My first look at the Digital Public Library of America

 How excited were you to explore this new amazing resource?

First glimpse: beautiful.

I was very pleased to open the Digital Public Library of America (or DPLA) on Sunday when I finally had some time to devote to it. The format, layout, color scheme… all very well done and easy to navigate. Thank goodness.

One thing that caught my attention right away was the “Timeline” link in the top menu. I love me a good timeline! Nearly every state I research in, this is a vital tool for me; finding a good online timeline for the area that gives me major events in the history of the area. I tried this first, in my exploration of the new site, and did a search for “Colorado.” The site came back with 17,324 results, beginning in 1827. The results were displayed in a graph, and you click on each bar of the graph to see the events. I chose the year 1859, since that was the year that gold was discovered in Breckenridge, to see if it made the list. What I got was this:

Screenshot of "Colorado" search results in the timeline feature. 21 Apr 2013.

Nine images related to “1859” in Colorado. The red link is a title, which then directs you to a citation and brief description of the book. I noticed that you can also view the results of the initial timeline search in list form, or by location on a map. A nice feature.

Screenshot of search results for "Colorado" in the timeline, but displayed on the map. 21 Apr 2013

My next exploration was a general search from the homepage. I looked up “Moravian,” since that is a topic I’m working on right now. It brought me 43 results – which is not too bad compared to other sites I have visited in the past week – and a quick scroll through brought me several options to review. I was able to locate exact articles (which then referred me to sites like Internet Archive); census records; images of artwork, historical objects and portraits, to name a few. One feature I particularly liked about the site was the availability to filter the results by the Owning Institution or online Partner, allowing me to chose just what I could access online. Other filtering options include location, subject, date and language. (Also a nice feature, since many Moravian records are in German!) 

First glance, I’m impressed. I see this becoming one of my “go-to” resources, for any major project and plan on using it often.

I recommend following the DPLA on Twitter or Facebook for the latest info and updates. You can find the links on their homepage: 

The Digital Public Library of America


Have you had a chance to explore the site yet? What are your thoughts? I would love to hear about it!

Proudly Presenting...

If you do any genealogy research in the Rocky Mountains, you know one thing: there is a genuine lack of printed research guides for this area.

There are general guides, and those are helpful, but there are very few texts of any kind written specifically for the geographical area of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. I know, I’ve looked.

And looked.

And looked.

Knowing that, the pieces that have been written are all very good. Truly.

So when the opportunity came knocking on my door to write such a guide, I snagged it. Immediately.

The best part for me is that these are my favorite types of guides to use. Simple, concise, no frills. Just four pages of resources on the topic, with good information and very easy to use. I prefer the laminated version, and have several on a variety of other topics; everything from citing sources to world history. I buy them for my family, too; my niece received two for Christmas this past year on algebra. Partly because she’s really enjoying her math class this year, and party because I’m a good aunt who likes to encourage the educational efforts of the next generation.

The first two to be published are Colorado Genealogy and Wyoming Genealogy. I’ll admit: I was venturing into new territory here and wanted to stick with topics I was well versed in. I am happy to report they came out incredibly well. They are currently available for purchase from the Legacy Family Tree store, as a PDF download, at a mere $2.95. 

Here is the description of the Colorado guide from Legacy Family Tree store: 

"Colorado has experienced more than one gold rush in its history. The original sent masses to Pike’s Peak in 1859; additional mineral booms throughout the late 1800s continued population growth, and now the “white gold” covering the mountains bring winter sports enthusiast from around the world.Looking to find those elusive Centennial State ancestors? 

The Colorado Genealogy Legacy QuickGuide™ contains useful information including a timeline of Colorado history events, tips on Colorado research strategy, outline of major immigrant groups, and more. Also included are links to websites and resources covering vital records, church records, census records, as well as general Colorado resources. Utilize this handy 4-page PDF guide on your computer or mobile device for anytime access to create your own genealogy gold rush!"

"Genealogy gold rush!" I love it! I'm going to be using that one quite a bit, I think. 

Next on the list? More states! In the next month, I’ll be working on Montana, New Mexico and Washington. Watch my Facebook and Twitter accounts; I’ll definitely be posting when those are available.

