what you believe is
true, based on solid genealogical and social history research,
in your genealogical files and in what you share and publish.
Immigration Mythopia
SIGNS: Has a story about a stowaway ancestor blossomed
in your family? Stowaway stories are more romantic and
adventuresome than buying a ticket in steerage. Interestingly, stowaways are almost always men. You rarely hear
about Great-grandma being a stowaway. These family stories
may be suffering from a serious disorder that can result in
decay of the fruit on your tree.
Bungled Birthdate Disorder
SIGNS: Sometimes the disease you’re battling is information that doesn’t make chronological sense—for example,
a baptism that predates the birth. Although some religions
practiced adult baptism, baptism in utero is extremely rare.
Your ancestor might appear to have been baptized before
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birth for a couple of reasons. The family might have been
waiting for a circuit-riding minister to arrive to perform the
baptism, and it’s possible he accidently reversed the birth
and baptism dates in his records.
A more likely scenario in this case is that the parents
fudged the birth date on a civil birth record. If there was a
late fee to register the birth after a certain amount of time
had passed, parents might record the child younger than he
was to avoid paying the fee. In fact, they might make him so
young that he was baptized before he was born.
TREATMENT: Double-check the records where you found
the information, and keep seeking other sources to help
you clear up when the events you’re researching actually
occurred. In your genealogical records, mark a date with a
[sic] to indicate you know there’s a logic or chronology problem. Explain in your notes that the dates are recorded exactly
as they were in the documents, and if you have a theory
about what actually happened (for instance, that a minister
reversed the dates), include it as well.
across a family history once accepted as fact but now known
to contain misinformation, such as many works by turn-ofthe-20th-century genealogist Gustave Anjou.
Family Fable Flu
SIGNS: Do your relatives speak fondly and confidently
of being American Indian—perhaps even descended from a
Cherokee princess? Why is it no one is ever descended from
a Lumbee princess? Like the story of an Ellis Island name
change, this is one of those classic legends handed down in
families. Such stories can leave a powdery mildew coating on
your family tree, disfiguring new shoots.
Maybe your family has a “three brothers” story: Three
brothers immigrated to America (never two or five, and
never a sister). Once they got to America, one went north,
one south, and the other west, never to be heard from again.
Or perhaps Great-grandpa always said you have royal or
noble ancestors, people who were entitled to display a coat
of arms. But in reality, a good percentage of the people who
departed their native land for America weren’t entitled to
Sloppily Sourced Pedigree Virus
inherit anything—land, a title or heraldic arms. That’s why
SIGNS: Maybe someone wrote a family history about your they left. Why would a duke or a prince give up his inheriancestors, or you find a tree online that takes your genealogy tance and leave for the uncharted frontier of America?
TREATMENT: If you have an American Indian tale
back several generations. These are gems—an accuin your family, investigate and establish whether
rate and documented online tree or published
or not a tradition of Indian ancestry is true.
family history can save you countless hours of
As with most family lore, there’s usually a
research. On the other hand, it could create
TIP: Treat information you
grain of truth couched somewhere in the
countless hours of research if you discover
find in online family trees
story. What, specifically, led family memthat the genealogy is diseased and wasn’t
as clues. Conduct your own
bers to accept the tale? The places where
well-researched. The leaves on these trees
research in genealogical records
the ancestors lived? High cheekbones in a
can have some dead tissue.
to determine whether those
TREATMENT: If you find a copy of a pubfamily photo? Grandma’s word? Get all the
clues lead to the truth.
lished family history, evaluate whether its
details you can from family, then start your
information is reliable by looking at the source
hunt in records.
citations and attached documentation. If sources
Be wary of the three brothers myth. Families
are cited, do a little fact-checking. Can you find some
often did emigrate together—as well as with friends
of the documents the author mentions? After looking at and neighbors—but three men on a ship with the same last
them, do you agree with the author’s interpretation?
name aren’t necessarily brothers. Your clan’s immigrant
It’s common to find undocumented family trees online, group could’ve included parents, children, aunts, uncles and
and they may be diseased. Often, casual tree tracers regurgi- cousins, all on the same voyage or in a “chain” over years.
tate what they find in still other online trees, and it’s imposAlthough not a hard-and-fast rule for every country, gensible to tell where the information came from. To prevent the erally the second or later sons would emigrate because of
spread of sloppy sourcing into your tree, use these other trees the custom known as primogeniture—this dictated that the
as clues only. Verify in original sources everything you find.
eldest son would inherit their father’s property. And even
Before making details from a published genealogy a per- though many Americans can trace their ancestry to kings
manent part of your tree, look for book reviews of published and queens, don’t automatically trust the family tradition.
genealogies in current and back issues of respected genea- Check it out for yourself through research. Sometimes folks
logical journals. Try American Genealogist and the National discover they’re really linked to the illegitimate children of
Genealogical Society Quarterly, as well as locality-specific the kings and queens—which in itself holds a special status.
newsletters and journals such as The New York Researcher
As for coats of arms, keep in mind they’re granted to a
and the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. person, not to a family, and typically pass from eldest son
Reviews usually appear within a year or two of a book’s pub- to eldest son. Younger sons and even daughters may use the
lication and give insights into the work’s strengths and weak- main design, with alterations to denote a son or daughter
nesses. Also check online to make sure you haven’t come and birth order. But what about that illustrated coat of arms
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Record Rx
that Uncle Harold found online and now displays with pride
as the Schwartzfedder “family crest”? It may have nothing to
do with your ancestors.
Almost every genealogical record has the potential to
transfer some disease that can infect your family tree.
Gather as many records as you can about a name or
date, then analyze and compare data from each source.
TOMBSTONES: Not everything carved in stone is
accurate, including names and dates on tombstones.
BIRTH CERTIFICATES: Even official records can
contain errors such as misspelled names.
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES: It wasn’t uncommon
for spouses-to-be to lie about their ages to avoid
needing parental permission.
MILITARY RECORDS: Some young men made
themselves older so they could serve.
NATURALIZATION RECORDS: Foreign birthplaces
might be misspelled; other information recalled from
years ago could be incorrect.
LAND RECORDS: Not all states required a dower
release, so if you don’t see that included in a man’s land
transaction, don’t assume that the wife didn’t relinquish
her dower. It’s not true that a wife’s relative had to
witness the sale to protect her interests.
FAMILY BIBLES: Cross-check the entries with the
date the Bible was published. If the births and deaths
predate the publication, they were entered after the
event occurred.
DIVORCE RECORDS: Divorce petitions can sizzle
with juicy details. Just remember there are two sides to
every story, and the parties may have exaggerated to
gain sympathy.
CITY DIRECTORIES: Many immigrants won’t
show up in directories until a few years after arriving.
Frequent moves to better housing might explain why
they’re missed.
Newspaper Necrosis
SIGNS: Newspapers can be another cause of spotty infections on your tree. Like death certificates, they might have a
mix of firsthand and secondhand evidence. Informants for
articles might be full of wrong details. The same goes for that
genealogical standby, the obituary. Rarely do lazy, worthless
individuals die. Almost everyone who dies is an upstanding citizen, faithful to God, and an all-around-good person.
Reading some early 19th-century obituaries, you’d think the
deceased would qualify for sainthood.
Some papers loved to sensationalize stories, especially in
the 1800s. When you think about it, this medium was the
primary entertainment for most people back then. Just like
today’s media audience, our ancestors enjoyed scandals and
murders. In cities with more than one paper, competition
for readers was fierce. Some newspapers prided themselves
on reporting facts accurately, but others strove to appeal to
readers who enjoyed a good story—the more lurid and melodramatic, the better.
TREATMENT: Always confirm the information you find in
a newspaper article and compare it to other records before
accepting it as fact. And take those glowing obituaries with a
grain of salt. Documents such as court cases, military service
records and divorce petitions might tell a different story.
Will Lingoitis
SIGNS: Genealogists love finding ancestors’ wills because
they often state family relationships. The testator, or person
making the will, is like an enormous single cell with thousands of nuclei just waiting to grab his worldly belongings.
But if you’re not careful when interpreting the terminology in the will, you might find your tree contaminated with
wrong relationships.
Men would often leave items to a “beloved wife” (I’ve yet
to see one say, “to my nagging wife”), without mentioning
her name. Why should he? Everyone knew who she was. But
sometimes a husband’s will named his wife and even gave
her maiden name. Consider yourself lucky if you find one like
this. Or the man might call her “my now wife.” This simply
referred to his wife when he made out the will; it’s not necessarily an indication he’d been married before.
You might find a will that makes no mention of a child
you know existed. Such omissions can be a result of a prior
transfer of property to the child (often when the child married), the death of a child before the will was made, a child
born after the will’s author died, or the disowning of a family
member. If the last is the case, this omission should be stated
so that the disinherited offspring can’t later contest the will.
Then there are those other relationship terms, such as
nephew. In wills of the 1700s in particular, this term could
mean a grandson or granddaughter. The word nephew
derives from the Latin, nepos, which meant grandson. Similarly, brother might mean a blood brother, or it could mean a
half-brother, a stepbrother, a brother-in-law or a brother in
the church. The same with sister.
TREATMENT: To understand legal terminology in wills,
deeds and other court records, consult Black’s Law Dictionary.
You can find in the reference section of most large libraries.
You can’t view any genealogical record in isolation: Each
one is only a piece of the puzzle. On their own, the pieces
don’t amount to much. But when you put them all together,
what have you got? A stunning family tree, one that’s diseasefree and in full bloom.
Certified genealogist and contributing editor S h a r o n
D e B a rt o l o C a r m ac k diagnoses family tree ailments
from Salt Lake City. She also teaches genealogy classes for
Family Tree University and Salt Lake Community College.
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Genealogy GPS
Want to keep your family history research on course?
Let the Genealogical Proof Standard be your guide to
evaluating and citing research sources.
BY SUNNY JANE MORTON
3 MANY OF TODAY’S drivers rely on GPS technology to get from place to place.
GPS units—global positioning systems—calculate the best routes and give stepby-step directions, even in unfamiliar territory. They advise you where to stop for
lunch and instantly recalculate the route when you miss a turn.
Another type of GPS can guide your family history journey. The Genealogical Proof Standard <www.bcgcertification.org/resources/standard.html> serves as a
“genealogical GPS” that teaches basic navigational skills: how to plot your
research course, track your progress, read conflicting sets of directions
and share your journey with friends and family.
Once you’ve navigated your research path with genealogical GPS,
you won’t want to be without it. And you might as well learn from
the best: Here, follow three expert genealogists as they
handle the twists, turns and potholes on the
research road—and see how genealogical GPS steers them right.
Hang on and enjoy the
ride.
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Rules of the road
same or similar. A genealogy guide can tell you about the
Genealogical GPS gives you rules for the genealogical road to kinds of sources that exist for a given piece of information.
make your research journey less risky and, eventually, more Mills recommends The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Genealrewarding. Just as it’s not always fun to drive within the speed ogy by Christine Rose and Kay Germain Ingalls (Alpha) for
limit, genealogical GPS isn’t built for thrills. Instead, it
beginners, and for more advanced genealogists, The
emphasizes the long-term joys of the journey: the
Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy by Val
unfolding scenery, time spent with ancestral
D. Greenwood (Genealogical Publishing Co.).
traveling companions, and a safe and satisfyThe more sources you can find for a piece of
TIP: You can read the
ing arrival at your destination.
information about your ancestor, the better.
Genealogical Proof Standard in
The Board for Certification of GenealoWhen do you call it quits? “Professionals are
full on the Board for Certification
gists <www.bcgcertification.org> developed
usually limited by the financial resources of
of Genealogists website at
the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) in
their clients, but a hobbyist never has to
<www.bcgcertification.org/
the 1990s to help researchers navigate the
quit,” Stevens says. “There’s always another
resources/standard.
newly constructed information highway.
record to search. Often you’re limited only
html>.
“The internet was booming and we faced old
by the types of records you know about, so the
challenges in a new sense,” says renowned genetrick is to keep learning, because the information
alogy scholar and author Elizabeth Shown Mills
you need is usually out there—somewhere.”
(find her research tips and learn about her publications
Time, money and competing interests will likely put the
at <www.historicpathways.com> and <www.evidenceexplained. brakes on your research at some point, observes Paula Stuartcom>). “There’s always been a problem of people not under- Warren <www.paulastuartwarren.blogspot.com>, a professional
standing what they found and passing it around, but the genealogist in Minnesota. “Maybe the only material that
introduction of the internet exploded those negative conse- holds your answer is five states away and your budget doesn’t
quences. … People coming into the field were overwhelmed allow you to get there or hire someone, so you’ve reached a
by all they found. They needed a test they could pose.”
natural resting point on this family for the time being.”
The GPS filled the bill, Mills explains, by offering a way to
Here’s where organization is important: If you can keep
measure the reliability of all family tree data—whether found track of where that potential source is and how to access it,
online or not. If the information doesn’t meet the five coordi- you’ll be able to easily pick up your research when life allows.
nates of genealogy’s GPS, you’re likely not to be in the place
you think you are. Instead, you may have found incorrect Tracking research routes
Documenting a journey means keeping track of where you’ve
information or even be tracing the wrong ancestors.
been and what you learned on the way. The second rule of
Are we there yet?
genealogical GPS speaks to this: It requires keeping track of
The first criterion of the GPS is “thorough research,” Mills sources and citing them accurately. That means identifying
says. But what’s thorough? How many mile markers do you where you found each piece of information and logging what
need along your ancestor’s life path to consider it suf- you’d need to know to find that source again. Follow these
ficiently scenic? How much proof do you need that the tips to help you keep track of sources:
Download and/or print copies of genealogical data you
genealogical information you’ve discovered is accurate?
Thorough research is “reasonably exhaustive,” says find online. Note the URL, date you accessed it, the website
Sherry Stevens <www.mygenpro.com>, a 30-plus-year research title and (if known) owner, and information author, along
veteran in Utah. But that doesn’t mean you have to get with the usual information about the source itself (such as
exhausted. “It just means you should check as many records the volume and page number of a digitized deed and the
about your ancestor as possible. You never know which one name of the county office that created it). You never know
might hold the clue you need.”
when web pages or their content will move or disappear.
When making copies from a book, also copy the title page
Finding multiple sources for a single piece of information,
such as a birthplace, is key. “If you look at just one source, you and write on it any other pertinent publication information
won’t see that there’s more than one possibility for what hap- (such as the volume and page numbers you copied).
Note the condition of each source (missing pages, an
pened,” Mills adds. “We know that when there are multiple
eyewitnesses to an event, the accounts differ. In historical incomplete index, blurry microfilm) and how you used it. Did
research, there’s no such thing as the final answer. All we can you review images of records? Keyword-search a database?
Keep your photocopies, digitized images or online index
do is gather the best evidence possible and make a decision.”
For example, sources for a couple’s marriage date might results and your notes about them together.
Consider using bibliographic software such as Evernote
include marriage licenses, banns, bonds or contracts, church
records, wedding invitations, newspaper announcements <www.evernote.com> or Zotero <www.zotero.com> as your
and more. The date you find in each source should be the personal card catalog: a place to keep all your source citation
25
8/29/12 10:30 AM
MORE
ONLINE
Free Web Content
Creating an ancestor’s timeline
personal-timeline>
Using a research log
how-to-use-a-research-log>
Genealogy GPS Toolkit
genealogy-gps-toolkit>
For Plus Members
Four tips for creating typescripts
the-toolkit-lost-in-transcription>
Organizing your genealogy
research <familytreemagazine.
com/article/winning-the-paperchase>
How to avoid 10 genealogy traps
make-no-mistake>
information. When it’s time to write up your research, you
can easily dump reference information into footnotes without having to retype it.
Why go to all this trouble? “We should cite our sources for
a very selfish reason—to keep ourselves straight,” says Mills.
“If we don’t know where information came from, how do we
know whether it’s trustworthy? Each time we cite a source,
we need to think about what we are gathering and whether
its information applies to our person. For every ‘fact’ we
gather, we need to consider why we are accepting it as ‘fact.’
What is there about this source that makes it credible?”
Citing sources also assures others—not only your family’s
future genealogists, but also anyone with whom you share
your tree—that your information is reliable. “You need to guide
others to the same source you found, so they won’t need to
redo your research,” Stevens says. “That means providing all
the details needed for them to find the same record.”
“If following a standard [citation] format is intimidating,
remember that the format is flexible,” Stevens adds—especially if you don’t plan to publish your research in a genealogical journal. She outlines the necessary citation elements:
WHO: author who or agency that created the record
WHAT: title of the document
WHEN: date the record was created
WHERE: place and publisher, volume, page number, etc.
HOW: location where the record can be found
“You also may want to include notes as to why the record is
useful or what you learned from it,” Stevens says.
Even these experts have tricks to help them remember,
for example, whether the “author” of the 1920 census record
naming Aunt Sally is the enumerator, the US Census Bureau
or Ancestry.com. Stuart-Warren pastes sample citations for
various records—such as census returns, birth certificates,
family letters and online indexes—into a word-processing
program and modifies them as needed. Stevens uses the citation templates at <www.progenealogists.com/commoncitations.
htm> and recommends Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the
Family Historian by Mills, a compact version of her thorough
tome Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace (both from Genealogical Publishing Co.).
“Evidence! gives examples of almost every type of genealogical source,” says Stevens. “It’s only about a half-inch
Evidence! Citation and Analysis for the
Family Historian <shopfamilytree.com/
evidence-gpc3846>
Evidence Explained: Citing History
Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace
<shopfamilytree.com/citing-historysources-from-artifacts-to-cyberspace>
Source Documentation 101 Family Tree
University course <familytreeuniversity.
com/source-documentation-101-howto-cite-genealogy-sources>
thick, and very user-friendly.” Find sample pages at Google
Books <books.google.com>. Mills also authors Quick Sheets
(Genealogical Publishing Co.) and at-a-glance guides for citing specific types of sources. Finally, Family Tree Magazine
offers a free, downloadable Source Documentation Cheat
Sheet at <familytreemagazine.com/info/genealogyessentials>.
