Genealogy Research

So I think I finally found another Great Grandfather's draft card...birth date, name match. He was working on a farm in South Dakota, which would be why I couldn't find him in the Wisconsin records. If it is him, it might finally help me track down his birth records. In the census, his family had been in one location 1900-1930, but I couldn't find birth records for the kids. But according to the draft card, he was born one county over. Only now I need a subscription again...have to wait on that, but now I have something to check when I do.
 
Did anyone else find anything good this week? I'm not entirely sure what I've gotten yet. I was up until midnight last night trying to finish off my database. I can't believe it, but I actually did it! (But then today someone told me that they still had access. LOL) Today I added someone that I found I'd missed earlier when I input the 1900 census record for the family. It notified me that it was person #11,200! :eek: It was a monumental task. LOL

I'd started going through & searching on all the men with birth dates to see if I could get any info. Like an idiot, I didn't think to re-sort the list by date until I was about in the middle of the alphabet. It would have been faster that way. ;) I realized fairly early that there was no point in entering men who were born before 1870 unless I already knew they'd served at some point. There just wasn't enough info on people - just year of birth for example - to accurately sort out the "right" ones.

I had a number of people who served in the Civil War & had already gotten that info. There were a couple who fought in the Revolutionary War, but I've never been able to find anything on them. I'm sure it's one of those things with spelling. Those families were German/PA Dutch & had very difficult names to get right for the poor Enlish guys trying to write them down. ;)

I'm still confused as to why certain people didn't show up in the WWII draft list though. DH's grandfather & ggrandfather met the date requirements for the 4th registration. However, neither is there. :confused3 Does someone know if foreign born men were exempt for WWII, but not for WWI?

And of course I didn't think about the possibility that women might be listed as well! :rolleyes: I'd found a couple wives listed in the US Veterans Gravesites DB, but it wasn't until I hit the "W" people that I ran into an enlistment for a woman in the WACs. DOH!
 
Hopefully I can describe this accurately. I do genealogy on my family name (fathers side..) I am a regular poster and have also posted some lines on our county (where they were from) website.
Well, one day I get this email from this stranger wanting to know if I have any information on (lets say ) Bill Smith's line. Well, ironically, Bill smith's brother is my grandfather. The email was from Bill Smith's grandson (my cousin.) The grandson grew up living with his grandfather, but never knew his gfather had a brother. Well, I ended up getting to know my late cousin (first cousin) very well thru emails, and whatnot. About 6 months into our "friendship", he died of a long lingering illness, that he never mentioned to me. His wife then sent me an email thanking me, and telling me how much it meant to him to meet me and whatnot.
It was really great, because my father never met this cousin, and this cousin didnt have any idea we even existed. He thought his grandpa was the only boy. Clearly notso.apparently my grandfather and his didnt get along too well..i dont know for sure..
Its definitely the biggest reward Ive gotten out of this genealogy thing.
 
piratesmate said:
Did anyone else find anything good this week? I'm not entirely sure what I've gotten yet. I was up until midnight last night trying to finish off my database. I can't believe it, but I actually did it! (But then today someone told me that they still had access. LOL) Today I added someone that I found I'd missed earlier when I input the 1900 census record for the family. It notified me that it was person #11,200! :eek: It was a monumental task. LOL

I'd started going through & searching on all the men with birth dates to see if I could get any info. Like an idiot, I didn't think to re-sort the list by date until I was about in the middle of the alphabet. It would have been faster that way. ;) I realized fairly early that there was no point in entering men who were born before 1870 unless I already knew they'd served at some point. There just wasn't enough info on people - just year of birth for example - to accurately sort out the "right" ones.

"The mustering location here is critical. I dont think that youll even find where they live listed. The mustering sites were regional camps, and there isnt much on the guys that way.."

I had a number of people who served in the Civil War & had already gotten that info. There were a couple who fought in the Revolutionary War, but I've never been able to find anything on them. I'm sure it's one of those things with spelling. Those families were German/PA Dutch & had very difficult names to get right for the poor Enlish guys trying to write them down. ;)

"Rev war, there are so many groups of "army"'s..like militia, continentals, etc..its difficult to find alot of this. Most of it is regional, and you kind of have to go at it that way. Take a suspected area, look for the groups that came out of that area (militarily speaking) and then look for your people..Helped me here in ohio."

I'm still confused as to why certain people didn't show up in the WWII draft list though. DH's grandfather & ggrandfather met the date requirements for the 4th registration. However, neither is there. :confused3 Does someone know if foreign born men were exempt for WWII, but not for WWI?

"Im gonna take a stab at this one. Could it be possible that the guys enlisted before they registered, or were required to? I could see recruiters taking guys right of the boat, so to speak.."

And of course I didn't think about the possibility that women might be listed as well! :rolleyes: I'd found a couple wives listed in the US Veterans Gravesites DB, but it wasn't until I hit the "W" people that I ran into an enlistment for a woman in the WACs. DOH!
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"Good luck to you!"
 
