Today I am just going to give you a few ideas to think outside of the box. Maybe you already check these places and may be you are new and hadn't thought of it. Either way, like we discussed in a previous blog post, refresh your memory and open up your mind.
Sure - marriage records contain marriage information. But what else could contain that info? Birth of a child could tell who the two parents are, and that is a huge help to know if someone was married or if they had the child out of wedlock. Death Certificates often contain the spouse's name. Church registers often list when someone applied to get married or when they did get married. Newspapers occasionally have a list of people who applied for marriage licenses. Don't just look for the wedding announcement! Bibles, Diaries and journals are hard to come by and are frequently found sold at auctions and estate sales. There are literally hundreds for sale every week on sites like ebay. But what information can you find in Journals, bibles, and diaries? LOTS!! Besides birth, marriage and death info, many of our great grandparents would put information in that was personal. Diaries would often tell about the weather and how their daily life was adjusting. Journals would often contain information pertaining to the homestead such as crop gains and losses and occasionally about expenses. If you have one of these items, then you are a blessed soul. Family letters. I can not tell you how much I learned from some old letters written in the 1800s that my grandmother thought enough to save. If you are lucky to find some of these hang on to them. You never know when in the future you may need to recall that information for a new person you found in your family tree. She also saved letters from her courting days. This gave me a glimpse into her daily life and emotional state. I knew her on a whole other level when I read these. Phone address books. We don't even begin to keep one of these anymore. Why should we, when we have all our cell phones to keep it for us? Well guess what? I found siblings, cousins and distant relatives all in a phone book from my biological grandfather. Every time they moved, he would write a new address and phone number down and strike out the previous one. This was extremely helpful with names that were super popular! I could then narrow down exactly where they were. I currently have four old address books sitting in my personal collection from grandparents and my mom. I love looking through them. Recipe books aren't just for recipes. I kid you not, if you have an old one that has been in the family a long time, sit down and read every stuffed piece of paper in that book. These were like the hub of a household. The off hand notes written on them are priceless. The back side of clippings from newspaper recipes is amazing to read sometimes. And... well there is all that delicious stuff that we never have time to cook. One last one for you today - Sales Registers from the local mercantile! Listen, these were not public documents. A private person owned them and didn't have to save them to the archives when they closed. Those few that remained were saved by family and passed on to generations and local societies. What they do contain if you can find one is important daily information about what your family was eating, drinking and buying. If they were well off financially, they were purchasing more frivolous items such as clocks or books. If they were not, you'll see the purchase of flour and sugar (and the occasional bottle of whiskey for what ails them.) It's worth checking for, google it or call the nearest Historical Society to where your ancestor resided and see if they have seen or heard of something like it. Whatever you do, let the Adventures lead you in your Genealogy research!
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I can't tell you how many times my left eye became twitchy when I would talk to people about the spelling of their family names. First names, Middle names, Surnames --- don't get me started.
Okay... too late. Listen. Let's stop putting modern day issues on our past ancestors. Okay? Spelling was not a big deal 100 years ago. This is a modern issue. If someone could not read or write, they often didn't need to know how to spell their own name, not to mention tell someone else how to spell it, or correct it if someone else spelled it wrong. Just because someone somewhere has given someone a written middle name, if there is no document that shows a middle name, they may not have even had one. If they did and never used it, I'd be happy enough to just know that they had a name at all. Surnames - If someone's last name is misspelled somewhere, it doesn't mean it wasn't your family. It just means someone couldn't read or write, or they neglected to ask how to spell it because they were just sure enough in their own skills to spell correctly. The next person who says out loud to you, "That's not my kin because we never spelled our name that way." Just go ahead and walk away now. No matter what you say, they won't listen to you. But if you're that person who swore it was never spelled that way, please listen just a little bit and open up your mind. You'd be surprised how quickly that brick wall might just fall. Hey, listen to this. Sometimes I'm not sure what I'm doing. I wish more people would admit these sort of things. That's part of what makes us human and relatable to other people. When I'm researching, I don't always follow the rules. Sometimes I even forget what the rules are and get caught up in the thrill of the hunt totally forgetting to keep track of what I'm doing so I can get back to it later.
