Is It Worth It?

You have boxes. Everywhere. They over run the closets, office space, basements, attics, garages. Admit it: you have a historic photo problem.

So do I. My parents have decided to give me everything they had now, before they were too old to remember who everybody was. As much as I appreciate that, the storage capacity is, well, hitting capacity. We are over run with old photos. It's a treasure, a joy.

It's a pile of stuff I just cannot seem to get a grasp on.

This morning I was discussing with another collaborator the best ways to preserve those photos, to protect them, to separate them from glass and frames they've been in for 100 years or more. He asked the question, "is it worth it?" Is the photo itself worth the effort? Do you have another photo that would be easier to work with that is similar? Is there a way to get the information from the image without risking any damage?

I know with 100% certainty, without even looking, that I have duplicates upon duplicates of images. This thought is along the same lines; do I really need seventeen copies of the same photo?

They have historical value, yes. Are they doing anybody any good sitting in a box in my closet? No.

There are some reasonable management options here, for all of us to get our chaos under control.

1. Go through all of your collection and gather the duplicates. Send them to like minded relatives around the country or the world, all labeled, of course, with a letter of introduction. It doesn't hurt to have them spread out; in fact, it helps protect them to ensure they will last through the ages (if your collection gets destroyed, they won't all get destroyed.)
2. Scan, scan, scan. Or, take pictures. Whichever system you prefer, just make sure everything gets into a digital file. Remember though, you have to keep up with technology. CD's don't last forever. The cloud does have failures. Recopy everything to the newest latest and greatest. How many home videos were taken in the 80's and 90's that are sitting around on essentially useless VHS tapes? 
3. Scale back. I recently found a photo of a section of grass. That was it. It was older, probably from the '30s, but it was some grass and a bit of sky. It looked like an error photo, equivalent to the "pocket dial" of today. Since it had absolutely zero worth to my research or to my family, it got tossed. Yep, I said it. I threw it away. It didn't have any writing on it, had no people or identifiable landmarks in the image. It was worthless. There is no shame in recognizing this waste and dealing with it.
4. Go through what's left. Label it all, do as a complete job as possible: names, dates, locations. Some of my photos have full paragraphs with what I know about the circumstances surrounding the image. 

Now, stop and take a deep breath. 

Let's step back. You've dealt with the duplicates, gotten rid of the garbage, narrowed down your collection to what is, hopefully, a much more manageable size. Make sure that you have each photo attached to the appropriate person in your genealogy software program. I have been amazed at how many people seem to forget this. They think that they've already done it, or they get so excited about sharing the images they have discovered, or rediscovered, along the way, that they simply overlook this important step. Remember those like minded cousins around the globe? Now is the time to do a copy of your database and send that around, too. My parents have copies going back a decade in their safe deposit box. On the other side of the state. They are not the only ones. Overkill? Maybe. But if I lose everything in a house fire, I will not lose my research or my family history. 

Now you get to start looking for archival quality family albums, storage boxes and other safe storage options. 

It is a lot of work, I'm not going to ever say otherwise. But once you've done it, the rewards will be substantial, and as you gain more in your collection, it will be that much easier to keep up or to continue to identify those nagging duplicates. 

So keep on that pile, but remember to ask yourself: Is it worth it? 

1940 Census Release: My Thoughts From Day 1

As my research hours come to a close for 2 April 2012, I thought I would post my initial thoughts on the 1940 US Census roll out from today.

It was a big day. It was a big thing to try to do. Imagine, putting all of the images online, all at one time, and saying "Go!" I know many people complained about the overwhelmed system at the National Archives, but I personally found the day to be rather successful. Here's why.