That’s not all!  I’ll be branching out of geography in the near future, with “Using Fraternal Society Records,” “Researching Germans from Russia,” and “Moravian Genealogy.” Three topics that come straight from my own personal research. (You can read some of my posts about the Moravian religion here.)

Above all, I hope that other researcher’s find these guides useful. They were certainly useful to write, and truly opened my eyes to the variety of sources one can use in genealogical research. I often write – and think – about creative research, but in this manner I have written it all down and truly tried to go beyond the traditional borders.

Let me know if you love it or hate it. This is my first major "pitch" of a blog post, but I am just too excited about this to not write it. 

Wordless Wednesday: Moravian Church Archives, Alberta, Canada

Original building church cornerstone.

Artifacts in the Archives

Rev. Hoyler, first minister in Alberta, and left an
amazing journal of day to day life in pioneer Canada.

The Women In My Life

Genealogy is full of interesting folks, and we commonly run into the male epidemic. There is just more information on men, plain and simple. Community histories, biographies, directories, census records... they just focused on men more. That was the culture of generations past.

However, it is women's history month. Here's a sampling of some of the more interesting ladies I have discovered over the years.

Sarah Evans, date unknown.

Sarah (Evans) Lawrence (1816-1892). Born in New York, she was supposedly adopted at the age of 3 by the Kaiser family, who continued to use her birth surname of Evans. The story goes like this... Sarah's Dad was shot by an angry neighbor when he purchased the farm that had been foreclosed on. Upon his death, the children were split up. No mention of Sarah's mom. She went on to marry her adopted father's apprentice, John H. Lawrence, and together they had ten children. Eventually, the couple separated and Sarah raised the little one's with the financial help of her older children in Ohio. Two of them went on to own and edit The Ohio Farmer, along with other publications. According to the family oral history, she at various times taught school and worked for a newspaper in Silver Creek, Nebraska, editing, writing obituaries, and other tasks. Her last few years were spent living in one of her son's households in Brighton, Colorado. One of her letters from this time period still exists, and she sounds quite lonely. After a busy and eventful life surrounded by family, she spent her last days staring out of an upstairs window watching the world go by on the street below. She is buried in Brighton, Adams County, Colorado.

Bridget (Conlon/Conlin) McGowan (1843 - ).  Born in January in Ireland, I can only imagine the cold she felt as a newborn. Although I do not know much about Bridget's early childhood, by 1850 the family had come across and could be found in Canton, Hartford County, Connecticut. By the time she died, she had lived in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Alabama, as well as Connecticut and Ireland. She married James McGowan in 1860 in Pittsburgh, and ultimately had nine children. He was also an Irish immigrant. The family seemed to follow the steel industry south. Her parents may have been George Conlin and Mary Unknown. Her brother, James, led an interesting life as a soldier, being stationed in various places around the west, eventually dying in Washington State. Since Bridget is my maternal 3rd great grandmother, the history of her brother is interesting. My father's line has history in Washington, and that is where I was raised. I certainly never imagined I would find anyone in my maternal line in the Pacific Northwest.

Ludwig & Emma Hiller, date unknown.

Emma (Kitzmann) Tober Hiller (1891- 1959)  Known my entire life as Grandma Hiller, Emma was my paternal great grandmother. Born in Volhynia, Russia, her family first arrived through New York in 1909, and settled in Alberta, Canada. Carrying their Moravian faith with them, they were surrounded by others from their homeland, I can only pretend to understand the immigration experience from the perspective of an 18 year old. In 1911, she married Paul Tober, and they lived in Canada for about five years, having one son there, Leo. In November of 1916, they boarded a Canadian Pacific Rail car and came into the U.S. via Sweetwater, Montana. They lived in Salt Lake City, Utah for just a couple of years, and had daughter Elsie. The 1920 US Census finds them in Tacoma, Washington, and Emma remained in the area for the rest of her life. In 1929, Emma and Paul divorced, and I know that my grandmother, Elsie, always had a very negative impression of her father, never forgiving him for leaving her mother. Emma worked as a cafeteria server, hotel housekeeper, and other jobs to keep the family together. Even with all that effort, there was a short time when Elsie and her brother Leo were separated from their mother, but eventually as Elsie got older, she was allowed to live with her brother as she finished high school. The oral history of Emma tells me she was a fierce, strong woman who fought for everything - and fought hard. In 1937 she married Ludwig Hiller. She passed away in Pierce County, Washington, and is buried in Tacoma.

