Joys of a Brickwall

On a recent excursion to the City Park with my family, I was inspired to think of my genealogy brick wall in a different way. 

What does your wall look like?
Copyright Jen Baldwin, 2014

Many of us have been there. The frustration. The dashed hope. 

The seemingly endless pursuit of new material, new research, new resources.  The absolute challenge of a brick wall. 




In reality, when you stop and think about the process you have gone through in trying to put the pieces together, as meager as some of them may be, you also start to realize how much you have learned. 

Imagine genealogy without any challenges. It's a gloomy vision, to be sure. 


Oscar is my opportunity. 

Changing my outlook on the "brick wall" of a genealogy research project means giving it a new name. Brick wall has too many negative connotations for me, so I'm now going to think of my project as my "opportunity." And his name is Oscar. 

Oscar was born around 1832 in New York, and died in 1906 in Nebraska. I know a great deal about his adult life, it's his childhood and his parents that have been difficult to pin down. I've been working on Oscar's story since I started on my family history, he has always been a bit of an enigma. I realize, though, that perception is everything, and as I commonly say, "life is in the details." I wonder how many resources I have discovered in the course of the last fifteen years that would have remained "unknown" to me without Oscar? 

I certainly would not know as much about early Michigan history, or the development of western New York. I would know next to nothing about the Mississippi Marine Brigade, and its role patrolling the Mississippi River during the Civil War (and without all of that information, how would I have been able to stump the military researcher at the Denver National Archives a couple years ago on a question about the unit?). 

The four inch binder of material that has been accumulated would not be nearly as thick, and the little clues hidden within would have been overlooked. The intricate details of Oscar's life may have remained unknown for a long, long time. The detailed study of his life, his timeline, would not exist. I never would have stopped to question, "what did Oscar farm in Nebraska? What was his crop?" "Did the family have live stock? If so, what effect did barbed wire have on the homestead?" The questions I've asked over the course of this project would have gone unasked. 

All of this is done with really one primary objective: identifying with as much certainty as possible who Oscar's parents are. That's really been the burning question for a long time for me. Along the way, though, the treasures - answers to these questions and more - have been uncovered.  

Because of Oscar, I am a much better genealogist today. 

What ring will you stretch for next?
Copyright Jen Baldwin, 2014.

I would challenge you to think of your "brick wall" in a new way. As you grasp one ring, continue to reach for the next. Remember that every clue is important, no matter how small it may be at the time. Remember that the challenge of the hunt is what makes us good researchers, the application of our discoveries is what makes us great. 

#genchat CHALLENGE: Using Tax Records to Knock Down Your Brick Wall

Have you used tax records in your genealogy? 

You should probably think about it, if you haven't. #genchat on May 25, 2014 was all about tax records, and what there is to gain from them as a genealogy source. 

Think beyond property. We had mentions of taxes on hen's, prostitutes, dog licenses, and way more! There is much to be learned from taxes and the associated paperwork. Use them as a substitute for census records, let them fill in the gaps of your ancestors life. 

Seek them out locally first, in the county Courthouse and in city administration buildings, then work on a broader level to identify where your ancestor may have been listed. 

Tonight's #genchat CHALLENGE: Using one of your "brick wall" ancestors and knock down the wall by identifying and pursuing tax records. 

The scope of what you might find could surprise you! Taxes have been around for a very long time, so use that to your advantage! 

As always, share what you find so we can all continue to learn from each other. Use your blog, social media, website or any other format to share your process and results, and then let us know! 

This #genchat CHALLENGE should result in some very interesting local records being discovered! Be sure to connect with your local genealogy society, as well, for even more information. 

#genchat CHALLENGE: Exploring NARA

In last night's #genchat, we discussed using the National Archives and Records Administration, commonly known as NARA, in our genealogy journey. Many participants had yet to fully explore the collections available in our national collection, so this week's challenge is designed to get you into the records and find out what might be of value to your research.

Denver Branch of the National Archives and Records Administration
Photo: ©Jen Baldwin, 2012 - 2014

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it...


Identify one record set that might help you at NARA, learn how to access it and write it up. No purchase required, but go into this as if you are going to request the records and get it ready for yourself. 


(Maybe you will even be encouraged to order the records soon!)


Here is mine.


I decided to dig into the possibility of finding one or two of my miner's in NARA's collection. The men I am researching came to the Colorado gold fields and took various routes to success. One ended up being a cattle rancher with property in Nebraska and Colorado; the other spent a decade investing in various mining operations before heading home to New Jersey. One of the best lines I got from my initial research of NARA records was this:

Think of possible ways your ancestor interacted with the Federal Government. Then pursue those records.

Examining the holdings at the Denver branch, I found that they have Bankruptcy Case Files. I think it is likely that either or both of these men may have found themselves in this circumstance. It's just a hunch, really, but its worth investigating, I think. Although the information online is limited, they have bankruptcy, civil cases, court of appeals and criminal cases; all available to order.