1. The National Archives gave us a chance to be productive, even if we couldn't get to the images. By creating a user profile for the site, I was able to "bookmark" all the Enumeration Districts that were high on the list. So just finding it in the site, and saving it for later, I felt like I was making progress. It just means that future searches will be that much more efficient for me. 
2. I was up early. Right at 9:00am EST when they turned the switch, I was on the site, and was able to download a few images. It was enough to keep me interested and motivated during the rest of the day. Maybe I was lucky in this regard, I know many people didn't see an actual image until much later in the day. It did mean that I was up at 6:15am my time, but I feel that it was worth it. Dedication, people! :-)
3. The updates on Twitter and Facebook from the folks at the Archives kept me informed. I think this was probably the reason why I kept trying all day; I liked that they were obviously concerned about their audience, and wanted to keep us update on how they were trying to resolve the issues. Not a lot of detail, but just enough to satisfy me that things were going to improve, relatively quickly. 
4. Social Media! Woo-Hoo! I actually had a great time this morning on Twitter, just chatting about the census and being involved in the genealogical community. Up here in the mountains of Colorado, they're are not very many history & genealogy buffs for me to talk to, and my husband is getting tired of me talking about what was happening in 1940, so it was nice just to see how others were responding and have conversation. Although there were many negative comments about the backlog on the 1940 site, it was great to see the positive messages and encouragement to our friends at the Archives. 
5. The partnering sites, especially FamilySearch.org, were able to get a handful of states up and going. A few hiccups on my first search, but after that, FS ran very smooth. I was able to find my first two names via FamilySearch, and it felt like the waiting during the day was worth it. Ancestry.com was also moving quickly, and although they have yet to load any states that are helpful to me at the moment, their progress was impressive. 

My Disappointment.

The most significant disappointment to me today was first thing this morning. Cup of coffee in hand, ready to watch the live feed of the opening from Washington D.C., and the stream wouldn't work for me. I had to settle with still photos posted on Twitter from other viewers. Although this was a bummer, it actually allowed me to beat the crowd to the images initially, so in the long run, it worked out to my benefit. 

I will continue to filter through FamilySearch and Ancestry as they add more images, and try the National Archives again later tonight or tomorrow. Hopefully, I can get to Keya Paha County, Nebraska and Orting, Pierce County, Washington, today. Those are my "I'm so excited!" locations. Some of the images I have found so far are already posted on my blog, maybe it will help somebody. 

Soon I will have to switch modes from genealogist to Mommy, and that's perfectly ok with me. Making memories today is what she will value as an adult. History happens every day, in many ways, and today we all got to be a part of it, just by witnessing the release!  

One Mother: Four Birth Certificates; Finding Mistakes in Vital Records

Most genealogists rely on basic information on an individual to build a simple profile of that person's life. Once you have those pieces, the rest of their history is much easier to accumulate. The birth, marriage and death dates and locations are extremely important to building a strong case in your research. Those vital's, the BMD, are typically the first items you look for upon learning of a new ancestor.

We have to remember, however, that those forms were completed by humans. Even those found in recent history commonly have errors and misspellings. Just because its on a BMD record, does not mean its correct. This post will give you an example of that situation.

One Mother: Four Birth Certificates

(Because this example is about real people, who are still alive, actual names have been replaced with those out of my imagination.)

Sally Lorraine Kniver married William J. Wilson in 1960 in Birmingham, Alabama. William was a military man, so they lived in various places along the eastern seaboard during their early years as a family. They had four children in all, born in three different states. The two eldest children, the son and the first daughter, have birth certificates from Maryland and Alabama respectively. Both of those have correct information, with no errors. The other two daughters, however, are different.

The third child was also born in Maryland. The certificate lists birthplace of the babies father and mother, and while William Wilson was born in Washington, it was Washington State, not Washington D.C. as listed on the certificate. Additionally, the information on the mother's residence is incorrect:

Usual Residence of Mother:
State: DC
County: Enumclaw
City or Town: Wash DC

An address is also listed, which happens to be located in Enumclaw, King County, Washington. As a District, Washington DC does not actually reside in a "county", so obviously the information listed on the certificate is confused at best. If you were to just use the information on the certificate of this child alone, as a researcher, you may be quite lost as to where this woman actually lived. (Until you Googled "Enumclaw" that is - trust me, there is only one of those.)

Finally, the fourth child, and last girl of the family. Born in Enumclaw, Washington after William left his military service. The majority of information on her vital record is correct, except for the spelling of her mother's maiden name. The correct spelling is KNIVER, but the record has it as KNIVED. A small error, but another likely to cause confusion, especially with the novice researcher.