Tune-up time
At some point in your journey, you’ll take stock of where
your research road has taken you, with all its detours, fenderbenders and apparent dead ends. Again, genealogical GPS is
there to guide you with its third and fourth principles on analyzing data and resolving contradicting family information.
“Compare and contrast the details [in records you find],
and resolve the conflicts when something doesn’t fit,” says
Mills. The process, she notes in Evidence Explained, requires
genealogists to continually pit their sources against each
other, weighing their reliability and credibility. Family historians test theories and gradually build solid conclusions
based on thorough research in high-quality sources that
were created separately, or independent of each other.
How do you manage this process of analysis? “I love to
do timelines,” Stuart-Warren says. “A timeline gives you a
great overview of what you’re doing. How else will you know
when they arrived and left, and when and where to look for
records?” Her timelines include ancestors’ life events and
historical happenings plus events related to records she’s
using, such as the date of a courthouse fire.
Creating an abstract of each record is another analysis
trick that helps you put important data in at-a-glance form.
“Abstracting is simply gleaning out all the important details
from a source,” Stuart-Warren explains. “Let’s say I was reading an obituary. If it names a church, the cemetery, people
who attended and where they were from—all that is important.” You could put your abstracted data on index cards, in
list form, or in your genealogy software, depending on how
you like to organize and review your research material.
Stuart-Warren types up hard-to-read documents. The
resulting “typescript” is a word-for-word transcript of all
the data (as opposed to an abstract, which pulls out just the
highlights). “Typescripts are easier to read,” she says. “You’ll
get the information more ingrained in your mind.”
26
2012
8/29/12 10:30 AM
Anatomy of a Source Citation
Many family historians want to write
a simple narrative for their families,
one without documentation. They
worry that mentioning sources and
conflicting evidence will confuse or
(worse) bore non-genealogists.
Why not do it both ways? “Each style
has
a different readership, a different
Kanawha County, West Virginia, Register of Marriages, 1945, p. 373,
purpose,”
Mills points out. “If you’re
#2009, John Thomas Morton—Marie Rose O’Hotnicky, marr. 24 Nov 1945;
telling the story about your family movdigital images, West Virginia Division of Culture & History,
ing out to Pottawattamie County, Iowa,
Vital Research Records Project
and building a sod house, tell it one way
(http://www.wvculture.org/vrr, accessed 8 January 2012). Note: groom’s
for your family, but send the local society’s magazine something that pressurname indexed as “Morlon.”
ents the evidence. Or on your website,
• title of record • volume and page number • certificate number
present the story on one page, and on
• couple’s names • date of marriage • format of record • author name
another page, put your reasoning.”
• database name • website URL • date accessed • special notes
Other authors put research notes
and/or source lists at the end of the
narrative instead of within the text or
at the bottom the page, insert images of
Finding conflicting information, such as two marriage original documents as their sources, and weave evidence into
dates for a couple, can throw a pothole into your genealogi- the story without belaboring every detail of how they arrived
cal travels. How do you know which (if any) date is right? “I at their conclusions. But even if you’re “just” writing for your
look at each piece of evidence again,” Stevens says. “I weigh it family, don’t cop out on doing it right. Make sure your research
like this: An original source is usually stronger than one that is thorough and your reasoning and source information are
was derived from another source. Information recorded at or available to those who ask about it. “Our families deserve an
near the time of the event is usually stronger than informa- accurate family history,” Mills says. And your attention to the
tion recorded sometime afterward. Direct evidence, which evidence will increase your family’s confidence in your finddirectly states a fact, usually carries more weight than indi- ings and lay groundwork for future researchers.
rect evidence, which only implies a fact.”
Unfortunately, if conflicts pop up, your research may Checking the rear-view mirror
require a U-turn. You may discover you’ve traced a same- Obeying the rules of the road gets you to your destination
named couple not actually related to you, or the evidence is without problems such as accidents and speeding tickets.
inconclusive. “If I’m still unsure of the answer after weighing Likewise, genealogical GPS helps smooth your research travthe evidence,” Stephens says, “I try to find more records to els. “The technological GPS lets us know exactly where we
stand. So does the genealogical GPS,” Mills says. “As genealohelp resolve the conflict.”
gists, if any of our GPS coordinates are off the mark, we’re
Sharing your family tree journey
likely not to be where we think we are.” A mistake early in the
You’ll eventually want to pause in your research journey and journey—veering a few degrees off our mark—will be magniprepare the proverbial slide show—in this case, a report of fied the further you go in the wrong direction.
your family tree findings. The final genealogical GPS coordiUsing genealogical GPS rewards you with confidence in
nate calls for a well-reasoned, detailed, documented writeup. your research findings along the way, as well as in the family
Find a way to share what you’ve discovered so far—you may story you’ve put together once you reach your destination.
never have the time to write the 700-page family history opus “When you’ve finished [your ancestors’] stories, you’ve creof your dreams. “Get [your research] into print or online,” ated something that will last for generations—something that
encourages Warren. “That doesn’t mean you can’t continue will be saved and cherished,” Stevens says.
researching. But lay the groundwork: Get something done.
Let genealogical GPS guide your next family history journey.
You need to be a good archivist of what you already have.”
It may not tell you where to stop for lunch, but it’ll certainly
Stevens starts writing as she’s researching. “Writing helps get you to your destination safe and sound—and fully cited.
you organize your thoughts about the information you have.
It helps to decide what you know and what you still need to Contributing editor Sunny Jane Morton has had a few
know. It helps you think of what the next step might be and genealogical speeding tickets and crashes, and doesn’t go anywhere without GPS.
what records you might use.”
What’s in a source citation? This breakdown of a formal citation for a digitized
marriage register, part of the Vital Research Records Project on the West Virginia
Division of Culture & History website, shows you the bits of information you should
collect about each source. Make sure you keep the source information with the
record, but no need to worry about formatting those bits into a formal citation like
this one until you plan to publish your research for your genealogy peers.
27
8/29/12 10:31 AM
Weekend
WARRIOR
You don’t need tons of time to trace your family tree. These seven
splendid genealogy projects are doable in less than two days.
B Y D AV I D A . F R Y X E L L
3 IN THE DARK days before the internet, a homebody
couldn’t be much of a genealogist. Tracing your family
tree meant getting out and about, squinting at microfilm,
digging through library shelves and tromping through
cemeteries. Today, however, much of what was once only
on microfilm or buried in archives is only a few clicks
away online, and even tombstone records are increasingly
available as bits and bytes.
In one weekend, using the web, you can accomplish
more than genealogists of yore could do in a week or
two—all without leaving the house. Doubt it? Consider
these seven weekend genealogy projects, none of which
requires that you change out of your pajamas. Come Monday morning, you’ll be amazed at how many branches and
leaves you’ve added to your family tree. (Oh, and by Monday morning, you really ought to get dressed.)
Naturalization status, occupation and street address are
just a few of the other details to be found in various federal censuses.
Even though such juicy details become more elusive
before 1850—the first census to list everyone in the
household by name—you still can use the census to probe
further back. Enumerations from 1880 through 1930, for
example, listed the places of birth of each person’s parents—often an event dating prior to 1850.
It’s never been easier, moreover, to follow your family
back through the US census without cranking a single
roll of microfilm, thanks in part to a surge of subscription
sites. Complete indexes and images are available online at
Ancestry.com <ancestry.com> and are coming to Archives.
com <archives.com>. The free FamilySearch.org <www.
familysearch.org> has searchable indexes for every census
and record images for many (to see records for some censuses, FamilySearch sends you to Ancestry.com or Fold3
<www.fold3.com>, where you’ll need to be a subscriber).
Pay site World Vital Records <www.worldvitalrecords.
com> has images of all US censuses, with indexes for 1860
and 1930. The new findmypast.com <www.findmypast.
com> lets you search censuses from 1790 to 1940, then
pay à la carte or subscribe to see the records. Even the
pedigree site MyHeritage <www.myheritage.com> is now
adding censuses, starting with 1940.
You don’t have to haul out your credit card
to use 1940 census records at the National
Archives <1940census.archives.gov> , Ancestry.com, Archives.com, FamilySearch.org,
MyHeritage.com or findmypast.com.
1
Follow your family back in the census.
This project is an obvious choice to spend a weekend on, given the recent hoopla over the release of
the 1940 US census. By following each branch of
your family back one census at a time, you can establish
an every-decade baseline for all your other research.
It’s easy to forget that the census is an essential source
of many kinds of family tree facts—not just names and
dates. The 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 and mostly
missing 1890 censuses asked if a couple had
been married within the year. Veteran status
can be determined from 1890, 1910 and 1930
questions. Year of immigration to the United
States was asked in 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930.
28
1112FT WEEKEND PROJECTS FEATURE.indd 28
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8/29/12 10:37 AM
YZ
3
Post your family tree online.
As a nation of immigrants,
nothing gnaws at us like not
To be honest, this is unlikely to take a whole weekend
unless you’re starting data entry from scratch. But
you might need Saturday and Sunday both to decide
among all the options. Some sites add tempting perks for
parking your pedigree there, such as the ability on Ancestry.com to view and research your tree with its smartphone
app. Once you’ve uploaded to MyHeritage.com (which also
has an app), the site will comb its 1 billion profiles for matches
to your data, and email you when new matches go online.
WeRelate <www.werelate.org> , the world’s largest genealogy wiki, also combines pedigree posting with research and
“watch lists.” Or you might want to put your tree on one of
the many sites that specialize in family tree hosting. Among
those we included in our latest 101 Best Websites roundup
were AGES-Online <www.ages-online.com>, Family Pursuit
<www.familypursuit.com>, Geni <www.geni.com>, Tribal Pages
<www.tribalpages.com> and WikiTree <www.wikitree.com> .
Most have collaboration features that make it a snap to spend
your weekend polishing your pedigree with distant cousins.
Whatever site (or sites) you select, if you already have data
entered in a genealogy software program, start by exporting
a GEDCOM file. Once you’ve uploaded your GEDCOM to the
site, look for privacy settings that let you make the tree public
or share it with certain folks. Spend the rest of the weekend
scanning the site for matches to your tree and messaging fellow researchers. With a little luck, you’ll make enough fresh
finds to occupy you next weekend.
knowing how our ancestors
got here.
2
Locate your family’s graves.
Tombstone research—a genealogy project that could
never have been done from your den back when—is
increasingly internet-friendly. Dedicate a weekend
to poring over your genealogy files for blanks in burials and
deaths. Make a list of everybody for whom you don’t have an
exact death and burial date and place, then crank up your
computer. (And while filling in those blanks, of course, you
also may come across missing birth information.)
Start your search with the 82 million records at Find A
Grave <www.findagrave.com> . Even if you’ve looked here
before, it’s worth revisiting this ever-growing collection
of user-submitted grave records, many with photos. Once
you’ve found an ancestor, take advantage of the site’s ability to retrieve other records in the same cemetery—you
may locate dearly departeds you didn’t know about. Next,
supplement your search with Interment.net <www.interment.
net>. Also check out the USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project <www.usgwtombstones.org> and BillionGraves
<billiongraves.com>. You even can find tombstone images at
the Flickr photo-sharing site <www.flickr.com>, whose Graves,
Tombs and Cemeteries group has some 30,000 members and
more than 220,000 photos.
If an ancestor was a US military veteran, search veterans
cemeteries stateside with the Nationwide Gravesite Locator
<gravelocator.cem.va.gov> and overseas at the American Battle
Monuments Commission <www.abmc.gov> . State-specific
sites might be worth a few moments of your weekend, too.
Ohio Memory <www.ohiomemory.org>, for example, lets you
search a Graves Registration Card collection for folks buried
in the Buckeye State. Several states have databases specifically of veterans’ burial places, such as Minnesota’s Veterans
Graves Registration Index <people.mnhs.org/vgri>.
4
Find ancestors in the news.
It’s easy to overlook old newspapers as a resource
because in the past, they’ve been a pain to research.
Without some sort of index, finding ancestors in
newspapers makes locating a needle in a haystack look easy.
Newspaper digitization projects have made things a bit
simpler. Pick an ancestor or two, then start with the Library
of Congress’ free Chronicling America newspaper collection
<chroniclingamerica.loc.gov> , which has more than 4.8 million pages dating from 1836 to 1922. You can narrow your
search by state and year range, or pick Advanced Search to
select specific papers and fine-tune your search. Also free is
Newspaper Abstracts <www.newspaperabstracts.com>, which
clips the good stuff (genealogically speaking) from historical
newspapers—more than 94,000 pages’ worth to date.
Among subscription sites, GenealogyBank <www.genealogy
bank.com> specializes in old newspapers, with more than
600 million articles from some 5,850 titles. Other fee-based
sites with notable newspaper collections include Ancestry.com, Archives.com and World Vital Records. Plenty of
state websites go in-depth on old newspapers, too, including
the Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection <www.colorado
historicnewspapers.org>, Historic Newspapers in Washington
<www.secstate.wa.gov/history/newspapers.aspx>, Utah Digital
Newspapers <www.digitalnewspapers.org> and the Wyoming
TIP: Many genealogical records, of course, are available
only in libraries and archives—not on the web. But when
you’re ready to go after those treasures, use online library
catalogs and finding aids to figure out where they are.
29
8/29/12 10:37 AM
Newspaper Project <www.wyonewspapers.org> . Sites that
cull items of genealogical interest include the Arizona Biographical Database <www.lib.az.us/Bio>, Louisiana Biography
and Obituary Index <neworleanspubliclibrary.org/obits/obits.
htm>, North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies <library.
ndsu.edu/archives/biography-genealogy> and Tennessee State
Library and Archives <www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history>
(click Newspapers).
Still other library and archives sites include a wealth of
digitized papers among their offerings. Try the Archives of
Maryland Online <www.aomol.net> (look under Early State
Records), Alaska Libraries, Archives and Museums <lam.
alaska.gov>, Digital Library of Georgia <dlg.galileo.usg.edu>,
Kentucky Historical Society <history.ky.gov> (under Kentuckiana Digital Library), North Carolina State Archives <www.
archives.ncdcr.gov/projects.htm#papers> and Missouri Digital
Heritage <www.sos.mo.gov/mdh>.
ancestors you believe were the first in the family to arrive in
America, their birth dates, where they may have emigrated
from, where they landed here, and when you think they may
have arrived (or the date of the first US record you have of
them). Add each ancestor’s siblings, as immigrants often
booked passage in family groups, as well as spouses and children if they were a family before coming to America.
Search for everybody on your list whose arrival dates are
appropriate, in the free Ellis Island database <www.ellisisland.
org> (1892-1924) and Ellis Island’s predecessor, Castle Garden <www.castlegarden.org> (1820-1892). But don’t stop there:
If you have pesky immigration puzzles in your tree, you’ve
likely already struck out at those sites. You can perform a
more detailed search of these databases at Stephen P. Morse’s
One-Step Pages <stevemorse.org>. The free National Archives
Access to Archival Databases also indexes New York arrivals
from various places during various years.
Not everybody arrived in America through New York City.
You can search other ports’ extant passenger lists, plus naturalization and other immigration-related records, on Ancestry.com. For passenger indexes from a variety of ports and
years, try the free Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild <www.
immigrantships.net> and TheShipsList <www.theshipslist.com>.
Pre-1820 arrivals may require searching the Immigration and Travel collection at Ancestry.com <search.ancestry.
com/search/category.aspx?cat=40> . It includes emigration
databases from Sweden and Hamburg, Germany, as well as
P. William Filby’s Passenger and Immigration Lists Index,
1500s-1900s (not part of the free Ancestry Library Edition,
unfortunately, but also available on World Vital Records).
State and local sites also can help solve immigration mysteries. The Massachusetts Archives <www.sec.state.ma.us/
arc/arcidx.htm> has an ongoing project to index passenger
manifests from the Port of Boston (1848-1891). The Cook
County clerk’s site <www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org/NR> has
more than a half-million naturalization petitions spanning
1871 to 1929, for immigrants in Chicago and beyond.
5
Solve immigration mysteries.
As a nation of immigrants, nothing gnaws at us like
not knowing how our ancestors got here. Set aside a
weekend to try to fill in those blanks. Make a list of
Quick Fixes
Don’t have an entire weekend to spare? These five
genealogy jobs will deliver your family history fix in 30
minutes or less:
1
2
FIND MICROFILM. Search the FamilySearch online
catalog for the places your ancestors lived. Save
listings for microfilm you might want to rent later.
SEARCH THE 1940 CENSUS. The whole country
is now searchable, so look for your parents
and grandparents in the free 1940 census indexes at
Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org and MyHeritage.com.
VISIT USGENWEB. Pick an ancestor and go to the
USGenWeb Project site <usgenweb.org> for his
or her state and county. You might find a little or a lot on
these volunteer-run sites—poke around for 30 minutes
and see what’s there.
GET THE NEWS. Catch up on new genealogy
resources on your favorite news blog. We
recommend our own Genealogy Insider blog <blog.
familytreemagazine.com/insider> , naturally, but also
try GeneaPress <www.geneapress.com> and Eastman’s
Online Genealogy Newsletter <www.eogn.com>.
MAKE FRIENDS. Go to Facebook and search for
genealogical and historical societies and libraries
from your ancestors’ hometowns. Also look for school
alumni pages and commemorative organizations for
military units they served in. Like these pages.
3
4
6
Read up on your ancestral hometown.
Even if they weren’t famous, your ancestors might
have made history of sorts in their hometowns. As
the nation matured, America’s middle-sized towns
took a lot of pride in their pasts and often published local histories recording everything from early settlers to hometown
boys’ military service, from prominent families to entrepreneurial efforts large and small. These town histories have
increasingly been digitized to find a wider audience concerned with who ran the town’s first grocery store—namely
you, that pioneering grocer’s descendant.
Start with online collections. The invaluable Google Books
<books.google.com> can bring hometown histories right
to your computer screen, while helping search for ancestors within. Not every hit you’ll get searching for a town or
county name (paired with history if you get too many results)
5
30
2012
8/29/12 10:37 AM
will link to a full digitized book—but you may be pleasantly
surprised with publications such as History of the Town of
Shirley, Massachusetts: From its early settlement to AD 1882.