Just these files does not warrant a full trip to the Denver branch for me, however. I need to find more and have a full list of potential research in order to make this drive (about two hours one way for me). I utilized the "Guide to Archival Holdings: Alphabetical List of Record Holdings" for Denver to dig a bit deeper.


Due to the various bits of information I have about these two men, I was able to locate two additional sources that may help me. List includes the title and Record Group (RG) number:

• Attorneys, United States RG 118. This collection specifically refers to US Attorneys appointed under the Department of Justice. Although I have not uncovered any evidence of that, there is still a possibility that my guy may have been involved in a case dealing with a US Attorney, making this a far-fetched, but still valid, resource for me. Before I pursue it however, I will do more local work into his career as an attorney. 
• Bureau of Mines, US RG 70. The record description indicates the dates of 1860 - 1996, so it begins early enough to potentially cover data on either or both of my guys. The description does not detail what is included in the earliest years of the set (1860-1900), so additional work on my part is required to understand if this is a valid resource for me or not. 

I will also need to examine the collections at the Kansas City facility to examine the possibility of records on the miner turned cattle rancher.


I would invite you to take a closer look at the potential resources held at NARA. Look from a national perspective, but also at what each individual branch has in its collections.


Will you accept the CHALLANGE?

Our next #genchat will be March 14, on the topic of "Early Census Years." You can find the full schedule on Conference Keeper. 

Where in the World... is Colorado?

In the west, many of the states went through several migrations before taking on their current shape, size, border position, etc. The history of these events, and the impact made by these changes, can still be felt today.


This post is not about Colorado's timeline... its about identifying records.


Take a look at this particular document. This is from the Territorial Case Files of the U.S. District Courts of Utah 1870-1896; NARA (Publication number M1401; digitized and available on www.Fold3.com).

U.S. Marshall's Office Affidavit of Subpoena, Arapahoe County, Colorado.

The document is dated April 30th, 1891. It's a mess, isn't it? 

Let's take a closer look at the details in the top half.

Excerpt

This is a statement from the U.S. Marshall's Office in Denver, Arapahoe County, Colorado, stating that subpoena's had been issued to four men:

1. C.B. Wilson
2. Charles M Waters
3. E.N. Fussell
4. W.W. Patterson

But.. wait. This is from the Territorial Case Files of the U.S. District Courts of Utah collection. Huh?


It goes on to indicate, in the handwriting in the lower left corner, the Marshal's Fee's for this service, a total of $2.24. Of course, you see immediately that every indication of the record being made in Utah is crossed out, and Colorado information is hand written over the top.


It's a great document, and an even better clue for anyone researching these families. There are a few different ways you could continue to research this... why were they subpoenaed? Do court records exist? Where else does this paper trail go?


I actually found this piece while conducting a search to identify what collections Fold3.com has that relate to Colorado in general. I was not searching for any of the names listed on the document, nor was I even digging for specific information made available on this record. I was searching Fold3.com for all available records for Colorado. These came up because they were every word indexed.


Let's back up for a second, and give a short history. Nearly half of what we know now as Colorado was once part of Utah Territory, essentially everything from the Continental Divide west. Utah Territory was formed in 1850, and this portion of it was formed into six counties in 1852. For those of us researching the western part of the state in the very early days of the gold rush, this becomes important, as some of the gold camps were established while the area was still part of Utah Territory. Breckenridge in current day Summit County is just one example of this. Colorado Territory was not established until 28 Feb 1861.

All of this leads to the question: why are the folks in Denver in 1891 using a form from Utah? 

This record was produced thirty years after Colorado became its own designated dot on the map. Arapahoe County was one of the original seventeen created in the state, also. Certainly they would have had their own forms printed by then?  We can make guesses as to why they were using this particular form (and by the way, this isn't the only record like this in the collection, there are a handful more that use the same form from Utah), but I think it's more important just to realize that they did in fact use these forms.

You can tell where I'm going with this, right? 

It is vitally important to search in a variety of ways to find the information you are looking for. You never know what you might find when using a different key word, wild card search, or something beyond a surname.

Speeches Making History

The Constitution of the United States
of America.
Photo: Jen Baldwin, 2008.

We just experienced another moment in history. The inauguration of Barack Obama, for the second term, as President of the United States of America.

This morning, I was reminded of the history of all of the Presidents, and the moments in time that have been remembered since, captured in their inaugural speeches. I sat and listened as a community group were lightheartedly quizzed on which speech excerpt belonged to which President. I will take a moment to pat myself on the back; I got all five of them right. (Of course, folks like Lincoln, FDR and JFK were easy to recognize.)