If you had all four of these birth records, you would be able to make highly educated assumptions about the family, do some additional research, and find the correct information fairly easily. However, if you have only one or two, and at least one of those has errors, it could certainly lead you down the wrong path. It is important to remember to search along the branches of your tree, just as much as the trunk. In other words, research the siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles along with your direct ancestral line to find as much information as possible; in order to build an accurate and full family history.

Records can be fudged, errors are made, even in today's world. In the above examples, the children were all born in the 1970's, and although corrections have been made to the records, there are many more out there that sit in error.

Example of a Vital Record: Certificate of Marriage

The Diary

Last year I was entrusted with a family collection of photos, letters, documents... even one reproduction Civil War medal. You know how this works. You get a huge box of unidentified memorabilia, some of which is garbage, some of which you already have (somewhere) and some of which are pure gold. As in, "this should really be in a museum but I'm probably going to keep it for a while anyway" gold.

The Diary is one of those pieces of gold.

The "Carlyle Collection" as I have named it all came to me from my great grandfather's sister's family. Carrie Brown, daughter of Oscar and Frankie (previously mentioned in several other posts) married Adam Carlyle, and Carrie was good at saving things. So were her daughters. I have certainly gained the honor of becoming the family curator, and eventually the collection ended up in my lap. A title I will gladly carry through to the end. The collection had been organized, to my great delight, to a certain degree by a member of the Carlyle family more recently. He even labelled some of those unknowns for me, which is nearly unheard of.

But no one told me about The Diary.

I had spent days documenting, digitizing and doing my best to filter through the collection. It came contained in seven binders and several other collection devices: boxes, plastic bags, loose pieces. The process had been long and tedious - and I still had to go through and translate all those letters, find where all those pieces belonged. I was really just beginning, but the cataloging was dragging on and on, until I was just done. Done.

Then I found The Diary.

In a very plain looking brown bag. On the front was written, "Diary of Carrie E. Reid 1895 Given to Lizzie Christie (1),  Jean Mouat (2), Helen DeVries (3)." In the top left corner a address label was placed for William DeVries of Bellingham, Wash. (Can you say 1940 US Census?) The back of the bag had a printed label for "PayLess: We're Your Mall in One... We've Got It All Together." Obviously, a modern addition to The Diary. The handwriting on front I recognized from some of the photos I had seen in days previous. Even the pen used was the same. One of the names, Helen DeVries, was familiar, but other than that, I had nothing.

Carrie E. Reid wrote The Diary.

Inside the bag was a dictation notebook, similar to the commonly used white and black notebooks seen across colleges everywhere. The front cover, brown with black and gold embossed lettering, reads "Cyclopedia Book, Exercise and Dictation". The back and inside covers are littered with helpful information, such as "How To Tell the Age of Any Person", in chart form, the "Strength of Ice" and "Origin of the Dollar". Held together with a piece of blue tape along the spine, obviously an attempt made several decades ago. The first page entry is dated Tuesday, Jan 1, 1895, by C.E. Reid, "Diary".

               "This being the 22nd Anniversary of Mother's and Father's wedding we 

                  wished to have some enjoyment so we decided on having a little party."

I was immediately obsessed.

Inside were a few items, other than the script of Carrie Reid. She appears to be writing from somewhere in Canada, so a program from the Grand Opera House in Ottawa (Canada), for Tuesday, February 18th, highlighting Madame Albani in performance, made sense. A color print, on thin paper, slightly torn in the corners, of "The Doctor", published by J.A. Austen & Co., Chicago. A small scrap of paper, written in pencil, "July 4th, 1896, Saturday night..." along with a very fragile sample of hand crocheted lace, folded several times over. The last entry is from Jan. 1st, 1896, "Leap Year".

I hope to find out who Carrie E. Reid was, and where her family ended up. How is she related to me? How did this diary, this very precious item, end up in my hands? The trust my family places in me... wow.

Some of the entries are long, involved stories. Some are very simple, one sentence, maybe two. The transcription will hopefully be completed this year, and the storage of this item for preservation carefully considered. It is a treasure, a family heirloom, yes. But more than that, it is a historic artifact. One for the museum, perhaps.

The Diary.