Elsie Stebner

Elsie Stebner passed away on February 17^th  at age 96.  She was known by many names, Mom, Grammie, Great Grammie, Aunt, Godmother, cousin and friend. She was loved by all. She was looking forward to her passing and was excited to be reunited with her husband Ralph, sons Arnie and Leonard and the many other loved ones that have passed before her. We know there was joy in heaven when she arrived.

Elsie has had a tough year, slowly losing her independence and a very painful infection in her foot complicated by poor circulation.  She went into the hospital in November, the infection cleared up and the pain lessened but it left her very weak. She passed away in a palliative hospice surrounded by the love of her family and friends.

What a legacy she has left to her large family.  We are grateful for her many years with us and the goodness in life that she showered on all, whether family or friends.  She was a gentle Christian woman who loved "Family" and was never happier than when she was sitting in her chair at the lake, overseeing and, in a way, giving her blessing to all who came in through the door.  We were truly blessed.  The well known phrase "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" is totally appropriate for her.

The funeral will be February 27, 11 am at Trinity Lutheran Church.


[Ann & Randy Stebner, Canada]

(Elsie was my grandmother's cousin. I had the pleasure of meeting her a few years ago, and she was a lovely woman.)

Moravian Church

Yesterday, I wrote about a trip to Alberta, Canada, where I first learned of the Moravian Church, and my ancestors involvement in it. These are topics I haven't thought about for some time, being fairly driven to face other challenges, answer other questions and reach other goals.

So, where is the Moravian Church now?  It's not a commonly referred to religion, so I thought I would take a look at the current status.

"In essentials, unity; 

In nonessential's, liberty;

In all things, love."

~ Moravian Church of North America

www.moravian.org

According to the website, the Church has been organized for over 500 years, officially organizing in 1457. It's birth was in present day Czech Republic. By 1620, the religion was found in three major geographical areas: Moravia, Bohemia and Poland. Through a long and tumultuous history, including one failed attempt in Georgia, they finally settled in America in the State of Pennsylvania, consuming 500 acres (1735-1740). They currently have congregations in sixteen states, the District of Columbia, and two Canadian Provinces. 

To keep this simple, their doctrine is Christian based, and believe that they are given the responsibility to take care of all God offers them in life: "our time, our talents and our financial resources. We view all of life as a sacred trust to be used wisely."  

In the diaries of Rev. Clement Hoyler (see blog entry from 25 Jan 2012), he references the "Lovefeast." I was curious about this particular event, and found more information on the website (above).  Revitalized within the Moravian Church in 1727, it is used to celebrate church anniversaries, festivals of the church year, congregation celebrations, etc. 

"The lovefeast is primarily a song service, opened with prayer. Often there is no address; the hymns in the ode, or order of service, furnish the subject matter for devotional thoughts. If many visitors are present, the presiding minister often says a few words, explaining the purpose of the service, just before the congregation partakes of the bun and coffee, or whatever is served. On special occasions an address may be added, giving opportunity to remind the congregation of the history of the anniversary or the deeper import of the day."

There are currently eight congregations in Alberta: Bruderheim, Calgary Christ, Calgary Good Shepherd Community, Edmonton, Millwoods, Rio Terrace, Heimtal, and Good News in Sherwood Park.  Although I searched the North American website fairly carefully, I was unable to find a current number of members. According to Wikipedia, the worldwide count currently is around 850,000, with the largest concentration being in Tanzania. They are active in education and missionary work throughout the organization. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravian_Church) 

Beauty in Writing

A few years ago, I was able to take a trip to Alberta, Canada, with my lovely Aunt Patti. The trip was to celebrate the birthday of one of my grandmother Elsie's relatives. It was an incredible opportunity to meet some of our Tober relations and be a part of a very special occasion.

One of the original homesteads in Alberta for ancestors of Elsie Tober.
I had relatives born in this house.

One of the highlights for me was a trip to the Archives office of the New Sarepta Moravian Church. What an amazing collection! And one of my first ventures exploring the world of private collections. We walked out that day with a wealth of knowledge, requests for photo copies pending, and an amazing treasure: The Hoyler Diaries, 1896 - 1909, Rev. Clement Hoyler. This text was published by the Canadian Moravian Historical Society in May 1990, Edmonton, Alberta.