The variety of guesses being contributed reminded me that not everyone enjoys soaking up all these little tidbits of history. My friend sitting next to me even had “that look” on her face (addressed towards me): did you just consume a high school history book? Someone else commented that he “remembered” the speech from George Washington (which got us all laughing, because he’s an older gentleman), then clarified that he had to memorize it during his own secondary education years.

What’s my point?

Presidential speeches are a reflection of that era in our countries history, and an amazing way to put context into the life of our ancestors.

Try it. Look at Lincoln’s speech, in which he directly addresses Civil War and “coming together” as a nation. His first term began in 1861 and his second in 1865… Where were your family members? What was the social climate in their lives? Were they far enough away from the border states to have peace in the early period of his Presidency? Were they right in the middle of the unfolding drama?

Were there other years that made a huge impact on the history of your family?  Perhaps you had a ggggrandfather “go west” to Ohio or Missouri in the early 1800s, and that resulted in several generations of now native Ohioans?  What was the motivation for the original move? Clues may be waiting for you in the list of speeches.

You can find a complete list of Presidents, their term years and their transcribed speeches on The Avalon Project website, part of the Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library. The page is entitled, “The Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents.”

I will challenge you to go through this exercise,  you may learn a thing or two about an ancestor. If nothing else, you will get a chance to read some incredibly well written speeches of the state of the affairs in the United States. Leave a comment, let me know what you discover.

Author at the National Mall, 2008.
Photo Credit: Jeff Baldwin

Hidden Sources

This past summer, someone asked me where they could find a list of all the Mayor’s that had served for Breckenridge (Summit County, Colorado). At the time, I didn’t know the answer. I put in a few phone calls, but either no one was home at the time, or they never got back to me.

About a week later, I walked into the Breckenridge Town Hall to talk to the records office dealing with our cemetery papers. In the entryway was this plaque:





How many times had I walked past this? Too many to count. There it was, for all to see, a historical record of our Town Mayors.

What’s the point of this short and simple post? You just never know where your information may come from. Where you might find another clue. At the time I took this photo, I was actively researching three of the men on this list. Not all had been identified in my notes as Mayor. 

By the way, in case you need a transcription of the list, there is one at the Summit County, Colorado Trails to the Past website.

Researching Our Mutual Ancestor: Mother Nature

October 2012 weather over Breckenridge, Colorado.
Copyright 2012 Ancestral Journeys.

Forest fires? Tornadoes and hurricanes? Avalanche?

Winter storm? Summer drought?

Mother Nature can be nasty, and the people in our past certainly suffered at her hands. How can you use meteorological information to connect to your familial past?

Developing the story of their daily lives can take many angles, and weather is one that should not be missed. How did they deal with extreme low temperatures in the winter? We have insulation, heat supplies in various forms, electric blankets, plastic sheeting to cover windows. They had wood or coal fires, straw and other natural materials, wool blankets.

Finding this data is fairly easy, however, most of the sites I have come across give you one of two things: monthly averages for current history (1990 – forward) or daily measurements for a specific date, which can vary based on what you are looking for. Here are a few options to consider.

• Weather.org “Weather History”… Local weather archives for a day in history (1945 forward). More detailed information than the Farmers’ Almanac.
• National Weather Serivce… Current and historical information on U.S. weather.
• National Weather Service Forecast Office Weather History… Allows you to pick a day and see the significant weather through the years (example link is to the Denver/Boulder office).
• Farmers’ Almanac… Enter a zip code and date (1945 forward) for high/low temperatures, wind readings, etc. Simple and easy to navigate from day to day if you are reasearching a specific time period.
• Chronology of Extreme Weather… Lists world wide historic weather events. Great site if you know of a specific event or time in history that you are looking for.
• GenDisasters… A searchable site with numerous types of disasters from history. Includes weather events and much more (a great site no matter what area you are researching).

I used the Farmers’ Almanac to compile some data from January 1945. Although I was hoping to examine information from Summit County, Colorado, the closest location available to me was the Denver Stapleton Airport (which operated from 1929 to 1995, and has now been replaced with Denver International Airport, or DIA).  Although there is a significant difference in elevation between the two locations, it still gave me a good idea of what the temperatures were like for the time period in question. Living in this climate, I can pretty much tell you what to expect on a daily basis, however, if I were researching a family in Mississippi for example, I would have no idea. This is a good process to go through if you truly want to examine how the weather would have affected their daily lives.

I chose to input the data into an Excel spreadsheet. I was able to determine the average daily temperature, and the monthly average temperature. Here’s a quick look: 





I could have probably found this data already displayed for me in a similar format, but I find that I “consume” the information much better when I actually work with the numbers, so for me, this process is a valuable use of my time. I will also add that as the month carried on, the temperatures got much lower, with 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit on the 28th of January, 1945 as the coldest recorded for the month.