BCG Mentor

As I continue to develop my skills and prepare myself for going through the certification process with the Board for Certified Genealogists, or BCG, I have decided to look for a mentor to assist me. This is recommended by the Board, and is something I would very much like to have. I have contacted a couple local folks from the web site, but none of them seem very open to the idea, with time consuming projects of their own.

I am looking for someone to proof read my material, critique my processes and summaries and just provide general morale support. The BCG process is long and, I've heard, can be overwhelming. Locally or digitally, it would sure be nice to have someone "hold my hand."

Please pass this on if you know of anybody that might be interested. Thank you.

http://www.bcgcertification.org/

They Are Out There... Just Waiting For Me: My Top 10

In just under 30 days, the 1940 US Census will be released, and there are so many of us just itching to get to it. Midnight on April 2 is a hefty deadline.

I started preparing for this major records release a few weeks ago, by gathering names, enumeration districts, dates and information from the 1930 census; all designed to aide in my search. Since the 1940 US Census will not be name indexed upon release, there is some basic information that is essentially required knowledge to get to what you want. Unless, of course, you are willing to spend countless hours scrolling page after page. I just don't have that kind of time.

The first person I am going to try to find is my father. I've never been able to find a still living member of my family in a census before, so it would be quite something to see his name listed. Since he was born in early June of 1940, he really shouldn't be there. Enumerators were supposed to record the family as it existed on April 1 of the year of the census. Which means, even if he knocked on my grandparents door on the first of July, technically, he should not have written down my father's name. We'll see. I have other records from 1920 and 1930 where the enumerator documented someone outside of the instructions. This of course means that Grandma Elsie and Grandpa Harley are persons #2 and #3 on my list. They'll be in Orting, Pierce County, Washington.

It's a strong potential that my great-uncle, who is also still alive, will be on the same page as my grandparents household. He's person #4 to find.

#5 Emma Brown, also a resident in the same town, and likely listed in the same household as my great-uncle.
#6 Charlotte Anderson (Andersson), mother of Emma, Orting, Washington.
#7 The Heerten's of Keya Paha County, Nebraska. They'll all be together. They always are.
#8 Mortimer J. Brown and wife Ethel in Lake County, Oregon. Mortimer died in 1941, so this would be a potential last known document on his life.
#9 Warren L Brown and wife Sousie, possibly on the Klamath Indian Reservation in Klamath, Oregon. After 1930, I lose track of them almost completely.
#10 Summit County, Colorado. I have been so engrossed in researching my new environment, I just can't leave them out. Family names that have absolutely zero biological connection to me (at least, not yet) and I am really anxious to find out who stayed in the area during the depression and who didn't. That era was tough on Summit County; after mining, before skiing. Many left.

I will say this. Don't try to communicate with me on April 2, 3 or 4... I'll be busy.

You can find resources and helpful tools on the 1940 US Census release here: http://the1940census.com/. The project is also seeking volunteers to help index, you can find that information on the above site, also.

Funeral Card Friday: Sarah Alice Brown

For years, we have known that Oscar F. Brown of Colfax County, Nebraska was buried alongside an infant daughter. Until recently, however, we did not know who she was. This funeral card, found in the collection from the Carlyle Family of Washington State, identifies that daughter. 

"Died.

On the 18th of February, 1881, at 11 o'clock a.m., Sarah Alice, daughter of F.E. and O.F. Brown, aged seven months and five days."

The card was printed with a poem, and was signed Mrs. S.E. Lawrence. This is Sarah's grandmother, who lived in the area at the time. Her name was Sarah (Evans) Lawrence, wife of John Horatio Lawrence, and mother to Frances Elizabeth (Lawrence) Brown, wife of Oscar. After raising her children in Ohio, Sarah moved to the Colfax County area to live near her daughter, and eventually moved into her son's home in Denver, Colorado, where she died. Sarah and her husband John were separated in Ohio, reunited in Nebraska, and separated again, living in two residences on either side of the county. John died in Nebraska.

Oscar and Sarah were left in unmarked graves for many years. Descendants put a headstone on the site for Oscar within the last decade, but Sarah remains unknown. I have no doubt that her grave will be appropriately remembered before too long, now that we know who she was. Mystery solved.