This week, I've had the chance to review techniques as well. I have even mentioned to others how I feel like I'm in a genealogical rut lately. I've decided it's time for a reset. So let's take a step back for a moment. What is the first thing you did when you started research? You decided you wanted to know something about your family. But WHAT did you want to know?! That question is going to drive what you do to center your focus. What do you want to know? How do you already know the things you do know? Where can you find more information about the things you don't know? Step back this week and figure out what you want to know. As always, Enjoy your Adventures in Genealogy. I've been known to tell people I meet that when it comes to finding anything you want to know about in your family history, you can either google it or you can look at Facebook. That's right. I said it. Facebook. We have a love / hate relationship. I can get really bothered by the political and personal drama, or if I work it right, I can find amazing things to further my love for this hobby. Or any hobby.... but I happen to love research, cemeteries and old items!!
I find myself envious of the items that I have found in other people's collections and inventories. Many of us do not have items to feel and touch and hold and smell..... The internet has those of us with little to no visual identities of our ancestors, together with others who DO hold these items! How fabulous is that when you stop to think about it? One of my favorite places to spend time looking at family treasures has been on Facebook in a group run by Don A. Howell. He runs a moderately sized group by the name of West Kentucky Genealogy. Don's been collecting family photos, negatives, bibles, documents, newspapers and other items for more than 30 years hoping to reunite them with their rightful heirs.
Over the years Don has been rescuing items from auctions, flea markets, yard sales and websites like eBay amassing some 500,000, "Give or Take" he says, photos and thousands of family bibles. Don's collection of old newspapers from Graves County, KY is near a full completion of what existed at nearly 90%. He estimates that he's been able to return to family, several thousand items though, admittedly, he's never really kept track of the statistics. Don't let the name of this fool you! Don at WKG has items from all over Kentucky and all over the US in all time periods including pretty modern times. Don has purchased the remaining contents of several major portrait and photography studios. Typically those will contain photos that were unclaimed, unpaid or forgotten as well as negatives. Don also shows this inventory on his Curtis & Mays Studio Facebook Page! I can tell you that with 55,106 images on Facebook page alone, you will have no problem looking for something interesting! Yes, I counted them. My bean counter and my fingers took over an hour to go through the numerous albums of photos counting! As I was counting, he was adding hundreds more.... I gave up. Sorry, I tried. [HINT: Use Facebook page and group search features for any item that may be labeled. Those that are not labeled or are unknown will have to be browsed through. ]
Beside the Facebook page he also maintains The West Kentucky Genealogy website where you can see items in his inventory. A wonderfully laid out and informative website with even more items to mesmerize for hours and hours on end. All the searching, looking and browsing will hopefully find you staring one of your own family ancestors in the face! At least, that's Don's hope. Also take a moment (or a month or two)... at West Kentucky MagCloud for unique reproductions of some items that are available. This image of a Confederate Soldier was in an estate sale in Paducah, Kentucky. As Civil War photos are a huge collector's item, this one cost Don $375 to save. Over the years, Don admits, that he's spent quite a large sum on some items and has often put his auction paddle in the air and just left it there until he was the buyer. "I try to put myself in the shoes of the family. If they were there, would they keep going for grandma's old 1700's Bible? I would..." Though those large purchases are rare, sometimes large collections may cost a collectively large amount. As Don saves these items, he catalogs them, inventories them and then scans them on to hard drives. With some collections, Don will occasionally make a book with the items so that more than one family member can have copies.
