Higgins Tombstones

These are the tombstones of Luke and Bridget (Carroll) Higgins, the parents of Thomas Higgins who married Emma Ruch, daughter of Charles and Salome (Siegler) Ruch. Luke and Bridget are buried at the Catholic cemetery in Hampshire, Illinois.

This is the immigrant couple for this Higgins line. Luke was a dairy farmer in Hampshire and Thomas later moved to Chicago where he was a milk dealer. He went to the train station each morning to pick up milk delivered from his father's farm.

Sidetracked with Errors

As I mentioned early on I'm not surprised when I'm sometimes sidetracked doing research. Today is one of those days. I started by looking at some of the reporting options in my Family Tree Maker software; planning to use reports to help  me determine what I have and what I need for my RUCH project.

I started out strong running some individual and anentafel reports (I found the anentafel reports are not creating generations because it's using siblings of generation one instead of children. However, the register reports seem to be working properly. But, that's an aside.)

Then, just for kicks I ran a "data error report" and I was off and running. Now mind you I ran the report on my whole data file which includes mine and my husband's sides of the family containing over 3500 names. What I got was a 37 page report and a bit of clean-up work to do. Lots of the "errors" are missing dates which I'm aware of and really don't plan to enter until I have a date to work with. I know I can guess, using the about, before and after modifiers (and I do that in some cases) but for now I'm ignoring those.
However, there are some corrections I'd like to make while I see them. Things like "illegle characters" and "unsorted children". So, I'll continue working on these for a while (should only take an hour or so) and then I'll get back to the task at hand.

Researching and writing the RUCH family story.

Divorce Papers Reviewed

A trip to the Cook County archives in Chicago back in 1996 uncovered a treasure. Back before no-fault divorce, divorce records often contained information and insight into the lives of our ancestors that would be difficult, short of a diary, to find anywhere else.

After Charles Ruch died in 1888, Salome was left to raise her nine children on her own. It must have seemed an overwhelming task but apparently one she handled very well. I’ve always found this hard to understand but on 06 Apr 1889, Salome married Gottfried Wiedemann. I know it’s not unusual in those times to remarry quickly; my confusion is why a single man with no children would marry a widow with nine. As it turned out, it wasn’t such a good idea after all.

On 31 May 1892, Salome filed for divorce against Gottfried citing drunkenness, threats and violence. Things I learned from these papers:

• Gottfried either quit his job or was fired for drunkenness, refused to work anymore and drank heavily
• Salome purchased 40 Tell Place in December 1889 (She put the house in her daughter’s name)
• On 27 Feb 1890, Henry Wiedemann was born to Salome and Gottfried
• Charles Ruch (Salome’s son) moved out of the house in 1891 and lived at 355 Chicago Ave.
• The divorce was issued on July 1892 after two restraining orders sent to Gottfried

 One would hope that Salome had learned to be more discriminating in her choice of men, however, on 15 Jul 1893 she married Anton Ziebel. Sadly, on 11 May 1899, they divorce under much the same circumstances as above.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Emma and Julia Ruch

twin daughters of Charles and Salome (Siegler) Ruch

born 21 Nov 1874 in Erie, Pennsylvania

They always used their middle names but Emma was baptised as Lisette Emma and Julia was baptised as Louise Julie.

Exact date of photo is unknown. Most likely late 1800s before Julia's marriage in 1901.

Tombstone Tuesday

These pictures were taken at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago. They are of some of the Ruch/Siegler family I'll be writing about.

This is the tombstone for Frederick Siegler; the birth and death dates are written on the side of the stone. You'll note that it is Jennie's (his wife) name that is prominent; however, she is not buried there as she remarried and is probably buried with her second husband. Fred's name is, however, listed on the cemetery plat record.

Salome and Charles are buried next to each other in the plot.

This is the view of the whole plot plus.

I need to return to the cemetery and do a little more reading in the area. I think I might have missed some collateral family members when I went the first time; early in my research.

Reviewing Hardcopy Documents

One of the first things I needed to do was review all the hardcopy information I have on the Ruch/Siegler line. I spent four or five hours all together on this task. Fortunately, all I had to do was pull out the folders for the individuals involved, the Ruch surname folder (which also contains Siegler info), the Alsace folder and, of course, the Ruch/Siegler working binder. All of these items were handily available either in the genealogy file cabinet or on the binder shelf. Once in hand, I methodically reviewed every scrap of paper.

Over the years, I’ve collected some extraneous data which needed to be weeded out - not thrown out - for my purposes. I found also that some of the documents haven’t been scanned and included in my genealogy software. Mind you, the sources have been cited but the images haven’t been added. I’ll need to get that done in the next few days so I can move on to reviewing all my sources for each individual.

Much of what I’ve collected more recently I’ve only kept in digital format as most of it I’ve found on the internet. Though I have many hardcopies of various census records, I won’t be scanning those; I’ll just look them up again and bring the digital copy into my files.

So, I guess it first to scanning, then to a review of all sources in my database. I need to be sure I have all available census records, possible war records, birth, marriage, and death records, etc. I’m hoping to get all my ducks in a row early on so I’ll know what additional research is needed. (I’ll be looking closest at the direct line and siblings, then others will be done later as or if needed.) I’ll get started on that as I begin to write the story.

The True Work Begins

It’s time to really get started on my project; no more fooling around!! I’m setting out my plan as I see it today. Of course, over time some of this will change and I expect to be flexible where necessary. So, here it goes.

1. Write the story of our Ruch/Siegler family in America as fully as I can. This narrative will have limited footnoting because I’m writing this for the non-genealogists of the family. Some of them might be intimidated by lots of documentation and may not read the account because of it.
2. Prepare family group sheets of each unit (including siblings) and be sure to provide as much documentation as possible there.
3. Prepare descendants chart for the immigrant couple; include as many generations as possible (Somehow this will need to be put into book format).
4. Prepare a Register Report for the immigrant couple with same generations as above; include all documentation as foot or endnotes.
5. Prepare scrapbook pages of pictures and documents.
6. Decide on publication:
   a. Passage Express
   b. CD/DVD
   c. Hardcopy book
   d. All of the above.

 That’s the way I see it now. And so the true work begins. There are documents and notes and such that must be reviewed; lots of scanning to be done; a trip to Erie, Pennsylvania for research purposes; and some actual writing as well. I’d better get to it.