Genealogy Library - Day 3

Will someone please invent a time machine so I can go back to 1860 and find out if Florence and Frances are the same person??? Or slap the census taker who wrote down her name as FLARNCE? Dude. 

FLARNCE (must always be capitalized) is frankly an awesome name, and while I'm still at the genealogy library and haven't had the chance to try it yet, I imagine it must be a fun name to yell (Kid #2 also pointed this out). Watch out, future pets, one of you will be definitely named FLARNCE - not that you can read this warning.

In other news, I'm reading the obituary of my aunt/cousin Dicie (none of that is a typo) and having a heck of a time figuring out her surviving people. For one thing, one of her half-sisters, a Mrs. Jim Sherfey, is not among my people, and now we get to play "process of elimination" to see which of her sisters Jim Sherfey was married to. (Hopefully it was FLARNCE.) 

Secondly, it's possible that Dicie's "grand nephew" Frank is actually her unmarried daughter Bertie's son - according to Frank, Bertie indeed was his mother. But is this true? 

There was a cute story about how Dicie had been raising Frank since he was brought to live with her from the age of two years old. Bertie was 41 when he was born, so it's possible that she was Frank's mom. I hate to possibly besmirch anyone's name by accusing anyone of giving birth out of wedlock or creating sweet fiction for an old lady's obituary, but in reality, we know people did stuff like this, especially back in ... forever. 

On the other hand, and tossing the whole thing into a tornado, is the fact that Dicie's father had five wives and a total of ten children - only the first four wives had children. Even before Dicie's obituary came on the scene, her family of origin was a fun mystery/nightmare to unravel, and now we get into the big question of whose kid Frank is. 

Frank may very well be Dicie's great nephew, considering she had nine half-siblings and it's possible one of them let her, or needed her help to, raise Frank. He was ten when she died in 1933. I have his obituary, Social Security application, World War II draft application... he's extremely well documented but heck if we'll ever know who his parents are. I wonder if anyone in his family has taken a DNA test. Who knows. 

One thing I do know is that yacht rock is the perfect accompaniment for genealogical research - one must avoid being caught grooving too hard by the staff, though. THAT'S HOW MUCH I FEEEEEEEEEL.... 

LATER: I just found Dicie's missing sibling, Mrs. Jim Sherfey! HOLY HECK I have never heard of this sister. COOL. Dicie's dad now has eleven children and I'm geeking out big time. Her name was Jerusha Keen, and YA MO BE THERE

P.S. I went ahead and merged Florence and Frances. Their missing census records synced up perfectly, just like THAT FROZEN CONCOCTION THAT HELPS ME HANG ON

Genealogy Library - Day 2

Well hello again from Salt Lake City. 

Today I find myself in the classic genealogical version of "fish or cut bait?". Do I spend time cleaning up my family tree, something I can do at home, or do I research the snot out of my brick walls? Research seems like an obvious choice, especially right now while I'm surrounded by books and films and fiche, but the idea of being thorough and perfect is SO tempting! The MyTreeTags on Ancestry are just way too much fun. 

I haven't mentioned this yet (I don't think) but last month, I counted up my couples - great grandparents, 2nd greats and 3rd greats - divided them by 365, and assigned them a yearly spot on the calendar. Each couple has six days when I'll be focusing on just their family. My greats are mostly finished - sometimes I find a new surprise; my 2nds are in varying stages of done but a few stragglers still need help, and with the 3rds - things will get especially exciting around June 18, when they will start their time under the microscope. 

I needed some way to decide whom to work on, when. Otherwise I could lose my mind. Some families' facts have been well documented for a long time, and other families are still hidden under a rock. It's so easy to get caught up in the voluminous information for the established families and let the lesser-known folks wither on the vine.

This week belongs to Elijah Keen and Rebecca Morgan of Tennessee. Eli was a Union soldier in the Civil War, which I think is pretty remarkable, since Tennessee was the last state to secede from the United States. I can't even imagine the stress those folks were under as they had to decide which faction to join. Not all of my ancestors during that era chose the better cause, but Eli did and I'm proud of him. It couldn't have been easy. 

Okay, back to it. 

LATER: Just found another enslaver ancestor.....yuck. 

There Was An Opportunity

 ... to visit the Family History Library (except it's now the FamilySearch Library) in Salt Lake City today, so of course I milked it. 