Though this is Don's hobby, it is not without risk and expense! The purchases he says first came out of the own pockets. As years went on, he has had to tighten the budget a bit. The money to save more items now comes mostly from the rescuing of family heirlooms by their living families and relatives. WKG does ask for a recoup of expense paid and shipping if it is needed, but no profit is obtained from those sales. Donations in both a physical form and a monetary form have been received in the past. Don has also taken on an apprentice to keep the mission going in the future. For those of you who venture into the wild wild web you may want to take a look at the West Kentucky Genealogy RedBubble page as well, see even more items that you can order online, and find out how you can help Don save these memories for future generations. Go out there and Enjoy those Adventures In Genealogy! Let Don A. Howell at West Kentucky Genealogy know you appreciate what he does. I hope you are reunited with YOUR family soon! ~M
I moved to Alabama in 2008, but all my life, I knew my grandmother and her family were from Mississippi and that my mom was born there. When I was younger, my parents always had two flags on their camper... an American Flag and a Rebel flag to show that one of them was raised in the north and one was raised in the south. She was outnumbered by Yankees in our family though as we were all born in the north except my sister, she was born in Key West, so she didn't count as a Rebel, it was like it's own little world in Florida. She was proud of her heritage, and it was a way to break the ice when they were out camping and exploring new people and places. When I would start talking to people about family history research the questions that I would always hear from people were, "Oh? Who's your Kin? Where are they from?" I would promptly hang my head as I would explain that while I don't have kin here, I do have kin in the south and that my mom was southern raised. Because, lets face it. What they really wanted to know was; was I a southerner by birth? Did I call them PEEcans or PAKahns? Did I eat Corn Bread or the abomination sweet corn bread? Did I drink Sweet Tea or that horrid northern Iced Tea with sugar granules that never dissolved? Which team was I about to root for would determine where my loyalty lies and if I could be trusted or not. It wasn't really about where I was born or raised, but if I was going to eat properly and not root for someone outside the SEC... As I got further along in my research of my family lines, the migration lines and patterns all started to appear. I grew in knowledge and in research. Eventually, I realized that several of my family lines from the NC/SC area were migrating in to southern Tennessee and Northern Alabama before they ended up in South Alabama and Mississippi. It was fascinating to learn that I had cousins and xGreat grand uncles and aunts who were living just miles from my current home 100-150 years ago. I began to see things differently. I may be walking on the same street they walked on. I may see a view that they once saw. About a year ago, I found that one of those ancestors was a prominent man in the early years of the town I currently live in. It was rather shocking to me to realize that I was actually native "by blood" even if a few generations moved away for a while. I had "come home". And just this week, I discovered that the children and sons/daughters in-law of that same man, married other prominent families that founded this town. People these streets are named for are married to my families. Their children are my actual cousins. The place I live is steps away from their homesteads. The research into civil war skirmishes and men who owned businesses here are all related to my family too. The names I have been reading about for 11 years now are MY kin. I'm legit. I'm a native by blood. When I moved here, I purchased a hat that I thought I would wear all around until people would stop asking me who my kin was. It says, "Yankee by Birth, Rebel by heart". Somewhere in heaven, my mom is waving that Rebel flag, proud to know we found our ancestors and we're home. There are billions of free resources out there for researchers these days. I've said this to many people through the years, but often we just get in the habit of using what we know. That is why it is important for you to do Research about Research! In February of this year (2019) I was doing just that when I came across a hidden gem of great importance and value to our town. I was looking through the available resources given at Wallace State Community College Library which has a renowned historical and genealogical collection. A hand out compiled by Robert S Davis, Director, Computer and Internet Genealogy at Wallace State, has links to all kinds of resources. One of those was a link to ICON - International Coalition On Newspapers at the Center for Research Libraries. With that lack of anything better to do, I of course entered the city and hit search. This brought up a list of five items out there floating in the universe that contained Hartselle as the city. We're pretty unique like this, we don't have to worry about there being thirty cities by the same name. I had actually heard of all of these newspapers except the last in the list. Well of course that meant I had to find out more. By clicking on the link I found just a tad bit more information. This told me where exactly I find this item and what repository may have it. That's really exciting. I've said this before, but Mr. Google is your friend. ALWAYS Google things. You never know what you might find. So I immediately found the Antiquarian American Society (AAS) Once on the page, I see that it tells me in the text that they have several different collections. The one I definitely want to check out is the General Catalog for the United States Newspapers collection. Remember, if you are researching something, be sure to check out ALL of their items even if you do not need them right now. You never know when that resource knowledge might come in handy for some other problem that you need solved. I now have a name of the newspaper to search for, so I enter Hawk-Eye into the keyword field on their search engine and click on the one that I need (There are multiple by that name, but of course, I know that I'm looking for a specific town.) The majority of the leg work is now done and you must call, write or email for information at this point! Thankfully, within about 45 minutes of sending out this email for a request of information, I had a wonderful reply and a PDF document of the only known existing newspaper edition, Volume 1, Number 2 on 11 November 1875. It’s catch line under the Newspaper name is “Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty.” This newspaper was noted in two other newspapers in Tuscaloosa : “The Hawk-Eye, is the name of a new paper printed at Hartselle, Ala., by Mr. George Weaver. It is a twenty-four column weekly, neatly printed, and thoroughly Democratic.” -The Tuskaloosa Gazette & The Tuscaloosa News. November 11th, 1875. [Newspapers.com}