Then use Ancestry.com’s card catalog, searching for a town
or county name, to zoom in on the thrilling (to you, maybe)
books, such as A History of Morris County, New Jersey
Embracing Upwards of Two Centuries, 1710-1913, in its local
histories collection. You can search individual titles by name
and keyword, but you also might want to browse pages and
consult the book’s index for family finds. After all, you’ve got
the whole weekend.
FamilySearch.org has many local histories in its free
Family History Books collection <www.familysearch.
org/#form=books>. And don’t neglect digital collections of
state and local archives and libraries. The Cincinnati public
library’s Virtual Library <virtuallibrary.cincinnatilibrary.org>,
for example, holds among its local histories History of Fayette County, Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions.
What should you look for in hometown histories? Genealogical details, of course: That Shirley, Mass., book has pages
of pedigrees listing who married whom and their offspring.
But note less obviously useful information, too: Where
did settlers of the town typically come from? (Maybe your
ancestors did, too.) What industries and religions predominated? Who went off to fight in America’s wars?
MORE ONLINE
Free Web Content
Five quick genealogy tasks
<familytreemagazine.com/article/weekend-warriors>
Surprising finds in old newspapers
<familytreemagazine.com/article/old-news-1>
Websites for researching immigrant ancestors <familytreemagazine.
com/article/101-best-websites-2010-best-immigration-sites>
For Plus Members
Tutorial: Searching the DAR databases <familytreemagazine.com/
article/toolkit-tutorial-searching-dar-databases>
Fourteen genealogy projects for your lunch break
<familytreemagazine.com/article/power-hour>
Place-based genealogy research
<familytreemagazine.com/article/hometown-advantage>
ShopFamilyTree.com
Quick Hits chart: family history book websites
<shopfamilytree.com/quick-hits-finding-books>
Published Genealogies independent study course download
<shopfamilytree.com/published-genealogies-download>
Finding Your Family in Old Newspapers on-demand webinar
<shopfamilytree.com/finding-your-family-in-old-newspapers>
7
Salute your patriot ancestors.
Speaking of wars, ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War can be the key to striking genealogical
gold in the Daughters of the American Revolution’s
(DAR) Genealogical Research System <services.dar.org/public/
dar_research/search> (GRS). But these interlocking databases
are worth a weekend’s exploration even if you don’t think you
have a DAR-recognized “patriot ancestor.” Somebody in your
family tree may overlap with the pedigree of somebody else
who does qualify for DAR membership. Those folks are among
the 7.1 million people named in the Descendants part of the
GRS. This database crosslinks with files of patriot ancestors
and of DAR members who qualified based on their service.
Even if your family was still in the old country in 1776,
somebody you’re researching might have married into a clan
with Revolutionary roots. Martha Frances Hassell, for example, shows no patriot forebear in the DAR system—but she’s
there nonetheless by virtue of her marriage to James Polk
Dickinson, a descendant of Revolutionary War Pvt. Matthew
Davis. So Hassell researchers could find not only Martha’s
marriage details but also her birth and death dates and places
in the DAR database.
Start your weekend project by searching the Descendants
database by at least a last name, plus first name and state of
birth if possible. Using the Advanced Search, you also can
narrow by state of death, spouse’s name and his or her state
of birth and/or death. In the list of results, click the family tree icon to the left of a person’s name to view the full
pedigree, from patriot to member. You can order a PDF of the
DAR’s Record Copy of the member’s paperwork with just a
few more clicks. If that proves useful, follow up by ordering
copies of the associated documentation—birth records, family Bible pages and more—which will arrive by postal mail.
Icons on the Descendants pedigree page will take you to
the DAR member’s information (silhouette of a woman’s
head) and to the patriot ancestor’s page (soldier figure),
which lists other DAR applications based on that person’s
service. Clicking Cross-Reference Search lets you query for
more details about any name in that generation’s data.
If your DAR search reveals patriot ancestors, you can
spend part of your weekend researching them at sites including Fold3 and Ancestry.com. A search of Fold3 quickly finds a
Revolutionary War pension for Matthew Davis in North Carolina. And Ancestry.com turns up his name in North Carolina
rosters as well as an application for another organization, the
Sons of the American Revolution <www.sar.org>.
Such ancestors, of course, didn’t earn our independence
by staying at home in their pajamas. But we’re pretty sure
that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” includes the
freedom to spend the weekend as a homebody, filling in the
blanks in your family tree.
Contributing editor David A . Fryxell spends his weekends going online from Silver City, NM.
31
8/29/12 10:37 AM
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access to dozens of ebooks and digital magazines on:
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Houston12FT CITY GUIDE.indd 32
8/29/12 10:39 AM
magazine
Houston
BY AMY COFFIN
CITY
GUIDE
G
E
3 TEXAS—WHERE EVERYTHING is big—has its share
of tall tales and even taller hairstyles. The fourth most
populous city in the United States, Houston embodies that
“bigger is better” ethos, from its mammoth oil and energy
industries to its enormous cultural and historical riches.
For genealogists tracing family in Houston, that means
huge opportunities for family history research.
Fuel for growth
Two New York brothers and real-estate entrepreneurs
purchased land on the banks of a bayou in 1836 and named
their settlement for Sam Houston, the first and third president of the Republic of Texas. The town was incorporated
June 5, 1837.
Houston’s early years were turbulent. Threats of invasion from Mexico and local lawlessness hampered growth
in population and industry. Early Houstonians faced crime,
economic problems and epidemics.
The young city battled over the seat of Texas government in what’s known as the Archives War. In 1839, Texas
president Mirabeau Lamar had 40 wagons carry the government archives from Houston to Austin. Sam Houston
reversed the change in 1841, and the next year his men got
out of town with three wagons of records they’d loaded
before Angelina Eberly fired a shot of alarm. The wagons
were returned to Austin, today the state capital.
A new port and railroad routes aided Houston’s growth,
and the city became a hub for exporting cotton. German
immigrants arrived around 1848 and started businesses and
farms. Mexican, Irish, English and Jewish settlers followed.
The turn of the 20th century brought a game changer for
Houston with the Great Galveston Hurricane in 1900. The
storm devastated the coastal town and obliterated one of
the country’s largest ports. Investors seeking a more protected inland port turned their attention to Houston.
The 1901 discovery of oil at Spindletop in Beaumont further paved the way for growth; several oil companies were
founded soon after.
Houston continued to grow in both population and
economy throughout the 20th century. The Texas Medical
Center and Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center developed
new industries and identities for the city. Today Houston is
the most ethnically diverse large city in the United States,
with more than 90 languages spoken.
Gulf gems
You’d never know Houston lost the Archives War, with the
city’s richness of historical records. A trip to Houston isn’t
complete without a visit to the Clayton Library Center for
Genealogical Research <www.houstonlibrary.org/clayton>.
This branch of the Houston Public Library is dedicated to
genealogical materials. The collection covers US and international resources including books, CDs, microprints and
more than 5,000 family histories.
The library doesn’t participate in interlibrary loan, but
you can request photocopies by mail for a small fee. Thousands of family histories are also available online through
the free website FamilySearch.org <books.familysearch.org>.
You also can access many of these major Houston
records from afar:
BIRTH RECORDS: Texas began registering births in
1903. Birth records more than 75 years old are available
via the City of Houston Bureau of Vital Statistics <www.
houstontx.gov/health/BirthCert>. More recent records are
open to only qualified applicants, which include the registrant, immediate family by blood or marriage, or a guardian
or legal representative.
Both FamilySearch.org and subscription site Ancestry.
com <ancestry.com> have an index to Texas births (19031997). The Texas State Library and Archives Commission
8/29/12 10:39 AM
magazine
In 1891, Houston was
a growing town on
the cusp of two major
developments: Within
a decade, the Great
Galveston Hurricane
and the discovery of
oil would drastically
change the city.
L I B R A RY O F C O N G R E S S G E O G R A P H Y A N D M A P D I V I S I O N, G 4 0 3 4 H P M 0 0 9 1 5 0
HO U STO N
CITY GUIDE
TIP: Peruse
ephemera from
Houston history,
including more
old maps, on the
Houstorian blog
<houstorian.
wordpress.com>.
CTS
FAST FA
<www.tsl.state.tx.us> has indexes to delayed births, which
SETTLED: 1836
INCORPORATED:
June 5, 1837
NICKNAMES: Space
City, Bayou City, H-Town,
Magnolia City, Energy
Capital of the World
STATE: Texas
COUNTY: Harris
COUNTY SEAT: Houston
AREA: 579 square miles
PRIMARY HISTORICAL
ETHNIC GROUPS:
African-American,
French, English, German,
Hispanic, Swiss
PRIMARY HISTORICAL
INDUSTRIES:
aeronautics, agriculture,
energy, medicine,
shipping
FAMOUS RESIDENTS:
Michael Dell,
Hilary Duff, George
Foreman, A.J. Foyt,
Howard Hughes,
Beyonce Knowles,
Lyle Lovett, Joel Osteen,
Phylicia Rashad, Dan
Rather, Mary Lou Retton,
Kenny Rogers,
Dennis Quaid
POPULATION
1850
1900
Current
2,396
44,633
2,099,451
E
M
I
IN T
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esta Port of
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may date as far back as 1880.
MARRIAGE RECORDS: Statewide marriage registration in Texas began in 1947. Marriage licenses from
December 1947 to the present are available from the Harris
County Clerk <www.cclerk.hctx.net> (click Search Databases to search an index). Common-law marriage licenses
are available back to January 1970.
For earlier marriages, use the registers beginning in 1837
at the Clayton Library or FamilySearch’s Family History
Library (FHL; you can borrow the film through a local
FamilySearch Center). The earliest records are of Harrisburg County in the Republic of Texas. Those after February 1840 are identified as Harris County. Ancestry.com and
FamilySearch.org indexes also start in the 1800s.
DEATH RECORDS: Statewide death registration began
in Texas in 1903. Death records older than 25 years are
available via Houston’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. As with
the birth records, more recent death records can only be
accessed by qualified applicants. Indexes are available on
FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com.
Some earlier death records do exist; indexes from 1874
to 1900 are available through the Clayton Library. The
years 1895, 1897, 1899 and part of 1900 are missing and can
5
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WEBSITES
Bayou City History <blog.chron.com/bayoucityhistory>
Houston History Archives <www.history.uh.edu/
HO U STO N
be found at the Bureau of Vital Statistics. FamilySearch.org
has an index dating from 1890 to 1976.
ESTATE RECORDS: Probate files from November 1837
to the present are available from the Harris County Clerk’s
office <www.cclerk.hctx.net> . An online probate index is
searchable by party name, attorney name, case number
and file date.
DEEDS: The Clayton Library holds Harris County
deeds on microfilm, with copies available through the
FHL. An index is covers 1836 to 1904, and a collection of
the actual deeds range from 1837 through 1886.
Registers of deeds are available from the Harris County
Clerk. Microfilm records begin in 1836 and include deeds,
indexes, restrictions, maps, liens and more. You can search
the online database for records dating 1961 and later by
grantor, grantee, file date (or a range), subdivision or
instrument type.
NEWSPAPERS: The city’s largest newspaper, the
Houston Chronicle, started publication in 1901. It’s available on microfilm at the downtown Central Branch of
the Houston Public Library <www.houstonlibrary.org /
central-library> . Subscription site GenealogyBank
<genealogybank.com> has issues starting in 1985. The
Central Branch also holds microfilm of the now defunct
Houston Post from January 1901 through April 1995; GenealogyBank has issues from 1888 to 1926. Search the Library
of Congress’ Chronicling America Newspaper Directory
<chroniclingamerica.loc.gov> to identify more local papers
and learn where to access them.
CITY DIRECTORIES: The Clayton Library has Houston city directories on microfiche for 1866 through 1964.
Printed copies are available through 2002. The FHL has a
handful of Houston directories, as well.
You’ll find online city directories in the Houston Public Library’s Houston Area Digital Archives <digital.
houstonlibrary.org> (select years between 1866 and 1922)
and at Ancestry.com (1882-1895).
PASSENGER LISTS: The Texas Seaport Museum has a
free online index to immigrants landing at nearby Galveston <www.galvestonhistory.org /Galveston_Immigration_
Database.asp>. The database provides passenger information such as name, age, gender, occupation, country of origin,
ship name and arrival date. The Galveston and Texas History Center at Rosenberg Library <www.gthcenter.org> has
various indexes and compilations of ships passenger lists
from 1844 to 1871 and 1895 to 1948. You’ll also find Galveston’s and other ports’ passenger records on Ancestry.com.
public_history/houston_history_project/archives>
Portal to Texas History <texashistory.unt.edu>
Texas GenWeb Project: Harris County Family History
and Genealogy <www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txharri2>
PUBLICATIONS
Houston: A History by David G. McComb
(University of Texas Press)
Houston: The Unknown City 1836-1946 by Marguerite
Johnston (Texas A&M University Press)
Houston History Journal,
(University of Houston Center for Public History)
Standard History of Houston, Texas edited by B. H. Carroll, Jr.
(H. W. Crew & Co.)
The Red Diary: A Chronological History of Black Americans in
Houston and Some Neighboring Harris County Communities
122 Years Later by D. Howard Jones (NorTex Press)
ARCHIVES & ORGANIZATIONS
Houston Bureau of Vital Statistics
8000 N. Stadium Drive, Houston, TX 77054,
(713) 837-0311, <www.houstontx.gov/health/BirthCert>
Houston Genealogical Forum
Box 271466, Houston, TX 77277, (713) 968-9750,
<www.hgftx.org>
Houston Public Library
500 McKinney St., Houston, TX 77002, (832) 393-1313,
<www.houstonlibrary.org>
Harris County Clerk’s Office
201 Caroline, Suite 460, Houston, TX 77002,
(713) 755-6411, <www.cclerk.hctx.net>
Houston History Association
Box 25086, Houston, TX 77265,
<www.houstonhistoryassociation.org>
Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center
650 FM 1011, Liberty, TX 77575, (936) 336-8821,
<www.tsl.state.tx.us/shc/index.html>
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Box 12927, Austin TX 78711, (512) 463-5455,
<www.tsl.state.tx.us>
Woodson Research Center
Rice University, Fondren Library, 6100 Main St., Houston,
TX 77005, (713) 348-5698,
<library.rice.edu/collections/WRC>
5
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8/29/12 10:40 AM
HO U STO N
5
CITY GUIDE
TOP
HISTORIC SITES
1
magazine
RECORDS AT A GLANCE
Birth Records
BEGIN: 1879
PRIVACY RESTRICTIONS: Records created in the last
Hermann Park
75 years are available only to qualified applicants or
immediate family.
RESEARCH TIPS: The Harris County Clerk has a
database searchable by name; results provide birth dates.
6001 Fannin, Houston, TX 77030, (832) 395-7000,
<www.houstontx.gov/parks/ourparks/hermannpark.html>
A statue of Gen. Sam Houston greets visitors in this 445-acre
public park located near the Museum District, the Texas
Medical Center and Rice University. The zoo, Japanese
Garden and Miller Outdoor Theater are all on park grounds.
City Directories
BEGIN: 1866
RESEARCH TIPS: The Clayton Library Center for
2
Houston Museum of Natural Science
Genealogical Research has city directories on microfiche,
some digitized and some in print. Be sure to check all
three places for a thorough search.
5555 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030,
(713) 639-4629, <www.hmns.org>
Established in 1909, the museum hosts more than 2 million visitors per year. The complex includes four floors of
natural science exhibits, a planetarium, butterfly center
and IMAX theater.
Death Records
BEGIN: 1874
PRIVACY RESTRICTIONS: Records created in the last
25 years are available only to qualified applicants or
immediate family.
RESEARCH TIPS: FamilySearch.org has Texas death
certificate images from 1890 to 1986 searchable by
name, date, residence and more.
3
Julia Ideson Building
500 McKinney, Houston, TX 77002, (832) 393-1662,
<www.houstonlibrary.org/julia-ideson-building>
Built in Spanish style in 1926, the Ideson—listed on the
National Register of Historic Places—now houses the
Texas and Local History Department of the Houston Public Library. The Houston Metropolitan Research Center is
also located here.
Deeds
BEGIN: 1836
RESEARCH TIPS: The Harris County Archives and Harris
County Appraisal District are good sources for deed and
property information.
4
San Jacinto Monument
1 Monument Circle, LaPorte, TX 77571, (281) 479-2421,
Marriage Records
<www.sanjacinto-museum.org>
It’s hard to miss this 567-foot monument (topped with a
220-ton star) commemorating the Battle of San Jacinto.
An observation deck offers views of the USS Texas and the
city of Houston.
BEGIN: 1837
RESEARCH TIPS: Records before 1840 are part of
Harrisburg County in the Republic of Texas.
Probate Records
5
Space Center Houston
BEGIN: November 1837
RESEARCH TIPS: Older probate files aren’t stored at
1601 NASA Parkway, Houston, TX 77058,
(281) 244-2100, <www.spacecenter.org>
The official visitor center of the Johnson Space Center
offers family activities and a behind-the-scenes tour of the
complex.
the courthouse. If you plan to visit in person, contact
the Harris County Clerk in advance to request that the
records be retrieved.
Family Tree Sourcebook <shopfamilytree.com/family-tree-sourcebook-book>
Texas Genealogy Crash Course video class
D
RELATE CES
RESOUR
<shopfamilytree.com/digw-texas-geneal-crash-course-live-90148>
Texas State Research Guide
<shopfamilytree.com/texas-research-guide-digital-download>
Texas landowner maps and books <shopfamilytree.com/texas-genealogy>
8/29/12 10:40 AM
magazine
Fort Wayne, Ind.
CITY
GUIDE
G
E
3 FOR CENTURIES, AMERICAN Indians lived along the
banks of three rivers that converge in what’s now northeast Indiana. The French built a fort and trading post here
in the early 1600s; British and eventually American troops
had strongholds here, too. Those forts are long gone, but
strong genealogical fortifications have replaced them. If
your ancestors lived in the town of Fort Wayne, you’re just
plain lucky. One of the best family history libraries in the
United States carefully preserves and defends their legacy.