After creating a list of my direct line ancestors, mostly to determine whom I had parents for and who needed more work, I observed that my most problematic "problem child" is Mr. Alexander Keethler of Brown County, Ohio. I'm sure he's lovely, except that he has proven to be quite elusive.

While Hubby decided to rove SLC and amuse himself with his camera, I went upstairs to the third floor and found the books, and had some luck with a book of "walked" cemeteries in Brown County. While Alex continued to elude me, I did find his son's wife's mother, Caroline, buried with her parents and sister there. (I know where Alexander died, but have no record of his burial yet.)

A fun time was had and I can't wait until I can go again. 

OH BOY!!! Look what I just found!

Watch out, Ancestry.com... your days of monopolizing records and charging people up the yang for 'em are numbered.

Familysearch.org's Pilot Website is making some of its records available. I just found this German baptism record for some Steinhilber relatives (if you click on it: scroll down to Johannes Steinhilber - Johannes is my great-great-great grandfather).

As this great project keeps rolling right along, helped by thousands of volunteers like my friend and fellow FHC staff member, more and more of these records will become available for searching. Free.

If it's not happening fast enough for you, I'm sure you'd be willing to help out: they can tell you how to get started indexing these records.

*doing the Chris Farley "AWE!SOME!" thing*

Ordering Stuff From Salt Lake City

(You knew you could order stuff from SLC, right?)

New Cousin Bob and I were just discussing a book written by cousin Loretta Marvin, Steinhilber, which tells the story of our ancestors, Johannes Steinhilber and Johanna Magdelena "Lena" Roller of Germany. Lena joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, Mormon) and, with her four daughters, sailed away on a Church ship to America "in the dead of night." She made it as far as Utah, where her fifth daughter was born, but left the area and settled in Nebraska. Johannes and their two sons were left behind in Germany, but later came to the United States themselves and settled in New York state.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for either group - and of course we don't know how things really went down, but the old-timers of their town gave this version as the way it went. The fact that she left under cover of darkness could mean anything. Perhaps Lena and Johannes were divided over the Church issue; perhaps they were divided over MANY issues and that's really why she left.

I have a copy of the book, and New Cousin Julie also has a copy, but Bob has never seen it. Is it online somewhere? was his question. I googled it, and found that some sweet soul donated a copy to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Which is good - it means I can keep my copy. Not only did they donate the book, they allowed it to be microfilmed, so anyone anywhere near a local Family History Center, like the one I serve in, can order the microfilm and see the book for themselves. I am beyond thrilled to think that something with my name in it is actually at the FHL, but thought, what if you're like Bob and don't know how to order it, or you don't have a wonderful cousin like me to tell you how to do it?

Here's a short synopsis:

1) Before you do anything else, search the Family History Library catalog. There are several criteria you can search under - places, surnames, titles, authors, subjects.

2) After finding something you're interested in, like a book about The Ackleys of New Jersey, find out whether it's a book or on microfilm or microfiche (a thin sheet of plastic on which information has been printed in tiny print - you use a different machine to look at it). If a book has been microfilmed, a gray button that says "View Film Notes" will appear at the top of the page.

3) If it's only in book form, congratulations! You're headed for Salt Lake! Have a great time and make sure you go to a MoTab concert and a Utes game and have lunch at the Pantry while you're there. Sadly, the Library and FHCs don't have an interlibrary loan situation, but if you're in the SLC area, you're welcome to spend dawn till dusk in the library itself. They even have vending machines if you get hungry.

4) If it's on microfilm or -fiche, put away those suitcases, and copy down the film or fiche number instead. You'll need it when you go to order it. In the Ackley book's case, the film number is 1597996, Item 22. Remember that, now.

5) Ordering microfilms and -fiches can only be done at a Family History Center. To find one near you, head here and fill in the country, state, county and city you live in. You'll be directed to the closest FHC, where you can go and order what you need. The staff are oh-so friendly and knowledgeable and LIVE for requests like this. Seriously. We get bored when we don't have patrons - we have to work on our own genealogy... it's such a drag.

6) Take the film number and item number with you, show up, fill out the order form, pay the $6 and wait about two weeks - then the microfilm will show up at your local FHC, you'll be contacted, and at your leisure, you'll be able to head down there and look at what you ordered. Hopefully there will be good, useful stuff in it. If not, you can always order something else, right?

