Salome Siegler birth record

For Treasure Chest Thursday, I've posted a copy of Salome Siegler's birth records from Bouxwiller, France and the translation I did made is 1998. Thanks goodness for my highschool Frence classes and a good French/English dictionary!!!

These films from the LDS history center really moved my research along.

Interlibrary Loan

52 Weeks – Challenge #4 - Interlibrary Loan

This week’s challenge: Learn about your local public library’s inter-library loan (ILL) policy. Pick a genealogy-related book that you want to read that is not in your library’s collection. Ask the librarian how to request the book from another library. Find the different library systems from which you can request books through your own library, as this can dramatically increase the number of genealogy books to which you have access. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experience with requesting items through your library’s ILL service.

This was a great challenge for me because I’ve been putting off – not an uncommon situation – ordering the article, regarding the law in Alsace-Lorraine, I found earlier in the month. I know it isn’t a “book” but I’m sure it still fits the bill for this exercise. I’m looking for:

• The Legal System of Alsace-Lorraine
• M. Leon Julliot de la Morandiere
• Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, Third Series, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1927), pp. 100-110 (article consists of 11 pages)
• Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law

I had hoped to find it on-line but, alas, only one page is available there. If I want the whole article I’ll need to either pay the $34 they’re asking for at http://www.jstor.org/stable/752907 or get it by inter-library loan. Hmmm, I think that’s a no-brainer!

Before heading to my local library, Poplar Creek in Streamwood, IL, I checked out World Cat online at www.worldcat.org/ and got a listing of the libraries where the article might be found. I know I didn’t have to do that but it does save the librarians a little time and effort and I like to help where I can.

At the library, I was told the normal interlibrary loan librarian is on vacation but her stand-in did a fine job. She was very excited that I’d already checked World Cat and set right to placing the order. Though, I think she was unsure when answering my question about what library systems the library used. Her answer had to do with locality; she stated they check Illinois first, move out to surrounding States and finally try anywhere in the US, if necessary.

All in all, it was a pleasant visit and, I hope, a fruitful, one. Time will tell but I have great faith I’ll be reading that article in the next few weeks.

Finding a Tannery

Finally, I can concentrate on the Ruch project again. For the past few days, I’ve been preparing a presentation for my local society, Elgin Genealogical Society, which I gave last night. This was a program I’ve given before but, of course, I needed to review, update and copy handouts. All want well and now I can turn my mind and time back to the task at hand.

In my post of January 15, I spoke of looking for the tannery where Charles would have worked while living in Erie, Pennsylvania. From Erie; a guide to the city and county I had learned that only one such business existed in Erie at the time and in later years but its name or proprietor wasn’t given. At the end of the post, I said I was off to look for city directories on-line.

The listings I needed are at Ancestry so I picked the year 1878 and started right in!! Oh, no, the businesses are not separated from the individual names. Now what? I had no idea where to begin looking.
Taking a step back, I decided to try the 1880 census to see if I could get any hints from it. The only criteria I put in the search box were the location and the keyword “tanner”. The result gave several choices but only one that was listed as tanner/tannery, Emiel Streuber.

Today, I finally found the time to go back to the city directories – this time with a name and this was the listing:

Streuber E & Bros. tannery
w s State bet 19th & 20th
  George Streuber h 1819 Peach
  E. Streuber h 139 w 19th

I also googled the business name and got a hit for Erie, PA historic houses:

...In 1882, Emil Streuber constructed his large Italianate home at 231-233 West 21st Street in the Janes Subdivision. Streuber was a principal in E. Streuber and Brothers, an extensive tannery which began operations in 1861 under the direction of John Streuber, Emil's father. Upon his father's death in 1872, Emil was put in charge of the operations. Under his direction, the business became the leading tannery in the city.

I’m starting to put some flesh on the bones and it feels pretty good.

Remembering My 12th Year

Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Fun for this week:


1) Remember when you were 12 years old? On a summer day out of school? What memory do you have of fun activities?
2) Tell us about that memory (just one - you can do more later if you want to) in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a comment on Facebook.

Now this one is a real challenge for me but I’ll give it a try. You see when I was 12 my family lived in Chicago at the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary on the west side of the city. We had come – when I was 10 – when my Dad took the job in building maintenance for the facility. Very few children my age lived at the Seminary though there were several students with young ones.

The summer of my 12th year was spent babysitting from about 8 am to 8 pm daily. That may not sound like fun but I sure did learn to love the little guy I was tending!! The married student housing had a nice fenced-in area and play ground where Mark and I spent hours having a great time.

When I wasn’t babysitting, I was probably playing with my squirrel monkey, Confucius. Yes, I know we shouldn’t have kept him and probably couldn’t today but he was often times the only friend I had. It was great fun having him on my shoulder as we walked around the facility. Because he would only listen to and obey me, he was a challenge for my Mom.

That would have been a summer day when I was 12 years old.

Surname Saturday - Stephens

Here are some direct ancestor surnames on my husband's maternal line.