Fortifying the city
Throughout the 1700s, the Miami Indian town of Kekionga
existed alongside European military forces. Although Fort
Wayne was constructed in 1794, the Miami managed to
hold onto their town until after the War of 1812.
A federal land office opened in Fort Wayne in 1823 to
sell public lands, and a town began to grow. The Wabash
and Erie Canal arrived and was eventually converted to
a rail route from Buffalo to Chicago, improvements that
attracted industry starting in the mid-19th century.
Immigrants flocked to Fort Wayne for work, first on
canals and rails, then in factories. Germans arrived early and
stuck around: According to the Indiana German Heritage
Society <www.ighs.org>, about 80 percent of the local population was German by the late 1800s, and about half claim
German heritage today. Irish laborers arrived to escape the
1840s famines in Ireland; southwestern Fort Wayne became
known as Irish Town. Italians came later and continued
arriving in the 20th century. African-Americans migrated
here after the Civil War and during the World Wars.
The early 1900s saw continued growth in Fort Wayne,
even during the Depression. The population grew
from about 45,000 to 115,000 in the first three decades.
The downtown area peaked in the 1940s, after which
suburbs began claiming residents. Recent immigrant
groups include Hispanics, Africans and Eastern Europeans
(particularly those from disrupted nations).
Genealogical fortress
Fort Wayne is the seat of Allen County, organized in 1824,
and home to the famous Allen County Public Library
Genealogy Center (ACPL) <www.genealogycenter.org>. The
ACPL, local genealogists and government have amassed a
veritable fortress of resources in libraries and online:
VITAL RECORDS: Fort Wayne birth records begin in
1882, and death records in 1871 (county records begin a
bit later). The Health Department will provide noncertified information if you have a birth or death date. Request
with a form at <www.allencountyhealth.com/divisions/
vitalrecords> (click on Genealogy Service). If you’re local,
find microfilmed births (1882-1920) and deaths (1871-1932)
at the ACPL. The Family History Library (FHL) <www.
familysearch.org> has some earlier microfilmed records you
can rent through a FamilySearch Center.
The county clerk documents marriages and divorces,
the earliest dating to 1824. Early records have limited data,
but after the 1920s, a full application and return are available. Find an order form for uncertified copies at <www.
allencounty.us/records/copies-of-records> . Use the same
form to request divorce records (write “divorce” on it).
If you don’t have dates, first search Indiana and Allen
County birth, marriage and death databases dating mostly
back to the 1880s, on Ancestry.com <ancestry.com>. Also
search the free online local birth, marriage, death and burial
indexes at the ACPL <www.genealogycenter.info/fwacdb.php>
and the Allen County Genealogical Society <www.acgsi.
org/records.php> and use the book Divorces Granted by the
Indiana General Assembly Prior to 1852 by M.E.E. Newland.
Fort Wayne12FT CITY GUIDE.indd 37
8/29/12 10:41 AM
magazine
In the late 19th
century, Fort Wayne
became known as the
“Altoona of the West”
because of its key
position in the great
Pennsylvania Railroad,
which helped make it
a dynamic center of
manufacturing.
L I B R A RY O F C O N G R E S S G E O G R A P H Y A N D M A P D I V I S I O N, G 4 0 9 4 F P M 0 0 1 9 4 0
FO RT WAYNE, I ND.
CITY GUIDE
TIP: Don’t miss
the ACPL’s online
local resource
pathfinders: Hover
over Pathfinders
at the top of the
website, then
Allen County,
Indiana, Guides.
Pathfinders will fly
out on the right.
CTS
A
F
T
S
A
F
SETTLED: 1794
INCORPORATED:
1829 (town); 1840 (city)
NICKNAMES: Summit
City, City of Churches
STATE: Indiana
COUNTY: Allen
COUNTY SEAT: Fort
Wayne
AREA: 111 square miles
MOTTO: Ke Ki On Ga
(from the capital of the
Miami tribe)
OTHER PARENT
COUNTIES: Delaware
New Purchase,
Randolph, and
unorganized area
PRIMARY HISTORICAL
ETHNIC GROUPS:
German, Irish, Italian,
Polish, AfricanAmerican, Canadian
PRIMARY HISTORICAL
INDUSTRIES:
Manufacturing,
transportation
FAMOUS RESIDENTS:
Bill Blass, John Chapman
(Johnny Appleseed),
Philo T. Farnsworth,
Jenna Fischer, Drake
Hogestyn, Stephen King,
Shelley Long, Emmanuel
Ortiz, Stephen King,
Dave Thomas
POPULATION
1850
1900
Current
4,282
45,115
253,691
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Fort
LAND RECORDS: Fort Wayne’s federal land office sold
property from 1823 to 1852. Records at the Indiana State
Archives <www.in.gov/icpr> include buyers’ names and
residences, purchase date and the legal land description.
Search an index at <www.indianadigitalarchives.org> (click
Detailed Search and select Misc. Historical Records in the
first pull-down menu, then Indiana Public Lands from the
Title menu). Fort Wayne land patents with slightly different information are at <www.glorecords.blm.gov>. The
county recorder’s office provides copies of deeds dating
from county formation, though staff won’t do extensive
research. You can rent microfilmed deeds (1824-1902) and
an Allen County deed index (1829-1873) from the FHL.
CEMETERY RECORDS: These records date to the early
1830s. Lindenwood <www.lindenwood-cemetery.com>, which
opened in 1860, has more than 69,000 burials, including Civil War veterans. For local cemetery indexes, see
<www.acgsi.org/cem>, the Allen County Indiana Cemetery
Project <rootsweb.ancestry.com/~inallcem> and the Indiana
State Library’s Cemetery Index Locator <www.in.gov/
library/databases.htm>. The county church burial records
index <www.genealogycenter.info/search_churchburials.php>
may lead you to more records, as may the funeral home list
at <www.acgsi.org/genweb/funeralhomes.asp>.
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8/29/12 10:41 AM
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Allen County INGenWeb Project
CHURCH RECORDS: Fort Wayne was home to the
first Lutheran and Jewish congregations in Indiana.
Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans and Catholics worshipped locally by the 1830s. Churches reflected ethnic as well as religious diversity: African Methodist
Episcopalians, German and Russian Jews, Polish and Italian Catholics. Find a list of churches and their records at
<www.acgsi.org/genweb/churches.asp>. The ACPL and FHL
have microfilmed church records dating back to the 1830s.
CITY DIRECTORIES: The FHL and ACPL have Fort
Wayne directories dating to the first one in 1858. The Indiana State Library (ISL) <www.in.gov/library> and Library
of Congress <loc.gov/rr/microform/uscity> collections start
with 1861. Find several online at Fold3 <Fold3.com>.
NEWSPAPERS AND LOCAL HISTORIES: The Fort
Wayne Sentinel began circulation by 1833, but issues
before the 1840s are rare. Find local papers (including
some in German) at the ACPL, ISL, Chronicling America
<chroniclingamerica.loc.gov> and NewspaperArchive.com
<newspaperarchive.com>. Search more than half a million
local obituaries (1841-2011) at <www.genealogycenter.info/
search_obits1900.php>; order copies of obituaries from the
ACPL for $2.50 at <www.acgsi.org/genweb/obituaries.asp>.
Find local histories and compiled biographies at the ISL
and ACPL. Some examples include the Index to History of
Fort Wayne & Allen County, Indiana, 1700-2005 at <www.
genealogycenter.info/fwacdb.php>; Genealogical Records of
German Families of Allen County, Indiana, 1918 by Virginia
F. Jordan Bloomfield, indexed at <www.genealogycenter.
info/search_germanfamilies.php>; African Americans in Fort
Wayne: The First 200 Years by Dodie Marie Miller (Arcadia); and the 1917 Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana:
Volume II Biographical by B.J. Griswold (Robert O. Law
Co.) indexed at <www.acgsi.org/genweb/indexpichist.asp>.
PROBATE COURT RECORDS: The county Circuit
Court clerk maintains probate records, which date to 1824.
Order copies by filling out the form at <www.allencounty.
us/records/copies-of-records> . You can rent microfilmed
probate documents (1824-1921) and accompanying indexes
through a local FamilySearch Center.
MAPS AND ATLASES: The Fort Wayne History
Center has 160 digitized maps at <acfwhs.lib.ipfw.edu>. An
1860 county map with closeups of Fort Wayne is at <www.
genealogycenter.info/search_1860maps.php>. Find plat maps
(1855-1999) at the ACPL. Sanborn insurance maps (18901951) are at the ISL. A town locator list that includes abandoned ones is at <www.acgsi.org/genweb/towns.asp>.
e
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<www.acgsi.org/genweb>
Indiana State Digital Archives
<www.indianadigitalarchives.org>
IUPUI Digital Collections
<www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collections>
PUBLICATIONS
FO RT WAYNE, I N.
WEBSITES
Finding Indiana Ancestors: A Guide to Historical
Research by M. Teresa Baer and Geneil Breeze
(Indiana Historical Society)
Fort Wayne, Indiana by Ralph Violette (Arcadia)
History of Fort Wayne & Allen County, Indiana,
1700-2005 (MT Publishing Co.)
Peopling Indiana: The Ethnic Experience by Robert M. Taylor,
Jr. and Connie A. McBirney (Indiana Historical Society)
The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Indiana: Volume II
Biographical by B.J. Griswold (Robert O. Law Co.)
ARCHIVES & ORGANIZATIONS
Allen County—Fort Wayne Historical Society
302 E. Berry St., Fort Wayne, IN 46802,
(260) 426-2882, <www.fwhistorycenter.com>
Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana
Box 12003, Fort Wayne, IN 46862, <www.acgsi.org>
Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, IN 46802,
(260) 421-1225, <www.genealogycenter.org>
Allen County Recorder’s Office
1 E. Main St., Room 100, Fort Wayne, IN 46802,
(260) 449-7165, <www.allencountyrecorder.us>
Clerk of Allen County Circuit Court
Records Management Division, Courthouse
Room 202, 715 S. Calhoun St., Fort Wayne, IN
46802, (260) 449-7890, <www.allencounty.us/
fees-filings-forms>
Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health
200 E. Berry St., Suite 360, Fort Wayne, IN 46802,
(260) 449-7147, <www.allencountyhealth.com>
Indiana Genealogical Society
Box 10507, Fort Wayne, IN 46852,
<www.indgensoc.org>
Indiana State Archives
6440 E. 30th St., Indianapolis, IN 46219,
(317) 591-5222, <www.in.gov/icpr>
Indiana State Library
Genealogy Division, 315 W. Ohio St., Indianapolis, IN
46202, (317) 232-3689, <www.in.gov/library>
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FO RT WAYNE, I ND.
CITY GUIDE
5
TOP
HISTORIC SITES
1
African/African-American Historical Museum
436 E. Douglas Ave., Fort Wayne, IN 46802,
(260) 420-0765, <www.african-americanfw.com>
This mansion has been converted into exhibits of African immigration to the United States and the AfricanAmerican experience in Fort Wayne. Wide-ranging topics
include politics, music and sports.
2
Chief Richardville House
magazine
RECORDS AT A GLANCE
Birth Records
BEGIN: 1882
PRIVACY RESTRICTIONS: Certified records restricted
RESEARCH TIPS: Request uncertified information
from Health Department for free; follow instructions
on website (click on Genealogy Service). Microfilmed
records (1882-1920) are at the ACPL.
City Directories
BEGIN: 1858
RESEARCH TIPS: Find at Allen County Public Library,
Indiana State Library, Family History Library, and Library
of Congress. Several directories are at Fold3.com
<fold3.com>.
5705 Bluffton Road, Fort Wayne, IN 46802,
<www.fwhistorycenter.com/chiefRichardvilleHouse.html>
This 1827 home belonged to one of Indiana’s wealthiest
pioneers, a man of mixed Miami Indian and French ancestry. The restored dwelling is open limited hours and offers
programs to celebrate Miami heritage.
3
Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society
15808 Edgerton Road, New Haven, IN 46774,
(260) 493-0765, <fortwaynerailroad.org>
Death Records
BEGIN: 1871
RESEARCH TIPS: Request uncertified information
from Health Department for free; follow instructions
on website (click on Genealogy Service). Microfilmed
records (1871-1932) are at the ACPL.
Deeds
This attraction centers on a 1944 Nickel Plate Road steam
locomotive, one of the last of its kind in operation. Seasonal
rail excursions leave from the society’s restoration facility.
BEGIN: 1824
RESEARCH TIPS: Request from county recorder’s office
for a nominal fee.
Marriage Records
4
Greater Fort Wayne Aviation Museum
Fort Wayne International Airport, Fort Wayne, IN
46809, (260) 747-4146 ext. 439,
<www.fwairport.com/air-museum.aspx#>
A secured site on the Fort Wayne airport grounds offers a
tour through regional aviation history, including the Baer
airfield and artifacts and stories from the 1940s and 1950s.
BEGIN: 1824
RESEARCH TIPS: Request from county clerk; follow
instructions on website. Post-1920s marriage
applications and returns have richer data.
Probate Records
5
Historic Fort Wayne
BEGIN: 1824
RESEARCH TIPS: Request from the county clerk of
1201 Spy Run Ave., Fort Wayne, IN 46805,
(260) 437-2836, <www.oldfortwayne.org>
A replica of the 1815 fort opens during special events such
as heritage craft workshops, battle reenactments and other
historical programming. Grounds are open daily.
the circuit court. Determine approximate year before
ordering from microfilmed probate/indexes (rent through
local FamilySearch Centers).
Family Tree Sourcebook <shopfamilytree.com/family-tree-sourcebook-book>
Indiana Genealogy Crash Course video class
D
RELATE CES
RESOUR
<shopfamilytree.com/indiana-genealogy-crash-course-webinar>
Indiana State Research Guide
<shopfamilytree.com/indiana-research-guide-digital-download>
Indiana landowner maps and books <shopfamilytree.com/indiana-genealogy>
8/29/12 10:42 AM
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Heirloom
HUNTING
Longing for tangible connections to your past?
Mourning a missing ancestral treasure? We’ll help you launch
a five-step reconnaissance mission for family keepsakes.
1112FT HEIRLOOM HUNTERS FEATURE.indd 42
8/29/12 10:47 AM
3 HUNTERS OFTEN RETURN home with trophies for
their living rooms, perhaps a black bear rug or the head of
an eight-point buck. To sportsmen, these trophies are meaningful mementos, bringing to mind successful outings and
establishing an identity as provider, protector or conqueror.
Genealogists have trophies, too, albeit gentler ones. We put
an ancestor’s photo in a place of honor, drape an heirloom
quilt in the bedroom or hang well-worn carpenter’s tools
over the fireplace. In doing so, we remind ourselves of loved
ones and identify with our ancestors.
But not everyone is lucky enough to inherit fantastic family heirlooms. Stuff gets lost through generations. Sometimes
you’re not in the right place at the right time—or in the right
frame of mind—to claim a family treasure. Some of us do have
family items, but we don’t know much about them and long
for more meaning.
We asked three heirloom hounds how they track down
family artifacts that can be treasured as trophies. Their tips
will help you find heirlooms—or surrogate heirlooms—both
at home and in marketplaces such as antique stores and eBay
<www.ebay.com>.
1
Set your sights.
Heirlooms are more than genealogical souvenirs.
They’re tangible reminders of loved ones, good times
and long-dead ancestors. An artifact doesn’t have to be
expensive artwork, silver, jewelry or furniture to qualify as
an heirloom. In fact, we often find more meaningful connections to the past through smaller, everyday items such
as Grandma’s pie-crust rolling pin, dad’s military discharge
documents, wedding photos or a needlework sampler.
Denise Levenick, author of How to Archive Family Keepsakes: Learn How to Preserve Family Photos, Memorabilia
& Genealogy Records (Family Tree Books) and the Family
Curator blog <www.thefamilycurator.com>, recently found this
to be true. After their mother passed away, Levenick and
her sister went through their mother’s home. They lined up
on a shelf the things they wanted to keep. “It was a motley
collection,” she recalls with a laugh. “There was a pair of
Regency bookends and a ceramic owl bank. That bank was
where my dad put his change after work every day when
he came home. We realized that these were our heirlooms:
These were the things we lived with day after day, with
memories tied up in them.”
Older heirlooms that date a few generations back may hold
no personal memories, but they tie us to our ancestors’ lives
TIP: Keep track of new items posted on eBay by creating a free
account and identifying favorite sellers or search terms. New
listings will automatically be sent to you when they are posted.
in intimate ways. “Heirloom hunting takes our genealogical
experience to a new level,” says Joy Shivar, owner of heirloom exchange service JustaJoy <www.justajoy.com>. “Often
an heirloom can broaden our idea of who an ancestor was
and reveal information about our families that can’t be found
anywhere else. Paper items especially can reveal place, connections, dates and other information. Plus, it’s just exciting
to discover that your great-great-great-grandfather swore
allegiance to the temperance movement or knew how to play
a banjo or whatever.”
Besides figurines, uniforms or medals, try to identify
other objects that were connected to your ancestor’s life.
“People are becoming more aware of what’s out there now,
the different places where an ancestor’s name might show
up,” says Nancy Howell, an eBay genealogical document
dealer. “Think about old letters, billheads [forerunners to
store receipts], letterheads, photos, employment and military records, advertising, deeds and certificates. A lot of our
ancestors in the 1800s were members of various organizations, including fraternal organizations like the Freemasons.
There’s related paperwork out there in the form of applications, certificates of membership and more.”
Don’t rule out “surrogate” heirlooms—items that have a
family connection but weren’t actually in your family. Shivar
recently helped unite a country club’s 1940s plaque with a
championship volleyball player whose name was listed on
it. “The family would never have owned that themselves, but
it’s got the family’s name on it, and it’s a really cool thing to
have,” she says. Yearbooks, group photos, autograph books
and ads for a family business may fall into this category. See
the box on the next page for places to locate these artifacts.
Even if you don’t find anything connected to your family,
it’s fun to track down items that represent your ancestors.