If, by some major coincidence, you're also a Steinhilber descendant and you're interested in seeing the Steinhilber book, you can see its call number here and if you click "View Film Notes," you can get the film number and order it at your local FHC. It's worth the trouble.

Any questions? You can always leave me a comment.

DAR Workshop

I went to a "join DAR" workshop today at the local genealogical society, and I'm glad I decided to go. I thought about skipping it, since I'm almost a member already, but I went anyway. It was a four-hour workshop, and the first two hours were instructional. I learned about some new websites and perks of belonging to DAR and offered my favorite two cents about Findagrave.com and Interment.net (good for finding headstones, which can be used for proof of death information).

I met a lady named Joy, who might be related to Bri, and another lady named Becky who will start working at the FHC on Wednesday nights. I mentioned to two of the "head honcho-ettes" that we could meet at the FHC sometime as a group, on a Saturday maybe, and we could take a very short tour and hook up our family history information and see how many of us are related. It's nice to be hooked up with keys and access to the place.

I'm very happy I did this. I may not have enjoyed it and understood the value of being a member when I was younger, but I've discovered that it's basically a genealogy and service group - and I can totally get behind that. The women are nice, they seem to have good hearts and good reasons for being there, and the genealogical hints and helps being thrown around the room were very informative - I enjoyed the feeling of helpfulness and generosity. One lady gave a presentation about Salt Lake City and all the genealogical wonders to be found there, and it was fun to feel the excitement in the air. EVERYONE wants to go to Salt Lake.

I also found out that I'll receive my D.A.R. number on April 17, and I'll have an induction ceremony in September. I'm very excited and I imagine Grandma Dot and Grandma Keen would be too. Genealogy Geek Girl has finally found more of her own kind.


Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com

Family History Library and Vicinity

Last August, I took a trip and met some bloggy friends in Colorado. It was a great trip, and part of the fun was visiting Salt Lake City, aka "Genealogy Mecca." While there, I captured some of my favorite genealogy sights. Click on the images to get a better viewpoint.

Inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake, there's a small Family History Center, much like others found around the country (minus the books, microfilms, and other resources, since the big Library is nearby), staffed by full-time sister missionaries who switch shifts every half hour throughout Temple Square. They come from all over the world and speak a variety of languages from every continent, to be able to guide visitors from any country through the area. My friend Angela served her mission here. Luck-eeeee.

This picture, found on the wall in the Family History Center at the JS Memorial Building, is fun and a little earth-shattering: a chart outlining some of the Howland family's descendants. From three sons of Henry Howland - one came to America on the Mayflower - come these individuals: the Presidents Bush, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Gerald Ford, President Richard Nixon, the prophet Joseph Smith, his wife Emma Hale Smith, and Sir Winston Churchill, along with Mr. Joseph Ira Earl, a Utah native - kind of a "If this guy is related to all these people, who might you be related to?" thing. Imagine that family reunion.

In the Family History Library itself, located across the street from the west side of Temple Square and next to the Church History Museum (also a must-visit), this portrait faces the front entrance of the building. It features Christ in the center, a modern-day family discussing their family history, Joseph Smith and the Old Testament prophet Elijah in the lower left corner, spirits of the deceased working on family history in their sphere, and ancestors from different eras in history dressed in period clothing (my favorite). The painting communicates to me the emphasis of all of us being one big family, the importance of "finding" each other (and doing it NOW rather than waiting for a better time), and the family ties that exist throughout eternity.

Also in the Family History Library, on the back (south) wall of the first floor, behind all the tables: a chart similar to the Howland family's, depicting the descendants of Joseph and Emma Smith, some of whom are only now being found. For the founder of a Church so connected to family history, it's sad and kind of amazing that Joseph's family flew to the winds the way it did, but they are being found and documented, and gathered onto this HUGE chart. I had to try several different angles to get the whole thing in the picture and probably looked pretty goofy to the other patrons who watched, but who cares. My dear friend No Cool Story and I have long had the motto, "Anything for the blog."

If you've never been to Salt Lake City to research your ancestors, I would definitely recommend it (beg you to book a trip at your earliest convenience is actually what I'd do). It's absolutely worth the time and money spent, and you can even search the Family History Library Catalog before you go, to get the most from your time there. I'm counting the days till my next visit!