Emma Hiller

The Wedding

Our family archives holds many items, but this photo is one of my favorites. Several years ago, I received a letter in which the story is told of a wedding. The ceremony was held in "the front room" of Mom's house, who would have been Frances E. (Lawrence) Brown, and married her daughter, Carrie, to Adam Carlyle. The scene was described as intimate, with ivy and ferns for festive decorations. The next mention of the wedding was a newspaper announcement from Orting, Washington, essentially telling the same story. Last November, I was given this photo. In the corner, it is labelled Orting, Washington, and the evidence tells me this was the scene of the ceremony itself. All of these pieces came together, and now we have a complete picture.

Love it when that happens.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Wall Method

For over a decade, I have been researching my paternal line, traveling in time through Washington, Nebraska, Michigan and New York. I have been increasingly frustrated with the parents of Oscar F Brown (see previous posts'). I decided to take on the challenge in a new way a couple of months ago, and the results have been increasingly obvious. I still do not have all the answers, but I have more information than I did just three months ago, and I feel as if I'm starting to climb that brick wall.

Here was my plan of attack: Be visual.

It doesn't sound like much, but it made all the difference in the world. Using the back of an old desk calendar that had large pages, I outlined each theory on Oscar's parents and taped them to the wall above my work space. That way, whenever I needed a date, name, reference point, or otherwise, it was right there in front of me. Obviously, not every detail is listed on the pages, but they provide enough bullet points to get me from point A to point B for the day.

There is a lot of discussion in the genealogy community about how to stay organized, to have a written research plan, to review material, etc., etc., etc. All of this is great, and it is all useful, but it is not necessarily going to work every time.

Sometimes to overcome that brick wall in your research, you have to find a different way around it, through it, under it, over it, or just plain turn around and get a running start. The wall method seems to be working so far. I'll keep you posted.

February Goals

Deciding to document my genealogical goals on this blog is no small deal. This means I have to actually commit! Argh! Scary!

Ok, really. Here they are.

1. Blog more. There were many reasons I began this project, but the two that are most important to me were to improve my writing skills and to maintain a routine examination of my own research projects. During the past several months my blogging has been inconsistent at best, especially in terms of frequency. My goal for February is to blog about something twice a week. I have started a list of possible topics, and of course, I am open to suggestions. If there is something you are interested in learning more about, let me know. 
2. Create two new pages for both of my TTTP sites: Summit County, Colorado and Colfax County, Nebraska.  I have very much enjoyed the Trails to the Past project that began this past fall for me. Certainly it has given me the opportunity to learn a great deal more about both areas of the country. It has also forced me to be creative when it comes to finding new resources. My local library has been wonderful for the Summit County page, but being distant from Nebraska requires that I work harder to find new information for that area. Because of this, I do feel that the Nebraska page has suffered some, so to define my goal even further, I will create the Colfax County pages first. 
3. Girl Scout Project. This particular venture has truly given me a chance to go back to the basics in my own work and reevaluate some of the technical sides of the process that I have developed bad habits for or taken short cuts with. So, I'm grateful for it. February's meeting topic is yet to be determined, so I will need to develop my lesson for the girls for the month, prepare examples, and provide them with their homework. 
4. Continue the Social Media campaign.  My current efforts with creating an online presence and developing a reputation in the genealogical community appears to be making an impact. So, that focus will continue until my "audience" has grown and I feel confident that the name of "Ancestral Journeys" is out there, and known. Of course, this may take years. I think I can handle that.
5. Continue to develop standardized forms/information for Ancestral Breezes.  The necessary communication tools for new clients should be in place before I take on clients, yes?  I've been working on this as I am able, and have developed two to three very solid documents, all with the objective of providing the client with information.  February should see two to three more, including a tracking log (time and research), standardized invoice form, copyright information, and a release for publication purposes (so I can use other people's families to write about). 
6. Historical Document Preservation. Being the proud owner of a rather extensive library of photographs, letters, newspapers, certificates and other documents is a task I will gladly accept. It does, however, come with some responsibility. There is quite a bit more to digitally preserve in my collection, and they deserve some quality time with me. I now have the tools necessary to do this, and do it right, so there are no more excuses. My goal is to scan and save at least 200 new items this month. Storage is a whole different beast. Maybe next month... 

Six is a good number, right? 