Look for artifacts related to their trade, ethnicity, religion—
any aspect of their lives that interests you. It might be a shoemaker’s boot form, tartan, photo of your ancestor’s church,
or piece of scrip from a coal company store. Consider finding
duplicates of items you recall from a loved one’s home, such
as a framed print or a piece from the same china or silver
pattern (Replacements Ltd. <www.replacements.com> is one
source for old dinnerware).
2
Home in on hunting grounds.
The best place to start heirloom hunting is at home.
“The more stuff you have stored in your attic, basement or garage, the more likely you are to have an unidentified heirloom hiding away somewhere,” Levenick says. “But
even folks with little clutter might have a treasure or two
they just don’t recognize.”
In going through the family home for an estate sale, her
husband found favorite children’s books in a bookcase, a
walking stick he’d made for his dad tucked in a closet, and his
old pinewood derby car in the garage. “Each of those items
held special ‘heirloom’ memories for him,” Levenick says.
43
8/29/12 10:47 AM
She isn’t shy about designating new heirlooms from
her own family, such as the children’s fork and spoon her
boys used as toddlers and their handprints impressed in a
concrete walkway. “They’re heirlooms just as much as my
grandfather’s pipe,” she says. “It helps to think like a descendant and try to imagine the kinds of things your children and
grandchildren will cherish from your life.”
If your parents and other older relatives are still living,
talk to them about the stories of the heirlooms in their
homes. This is a great way to capture their memories as well
as show your interest in family artifacts. Write down the
stories and ask permission to photograph the items. It’s not
quite the same as acquiring the item itself, but the information is still valuable.
Most of the time, it’s not inappropriate to let relatives
know that “you eventually would like to have anything
they want to pass on,” advises Levenick. “Maybe your mom
tucked away something for you and has forgotten about
it.” Be tactful: Don’t jump in front of someone else’s legitimate claim to the family album, and keep requests modest.
Levenick cautions that some folks are too attached to their
belongings or uncomfortable with their own mortality to
Lost Targets
If your family heirlooms have wandered away over the years,
don’t despair. Many websites specialize in helping you locate
certain types of artifacts. Consider looking for these:
HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND MILITARY YEARBOOKS:
Search for yearbooks at free and subscription sites including
<www.classmates.com> , <www.old-yearbooks.com> ,
<e-yearbook.com>, <yearbooks.donslist.net>, eBay <www.
ebay.com> or Amazon.com <amazon.com>.
FAMILY PHOTOS: Pictures can be difficult to find
online because unlike yearbook photos, most individuals
shown in loose photos aren’t identified. However, you can
search among thousands of faces at photo sites such as
FamilyOldPhotos.com <familyoldphotos.com> and DeadFred
<www.deadfred.com>.
FAMILY BIBLES: Most families had just one Bible, so
these also can be difficult to turn up—but they do exist
on auction sites such as eBay and JustaJoy. Sometimes
information from a Bible is posted on a site, but the Bible
itself isn’t for sale. Find a directory of Bible-related websites
at <www.genealinks.com/bible.htm>. Look both for Bibles
(or Bible contents) and places to post queries on countylevel genealogy message boards, such as USGenWeb’s
<usgwarchives.org>.
MORE
ONLINE
Free Web Content
Rescue Your Heirlooms
rescue-your-heirlooms>
What heirlooms can tell you about
your ancestors
heirloom-hints-1>
Heirloom Inventory form
<familytreemagazine.com/info/
oralhistoryforms>
YZ
Shopping around before
purchasing items will help
you become familiar with
both quality artifacts and
appropriate prices.
For Plus Members
How to care for 10 types of family
heirlooms <familytreemagazine.
com/article/preservation-rx>
Uncovering stories about
com/article/object-lessons>
Resources for preserving
com/article/heirloom-toolkit>
Heirloom Preservation Made Easy ondemand webinar <shopfamilytree.com/
heirloom-preservation-made-easywebinar>
Preserve Your Family History Value Pack
<shopfamilytree.com/preserve-yourfamily-history-value-pack>
They’re Alive! Finding Living Relatives
on-demand webinar <shopfamilytree.
com/finding-living-relativesondemand-webinar>
44
2012
8/29/12 10:48 AM
talk about the subject. But your interest may be remembered: You never know who may someday contact you with
a family treasure.
Distant cousins also may be fruitful heirloom sources.
Maybe your second cousin has Great-grandma’s hope chest
or Great-grandpa’s rifle. Go as far up the family tree as
you care to and then back down (perhaps with the help of
Family Tree University’s video course on finding living relatives <shopfamilytree.com/finding-living-relatives-ondemandwebinar>). Fewer heirlooms may be available the further back
in time you go, and multiplying descendants means items
are more far-flung. When making contact, offer information
about your shared ancestry to prove your connection. If family artifacts exist, ask politely about purchasing them or having photographs or copies made. If a relative remarried, look
for your family’s heirlooms among that new family: They
might have kept items they’d be willing to sell or give away.
3
Head into the wild.
Once an heirloom has strayed from the family fold,
many people assume it’s gone forever. That may have
been true 20 years ago. But today, online services offer the
equivalent of tracking devices for missing artifacts. You simply search out these services and hope your heirloom has
been (or will yet be) tagged for easier tracking.
EBay is a well-known hunting ground for lost heirlooms,
and a great place to find surrogate ones. There you’ll find
sellers including Howell (seller name: genpaper) who spent
more than 10 years rescuing boxes of family documents from
oblivion. Now her massive collection is stacked sky-high, and
she’s beginning to list parts of it online.
Howell recommends starting your eBay search with the
Collectibles & Art category, then Collectibles. Your keyword
searches can include surnames and names of neighborhoods,
churches, schools, family businesses or industries, towns,
counties and other terms relating to your ancestors. If you
get too many results or want a specific type of item, limit
your search to subcategories. For example, look for diaries,
autograph books and store ledgers under Books, Antiquarian
and Collectible.
If you don’t find anything, contact sellers who specialize in
the materials or geographic location you’re interested in and
ask them to watch for particular items. To have new listings
automatically emailed to you, create a free eBay account and
identify favorite sellers or search terms.
It can be frustrating to search for artifacts on eBay, especially
if your surname is common or has another meaning (think Hill
or Church). Shivar’s JustaJoy is based on items’ associated
surnames. Antique dealers and other “heirloom rescuers” post
detailed descriptions of items, including associated surnames.
For example, a listing for a Civil War muster roll will include
every soldier’s name. Subscribers are notified when items are
listed with their surnames of interest. Even after an item sells,
its description stays on the site for future reference.
TIP: If you don’t have inherited keepsakes, seek out
items that represent your family through connections to a
hobby, trade, ethnicity or religion. Also look for
duplicates of items you recall from a loved one’s home,
such as a piece from the same china or silver pattern.
Aiming for Answers
Here’s what to ask relatives—or an antiques expert—
about your family heirlooms:
When was it made, and how can you tell?
Where was it made?
What is it made of, and how was it made?
Who created it, and for what purpose?
Who has owned it?
What does it tell us about the past?
How should it be cared for?
What is its value?
What proof exists of the item’s history?
You never know what else is out there. One man googled a
military veteran grandfather’s name and found that his dog
tag was recovered by a family in England. Olive Tree Genealogy’s Lost and Found Dog Tag Project <olivetreegenealogy.
blogspot.ca> had posted the find, and the family was reunited
with the tag.
You can hunt for heirlooms offline, too. Howell recommends contacting antique and rare book dealers near your
ancestral hometown. Describe specific types of items you’d
be open to purchasing, both those relating to your family
(such as letters or a Bible) and general items that represent
the time and place (a ladies’ club recipe book or school
yearbook). If you’re interested in documents and the seller
doesn’t deal in paper, ask who would be a good person to
contact. Shivar suggests attending antique, military and
Civil War shows, which you can find listed at sites such as
TravelersAntiqueGuide <travelersantiqueguide.com> (click on
Antique Shows).
4
Value your catch.
Good hunters know their hunting grounds and the
prey they’re after. So do artifact hounds. This may
involve learning about different kinds of heirlooms and the
prices they command. Howell starts with pricing guides such
as Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide 2012 by Terry
and Kim Kovel (Black Dog & Leventhal) and the ephemeraspecific Warman’s Paper by Norman E. Martinus and Harry
45
8/29/12 10:48 AM
sterling tea and coffee sets <www.collectorsweekly.com/
sterling-silver/tea-coffee>. If your item has a manufacturer’s
mark on it, look it up online (using the manufacturer name or
search terms like antique porcelain marks) or consult a guide
such as Pictorial Guide To Pottery And Porcelain Marks by
Chad Lage (Collector Books).
For military items, Shivar consults members of military
lineage organizations, such as the Sons of the American
Revolution <www.sar.org>, and battle re-enactors. She also
recommends asking questions of dealers at antiques shows.
“Find someone there you trust who deals in the kind of item
that you have. Because of their love for the business and the
items, dealers are usually more than happy to share their
knowledge. They can offer advice on the best way to preserve
the item, insurance value, where to find more information,
and possibly even present a comparable [artifact].”
YZ
An artifact doesn’t have to
be expensive to qualify as
an heirloom. We often find
more meaningful connections
to the past through smaller,
5
Care for your trophies.
everyday items.
The final step to claiming heirlooms is learning to care
for them. For storage and display, use museum-quality
boxes, albums, frames and folders from archival product
suppliers such as those listed at <familytreemagazine.com/
article/archival-suppliers>. Keep your heirlooms in an environment with stable temperature and humidity levels (no attics
or basements) and away from direct sunlight. For storage,
a closet in the living area of your home—but not one on an
exterior wall—is best.
Except for gentle dusting with a soft cloth, consult a professional conservator before cleaning an antique. Solvents
and even water can damage an item and reduce its value.
You’ll find a searchable directory of conservators at the
American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic
Works website <www.conservation-us.org>.
For more details on how to care for family heirlooms,
turn to resources such as Levenick’s How to Archive
Family Keepsakes (Family Tree Books) <shopfamilytree.
com/ht-archive-family-keepsakes> ; Saving Stuff: How to
Care for and Preserve Your Collectibles, Heirlooms, and
Other Prized Possessions by Don Williams and Louisa
Jaggar (Fireside) and Family Tree University’s Heirloom
Preservation Made Easy Webinar <shopfamilytree.com/
heirloom-preservation-made-easy-webinar>.
For many game hunters, the ultimate reward isn’t just a
mounted head on a wall, but the dressed meat that stocks
his freezer for the season. Similarly, a meaningful heirloom
can feed your family memory and deepen your appreciation
for your heritage. These genealogical trophies—the items
themselves and the stories and connections they represent—become part of your legacy. So if you don’t already own
meaningful heirlooms, it’s time to start tracking some down.
Happy hunting.
L. Rinker (Warman). Collectibles guides, which often come
in handy pocket sizes, exist for many types of items: toys,
dishes, pottery, textiles and militariana. Howell also consults
auction site listings of comparable items.
But collectibles pricing can vary widely, Howell cautions,
and you have to separate monetary value from sentimental
value. “Rarity and desirability have a lot to do with it,” she
says. “One person’s trash is another’s valuable treasure,
and vice versa.” In the end, “an item is worth only what the
market will bring”—the market being other buyers such as
collectors and dealers. Shopping around before purchasing
items will help you become familiar with both quality artifacts and appropriate prices. Setting informed goals about
what you want to buy and how much you’re willing to pay
will help you end up with meaningful, display-worthy genealogical trophies.
Once she has an artifact in hand, Levenick learns more
about its origin, when it was made and how it was used by
contacting experts. “Veterans associations, historical societies, senior centers, collectors—there’s likely someone out
there who has an interest in your artifact, and they will often
help you,” she advises. She finds help by searching Google for
the object name and terms such as history or museum, often
ending up at obscure websites manned by fans or collectors.
For example, a search on pocket watch museum brings up
results from the National Association of Watch and Clock
Collectors <www.nawcc.org> , which has links to resources
for the public. Searching for silver tea set collector leads to
a Collector’s Weekly web page with information on antique
Contributing editor Sunny Jane Morton’s favorite heirloom trophy is a stuffed Kanga doll her grandmother made.
46
2012
8/29/12 10:48 AM
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8/29/12 10:48 AM
YOUR
LATIN AMERICAN
GENEALOGY
JOURNEY
Plot your Latin American and
Caribbean family history search with
these eight essential resources.
B Y C H R I S S TA AT S
3 IF YOU’VE EVER traveled out of the country, chances are
and more indexes and original documents appearing online,
you might be lucky enough to locate an ancestor’s birth or
marriage record at one of these waystops. But even if that
elusive ancestor isn’t somewhere online, the resources listed
on these pages will point you to the most likely libraries,
archives and repositories where he can be found.
Most of the resources in our listing are in English, but a
few are in Spanish or link you to Spanish-language pages.
Fortunately, translating web pages is free and easy: Just type
the site’s URL or paste a block of text into Google’s translator
<translate.google.com>. If you use Google’s free Chrome web
browser <google.com/chrome>, is has a translator built right
in. Latin American and Caribbean research might require a
little more effort than researching in the States, but making
that connection to the time and place of your ancestors is
ample reward. ¿Está listos? ¡Vámanos!
you talked with friends about where to go and what to see.
You scoured the internet for information about your dream
destination. You perused travel guides and maps. Your Latin
American and Caribbean genealogy research should begin in
exactly the same way: Start at home, gather information and
get ready for a wonderful journey.
As much as you’d like to, you might not be able to actually
go to Mexico, Belize, Grenada or another locale, but you’ll
still need to know how to get around, where records are and
how to get to them. And to get the most understanding out of
the records you find, you’ll want to brush up on the geography, history, culture and language of your ancestors.
This guide will help you overcome many of these challenges by recommending places where you can stop and
ask directions along your genealogical journey. With more
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TIP: Knowing your ancestor’s place of origin as
specifically as possible is the biggest key to
researching your Latino or Caribbean roots.
49
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Tracing Cuban Kin
1
One-stop shop
Tense US relations with Cuba have long made the island
country a difficult locale for Latino roots research, but
genealogical resources there are becoming more accessible.
New US Treasury regulations have even allowed Americans
to send limited payments to Cuba, making it easier to hire
on-site help.
Before beginning your search, notes professional genealogist
and author Megan Smolenyak, “Do your best to learn exactly
which town [your family is] from—that’s key.” Once you know
whom you’re looking for and where they should be, plan your
search using these websites:
CUBAN GENEALOGY CLUB <www.cgcmiami.org> : This
membership organization, based in Miami, is great for sharing
and comparing experiences in Cuban genealogy research. The
site is available in both English and Spanish.
CUBAN GENWEB <www.cubagenweb.org> : This is the
best place to learn how to begin and conduct your search.
Pay particular attention to the Where to Find Information
section. The Cuban Addresses area is an excellent place to
find important contact details.
It’s probably no surprise that FamilySearch, the
organization with the world’s largest collection of
genealogical material, kicks off our list. It actually
offers three resources rolled into one: the FamilySearch wiki <www.familysearch.org /learn/wiki> ,
FamilySearch.org online record collection <www.
familysearch.org>, and the Family History Library
(FHL) online catalog <www. familysearch.org/#form=catalog>.
The sometimes-overlooked FamilySearch wiki is a great
starting point when research takes you to an unfamiliar
place. How-to information here is primarily user-submitted, so the content on its pages varies. From the wiki
homepage, type a country into the search box, or select List
All Countries to see an alphabetical list. Country pages may
contain historical background, information about administrative divisions and important record groups, details
about related records on microfilm at the FHL in Salt Lake
City and digitized at FamilySearch.org, and links to other
websites and databases. The wiki’s Mexico page boasts a
particularly exceptional research guide (look under the
Research Tools subhead).
The superstar of FamilySearch is its online historical
records collection. It includes digitized records for 14 Latin
American and Caribbean countries: Bahamas, Barbados,
Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama,
Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. New records are
added almost daily. From the FamilySearch.org home page,
scroll down and click on the Caribbean, Central and South
America link to see an alphabetical list of available records
from this region.
The best-represented Latin American country is Mexico,
with civil registration (birth, marriage and death) and
church records for most Mexican states, as well as the 1930
Mexican census. Records for other countries vary in content
and completeness, but include primarily civil registrations
and church records. Many of the collections are indexed and
searchable by name (you can browse unindexed collections
by date, state, parish or other subdivision, depending how
the records are organized).
FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY CUBAN RECORDS <www.
familysearch.org/#form=catalog>: Type Cuba into the online
catalog place-names search box to see records available on
microfilm. Holdings include some parish records, indexes and
finding aids.
The Cuban research page in FamilySearch’s wiki <www.
familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Cuba> links to other online
resources. One that’s especially useful is the Brigham Young
University Cuban research guide.
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ENRIQUE
HURTADO DE MENDOZA COLLECTIONS OF CUBAN
GENEALOGY <go.fiu.edu/CubanGenealogy>: This collection
includes rare 17th- and 18th-century books, long out-ofprint publications and periodicals hard to find in the States.
Thousands of unpublished genealogies and manuscripts make
this collection particularly important for those with Cuban
roots. Best of all, the library is digitizing materials and posting
them online.
MORE
ONLINE
Free Web Content
Hispanic genealogy organizations
hispanic-organizations>
Puerto Rico genealogy resources
article/Puerto-Rico-GenealogyResources>
Mexican research toolkit
mexican-research-toolkit>
For Plus Members
Top Hispanic genealogy websites
top-hispanic-genealogy-websites>
Spanish Roots Toolkit
spanish-roots-toolkit>
ShopFamilyTree.com
Caribbean Genealogy Guide
<shopfamilytree.com/caribbeangenealogy-guide>
Puerto Rican Genealogy Guide
<shopfamilytree.com/puertorican-genealogy-guide>
Ethnic heritage organizations
discover-ethnic-heritage>
The Everything Learning Spanish
Book (with CD) <shopfamilytree.
com/the-everything-learningspanish-book-with-cd>
50
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Remember when conducting your search that most
records are in Spanish, so try spelling variations if you can’t
find a record you think should be there. Also keep in mind
that Spanish double-surnames may be indexed in a way you
wouldn’t expect, so try different combinations in the First
Names and Last Names boxes (see the tip box on the next
page for an example).