With only a name of George Weaver as an editor and publisher, I can’t be positive of WHICH man this was. There were weaver families living in the county and around the area as well as neighboring counties. There were several George Weavers in Madison County in 1870. Further research is still needed to learn who Mr. Weaver actually was in his personal life. However, I could learn a little about Mr. Weaver though, through this newspaper. He writes: “The Hawk Eye, from this issue, will be an independent Journal, devoted to the interest of the whole people, regardless of party, creed, or color. But it will be especially devoted to the interests of Morgan County. It will advocate the just claims of all portions of the county, and will oppose strenuously, heartily and steadfastly, all attempts of a certain clique to control the county in the interest of a few tricksters and demagogues, who care nothing for the welfare of the farmers, so they can advance their own selfish schemes. As we are laboring for the masses, we respectfully ask them to give us their support. We shall be glad to get our pay in money, barter, or any other way which will enable us to “live and let live”. We are for free thought, free speech, free men and an unmuzzled press. Citizens of Morgan County, rally to our support, we shall never desert you or your interests.” While more than half of the four pages are from other national sources, there is a good portion of local items that are a nice snapshot of one of the earliest time periods in Hartselle’s young history and also about the political temperature in Alabama. Mr Weaver writes to “The Voters of Morgan” and reminds them to vote on Tuesday (the 16th) for the New Constitution. He highlights a reduction in circuit judges, a vote on doing away with the Board of Education, and preservation of what he says is “the sacred writ of Habeas Corpus” which can never be suspended. He also says if the New Constitution cannot be passed, the census that will need to be taken will cost an extra $75,000. It’s noted that St. Louis has voted in the new constitution. And that the New state constitution of Nebraska contains a provision that US senators shall be elected by a direct vote of the people, to which now they must decide if this is a conflict with the constitution of the United States.
Finally I believe Mr. Weaver may have had a little sense of humor as one of the Jokes he writes reads: “The prisoner at the bar seems to have a very smooth face,” said a spectator to the jailor. “Yes” replied the jailor; “ he was ironed just before he was brought in. So much more research is needed on these important Items. Our work has just begun. I hope you get out there and Enjoy Your Adventures in Genealogy!
That heading is really just to get your attention because I would venture to say that many of us are the opposite of motivated on Mondays. We've got our coffee after climbing out of bed reluctantly and move about in a frenzy of unpreparedness to make it through the next five days with some of our brain cells intact. In our research we sometimes feel the same way. Even if you keep a research log like you are told is good practice, you may feel like nothing is productive. What if I told you that it's okay to repeat your research? What if I told you that I will purposefully look through the same databases, the same papers and use the exact same terms over and over in a period of time? Listen, we're told to keep records so that we don't waste our time, but when the records are not easily found, or something is missing that you need, you HAVE to repeat searches until the info is found. Don't get me wrong here. I want you to keep track of what you have looked at. I want you to move about the inter-web with purpose. But I also want you to double, or even triple check yourself and those databases. Not every hour and not even every day. But every few weeks revisit some of that work and try again. I've been researching a project for a book for about 7 years now. One of the main reasons it isn't published is because when I go to review the information and organize it for print, I happen to go double check myself and find MORE information. As records are scanned and made available that means something we've already looked for could be missed if we do not repeat ourselves! I encourage you to go back to some of your early research and see where there might be holes that were never located. You've grown as a researcher and the records have grown too! You might just find what you are looking for! Now get out there and Enjoy those Adventures in Genealogy! Oh the challenges of finding a connection between two people! Don't you love it? For many of us, the thrill is the hunt for that connection and once we've made it, we're temporarily satisfied, moving on to the next hunt. There are occasions when that hunt is never finished. Every few days, every few weeks, or every few months I may revisit a problem looking for new thoughts and ideas about solving it. One of the ways I keep track of some of the information is a spreadsheet. I like to put all the information in one place extracting the details and comparing the results. Often times this helps with visually seeing an exact problem. Another great method is simply writing it on paper. There is something to be said about putting down two items on a sheet of paper that just lets your brain understand what it is you are wanting it to figure out. It is my favorite method of problem solving. I was going to share a photo of one of my notebooks, but there are so many, I couldn't decide which was better.... Finally, ask for fresh eyes on the situation. If you have been sitting there staring at your screen, paper or spreadsheet for days, weeks or