Guess I'll be checking back around 1 March 2012 to see how I did.... and sadly, I don't think this counts as one of this week's blog posts, since it's not technically February yet. 

Who was Oscar's Dad?

For years now, I have been working on the life and family of Oscar Fitzallen Brown. We know quite a bit about him, really, but the one mystery that has plagued me is his father. If I can find his father, than I can find his mother: of that I am quite certain. But the father... who is this guy?  He's starting to get incredibly frustrating. Yesterday, I once again sent out an email plea for help from any family member that may be able to shed light on this particular issue. Here are the details...

Oscar was born in New York in 1832. Somewhere between the ages of 2 and 5 the family moved to Michigan to farm, and this is where he was raised. As a young man, he moved to Missouri and lived with his sister's family in Shelby County. Oscar joined the Union forces and fought nearly the entire length of the war, and then moved back to Shelby County, where he served for a time as Deputy Sheriff. Eventually, he claimed his homestead and settled in Colfax County, Nebraska. He married Frances E. Lawrence and had six children. He passed away in 1906 and is buried in Richland.

The candidates for father are...

1. William Brown: I am fairly certain that Oscar had a sister named Mary. She was born in 1817 in New York, and died in 1879. On Christmas Eve of 1835, she married Josiah H. Collins in Pittsfield, Washtenaw, Michigan, and they had five children; Henry, Charles, Mary Elizabeth, Josiah Jr. and William B. When Mary died, her death record states that her father was William Brown and her mother, Mary. It would make sense that she was named after her mother, and that her children carry some of the family names, also. 
2. Abraham Brown: This is the name given in Oscar's obituary as his father. No other evidence of an Abraham Brown can be found. 
3. Isaac C. Brown: He had at least two sons, Charles F. and Oscar F., and he lived in the same area of New York that we suspect the Brown family came from when they moved to Michigan. However, he never left New York (that we know of). Isaac left a will stating that his two sons (listed above) both residing in Colfax County, Nebraska, were to be left portions of his estate and Charles was the executor. I feel that this is the least likely answer at this time. Just something in my gut, I guess. 
4. Tolman (or Talmon or Talman) Brown: Born in 1791 in New York, he is listed as Oscar's father n the county books for Oscar and France's marriage. His wife was listed as Mary Morvie (1782-1836), once again supporting the idea that Mary was a family name. Talmon did own property in Washtenaw County, Michigan, beginning 1 Sep 1826. 

There is some speculation that William and Talmon are in fact the same man. There are branches of the family, through the Collins', that have notes indicating as such, and Mary (Brown) Collin's [see#1] headstone reads, "wife of Josiah, daughter of Talmon". 

Mary (Brown) Collins. Her headstone gives the best connection between William and Talmon Brown.

Headstone of Mary (Brown) Collins

Let's go back to the beginning for just a moment. I stated earlier that Oscar went to live with his sister's family in Missouri before the onset of the war. We learn about his sister through letter's in Oscar and Frances' pension file. Jennie Yoe and her husband Thomas Yoe wrote general letters to the pension board after Oscar's death in support of Frances receiving a widow's pension, stating that she was the only wife of Oscar, never remarried, and that they had known her for some time and thought her to be honest and upstanding. In the letter, Jennie states that she is the niece of Oscar, and if you back track their family, you find Jennie's mother, Harriet Brown, which you must conclude to be Oscar's sister.  One would think that I could look up her parents and be done with this whole issue... but her parents have disappeared, also. I cannot find any record of her life before her marriage. The one fact that does help in this search is that Harriet and Warren were married in Washentaw County, Michigan. All roads seem to lead us there. Washentaw County is a common factor for both William and Talmon, and I have not been able to connect the other two potential fathers, Abraham and Isaac, to Michigan at all. 

So it would seem that circumstantial evidence, or simply secondary information with indirect sources, have built a case that leans toward two assumptions: 1. William and Talmon are in fact the same person, and 2. William Talmon Brown is the father of Oscar F. Brown. How does this lead to frustration, you ask? Very simple in that it's not good enough to stand up to a systematic review in the genealogical community. I just simply don't have enough direct, first hand sources to prove or disprove any of the above. 

The search continues...