What if the records you want aren’t digitized or indexed
online? The FHL has thousands of rolls of microfilm that you
can order online and have sent to your local FamilySearch
Center for viewing. To see what’s available, click the Catalog
link from the FamilySearch.org home page. Then type in the
name of the country you’re looking for and the state, region
or other place you need. FamilySearch will offer you options
for the names of matching places; once you see the place you
need pop up, select it and then click Search to bring up the
records microfilmed for that area. Click the headings to see
a list of related films; click a film title for details about the
records. If you find one of interest, click on the film number
and follow the instructions to place an order. Not sure where
a nearby FamilySearch Center might be? Click FamilySearch
Centers on the FamilySearch.org home page to search for one
in your area. You’ll pay a small rental fee per film.
Whether you are looking at online records or microfilm,
FamilySearch can be a great way to “travel” out of the country without leaving your hometown.
TIP: Latinos may use compound names combining
paternal and maternal surnames. These often are
indicated by y (and), a dash, or a preposition (de, del,
de la). When searching for surnames that include a
preposition, be sure to check under both alphabetizing
possibilities: Vega, de la as well as de la Vega.
3
Texas treasure
The Nettie Lee Benson Collection at the
University of Texas in Austin <www.lib.utexas.
edu/benson> specializes in Latin American
materials, largely relating to Mexico and
Central America but also from the Caribbean. The collection includes more than
970,000 books, periodicals, pamphlets and
microforms, and 4,000 linear feet of manuscripts. If you’re
handy to the big state of Texas, you’ll want to plan a visit
here. The Benson Library is home to the Bexar Archives,
which the Texas State Historical Association <www.tsha
online.org> calls “the single most important source for the
history of Hispanic Texas up to 1836” <www.tshaonline.
org/handbook/online/articles/lcb02>. Held at the connected
Briscoe Center for American History, the Bexar Archives
documents early life in Texas, dating to the founding of the
presidio of San Antonio de Béxar in 1718. Part of the collection is online (with English translations) at <www.cah.utexas.
edu/projects/bexar>.
Other noteworthy Benson collections documenting Texas
families with Hispanic heritage include the “Marriage, death
and burial registers of San Fernando Parish Church, 17031860,” and the Nacogdoches Archives.
Even if you can’t go in person, there’s plenty else to
explore online. First click on Rare Books and Archives,
where you’ll find links to the online catalog and finding aids
for the manuscript collection. For a gateway to the wealth
of materials on history, genealogy and more, click on Latin
American Studies on the Benson collection home page (or
go to <www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/latamstudies.html>). In the
History section, check out finding aids for the library’s
Latin American, Mexican and Mexican/Latino-American
manuscripts, as well as a general guide to major microform
collections. If you have ancestors in early Texas (1528-1821),
the link to the Neuva España website (also accessible via
<www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/Spaincon.htm>) is a mustclick. Under Biography and Genealogy, you’ll find a listing of
biography collections.
Even better in this section is the unassuming link to the
Latin American Network Information Center (or visit <lanic.
utexas.edu>), aka LANIC, one of the largest gateways to just
about everything Latin American. Click Libraries & Reference for links to libraries, archives, maps and museums. The
2
Can-do website
If you’re looking for Caribbean resources
in one spot, Candoo.com <www.candoo.com/
genresources> is probably the most comprehensive site. It has links to resources for all
the islands, whether they are or were territories of Spain, the United States, England,
France or the Netherlands. Navigate the site
from the links at the top of the page, or by scrolling down to
the topic you’re looking for. In the section for each country,
you’ll find resources such as contact information for major
archives and libraries, and links to WorldGenWeb pages.
Some countries’ listings include links to genealogy societies
and local researchers for when you need someone “on the
ground.” If you find the FHL catalog difficult to navigate, try
this site’s LDS Microfilm Indexes link at the top of the page,
which lists FHL films for many of the islands.
Another feature here is the Caribbean Surname Index, a
message board you can access from a link at the top of the
home page, as well as within individual country sections.
Read the instructions, click the link for the index, then scroll
to the bottom of the main page to choose a surname forum
(organized by first letter of the name). You’ll need to register
before you post or contact another forum member. Don’t let
the text-only appearance of this site fool you into thinking
it’s outdated. If you’re looking for good Caribbean resources,
Candoo … well, can do!
51
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subtopics will take you to resource lists organized regionally
and then by country. While some of the resources listed can
be found elsewhere, many are unique. Take a stroll through
to see what you find.
Although not an extensive listing, LANIC’s genealogy
resources are in the Society and Culture section. They’re
organized by regions and countries, and also include general
resources such as Cyndi’s List <cyndislist.com>. If you have
Dominican Republic ancestors, investigate the El Instituto
Dominico de Genealogía (Dominican Institute of Genealogy)
and Datos y Fuentes de la Genealogía Dominicana (Genealogy
Data and Sources of the Dominican Republic).
4
Directory assistance
We’ve grouped two similar portal websites, though each has unique strengths.
A new kid on the internet block, La Guía
de Información Genealóg ica (Geneal o g i c a l I n f o r m a t i o n G u i d e ) < w w w.
guiagenealogica.com> is a Spanish-language
site, so you’ll need your translation tools
if you don’t read Spanish. Primarily focused on Central and
South America, la Guía contains particularly useful links
for genealogists interested in Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican
Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico. It also offers one of the more
complete resource lists for Panama. Bonus: Because it’s a
new site, most of the links to other sites are functional.
For the above-named countries, you’ll find information on
major government record centers and libraries, plus links to
research guides, easy-to-digest history, and genealogy societies. The Pandora’s Box section has excellent articles dealing
with Catholic church records and the canonical laws that
governed them. Need a well-organized history of Spanish
possession and Latin American independence? Visit the Portal del Bicentenario de las Independencias Iberoamericanas in
la Guía’s Miscellaneous section of the site.
Directorio de Genealogía Hispana (Directory of Hispanic
Genealogy) <www.genealogiahispana.com> is similar to la
Guía and also arranges resources by location and topic.
While some of the two websites’ resources overlap, this
site’s strength is its links to family pages and blogs. The Family Pages link (Páginas Familiares) leads you to five pages
of family websites, and the Genealogy Blogs link (Blogs
Genealógicos) gets you a long list of blogs. You can also search
the site by surname at the top of the main page to pull up
related resources. Directorio de Genealogía Hispana offers
an English option in the top left corner, although it doesn’t
always work.
5
Making history
The mission statement at Somos Primos
<www.somosprimos.com> is clear: “To help
family historians in their task of gathering
vital data, and to provide evidence revealing
the current effects of historical events on the
Hispanic community in the United States.”
And beneath the deceptively simple front
page lies a wealth of information. The site’s monthly online
newsletters since January 2000 are free here—just scroll
to the bottom of the front page to select individual issues
by clicking on the year and month. Each issue is organized
geographically and topically, so you can quickly find articles
relating to the Southwest, Mexico, Cuba, surnames, history,
and many more. To search all 12 years at once, click on Search
all Somos Primos Issues and enter the person, place or thing
you want to find. The results come from the newsletters as
well as other resources on the site.
Speaking of those other resources, make sure you check
the Spanish Terms in the list of links on the right side of the
home page. Here you can access the Compilation of Colonial
Spanish Terms and Document-Related Phrases, one of the
largest and most complete dictionaries you’ll find of Spanish genealogical words and phrases. Other resources include
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage, which contains historical
essays. And the John P. Schmal Indigenous Mexico link
leads to this author’s excellent information on researching
indigenous peoples.
6
On the map
One obstacle you may encounter as you venture into new research places is not knowing
the geography. Every smart traveler carries
a good map. Let OldMapsOnline <www.
oldmapsonline.com> find the map you need
for your virtual genealogical travels. This
UK-based site pulls old maps from sites
around the internet, including the David Rumsey Historical
Map Collection <www.davidrumsey.com> , the Perry-Castañeda library <www.lib.utexas.edu/maps> and elsewhere, and
makes them searchable in one place.
Search geographically by clicking on a map, or type a
place name in the search box. For either search method, you
can use an adjustable timeline to limit your results by date.
Looking for a map of Mexico between 1690 and 1715? Not a
problem: Just drag the start and end years on the timeline,
type Mexico into the search box, and you’ll discover a number of maps to choose from. Click the link to the map you’d
like to see, and you’ll go directly to the map on the site that
hosts it.
TIP: Historically, a Latino wife would keep her maiden name
and add her husband’s surname to the end: Rosa Hernandez
became Rosa Hernandez de Martínez when she married Raul
Martínez. Mexican women were typically recorded under
their maiden names when they came to the United States.
52
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YZ
The state archives and libraries of many Southwestern
states and Florida contain extensive holdings of interest
to Latino and Caribbean researchers.
7
State’s evidence
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN INFORMATION CENTER
<lacic.fiu.edu>
TULANE UNIVERSITY LATIN AMERICAN LIBRARY <lal.tulane.
edu>
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY BANCROFT LIBRARY
LATIN AMERICANA COLLECTION <bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/latinamericana.html>
UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO CENTER FOR SOUTHWEST
RESEARCH <elibrary.unm.edu/cswr>
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA, FLORIDA STUDIES CENTER
<www.lib.usf.edu/special-collections/florida-studies>
As you might imagine, the state archives and
libraries of many Southwestern states and
Florida contain extensive holdings of interest to Latino and Caribbean researchers,
including early Spanish land grants, colonial
censuses, mission records and more. Be sure
to investigate the state archives and libraries for the places your Hispanic and Latino ancestors lived.
It may or may not take a lot of browsing to learn what materials might help with your search. In addition to searching
the holdings catalog, look for a genealogy link and resource
guides to early or Hispanic residents. For example, the California State Library’s PDF guide Genealogy Resources by
Date <dlis.dos.state.fl.us/index_Researchers.cfm> lists the book
Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California, 1769-1850 by
Marie E. Northrup. The Online Archive of California <www.
oac.cdlib.org> catalogs manuscript collections, such as the
one titled Spanish and Mexican Materials, 1781-1882, that
are housed at the state library and other institutions. Even if
you can’t pay a visit, you might be able to borrow materials
through interlibrary loan, request a photocopy or pay for a
staff or local researcher to find the records you need.
If you want to learn how to research Spanish and Mexican
land grants for ancestors in New Mexico, for example, check
out the Land Grants in New Mexico guide at the University
of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research <libguides.
unm.edu/llandgrants>. Got California kin who might’ve had
land grants? See Berkeley’s Bancroft Library finding aids for
the Maps of Private Land Grant Cases of California <www.oac.
cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/hb8489p15p> and Documents
Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California <www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/hb109nb422>.
These rich sources are just two places to pan for genealogical
gold. Explore the websites of libraries especially across the
Southwest and in Florida, as well as places such as New York
City where many Latino immigrants have settled.
Every journey starts at home. Knowing your ancestor’s
place of origin as specifically as possible is the biggest key
to researching Latino and Caribbean roots. Talk to relatives.
Inquire about family papers and artifacts—anything that might
help pinpoint a location. The next step is an exhaustive search
of US records. Look for death certificates, naturalization s,
passport applications, newspapers, marriage certificates and
any other source that might reveal details on your ancestor’s
life in the “old country.” Once you have an idea where you
need to go, the records, resources, and gateways we’ve listed
will open the doors and start you on your journey of Latino or
Caribbean discovery. ¡Buen viaje!
ARIZONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY <www.arizonahistorical
society.org>
ARIZONA STATE LIBRARY, ARCHIVES AND PUBLIC RECORDS
<www.lib.az.us/archives>
CALIFORNIA STATE ARCHIVES <www.sos.ca.gov/archives>
CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY <www.library.ca.gov>
FLORIDA STATE ARCHIVES <dlis.dos.state.fl.us/index_
Researchers.cfm>
NEW MEXICO STATE LIBRARY <www.nmstatelibrary.org>
TEXAS STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES COMMISSION <www.
tsl.state.tx.us>
8
Old college try
We’ve already mentioned the University
of Texas Libraries specifically, but many
colleges and universities have notable special collections with Hispanic and Latino
genealogical materials. Below are some of
the largest collections, but this isn’t an allinclusive list:
Despite five years plus one semester of Spanish classes, Ohio
genealogist Chris Staats still can’t speak in the past tense.
You can follow his current genealogical adventures (in English) at his website, <staatsplace.com>.
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religious records guides
RESEARCHING
QUAKER ANCESTORS
BY JAMES M. BEIDLER
3 GEORGE FOX, THE founder of
what became the Religious Society of
Friends, was dissatisfied with established religion in England and urged
each follower to find his or her “inner
light” for direct communications with
God. When the Friends were first called
Quakers, it was meant as an insult. But
you’ll tremble with joy if you find them
among your ancestors due to the many
methodical records this sect keeps. And
whether or not you seek your own inner
light, you’ll find that Quaker ancestors
can brighten your lineage.
When Fox started preaching in 1650,
those who didn’t conform to the prevailing Puritan views were persecuted.
During this so-called “Commonwealth”
period, followers of Fox were jailed and
had their meeting houses destroyed
and property seized. Despite such measures, the Quakers gained converts
throughout the British Isles among
those drawn to the belief in an individual’s own ability to gain knowledge
of God.
Quakers distinguished themselves
in many ways: They dressed plainly,
spoke bluntly (using what at time was
the informal “thee” instead of the formal “you,” even when addressing royalty), rejected rituals such as baptism
and Holy Communion, refused to take
oaths, and practiced pacifism—even in
times of war. Their worship meetings
followed no formal program and could
be quiet gatherings—until an individual’s “inner light” motivated him or her
to speak.
Persecutions continued in England
and the American Colonies until the
passage of the Toleration Act of 1689,
which gave religious nonconformists
greater civil rights. By this time, Quakers had already begun streaming to a
New World foothold acquired when
King Charles II gave William Penn
the land that became Pennsylvania in
payment of a debt owed Penn’s father.
Although the younger Penn created a
colony where religious toleration for all
faiths was the rule, his fellow Quakers—
drawn mostly from the British Isles
but also including German-speaking
converts—held political power in Pennsylvania for most of the Colonial period.
In addition, enclaves of Quaker settlers
existed pretty much throughout the
Eastern seaboard.
Many Quakers retreated from political power during the French and Indian
War, when Indian raids in Pennsylvania
caused settlers to cry out for a militia
that the Friends could not countenance.
To this day, Quakers have remained
America’s conscience in causes ranging
from the abolition of slavery (a stance
made official in 1775, when Philadelphia Friends were called to free their
slaves) to the Vietnam War.
Along the way, splits developed in the
Society of Friends, the most prominent
occurring in the 1820s, when followers of Elias Hicks objected to greater
emphasis on the Bible (traditionally,
Quakers had placed the Bible secondary to individuals’ direct lines to God).
Ironically, those seeking to change
Quakerism became known as Orthodox and those not wanting to innovate
were called Hicksites. Most splits were
healed in a 1955 reunification of four
of the five US yearly meetings (turn
the page for more on Quaker meeting structure), though tensions still
exist between liberal and conservative
Friends. Today, about 90,000 Quakers
reside throughout the United States,
roughly a quarter of the sect’s worldwide population. Perhaps surprisingly,
Alaska, not Pennsylvania, is the state
with the largest percentage of Quakers
in its population.
In Colonial times, however, Quakers formed a much larger proportion
of the middle- and upper-class population. In addition to Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, New Jersey and North
Carolina saw eras of Quaker influence.
As a result, a fair number of Americans
today have Quaker ancestors. William
Wade Hinshaw, who compiled the
six-volume reference Encyclopedia of
American Quaker Genealogy (Genealogical Publishing Co.), estimates that
half of all Americans with Colonial
roots will find at least one Friend in
the family.
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The 1809 marriage of Amos Baker and Mahala Brown is recorded in Quaker marriage records for the
Easton, NY, Monthly Meeting, part of the New York Yearly Meeting. The meeting’s records, 1778 to
1950, are on four rolls of microfilm at the Family History Library.
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FIND IT WITH
FAMILYSEARCH
Use the FamilySearch catalog <www.
familysearch.org /#form=catalog>
to see what records the Family
History Library might have for your
ancestors’ places of worship. Run a
place search for the county or town,
then look for a church records heading
or for your ancestor’s denomination.
Quakers are generally referenced as
Society of Friends. To rent films of
the relevant records, order online or
note the microfilm number, then visit
your local FamilySearch Center <www.
familysearch.org/locations>.
RECORDS AT
A GLANCE
BIRTHS
Research Tip: Look for birth
registers in records of the monthly
meeting the child’s family attended.
The birth might be recorded again
if the Friend later changed meeting
membership.
CERTIFICATES OF REMOVAL
Research Tip: These records show
an individual’s good standing with a
particular monthly meeting and are a
great tipoff to a change in residence.
BUSINESS MEETING RECORDS
Research Tip: Meeting records
document members’ “sins” great and
small, as well as other meeting news
and activities.
“Lucky are those of us with Quaker
a n c e s t o r s,” n o t e s K a y Hav i l a n d
Freilich, a certified genealogist and
Quaker research expert. “The records
of the denomination are among the
most complete and most accessible
church records available to today’s family historian.”
Before the 20th century, the Quaker
equivalent of a congregation was called
a preparative meeting. Two or more
preparative meetings formed a monthly
meeting (like a parish in other faiths).
The term “monthly meeting” nods to
the gathering’s dual purpose of worship and business, which includes serving as the major record-keeping unit for
documents of interest to genealogists.
Several monthly meetings formed
a quarterly meeting; these in turn
reported to a yearly meeting (comparable to a diocese or synod). Although
meeting names indicate their geography to some extent, you’ll want
to research a meeting’s boundaries.
The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, for
instance, covers parts of four states;
Indiana’s monthly meetings are carved
into five separate yearly meetings.
