New Things I Love

I'd like to share a couple of new items I've been using and thoroughly enjoying of late.

Thanks to a tweet and suggestion from FootNoteMaven a little while back, Quote Pad came to my attention. This is free software for taking notes on the computer and from the internet. If you're on a website, you can highlight a paragraph, or what ever, and bring that into Quote Pad, including the URL. Of course, you can also type notes as you go along. The software very subtly stays open  - you can barely see a little red line at the top of the screen, for easy access anytime. Another great feature is you can download a portable version so you can take  it anywhere on a flash drive. How cool is that!

Another new toy I'm loving is Google's Blog This feature. Download this to your browser's toolbar and you can blog information from any webpage you may be reading. It pulls in all the citation data so credit is given where credit is due.

Now I must get back to my genealogy work and stop playing with my new toys.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Here's the mission from Randy Seaver:

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- The Time Capsule

Hey genea-fanatics, it's Saturday Night, time for more Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you deign to accept it (come on, it's fun!), is to:

1) Go to the dMarie Time Capsule Website - http://dmarie.com/timecap/

2) Select a date in your family history that you want to know about. You might pick a birth date or wedding date of your parents or grandparents.

3) Enter the date into the search form, and select the news, songs, toys, books and other things that you want to feature.

4) Share the date, why you picked it, and the results of your Time Capsule study on your own blog, in a comment to this post, or in a comment or post on Facebook.

I picked 05 Aug 1903, the day Emma Ruch and Thomas Higgins were married. (I didn't realize it was a Wednesday, huh!)
Prices in 1903: Bread, $0.04/load; Milk, $0.29/gal (Thomas was a milk dealer so this is an interesting piece of information to me.) You could buy a house for $4000 and mail a letter for $0.02. The average Income was $703/yr.

Theodore Roosevelt was President; the hot new toys was Crayola Crayons; one of the top songs was Mother o' Mine by Rudyard Kipling; and top book was the now classic The Call of the Wild by Jack London.

Great site, Randy!! I'm sure I'll be using it often while writing my ancestors' stories. Only wish the earlier years  had a bit more info.

More Walls Come Tumbling Down

One of the first things I like to do when researching a family or individual is get all the US census records available for him/her or them. So it was several years ago I started due diligence for the Ruch and Siegler families. Being that they came to the US in the 1870s, I really didn't have too many records to find, at least for Charles, Salome and Fred. A cinch! Ha! Until just yesterday and today, I had them all except  for the 1880 census, the first one in which they should be listed.

Granted, for a time I wasn't sure where they would be found - Pennsylvania or Illinois; but, it really wasn't long before I learned enough to know they should be in Chicago by 1880. Ah, good old Chicago! I tried every which way I could think to find them in the various indices online and on paper. To no avail; why, oh why, couldn't I find either Fred or Charles, I just didn't know
.
What I did have was the addresses for both from the city directory. Knowing that, I decided last night to bite the bullet and try to figure out what enumeration district (ED) to browse for the address. I went to Ancestry for the 1880 census for Illinois, Chicago, and perused the descriptions of the EDs looking for likely candidates.

Turns out Fred was the easiest because he lived at 56 Rees Street and Rees (a very short street, happily) was used as a dividing line for several EDs. I chose four possibilities to begin with, got a glass of soda and dug in. Within an hour, I found the family and saw why I'd never been able to find them before.

They are listed as family 298 at 56 Rees Street under the surname Siedler; Fred and Fred, Jr. are listed as Fritz and Jennie is listed as Fransika. Fred 's occupation is tanner - at least that matches - and they are all listed as born in France (French) even though little Fred was born in Chicago. (One thing I'm quite sure of is that the census taken was German - Frederick Luehmann; he even spelled Halstead St as Halstadt.)

The morning I decided to tackle Charles and Salome. Their address was 46 W. Division. Again, Division is a border street for many EDs; however, in this case, that was deceptive. There were thirteen on my list, although a couple I had already checked while I was looking for Fred last night. Trying to make a long story short, between working with an 1880 Chicago Ward map found at A Look At Cook and a 1873 Chicago map I'd purchased at the Newberry Library on an earlier visit and the descriptions on Ancestry, I found the right ED to browse and there they were:

This time they are listed with a surname I had tried, Ruch, but I'm betting the indices have it as Buch. C & S listed as being born is Prussia, probably because in 1880 Alsace was under Prussian (German) rule. One major find on this census is the listing for son, Charles. I have no record of a child born between Julia/Emma and Mary. There is a son, Charles, born in 1886, however. Did the first Charles die?

I guess I'll just have to look into that. "It's always something; if it's not one thing, it's another."

What I Have Written So Far

I finally got back to a bit of writing yesterday and brought C&S to Erie. I'm still not sure if the format I'm using will be the one I stay with but for now, at least, I'm making progress. What slows me down is trying to make sure I source everything that wouldn't be general knowledge. I'm thinking it might be better to just write the story and add a bibliography at the end.

If I write it more in a "novel" format than a "biography", I think I could add much more interest. Then, again, is that really the purpose of this writing? Oh the dilemma!

Anyway, I put what I've written so far on a separate page. Maybe one of you has a thought about how it should go? I didn't upload all the pictures that go with the story but the story can be found here.