..... 1 Thomas STEPHENS (1730 - 1762) b: Bef. 1730 in Roche, Cornwall, England, d: Abt. 1762 in Cornwall, England
..... + Jane MARTYN (1722 - 1812) b: 1722 in Cransock, Cornwall, England, m: 14 Nov 1743 in True, Cransock Parish, Cornwall, England, d: 1812 in Pencrennow, Cornwall, England
........... 2 John STEPHENS (1758 - 1842) b: 1758 in Pencrennow, Cornwall, England, d: Jun 1842 in Pencrennow, Cornwall, England
........... + Jenefer JENKIN (1764 - 1819) b: 1764 in Reen, Cornwall, England, m: 04 Jan 1785 in Perranzabuloe, Cornwall, England, d: Feb 1819 in Pencrennow, Cornwall, England
................. 3 James STEPHENS (1789 - 1872) b: May 1789 in Perranzabuloe, Cornwall, England, d: 27 Aug 1872 in Platteville, Grant, Wisconsin, USA
................. + Mary MURRISH (1787 - 1864) b: 1787 in Locks, Perranzabuloe Parish, Cornwall, England, m: 18 Sep 1810 in Perranzabuloe, Cornwall, England, d: 20 Aug 1864 in Platteville, Grant, Wisconsin, USA
....................... 4 Thomas STEPHENS (1815 - 1905) b: 10 Apr 1815 in Perranzabuloe, Cornwall, England, d: 1905 in Unknown
....................... + Elizabeth LETCHER (1811 - 1874) b: Abt. 1811 in Saint Agnes parish, near Truro, Cornwall, England, m: Abt. 1840 in England, d: 1874
............................. 5 Mary Louise STEPHENS (1844 - 1933) b: Abt. 1844 in Wisconsin, USA, d: 13 May 1933 in Larium, Houghton County, Michigan
............................. + Joseph Thomas DAVEY (1843 - 1889) b: 30 Apr 1843 in Lanlivery, Cornwall, England, m: 11 Apr 1863 in Dodgeville, Iowa, Wisconsin, USA, d: 26 Mar 1889 in Dodgeville, Iowa, Wisconsin, USA
................................... 6 Fredrick Francis DAVEY (1877 - 1959) b: 09 Jul 1877 in Dodgeville, Iowa, Wisconsin, USA, d: 31 May 1959 in Oak Forest, Cook, Illinois, USA
................................... + Alice Augusta CHRISTIANSEN/LARSON (1880 - 1948) b: 19 Jan 1880 in Ishpeming, Marquette, Michigan, USA, m: 08 Nov 1906 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, d: 31 Dec 1948 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA

The STEPHENS extended family immigrated from Cornwall, England as a "clan", about 50 of them at once which gave them the local (Dodgeville, Wisconsin) nickname of the "Stephens colony".

Erie Pennsylvania

Once I’d caught up with reading blogs I follow, facebook (otherwise I’d have no idea what my grown family was up to) and twitter, I set out to learn a bit more about Erie, Pennsylvania. I found a great little book, Erie; a guide to the city and county, written and compiled by the Erie County Unit of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Published by The WILLIAM PENN ASSOCIATION of PHILADELPHIA, Inc., 1938. The book is found digitally at http://www.archive.org/details/erieguidetocitya00federich.

Charles Ruch was listed as a laborer on the ship’s manifest when he immigrated in 1873. Though various sources I know he became a tanner here in America. Through the above book I learned there was only one tannery in operation in Erie during the time he lived there. If I can find a city directory for that time period – I haven’t looked yet – I’ll be able to get the name of the tannery.

Until last year I really knew very little about what a tanner did/does. All I knew was it had to do with turning animal hide into leather. Last season the TV show “Dirty Jobs” did a segment on tanning. Oh, my, how enlightening! and what an arduous line of work! I have much more respect for the labor Charles put forth to support his family.

This book also describes what transportation possibilities would have been available for the couple to reach Erie from New York City. The Erie Canal was still in operation but my money is on the railroad at this point. In town itself, horse drawn street cars provided public transportation.

For now, I’m about to see it any of the Erie PA cities directories are online for the 1860s and/or 70s.

Error Reports and Erie Research

I decided to create at new database in the genealogy software with the Ruch/Siegler family (ancestors & descendants) only. I think in the long run it will be easier to work with this smaller file and not be distracted by other lines.

Once I had the new file, I ran and error report and spent a few hours looking at each entry. As it turned out most of my missing dates (these are the only “potential errors) currently being reported) are for living people or, at least, very recent generations of collateral lines. Since I don’t plan to include the living in my publication, I’m not going to spend too much time on them. I do have a few on the list that I’ll need to put more effort into finding, though.

After working on the error report for time, I decided to turn my efforts in a different direction and look for information on Erie, Pennsylvania. After landing in New York City, Charles and Salome went directly to Erie and, though they only spent a few years there, I want to get a feel for the area. What brought them there? Did they have relatives there? Why did they leave for Chicago?

I’ll also be facilitating my local genealogy society’s computer interest group this Thursday with the topic, “Getting the Most From Cyndi’s List” I figure I can kill two birds with one stone by using that website as part of my research into Erie. (As usual, however, I spent some time Googling first and now I’ll need to concentrate on Cyndi’s List tomorrow.)