The Quakers are as rich in records
as they are in eccentricities. One
you should note before starting your
Quaker research: Because many names
of months and days are derived from
what Colonial Friends considered
pagan gods, they used ordinal numbers to indicate days and months in
records: for example, 28th day 12th
month, 1765. This can cause confusion
because Britain and her Colonies used
the Julian Calendar until 1752. Before
then, March 25 was New Year’s Day
and Quakers used “First Month” as the
expression for March, along with the
old year’s date for most of the month.
So 15th day, first Month, 1733, would
be March 15, 1734 to us. Transcribe
dates as they appear in the original
document, but add a note indicating the
“translated” date.
Most Quaker records have been
microfilmed and are available at repositories noted in the Toolkit (opposite
page) and through FamilySearch’s Family History Library (FHL). See the box
at left for information on searching for
records and borrowing the film.
In addition to Hinshaw’s Quaker
encyclopedia, you’ll want to consult
the work of Quaker researchers Gilbert
Cope and Albert Cook Myers, both
members of the National Genealogical
Society’s Hall of Fame. Much of Cope’s
work, which includes family histories
and abstracts of meeting minutes, is in
manuscript form at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania <hsp.org> in Philadelphia and on FHL microfilm. Myers
donated much of his research, centered
on Colonial Quakers, to the Chester
County Historical Society <www.chester
cohistorical.org> in West Chester, Pa.;
the FHL has some microfilm copies.
These are the major types of Quaker
records you’ll find on FHL microfilm,
as well as in the collections mentioned
previously and in the resources listed in
the toolkit (opposite):
BIRTHS: Quakers didn’t practice
baptism, but monthly meetings kept
registers of the children born to members. The records identify the parents
and often show the parents’ residence.
Names of midwives and witnesses to
the birth might be included.
MARRIAGES: In addition to the couples’ names, marriage records usually
include their places of residence and
their parents’ names. You also may find
the names of all who witnessed the
IN TIME
1650 | George
Fox begins
preaching about
the “inner light”
1657 | British
judge mocks the
Society of Friends
as “Quakers”
1656 | Quakers
1681 | King
Charles II gives
William Penn
land that’s now
Pennsylvania
Mary Fisher and
Ann Austin are
imprisoned for
heresy in Boston
1689 | Toleration
1756 | Pennsylvania
Act releases
15,000 Quakers
from British
prisons
declares war on
the Lenape Indians;
Quakers in the General
Assembly resign
56
2012
8/29/12 10:54 AM
wedding, with close family members
names’ generally listed near those of
the bride and groom (who also received
a certificate signed by the witnesses).
Some marriages are also mentioned in
the business meeting records, along
with terminology such as “married out
of unity” (a Quaker marrying a nonQuaker) and “married contrary to discipline” (Quakers marrying outside the
auspices of a meeting).
DEATHS AND BURIALS: Monthly
meetings kept registers of member
deaths (normally naming the deceased’s
parents) and separate records of burials
in graveyards owned by the meeting.
These records are especially important
because most Quakers either have no
tombstones or have markers bearing
limited information.
MEETING MINUTES: The strictures
of Quaker “discipline” have given
researchers many a laugh at the types
of offenses that resulted in sanctions
for meeting members. Everything from
“drinking to excess” to “use of plural language to a singular person” has
been recorded in 18th-century meeting
records—giving modern researchers a
nice “slice” of their ancestors’ lives. But
these minutes primarily record nonoffenses, acting as diaries for the meeting and putting Quakers in the context
of the larger community.
CERTIFICATES OF REMOVAL: These
records are a boon to genealogists
trying to track ancestral moves from
place to place. A devout Quaker would
secure a certificate of removal from the
monthly meeting he was departing to
show the new meeting he’d left in good
standing. Some meetings kept a register
of issued certificates; others simply
mentioned their issuance in business
meeting minutes.
1775 | Philadelphia
Yearly Meeting
calls on members to
free their slaves
1828 | Many
Quaker meetings
divide over
teachings of Elias
Hicks
TOOLKIT
Websites
Cyndi’s List: Quaker
<cyndislist.com/quaker>
Guide to Researching Quaker
Records Using Hinshaw’s
Encyclopedia of American
Quaker Genealogy
<www2.guilford.edu/about_guilford/
services_and_administration/
library1/fhc/guides/hinshaw.html>
Old-Style and New-Style Dates
<ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/
roots-l/genealog/genealog.quakerc1>
Quaker Abbreviations
in Meeting Minutes
Quaker Genealogies: A Selected
List of Books by Thomas Hamm
and Willard Heiss (New England
Historic Genealogical Society)
Organizations
and Archives
Earlham College Library
801 National Road W.,
Richmond, ID 47374, (765)
983-1511, <legacy.earlham.edu/
library/content/friends>
Friends Historical Library
Quaker Corner
Swarthmore College, 500 College
Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081,
(610) 328-8496, <www.
<rootsweb.ancestry.com/~quakers>
swarthmore.edu/fhl.xml>
Quaker Forum
Friends University Library
<genforum.genealogy.com/quaker>
2100 W. University Ave., Wichita,
KS 67213, (316) 295-5880, <www.
<www.ronsattic.com/quaker1.htm>
Quaker Information Center
<www.quakerinfo.org/
resources/genealogy>
Quaker Electronic Archive
<www.qis.net~daruma>
QuakerMeetings.com
<www.quakermeetings.com>
Religious Society of Friends
370 Lancaster Ave., Haverford, PA
19041, (610) 896-1161,
<www.haverford.edu/
library/special>
Quaker Archives and
Library of Canada
<www.quaker.org>
Publications
Encyclopedia of American Quaker
Genealogy, 6 volumes, by William
Wade Hinshaw (Genealogical
Publishing Co.)
Our Quaker Ancestors: Finding Them
in Quaker Records by Ellen and David
Berry (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
Quaker History journal (Friends
Historical Association)
1845 | John
Wilbur’s criticism
leads to formation
of “Conservative
Friends”
friends.edu/special-collections>
Haverford College Library,
Quaker and Special Collections
1947 | American
Friends Service
Committee
receives Nobel
Peace Prize
Pickering College, 16945 Bayview
Ave., Newmarket, Ontario L3Y 4X2,
Canada, (905) 895-1700, <www.
archives-library.quaker.ca>
Wilmington College Watson
Library, Quaker Collection
Pyle Center 1227, 1870 Quaker
Way, Wilmington, OH 45177, (800)
341-9318, <www.wilmington.edu/
watson-library/special-collections.
cfm#quakers>
1951 | US
Quakers opposed
to the military draft
settle Monteverde,
Costa Rica
1955 |
Philadelphia and
New York Hicksite
and Orthodox yearly
meetings unite
57
8/29/12 10:54 AM
familyarchivist
AS K
A
Tools for taking care of your family’s legacy
HIVIST
C
R
{BY SUNNY JANE MORTON}
Q. So should I list all my heirlooms in my will or
living trust?
A. Not necessarily. First, you don’t want to flag valuable
estate
planning for
heirlooms
items for the IRS if an estate tax return has to be filed. Most
documents are written something like, “My belongings
will be divided between these people.” The key is to either
entrust people to equitably divide everything or to make
arrangements beforehand; for example, put people’s names
on things or start to distribute things you’re not using.
Q. The idea of handing out my prized
possessions seems pretty morbid.
A. It’s hard giving away anything while you’re still alive—
pictures, letters, jewelry—because it’s a way of coming to
terms with your own mortality. But when you downsize,
you go through this process anyway. It’s easier on those left
behind when you do it yourself, and you can participate in
the meaningful experience of passing things on. Invite relatives over and go through things with them. Even if you really
aren’t ready to part with your heirlooms, at least you can
learn what your family will cherish and make a plan for them
to receive those items.
3 WANT TO MAKE sure your family heirlooms fall into
careful, appreciative hands after you’re gone? Follow these
tips from lawyer Deborah L. Jacobs, author of Estate Planning
Smarts: A Practical, User-Friendly, Action-Oriented Guide.
Q. Why include heirlooms in estate planning?
A. Estate planning isn’t just about money. It’s also about love,
family and legacy. Including heirloom distribution can avoid
unpleasant surprises and promote family harmony. Otherwise, loved ones might suddenly find themselves fighting
over heirlooms during an already difficult time.
Q. What if my relatives don’t want
what I want to give them?
A. Some people won’t want to take specific items. It doesn’t
Q. What if my heirlooms aren’t valuable?
A. The things people fight about often have very little market
mean they don’t care about you. If you want to pass on the
memory that item represents, tell them about it or write it
down for them. It’s important to send the message that they
can live their lives in their own way. Alternately, sometimes
people feel like they have to be the custodian of all the family
items, whether they like them or not. Make it clear to people
that they should not feel obligated.
value but a lot of sentimental value. In one family, the kids
fought over their grandma’s little blue bowl. It was a freebie
grandma got with a Christmas pudding one year. When the
grandchildren spent the night at Grandma’s, everyone was
served breakfast out of that. It had huge sentimental value.
Use these
archival resources
for completing
the projects
described here.
Estate Planning
Smarts by Deborah
L. Jacobs
(DJ Working
Unlimited),
$24.95
<www.estateplanning
smarts.com>
Family Tree Legacies:
Preserving Memories
Throughout Time
by Allison Stacy
and Diane Haddad
(Family Tree
Books), $29.99
<shopfamilytree.com/
family-tree-legacies>
Organize Your
Family Archive video
class by Denise
Levenick for Family
Tree University,
$39.99
<shopfamilytree.com/
organize-your-familyarchive-webinar>
Saving Stuff: How to
Care for and Preserve
Your Collectibles,
Heirlooms, and Other
Prized Possessions
by Don Williams
and Louisa Jaggar
(Touchstone), $23.95
<amazon.com>
58
1112FT ARCHIVIST.indd 58
2012
8/29/12 10:55 AM
»
ARCHIVAL ACTION
FIND HOMES FOR HEIRLOOMS
1. List loved ones to whom you
intend to pass on heirlooms one day.
For each person, list any heirlooms
you hope they’d like to have.
2. Contact each individual in turn. If
possible, invite the person to visit you
at home or meet face to face. Otherwise, make a phone call.
3. Explain to your loved one your
desire that one day he or she will have
a meaningful heirloom (or more than
one) from you. Reassure loved ones
who may be upset by this discussion.
Say that you wish to enjoy the process of distributing the things you
love to people you love, and that you
want to share the stories or sentiments
attached to heirlooms with those who
will receive them.
4. Describe any item(s) you have
in mind for each person and why you
thought of it. Ask whether this would
be a welcome legacy. If you’re still
looking for a good “match” between
heirloom and heir, ask the person
about any item or type of item she’d
prefer to receive. Take notes and follow up.
5. Explain your timing—whether
you’re currently distributing items or
TIME
COST
1 hour or more
Free
organizing the process for the future.
If heirlooms will be distributed after
you pass away, explain how you’ll
document your wishes for those who
settle your estate.
6. If items will be distributed after
your death, make a detailed list of the
items, where to find them, and who
should receive them (with contact
information). Sign and date the document and give it to at least one trusted
family member and/or the executor of
your estate. This document won’t be
legally binding, but it will communicate your wishes to loved ones.
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1112FT ARCHIVIST.indd 59
8/29/12 10:55 AM
nowwhat?
Answers to your genealogy questions
{ B Y D AV I D A . F R Y X E L L }
I’m researching a Scottish family that belonged to a church other than
the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). But Church of Scotland records
are all I can find online. How can I find other church records?
Although the Church of Scotland was never the official state
church, other Scottish denominations are often referred to as “nonconformist” churches. Those that
weren’t breakaway Presbyterian
groups (“seceders”) are categorized
as “dissenters.” These include Quakers, Methodists and Catholics. Both
types of nonconformists kept their
own religious records, separate from
the Church of Scotland records that
are available online at ScotlandsPeople
<www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk> (which
also has Catholic parish registers, if
you believe your ancestors belonged to
that faith).
The National Archives of Scotland
<www.nas.gov.uk> keeps some nonconformist church records, filed under
classifications CH10- CH16. These
records cover Quakers (CH10), Methodists (CH11), the Scottish Episcopal
Church (CH12), United Free Church
of Scotland (CH13), Congregational/
United Reformed Church (CH14), Unitarian Church (CH15) and Free Church
of Scotland (CH16).
Keep in mind that prior to 1834,
nonconformist ministers in Scotland
weren’t authorized to perform marriages. Then from 1834 to 1855, they
could perform marriages only if the
banns had first been read in the local
parish church. So your nonconformist
ancestors still might have Church of
Scotland marriage records.
A small portion of the Family History
Library’s index to Scotland, Births and
Baptisms, 1564-1950, online at FamilySearch.org <www.familysearch.org>, covers nonconformist records.
Trace Your
Ancestors
Across the USA!
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1112FT NOW WHAT.indd 60
STATE
RESEARCH
GUIDES CD
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September 2012
8/29/12 10:57 AM
My uncle enlisted in the
Canadian Air Force before
World War II. After the United
States entered the war, he
joined the US Army Air Corps
and was killed in 1943. Where
would I find a record of his
Canadian Air Force service?
“genealogy package,” which includes
copies of selected documents from the
file that highlight the individual’s service. It may take as long as six months
to receive a response.
Where can I find a burial
record for someone who
died in England in the 1950s?
Records of Canadian Air Force
and other armed services members who died in service during the
Second World War are open to the public; see <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/
databases/war-dead/index-e.html> . But
because your uncle died while in the US
military, his records likely fall under the
Restricted Records held by the Library
and Archives Canada <www.collections
FAMILY
TREE
FAVORITES
Now Back as
eBooks
Most sources of British burial
records focus on the 19th century,
but you can check several places for
more recent burials.
First, try a free search at Deceased
Online <www.deceasedonline.com> .
Launched in 2008, it’s the first central
database of statutory burial and cremation registers for the United Kingdom
and the Republic of Ireland. It brings
together records from some 3,000 burial
authorities and nearly 250 crematoria
in the United Kingdom alone. Records
date from the 1850s and extend to recent
years. In a quick check, we found lots
of burials from the 1950s. Searching—
even advanced searching by county and
date range—is free, and results give you
burial date and place. To view complete
records, you can subscribe or pay per
view with credits you buy online.
The free FamilySearch.org now has
a searchable database of more than 15
million England Deaths and Burials,
1538-1991. Also try Interment.net, which
has many UK cemetery transcriptions
<www.interment.net/uk/eng>, and Find A
Grave <www.findagrave.com>. The subscription site findmypast.co.uk <www.
findmypast.co.uk> has parish records
including burials dating up to 2005,
although most are earlier than you need.
Finally, try FreeREG <freereg.org.uk>, a
volunteer transcription project for UK
birth, marriage and burial registers.
canada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-909.007-e.
html> . You’ll have to provide proof of
his death to access these. (For people
dead less than 20 years, proof of the
requester’s relationship is also required;
only a parent, spouse, child, sibling or
grandchild of the individual can request
these records.)
You can send your signed request
as a letter or print the Application for
Military Service Information form on
the archives’ website. Send to ATIP and
Personnel Records Division, Library
and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington
St., Ottawa, ON K1A 0N4; or fax to (613)
947-8456 (no email requests accepted).
You’ll need to provide your uncle’s
surname, full given name(s), date of
birth, and service number or social
insurance number. If you don’t know
the date of birth, service number or
social insurance number, supply secondary information such as the names
of next of kin, dates of service and place
of enlistment. Make sure to request a
Send questions to [email protected] or post them at
<familytreemagazine.com/forum>. Sorry, we can’t respond
personally or answer all questions.
AVAILABLE AT
61
1112FT NOW WHAT.indd 61
8/29/12 10:57 AM
everything’srelative
The lighter side of family history
••• JULY/AUGUST WINNERS •••
Homeward Bound
A road trip back home can be full of warm fuzzies or turn into a hot mess. These readers’ touching
stories show you can go home again, at least to your ancestral home. Each contributor will receive our
Family Tree Pocket Reference <shopfamilytree.com/the-family-tree-pocket-reference-book>—
which also fits perfectly inside a glove compartment.
Harvesting Memories
C O U RT E SY O F B A R B WA L K E R
Mom, at 95, wished to see where she
grew up. As we drove up a dirt road,
she said, “It’s looking familiar.” Seeing
snow ahead, we parked and walked. She
explained that the well had been over
there, the chicken coop there, the barn
up there and the house there. Foundations for the chicken coop and barn were
still discernible, as was the cellar hole
under the one-room house site. Cousin
Floyd was amazed Mom remembered
after 80 years. She said it was there, and
we saw the proof. It was an amazing
journey into Mom’s memories.
••• OCTOBER/NOVEMBER CHALLENGE •••
50 Shades of Red
Fess up! Have you ever shouted with genealogical joy in the middle of a silent library or
unwound an entire reel of microfilm at a FamilySearch Center? Share your embarrassing genealogy research story (you’ll feel better, we promise!). If we publish it in Family
Tree Magazine, you’ll win our new City Genealogy Guides CD—which lists plenty of
libraries where you can hide your red face.
TO ENTER: Submit your story (less than 150 words, please) online at <www.
familytreemagazine.com/challenge>.
DEADLINE: Nov. 30, 2012
REMEMBER: You must include your mailing address to win. We can’t acknowl-
edge entries. By submitting, you give Family Tree Magazine permission to feature
your contribution in all print and electronic media.
Arlene Olson » Roosevelt, Minn.
Family Tree Fling
In 2001, Mom, my sister and I traveled
to the small village in Northern Ireland
where my great-grandparents raised
13 children. As we drove down the dirt
road to their abandoned farm, we met
Austin, who lived on the farm next to
our family. Mom told him the family
story, ending with: “And we have no
relatives left in Ireland.” To which he
replied, “Yes, you do. I’m your cousin!”
It seems Great-uncle Willy had a fling
with Austin’s grandmother and she
bore Willy’s out-of-wedlock son, Austin’s father. We now correspond regularly with our surprise cousin via email.
asked that man if he was my cousin. He
said no, but pointed to the door we’d
been standing next to and said, “That’s
where he lives.”
We knocked and a little old man came
out. We introduced ourselves, and he
started crying. He went inside and took
out the letter I’d written to his family
two years ago. Sadly, I’ve since learned
that my cousin has passed away.