What did they endure? How did they manage it? I've heard stories of people sleeping with their livestock to stay warm at night, but have not been able to find this in my own research (yet!).  Nearly every state has information available for their area, so its worth the time to put in a little effort on your favorite search engine to pull it out of the crowd.

Keep in mind that the National Weather Service is an evolving entity, so the data you are looking for may simply not be available, it may have not been recorded. You can see the history of the NWS on their website.

Using the National Register of Historic Places Database

Genealogical research can lead you in so many different directions, and investigating the origins of a specific site or building can really make an impact in the stories you are trying to tell. The United States is lucky to have an amazing resource in the National Register of Historic Places, and researcher’s in all disciplines can utilize the database made available to us via the National Park Service website.

Using this tool can prove to be incredibly exciting, especially for those researching a general area or community that has been put on the list. In work done relating to the Town of Breckenridge, Colorado, I was able to find the original (scanned) application that was submitted, dated 1980; all 38 pages of it! The document included a typed list of contributing buildings, and a color coded map of the town indicating “Historic”, “Contributing” and “Intrusion” properties that factored in to the decision.

The Frisco Schoolhouse, now a
Museum. Main Street, Frisco, CO. 

Certainly individual properties are listed as well, and are more frequent than the “districts”. This includes site such as the Frisco Schoolhouse, which is now a museum on Main Street of Frisco, Colorado. The picture seen here was available on the site to be downloaded, (the material is considered public domain according to the site "Disclaimer") and dates from 1983.  I was also able to learn that the addition in the back of the building was put on in the 1950s, and that’s also when the double door was added to the main entrance. The diamond shaped window in the upper eaves appears to be original (ca. 1909).

Records relating to individual residences include written descriptions and in several cases, a floor plan of the building. There is also a required “Significance” summary that generally gives a historical background of the building, and why it is being pursued as a addition to the list.


Not every site has the application and images online yet, but many do. This is a site you will want to add to your bookmarks list and go back to recheck on a regular basis. For advanced viewing, printing or downloading the documents,  you will need the DjVu Plugin. There is a link at the bottom of the screen when you open the files.

Screenshot of the NPS Focus site, allowing you to see the original application records. This example is from a residence in Salida, Colorado. 

Did You Hit the Ad's?

One of the joys I find in genealogical research is digging through historic newspapers. It's fun! Yes, we can gain a great deal of insight and real life experiences of our ancestors from these incredible resources, but there is more. Scanning the headlines, reading the quick notices, the short articles; all of that comes together to create an astonishing experience  placing yourself in that moment in time.

Summit County Journal, Breckenridge, Colorado.
1 Sep 1917, Page 8.

One thing I make sure to look for in newspaper searches is the advertisements. Have you stopped to investigate these as genealogy source? Just this advertisement for the Rogers Furniture & Undertaking Company from Breckenridge, Colorado tells you so much information: location, what they did, note the Proprietress is Mrs. J. GOUGH, and the year the business began. Knowing what I do about Breckenridge history, the date given of 1880 makes sense; the town was created in 1859 and by 1880, it was thriving. Now I know where else to look: 1880 Federal Census, 1885 Colorado State Census, cemetery records (because they acted as Undertakers and Funeral Directors), etc.

Consider the other aspects as well. As a business, they were doing well enough to afford a reasonably sized advertisement in the local paper, but not well enough to get it on the first page (it was found on page 8). In 1917, Mrs. Gough felt confident enough in her role to list herself as the "manager"; or was it that she felt a feminine touch was necessary in this particular industry?

Try a series of dates to learn more!  We can use Robert "Bob" Lott, former resident of Breckenridge, as a fantastic example. When he passed away in 1913, his friends in the community gathered to give him a proper headstone, in the "Pauper Section" of Valley Brook Cemetery. His headstone was so fascinating, it absolutely demanded more attention:

Copyright Jen Baldwin, Ancestral Journeys, 2011.

Although there is little mention of Mr. Lott in standard newspaper articles of the time period, and even less in community historical documents, there are a lot of ad's. I have learned that he went from catering - delivering meals to your home - to owning his own restaurant, partnering with at least three other men in town of varying degrees of status and luck, finally moving back to his original spot in town, where he ran a successful steak house for several years. He was the only African American living in Summit County, Colorado at the time of his death (per his obituary). Just from the newspaper pieces alone, I have been able to establish a decent timeline of his adult life, leading to further investigation. I hope to someday have his life story; where he came from, and how he ended up in the mountains of Colorado. His is one story of our community that deserves to be remembered, and its up to me, since he left no descendants. 

I have to wonder: Oysters or "Rocky Mountain Oysters"?
Summit County Journal, Breckenridge, Colorado.
5 Jan 1907, Page 5.

Have you gained invaluable data from newspaper articles? Do you have one to share? Please let me know! Leave a comment or a link, and I'll be sure to connect with you.