I remember I started reading it on the plane ride home. I quickly realized how vital and important this document would be to my efforts to paint a picture of my ancestors life. Not only was this piece valuable in terms of putting them in historical context; the struggles, the effort of the community, the religious impact in their lives, it actually listed many of them by name in their day to day life. I was so excited to see all of this, it was just pure joy to read through, and to learn about them as people, not just as dates and locations.

Here are a few excerpts:

February 22 (1896)
"Bro. Phillip Busenius and I left for 9:00 a.m. for Bruderheim. To begin with, mainly between South Edmonton and Edmonton the going was rough. The reasons were a problem between the harness and the sleigh and a poorly shod horse. In Edmonton we bought two bolts which we secured to the end of the shafts of the sleigh. Now we tied the harness to them. This was to help us to control the horses when going downhill. We arrived in Fort Sasketchewan in good spirits around 1:45 p.m. where we had something to eat. Around 2:30 p.m. we continued our trip to Bruderheim. At 5:30 p.m. we arrived at Bro. A. Lilge's house where I spent the night while Bro. Busenius continued on to Bro. Ludwig Lilge's home where he stayed."

March 4 (1900)
"A stormy day. The attendance in the morning was 90. I preached about Isaiah 63:1-3. In the afternoon Sunday School and Bible class were held. The service was again attended by 90. I preached about "The seat of mercy," Hebrews 9:5 and Romans 3:25. There was no choir practice. I visited Phillip Busenius' sick child."

February 4 (1901)
"In the morning I drove to Ferd. Busenius' where Julius is very sick. After I had returned, I had to write a letter for a certain Trellenberg."

October 1 (1904)
"We visited Stebners, where we ate lunch. From there we drove on to Julius Debert's on the large Hay Lake. They live there quite romantically right across from an island. They have their own boat. It was somewhat rainy today."

April 28 (1909)
"At noon the wedding of Diewert-Paul took place. I spoke about Hosea 14:8. We spent part of the afternoon at Paul's, the parents of the bride. A heavy snowstorm raged. We held no prayer service in the evening."

Emma and Paul Tober

My great grandmother was a tough lady. I never had the pleasure, but memories run strong in my father's generation.

The Kitzman Homestead, Alberta, Canada

Emma Kitzman was born in the Volhynia region of Russia on 16 October 1891 (happy early birthday!). On the 22 of March, 1911, she married Paul Tober, in Canada, and they immigrated to the United States in November of 1916 through the Canadian/Montana border, coming across in Sweetwater, Montana. They had two children, Leo G Tober (born 7 March 1912 in either Edmonton or Strathcona, Alberta, Canada) and Elsie H Tober (my grandmother). Elsie was born six years later on 13 June 1918 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Paul had a homestead in New Sarepta, Alberta in 1903, and he was one of the founding members of the New Sarepta Moravian Church. He was listed at this time as a citizen of Canada, however, he was also born in Zhitomir, Volhynia, Russia.  He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Both are found in the 1920 Census in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, but divorced on 20 Feb 1929. From our families oral history, the marriage was not a happy one, and Emma was remembered as mistreated. The family has always had the impression that Paul deserted Emma with the kids, and ran off to a new life. He was not talked about very much when Elsie was still alive, as she regarded him very negatively.

In 1930, Emma was listed as a server in a cafeteria in Sumner, Pierce County, Washington, and in 1937 married her second husband, Ludwig Hiller.  "Grandpa Hiller" was born in Russia on 11 October 1884. Both Emma and Ludwig passed away and are buried in Tacmoa, Pierce County, Washington. Oral history again brings us tidbits of information, and one of the family remembers that Ludwig thought Hitler was an "ok" guy, because he brought Germany out of a depression prior to WWII and he never believe that the holocaust existed.  Emma never allowed her children to speak German, and always enforced the English language in the home, even though she spoke little of it herself. Emma, Paul and Ludwig were all "Germans from Russia", part of a historic religious freedom migration, dating back to the 1400's. Many family members of the Moravian faith stayed in Alberta, and their descendants live there today.  Some of the original homesteads still exist, mostly considered historical ruins.

New Sarepta, Alberta, Canada Moravian Church