I just checked my gamil & found a message from Ancestry. They have expanded their newspaper collection & are offering free access through June 19th.

Get busy ladies! :teeth:
 
Polineedyan - I missed your comments mixed in with the quote. I appreciate your input. :thumbsup2

As for the missing people in the WWII draft...they were listed in the WWI draft and had been in the US since 1903. The naturalization for DH's grandfather was complete by 1928 (I saw references on FootNote.com) but am not sure about his ggrandfather. He's listed as naturalized in the 1930 census, but his name only appears on FootNote as the witness on his son's papers.

For the Civil War records, the mustering info was usually enough to ID my ancestors. For several families, there were 2 "groups" in PA: 1 in my county & another from central PA. I've never found a link between the 2 groups & am related to everyone in the group within the county. There just weren't that many of them. The mustering locations were close enough to be sure that they were from my family line & not the "other". Some people I already knew served, but for others I didn't know know. Now I'll have to search my other sources to ensure they're the right people. (There's a county history that has lists of the men who served & where they were from. The problem is that the book isn't indexed & without their unit info - well the "book" is actually several volumes of over 800 pages.
 
Hi there! I'm a long time family history researcher. I've lurked on this thread, but haven't posted here before.

I also use Ancestry to do my research, among other resourcse. I have a subscription (US only). I just don't have a lot of time to do research! I can do some inquiries for you, if you don't mind waiting a while. (I have a 2.5 hour daily commute which cuts into my time ...)

Anyway, I have to share my great news! My grandmother (Mom's Mom) had 5 sisters and 1 brother. Her brother and one of her sisters died as children. My grandmother and 2 of her sisters married - the other 2 surviving sisters did not. One of the married sisters, Aunt Hannah, moved away, and Grandmother lost track of her family. The other married sister, Aunt Maggie, had two children, and we (The Cousins) get together semi-regularly.

I found Aunt Hannah's granddaughter the other day on Ancestry! And we're in contact! :cool1: :yay: :dance3: :woohoo: :banana:

One very happy gal in South Cackalacky!
Susan
 
I don't think I already posted this...

I belong to a Yahoo group for PA research & someone posted recently about a group's efforts to get PA to allow access to their archived records. In reading through the site I found a link to other states that already have access: http://users.rcn.com/timarg/PaHR-Access-states.htm

I was especially excited as they have some records from Philadelphia already available - the county kept their own death records until 1915. I was able to get quite a few records from that - getting into Philly is really tough for me to do on my own & DH doesn't really have time for that kind of "extra" excursion. ;) To get to that page this is the link: http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html?datestamp=1195390820093#

They also have listed the 1850, 1860, 1880 & 1900 US Census. The 1900 census is missing only the Military & Indian Territory records. The 1880 is just the names - like the regular FamilySearch site. 1850 & 1860 have some states done, but not many. I thought some of you might be able to use this.

Those records are searchable. They also have some records that you can brose, but the search isn't active yet. The 1870 US census is included in that area.

Just note that this is called a "Pilot Site" - which basically means that they're still working on it & there are times that you can't download records, although the search still works - at least it did for me recently.

I hope this helps! :thumbsup2
 
The death records for New York City up to 1948 will also become available free online through the Genealogy Society of Utah (again no projected date for when they will be online).
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Oh, my gosh! I don't care if I have to wait 5 years, the prospect of not having to spend $20 each for all of my NYC relatives is well worth it!

My small genealogy update. Since DH has a job lined up, I can get an Ancestry subscription again! Yay!
 
NYC death records online soon.... well that would be fabuoulus!! I could get my great-grandparents info from the 1930s... OMG! I would be so thrilled to get the info and see what additional info I could find.. especially considering they were immigrants making my grandma the first generation born in the US!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Yeah for you Hope!!! I'm so excited.. I might ask you to look a few things up for me when you get it (if you don't mind)... I can't justify it again yet.... ;)
 
No problem. I was going to wait until after I got my ABC prototypes done, but I was looking around at the Family Search site, and my impatience got the better of me, and I just upgraded my account. So I know what I will be doing the rest of the day...not prototypes.
 
LOL! Hope that is so me... I have to give up scrapbooking/prototyping on Sunday because DD needs to put the finishing touches on her 4H genealogy project... so I know I will get side tracked w/ that...
 
I guess with it being summer & vacation time, no onehas much time for researching. We've been so quiet on this thread! ;)

I just have 2 things to share:

First - remember that FamilySearch Pilot Site I mentioned last month? I ended up contacting them about a mis-filed record & in their prompt response they mentioned that they're looking for volunteers to help transcribe records for the indexes. I want to encourage you all to volunteer to do a batch or two for them.