months, ask a friend to take a look at the info and tell you what they see and what stands out to them. Often people see things different and that is always a great help! A word to people out there like me - accept help even if you are resistant to it. I definitely am an independent worker, but lately, I've recognized that I am not perfect (I know, right???) and that sometimes I need help. It's hard for some of us (pointing at myself) to admit that but we have some really great and tallented friends around us who can and will help! Today, I'm working on something that makes me push my limits of trust and research. But, It's a good thing. I have sat down to write a blog post probably fifteen times in the last few weeks. Each time I get distracted with someone's research or something with the kids. It's been a quick month plus since my last blog post. That seems so unreal. What's been happening? In February and March I spoke on two separate occasions to interested genealogists and researchers. It was a great talk with both classes about how to start your research and how to move past a problem in your tree. It was great sharing a unique perspective and adding to the excitement of knowing how to find what you are looking for. Family events are moving along here! If you know me on Facebook, you know I have a senior in High school about to graduate and move on to college. We've been doing college visits and have orientation and other things coming up but senior year is geared up! This week includes their class photo, cap & gown pick up, prom tux pick up and PROM!! ugh... followed up the next day with a visit to his college campus! It was raining when we were there before, so we didn't get pictures but I will this week! It's great to add this kind of information to my family tree. Many of us in our family have further education with trade schools and classes. But my daughter Brittany and now my son Coty are the first two on this side of our family to attend a full time college. We are so proud of them. They both have worked so hard to get what they want out of life. One question I ask people in my classes is: "What do you want out of your research?" What I mean to ask is really --- what are you going to do with it when you have it? Are you sharing it with people? Are you blogging? Are you writing a book? What is your goal for the end product? I'd love for you to think about that question because what it does is make you focus on a certain path to obtain that goal. Just like the kids have been focused to get into college, you need to focus to get that question answered. Coming up: I have a new helpful video about to be recorded. Working on that for you soon. Also - I'm beginning to take on more teaching opportunities so if you need something, please feel free to contact me for more information. As always, let me know if you have a certain topic you'd love to have covered. I have several new things coming your way so keep an eye out for that! I hope you are out there enjoying your Adventures In Genealogy! M You are probably asking yourself about the title of this blog post today. Modern Love? What in the penguin tails does modern love have to do with genealogy and history? Okay, nothing. You are right. In today's modern world we see and hear all sorts of ways that love should manifest. From flowers and candy, to new houses, cars and jewelry. Love songs tell us about the man worshiping the ground we walk on, moving heaven and earth to make us feel beautiful and loved. (Literally after his truck broke down, lost his dog on the way to go fishing all day...) Movies cast us a princesses who always end up with the man of our dreams. What would our ancestors say love really is? How would they feel about what is being portrayed in our modern world? After years of research, I have seen love stories emerge in the details of their lives and it doesn't look anything like what I picture today. Sure there were some romantic gestures made and I would guess there were times where it felt like the world kept spinning around them as they gazed deep into their lover's eyes. (I have a vivid imagination, don't hate.) However, I have also seen the everyday sacrifices that men and women made for each other in the days way before picture movies. I use a story in just about every example when I talk about family history research that is fascinating to me, and still relatively unsolved. The story of my 2x great grandfather's mother and father. His father went ahead (it seems) to a new land and prospected for a new home that they could settle. He left behind his loving wife and children. The work must have been challenging, though shortly after he sends for them. She loads up a wagon with whatever belongings they could possibly carry with them and heads off on a several hundred mile trip into the unknown. I have moved my children a few times with little to no help hundreds of miles as a single mom. Let me just say, I felt her pain. It is no easy chore. Moving makes people restless, angry, discouraged, frustrated and relatively crazy. (I don't mean me of course. I was a pleasant angel. heh)
The love they must have had for each other and their children was likely immense back in those times. It was hard work. Thankless work and often exhausting and painful work. They did what they had to in order to stay alive and occasionally thrive. Their thirst for a good life for themselves and their children probably drove them to these far away places. That's what real modern love should look like. That single mom uprooting her children to search for a better way. That father getting up day after day and going to work at a place he may not actually enjoy just to be able to say he did the best he could for them. When his truck breaks down and his dog is lost, it's his wife who comes to his rescue bringing the parts to him, picking up the dog on the way and making sure he had more food to continue fishing all weekend. It's not the flowers and jewelry that make the love better. It's fighting through the difficult times together. I think our ancestors would not know what to do with our modern love. |
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AuthorMichele is an obsessed mother of 4 residing in North Alabama. Hobbies include long walks in the woods, on the beach and in strange cemeteries and libraries. Genealogy friends need only apply. Categories
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