Gloria Freemon » Bouse, Ariz.
Barb Walker » Aurora, Colo.
Ciao, Cousin!
Barb Walker discovered a surprise cousin
while visiting her family’s homestead in
Bellaghy, County Derry, Northern Ireland.
My first trip to Italy included a side trip
to Casalvecchio to look for a cousin of
my father. We were standing outside
a building and asked a passerby if he
knew my Italian relative. He pointed
up the street. We saw a man there, and
Email brief humorous
or heartwarming
anecdotes about your
genealogy to
[email protected]
with Everything’s Relative
in the subject line.
62
1112FT RELATIVE.indd 62
2012
8/29/12 11:21 AM
»
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photodetective
Uncovering clues in historical photos
{ B Y M A U R E E N A . TAY L O R }
Hoppin’ Fun
3 ONCE OUR ANCESTORS got over
feeling uncomfortable in front of the
camera, they began having fun with
photography. By the 20th century, family and friends encouraged silly poses
for candid shots. This image shows
three men, likely farmers, struggling
against an oversized replica of the
crop’s foe—the grasshopper.
Larae Schraeder owns this snapshot,
part of a collection she inherited from
her great-grandparents Ralph M. and
Nettie (Finley) Jeffers. Knowing the
provenance of a photo can help you
narrow down who’s in it. Schraeder
also shared dates, documents and photos with me to aid the identification.
She believes these men might be
related to Eliza (Jeffers) Coon, also
spelled Kuhn, born in 1847 in Gallia
County, Ohio. Eliza died in 1929 in
Vernon, Mo. A branch of the Jeffers
family had settled in Kansas by 1880.
Schraeder knows that members of the
Ohio Jefferses stayed in touch with
the Missouri branch until the second
decade of the 20th century.
Eliza’s brother Charles Phillip Jeffers also moved west from Ohio and
died in January 1919 in Marion County,
Kan. According to the 1880 census,
he was a farm laborer on his future
father-in-law’s property. Charles married Rebecca Jane Riggs and they had
two sons: Guy, born in 1889, and Ulysses
Grant, born in 1883.
The man in the center has a long
face, just like an 1880s image of Charles
Jeffers that Schraeder shared with me.
The young man to the left, who has
similar features, could be his son Guy.
But other clues suggest this photo was
taken after World War I, when Guy and
Ulysses would’ve been too old to be the
young men in this image.
The men’s identities are a persistent mystery. Whoever they are, they
enjoyed playacting for the camera. This
is photographic folklore relatives must
have chuckled about, but neglected to
pass down to the next generation.
2
3
4
5
1
64
1112FT PHOTO DETECTIVE.indd 64
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8/29/12 10:59 AM
We Print
Family
Histories
1. The largest swarms of grasshoppers
plagued the American West and
Midwest from 1874 to 1876, but there
were also onslaughts in 1931, 1934,
1936 and 1939. Kansas became known
as the Grasshopper State after the
Great Swarm of 1874. The origin of this
oversize metal insect is unknown, but
it may have been meant to scare off
the real ones. For more on grasshopper
swarms, see the Dictionary of American
History <www.encyclopedia.com/
topic/grasshopper.aspx>.
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2. This large farm grew cabbages.
Heads to the left have been cut off at
the ground, while the specimens to
the right remain mostly intact. Both
the size of the farm and the house in
the background may help Schraeder
discover who near her ancestors’ homes
grew cabbages as a crop.
• Quality reproduction of old photographs
and other family documents.
• No limit on quantity of books.
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• Friendly phone-help to answer
questions you may have concerning
the layout and printing of your project.
Call 800-200-2782 or visit
www.genealogyprinting.com
3. Schraeder can use family information,
land records and topographical maps
to determine the location of this farm.
Where is the land mostly flat with a
slight rise in the distance? The Jeffers
family was large with siblings in Ohio,
Missouri, Kansas, Washington and
Kentucky. Researching each location,
finding land documents and studying
the terrain could help narrow the
possibilities.
4. The men’s apparel suggests cool
weather (though the crops show we’re
still within the growing season). This
young man wears a sleeveless sweater.
A search of historical newspapers on
subscription website GenealogyBank
<www.genealogybank.com> for
sleeveless sweater confirms this was a
fashion innovation popular after World
War I. The sweaters were available for
around $3.50 from department stores
and the Sears catalog, or knitted by
crafty wives and mothers.
to order a free copy of our
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HOGMANAY 2012
New Year’s Eve in Scotland
5. The style of these hats was also
common after World War I.
Have you found an unusual family
photo? Submit the image and your
story following the instructions at
<familytreemagazine.com/submita-mystery-photo>. It may appear
here or on the Photo Detective Blog
<blog.familytreemagazine.com/
photodetectiveblog>.
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1112FT PHOTO DETECTIVE.indd 65
8/29/12 11:00 AM
thetoolkit
Tech tutorials, reviews and roundups
{EDITED BY ALLISON DOLAN}
TUTORIAL
Ordering FamilySearch
Microfilms Online
houses and driving to libraries with large
genealogy collections, there’s an easier,
cheaper way to access many genealogical records and books. The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’
(LDS) genealogy arm, Family Search,
has microfilmed millions of records
and books from all over the globe. You
can view the microfilms at LDS’ Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake
City, or rent them through 4,600 branch
FamilySearch Centers around the
world. Follow these steps place a microfilm rental order from home.
1
Click on Sign In in the top right
corner of the FamilySearch.org
home page <www.familysearch.org> . If
you don’t already have a free FamilySearch Account, you’ll need to create
one. When you register, you’ll select a
2
1
3 INSTEAD OF WRITING to court-
default FamilySearch Center near you
where you want films sent for viewing.
Select the Catalog tab on the
FamilySearch.org home page.
The catalog lists the FHL’s holdings,
which include county and church
records, family history books, unpublished research and more. You can
request most microfilms, but unfilmed
books don’t circulate—you have to go to
Salt Lake City to view those.
2
3
Next, search the catalog. Search
on a place name to find records
and local histories, or on a surname to
find family histories. The place can be
a town, township, county, state or country, and you can enter one or more place
levels. Enter just a state name, and
you’ll get a list of all the counties and
towns for which the FHL has items.
Enter a county name, and a list of all
the places within the county pops up.
66
1112FT TOOLKIT.indd 66
2012
8/29/12 11:00 AM
4
3
5
6
7
Select a place from the list and click the
Search button.
The next screen shows all the
subject terms for the place you
selected. For example, if you choose a
county and the FHL has land records
and probate records, those subjects
appear, along with the number of items
under that heading. Click on a subject
term to view a list of available items.
Click on a title for more information. In the case of county
records, the description usually tells
you what records are on each roll of
microfilm and the years they cover.
Some records are online and unavailable on microfilm—in that case, the
catalog description links to the page on
FamilySearch.org where you can view
them for free.
Choose the film number for the
records and time period you’re
researching. With land and probate
records—two of the most useful county
4
5
6
8
records—you’ll usually start by ordering the index films. Land records typically have separate grantor (seller) and
grantee (buyer) indexes. After you’ve
found a name in the indexes, go back
to the catalog to order the film with the
records for the volume you need.
Verify that the website shows
the FamilySeach Center near you
where you want the film delivered. A
short-term microfilm loan costs $7.50
and gives you at least 60 days to view
the film on site at the FamilySearch
Center. With the extended loan option,
which costs $18.75, the film stays at the
center indefinitely.
Some items are available on microf i c h e, ra t h e r t h a n m i c ro f i l m . A
microfiche loan costs $4.75 and the
microfiche stays at the FamilySearch
Center indefinitely. After selecting a
loan option, click Add to Cart.
When you’ve selected all the
films you want to request, click
7
8
Proceed to Checkout. Then verify your
billing address, pay by either credit card
or PayPal, and review your order. You’ll
receive an e-mail confirmation. You
have 24 hours to cancel the order if you
made a mistake or no longer need the
film. You can log in to your FamilySearch
account at any time to check the status
of your order.
A few weeks after placing your order,
you’ll be notified by e-mail when your
film arrives at the FamilySearch Center.
You must use films on site—they can’t
be removed from the center. When
viewing your film, keep in mind that
some contain multiple items. If the
catalog indicated an item number, you
might need to scroll through the film to
find the record collection you need.
You’ll receive a renewal notification
by e-mail a week before the film needs
to be returned. You can either renew
the film or have it returned.
» Rick Crume
67
8/29/12 11:00 AM
thetoolkit
QUICK GUIDE
Two free programs, Google’s Picasa <picasa.google.com> and Microsoft’s Windows Live Photo Gallery <windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-live/photogallery-get-started>, offer genealogists plenty of tools for editing, organizing,
searching and sharing digital images. Both let you add captions and searchable
tags (keywords) to photos. You can tag faces, and both programs use facial recognition to suggest tags. Most tags are saved in the metadata embedded in each
file. (Before tagging faces in Picasa, select Tools>Options and check Store Name
Tags in Photo.) Note that the programs can’t read all of each other’s tags, though,
in particular people tags and tags attached to TIFF files.
If you don’t like your edits, both programs make it easy to return to the originals. But they have different ways of saving edits. Changes made in Windows Live
Photo Gallery show up right away in the file. In Picasa, though, changes are kept
in a separate file. So you need to save edits to the file before opening it in another
program. One way: Select File>Export Picture to Folder to create a copy of the file
with your edits. This comparison chart will help you choose between Picasa and
Windows Live Photo Gallery—or take advantage of both programs’ best features.
Picasa vs.
Windows Live
Photo Gallery
» Rick Crume
Feature
Requirements
Editing features
Picasa 3.9
Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011
Windows XP, Vista, 7; Mac OS X 10.5 or later
auto-adjust
crop
red-eye removal
resize (hidden under File>Export Picture to Folder)
simple video editing
Windows Vista, 7
auto-adjust
crop
red-eye removal
Use a separate program, Windows Live Movie
Maker, for video editing.
Getting creative
You can place text on photos, combine pictures into
a collage, create slideshows and make movies of your
photos.
You can combine two or more photos of the
same scene into a panorama, make movies of
your photos (with Windows Live Movie Maker)
and slide shows with themes. Photo Fuse lets
you merge the best parts of two similar photos.
Organizing photos
Add descriptive tags to images and tag faces. While
leaving them in their original folders, you can put
photos in multiple virtual albums organized, for
instance, by family or place.
Add descriptive tags to images and tag faces.
Searching photos
by file name
by caption
by tag
by folder and album name
by date
by rating
by file name
by caption
by tag
by date
by rating
Sharing online
You get 1GB of free space on Picasa Web Albums and
you can easily publish your photos and videos on
Google+, YouTube, Facebook and Flickr.
You can automatically synchronize photos on your
PC, including edits, captions and tags, with photos in
Picasa Web Albums. You may need a plugin to sync
with other online photo albums.
You get a whopping 25GB of free space for
photos and videos on Windows Live SkyDrive
and you can easily publish to YouTube,
Facebook and Flickr.
You can’t automatically synchronize photos
on your PC with online photo albums.
68
2012
8/29/12 11:01 AM
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8/29/12 11:01 AM
thetoolkit
SOFTWARE REVIEW
Heredis for Mac
PRICE: $59.99 (the iOS app is free)
MANUFACTURER: BSD Concept, +33
(4) 67 20 78 83, <www.heredis.com/
en/heredis-mac>
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Mac OSX
10.6 or higher, 165MB disk space, iPad
or iPhone for optional sync
DEMO/TRIAL VERSION: Free demo
allows up to 50 individuals
BIGGEST DRAWS: Fully Mac-like feel,
highly customizable, flexible data
entry, integrated maps, iOS sync
DRAWBACKS: Feature-cluttered for
some users, no web export
Ease of Use
(interface, navigation, help/tutorials)
File Management
(native files and GEDCOMs)
Charts and Multimedia
(presentation, variety, flexibility)
Documentation and Publication
(citations, reports and website publishing)
Searching
(online and within your file)
Overall Rating
=so-so
=satisfactory
=good
=great
=exceptional
Ease of use
Documentation and publication
Anyone who’s ever done genealogy
on a Mac will be able to jump right
in and start using Heredis, no manual
required (though there’s an 89-page
PDF user guide, just in case). Fast and
easy data entry is a particular point
of pride for Heredis, which lets you
enter and edit data not only on an
ancestor’s “card,” but also in a Family
Group Data view. Maps for your ancestors’ places are generated automatically—no more wondering where that
village is located. Almost everything,
including the toolbar, is customizable.
Synchronizing with the optional iOS
apps or with Heredis on other Macs,
and even PCs, is a snap.
Casual users may stumble, however,
over the welter of buttons, arrows and
drop-down menus. Do you really need
a drop-down for whether an ancestor can sign his own name? Heredis’
French origins also might give you
pause, with funny phrasings (“Signs
Perhaps”) and awkward translations
in the manual (“You have found some
photos or copies of acts?”).
Adding and editing sources takes just a
few clicks, although Heredis’ tendency
to detail may intimidate casual users
with fields such as Medium and Call#
and a Quality of Data slider. The categorization of source types is quirky,
with census records and passenger
lists, for example, lumped together
under “Namelists.”
You can output customizable books
and a variety of reports (called Sheets)
to your word processor, but not
directly to PDF, RTF or HTML formats. Notably lacking in Heredis’ otherwise powerful and attractive output
options is any way to directly generate
a family website.
Searching
You can search by name, find duplicates
or filter by criteria such as dates of
events, relationships, even the cryptically labeled but useful “Figures” (age
at death, age at marriage, number of
children, etc.). Indexes cover surnames,
given names, places, sources, media and
oddly, occupations. There’s no built-in
searching for data online.
File management
Import and export of GEDCOM files is
fast and seamless. Heredis is unforgiving about importing sources that don’t
follow strict formatting, however, and
you may find yourself with a long list of
untitled sources.
Charts and multimedia
Heredis produces especially gorgeous
charts (purists, in fact, may deem them
overdesigned)—ancestor, descendant
and hourglass. Once you’ve selected
a tree format, it’s easy to customize
the text, field styles, pictures and borders. Add multimedia elements—photos, audio, video, document files—with
Mac-intuitive drag and drop.
The verdict
Mac lovers who want to customize
their programs’ interface exactly their
way will appreciate Heredis’ almost
overwhelming flexibility, as will genealogists who want to record absolutely
everything about their ancestors and
sources. Heredis’ right-out-of-thebox, two-way syncing with its free iOS
apps and even Heredis on a PC is also
a huge draw if you have those gizmos.
Beginning researchers and casual users
might be put off by the bells and whistles and by Heredis’ foreign feel, as well
as the lack of built-in website generating capability.
» David A. Fryxell
70
2012
8/30/12 4:27 PM
Technology Breakthrough
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8/29/12 11:02 AM
timecapsule
Ancestors in their own words
{SHARON DEBARTOLO CARMACK}
They will not allow me to go home, and I must write these things down for fear I
forget. It will help to pass the time away. It is very hard to endure this prison life,
and know that my sons think me insane when I am not.
How unkind Mrs. Mills is today; does she think this sort of treatment is for the
good of our health? I begged for milk today, and she can’t spare me any; she has
not enough for all the old women, she says. I don’t wish to deprive any one of that
which they require, but have I not a right to all I require to feed me and make me
well? All I do need is good nourishing food, and I know better than any one else can
what I require to build me up and make me as I was before I met with this strange
change of condition. I remember telling the Doctor, on his first visit to my room,
that I only needed biscuit and milk and beef tea to make me well. He rose to his feet
and said, “I know better than any other man.” That was all I heard him say, and
he walked out, leaving me without a word of sympathy, or a promise that I should
have anything. I say to myself (as I always talk aloud to myself when not well),
“You don’t know any more than this old woman does.” I take tea with Mrs. Mills; I
don’t like to look at those patients who look so wretched.
In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for sane
women to be institutionalized in asylums
like this one in Binghamton, NY.
3 IN 1885 , 62-year-old May Hues-
tis Pengilly self-published her Diary
Written in the Provincial Lunatic
As ylum <www.gutenberg.org /files/
18398/18398-h/18398-h.htm>. She dedicated it to the “Province of New Brunswick, and the State of Massachusetts,”
to show the public the “inner workings of their Hospitals and Asylums,
and prompt them to search out better
methods of conducting them, as well
for the benefit of the superintendent as
the patient.”
Throughout history, many sane
women have been institutionalized.
Commitment was a viable solution for
husbands who wanted to “get rid” of
their wives. In some states, a husband
desiring to marry someone else could
divorce his wife on grounds of insanity.
A man who couldn’t sell his wife’s land
without her release of dower might
try to have her declared insane and
incompetent. Some men committed
their wives simply for being outspoken.
Women also were committed for what
we now call postpartum depression,
menopause or bipolar disorder. Some
had mental illnesses that today are controlled with medicine.
On the 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870 and
1880 federal population censuses, look
L I B R A RY O F C O N G R E S S P R I N T S A N D P H O T O G R A P H S D I V I S I O N, L C - D 4 -1 2 0 5 9
A Hopeless Place
in the column that denotes “insane”
persons. A mark for your ancestor is a
signal to check other historical records.
If the mark is on the 1880 census, look
for the corresponding 1880 Schedule for the Defective, Dependent and
Delinquent Classes, some of which are
digitized at <ancestry.com>. Also check
probate files, surrogates’ court records
and divorce records.
If you find the name of an asylum,
contact local and state historical societies about historical records. Even
older institutional records are generally restricted, but you may be able to
get admittance records.
72
1112FT TIME CAPSULE.indd 72
2012
8/29/12 11:03 AM
8/29/12 11:03 AM
RECORDS
DS FROM
ROM HOME, ACROSS THE
TH POND
PON
AND BEYOND
EYOND
Explore our collections from across the United States
Over 1 billion records from overseas, dating from 1200
British Newspaper Archives: 400 years of regional and
to the present
national newspapers from England, Wales, Scotland
Over 46 million parish baptisms, marriages and burials
and Ireland
from across England and Wales dating back to 1538
Rare and unrivaled Irish specialist records
search with the experts
8/29/12 11:03 AM

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