52 Weeks To Better Genealogy - Challenge #19

Week 19: Examine the “Genealogy and Military Records” page on the National Archives page (http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/genealogy.html). (Non-U.S. folks: examine the military records information from your country’s national archives.) Click the links and read everything you can. If you’ve ordered a military file before, read this page again and refresh you memory so you can help others. Authors of genealogy blogs can write about records they’ve received, comment on the National Archives page, or ask questions of their readers via their blog.

I did go out the NARA website which is wonderful and very helpful. However, I’ve decided to write about the military records I’ve received from them in the past. In each case I ordered both the military and pension files (complete). My veterans are Peter Miller (1836-1911), Eliphalet B Miller (1840-1887), Benjamin A Stewart (1840-1914) and Burwell S. Blue (1821-1877). These are all Civil War Veterans

I learned so much from these records it’s hard to know where to begin. I’ll have to just give a few highlights from each:

Peter Miller (my great-granduncle):

Ø      I received 120 pages in all.

Ø      I learned that Peter had flat feet and, during the war, lost much of his sight.

Ø      I learned of a first marriage and child I didn’t previously know about at all. Papers regarding that divorce issued 08 May 1865 were from the lawyer’s office because the county records were burned in the Chicago fire of 1871.

Ø      Before I received these papers, I had lost Peter’s whereabouts. The records traced him to Oklahoma.

Ø      I learned about his family and his wife’s eventual move to Texas.

Ø      And much more.

Eliphalet Miller (my great-grandfather):

Ø      I received about 100 pages in all.

Ø      It contained affidavits for the births of his children born in Illinois. (According to their guardian, Charles Miller, the family had not attended church in that state and it was before county records were required. Other than Bible records, these have been the only corroborating evidence for these children I’ve found.)

Ø      Affidavits were presented for the marriage of Eliphalet and Mary (Blue) Miller and also for each of their deaths. Eliphalet died one year after the death of Mary in childbirth – leaving seven children orphaned.

Ø      And much more.

Benjamin Stewart (my great-grandfather):

Ø      I received 260 pages in all

Ø      I learned that he joined in August of 1862, came down with the measles in November 1862 in Gallatin, Tennessee and was discharges 30 January 1863.

Ø      He stated there was no room in the hospital at Gallatin and that he and several others were “moved from place to place” often in the rain.

Ø      There is an affidavit in his words regarding his movements from his discharge to his pension claim in 1883 which is revealing.

Burwell Spurlock Blue (my 2^nd great-grandfather):

Ø      I received 120 pages in all

Ø      I learned he mustered in on 20 December 1861, mustered out 26 February 1864, reenlisted 27 February 1864.

Ø      He was wounded in the shoulder by gunshot at Franklin, Missouri. 01 October 1864, returned to duty 21 January 1865 at Eastport, Mississippi, discharged 10 September 1865.

Ø      He died in 1877 and his wife, Malvina, tried for years to get a pension to no avail.

Ø      She lived in abject poverty, even having to place three of her children in the Soldiers and Sailors orphanage in Indiana.

Ø      And much more. 

Sentimental Sunday - Mother's Day

Gladys - age 19

Gladys E Miller Stewart

1917 - 2002

It’s Mother’s Day and I’m wishing I had this one more with my Mom. I know many would say I’m just too close to the subject to be objective and probably they’re right but Mom was a wonderful example to me.

 Oh, she had her faults as we all do, I’m sure. My recollections must be dimmed because I can’t come up with any to put on the list. Guess I’ll just have to be satisfied with remembering her many good points.

She was nothing if not long-suffering. She was loyal, kind, and wise. My siblings and I have often marveled at how open-minded she was. Her provincial upbringing put aside she chose to accept all people for whom they were, not what they were.

Most of all, she loved her family with passion. There was nothing within her power she wouldn’t do for her children and, when there was nothing she could do, her hugs and support sufficed.

I miss you, Mom. Here’s hoping I’ve been half the mother to my children that you were to me.

Erie, Pa Research Trip – Part 3 - Final

Part 1

Part 2

After several hours of sitting our old bones needed some activity, so when we left the Historical Society we headed for the docks and a little walk. The wind was up and we were blown around a bit but it was warm and felt good to be moving. Standing on the main dock, we looked out not on Lake Erie but on Presque Bay and the peninsula that protects it. This is how the dock looked about 1870; it’s clean, modern and inviting now.

The Presque peninsula is now a state park and it seemed to be calling to us so we jumped back in the car a headed over there. What we found was gorgeous! A wonderful place to walk, bike or drive! I’m thinking that the landscape is much as it was when C&S were in the area. Probably outside of the town itself the countryside would have been wooded and lush. Here’s a sample of what we enjoyed.

After our sightseeing adventure, we had dinner and then headed for the Blasco Memorial Library which is at the Lake shore right next to the Maritime Museum. I got to meet, Alice, the woman who has been so much help to me; it’s always great to meet good peopleJ

We spent our library time added more info to our growing knowledge of Erie’s history. We were also looking at rail routes C& S may have taking when they left Erie. Of course, they may have come to Chicago by boat through the Great Lakes but I’m inclined to think they took the train. More research in needed on this.

So for now, that’s about it. It was a whirlwind trip but a very successful one!