I was suprised at how little time it actually takes! A "batch" consists of a single census page (40 names) or maybe 10 - 15 death certificates. Those are the only 2 types I've done so far. Each morning I download one batch & finish it in the half hour between the time DH leaves for work & I can finally eat breakfast - waiting for meds to work. Really - 30 minutes is about all it takes!

They have a series of tutorials to give you an overview of what they want (when to mark something blank, etc) and that took about an hour to do. I found that kind of off-putting at first...but then I'm compulsive. Let me just tell you that you don't need to remember everything in the tutorials because each record you work on has instructions right in them - so feel free to "skim" through the tutorials. ;)

One thing, though - you might want to sign-up with an "alias" name/junk email. After I'd submitted my name, etc, the Terms of Use was finally shown & it says that they may share the info with facilities in other countries which may not have the same privacy standards that we do. I asked them to remove my name & went back to sign-up with another ID. Since I hadn't transcribed any records, there will be no need for them to share my info with anyone - but just a heads-up for anyone else interested in helping.

Second - I got this from a Genealogy message board I belong to this morning & thought you'd all appreciate it. :)

THE CENSUS TAKER

It was the first day of census, and all through the land;
The pollster was ready...a black book in hand.
He mounted his horse for a long dusty ride;
His book and some quills were tucked close by his side.
A long winding ride down a road barely there;
Toward the smell of fresh bread wafting up through the air.
The woman was tired, with lines on her face;
And wisps of hair she tucked back into place.
She gave him some water...as they sat at the table;
And she answered his questions...the best she was able.
He asked of her children... Yes, she had quite a few;
The oldest was twenty, the youngest not two.
She held up a toddler with cheeks round and red;
His sister, she whispered, was napping in bed.
She noted each person who lived there with pride;
And she felt the faint stirrings of the wee one inside.
He noted the sex, the color, the age...
The marks from the quill soon filled up the page.
At the number of children, she nodded her head;
And then her lips quivered for the three that were dead.
The places of birth she "never forgot";
Was it Kansas? or Utah? or Oregon...or not?
They came from Scotland, of that she was clear;
But she wasn't quite sure just how long they'd been here.
They spoke of employment, of schooling and such;
They could read some and write some...though really not much.
When the questions were answered, his job there was done;
So he mounted his horse and he rode toward the sun.
We can almost imagine his voice loud and clear;
"May God bless you all for another ten years."
Now picture a time warp... its' now you and me;
As we search for the people on our family tree.
We squint at the census and scroll down so slow;
As we search for that entry from long, long ago.
Could they only imagine on that long ago day;
That the entries they made would effect us this way?
If they knew, would they wonder at the yearning we feel;
And the searching that makes them so increasingly real.
We can hear if we listen, the words they impart;
Through their blood in our veins, and their voice in our heart.

Courtesy of the author Darlene Stevens
This poem is posted on many websites and has been circulated on several genealogy lists
as "The Census Taker" with the author unknown. The author is Darlene Stevens, who wrote this poem as an assignment for a genealogy class.
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Thanks Deb!!!

I may consider doing that when the kids go back to school.. I was always afraid it would be long and I wouldn't be able to get it done in the time frame they needed... ;)
 
I was concerned about the time frame too - I didn't want to be working on it for hours, you know? You can download multiple batches, but I've just been doing one at a time. They ask you not to download more than you can do in a week as that's the deadline.

Oh - and you can return a batch if you can't finish for some reason. I got one batch that was too light for me to read - even after messing with the contrast etc. - so I returned it. No harm, no foul. ;)
 
I've done name extraction/indexing before on this system too - it's very simple, and very clear as to what needs to be completed and how it should be done.

It makes an enormous difference. The LDS church plans to eventually provide all of their currently microfilmed records online - at no cost, I think - and this project helps move that along.
 
I just read this in the Ancestry newsletter this morning & I thought I'd pass this along as I've been guilty of this in my research. :guilty:

The popular Post-It notes and other brands of self-adhesive “sticky notes” may be great for leaving a quick note for yourself or a friend, but they are definitely not for use in books and original historical documents. The paper used in the product is not acid-free, and the adhesive on them contains chemicals which can leave behind a residue that can damage and/or discolor anything to which it is applied. Don't use these products on any historical documents, photographs, books, or any other materials in libraries, archives, or on materials in your personal collection that you wish to preserve for posterity.
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How is everyone's research going?
 
I read that too... I was thinking OMG.. I sure hope I don't have any of that on my papers... from what I can find, I don't..but it's a good thing to know for future reference...

it's so hot today... the kids said they just want to watch a movie, so I think I'm gonna dab-ble in some research!!! :)

I'll have to go back through this thread and find those links you gave us for PA info.. seems some of DH's family was from Lancaster Co...
 
I use post-it notes, but I put my stuff in a page protector, and then I put the post-it on top of the page protector. My Grandma, can't read the Census forms (I can barely read them!) so I will write it out on a post-it.
 
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