Archive for October, 2011
Yesterday I tweeted that I found an obituary full of family information. I had so many names in one obituary it was fantastic! I got a response from a follower that obituaries are great but you have to do the research to make sure the names and relationships are accurate. We had a brief discussion on twitter after that and I thought this topic would make a great post for today.
Obituaries are death notices written when someone dies. They typically list the deceased’s name, possibly with a (nee …) “nee” stands for the maiden name and “…” is what the maiden name was. So you might see Alice (nee Smith) Jones died as the beginning of an obituary. The notices also usually tell you when and where the funeral and church service, if any, is being held and where the person is being buried.
Obituaries sometimes also provide a wealth of information on the deceased’s family. It may list the spouse, the names of the parents, siblings, in-laws, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. The obituary I found yesterday contained almost all of those groupings of people.
Ok, so the obituary has all the names now what? Well that depends on what information you already have. In my case, I had the names of all the people listed in the obituary in the family tree. Those people were also already listed by the relationship stated in the obituary. I already had other records documenting each person and relationship.
What if I didn’t already have documents? What if most of the people in the obituary were “new” to me? Then I would begin to search for documents that prove the relationships. I would start by looking at census records and vital records. I would compare the information to other obituaries in the same family.
At this point maybe I have proven most of the people are who the obituary says they are. But there are some I cannot find a record for….yet. Maybe they were born between census years and I cannot find a vital record online. This would require me to search paper records. Maybe there are vital records online and I need to do a more thorough search and change the spelling of the last name to attempt to find a record. I would also visit the cemetery and try to locate a grave and other information. Most cemeteries keep good records so you may be able to find out who the owner of a plot is. If someone you have not yet identified through other sources is buried with the family you think they should be, then you have a clue.
Don’t always believe everything you find in a record, book, or newspaper article. Follow the paper trail to prove the people are who it says they are. If you are still unsure after searching, make a note in your research report to follow up at a later time.
I have been working on a friend’s genealogy off and on when I have time for the last three years. Found out he has two Civil War soldiers on his dad’s side. We have not done his mom’s side yet. My friend ordered the pension files for these two soldiers and had them shipped to me. Wow.
File no. 1 was for Henry A. Hayes, Ohio Union soldier. His file is 150 pages long.
File no. 2 was Milton T. McCoy, Iowa Union soldier. His file is 175 pages long.
Now, National Archives will send you up to 100 pages for the $75 they charge you for a full pension file. Anything over 100 pages is not sent until you call or write them giving them a payment for the rest. Well I called them as soon as the files arrived Monday to give them a credit card number so I could get the rest of the pages.
When you get a pension file it is not copied in date order. This makes it difficult to grasp the full picture. So I pulled out my post it notes and a stack of paper clips and got to work. I used 3×5 post it notes to write the year on and attach to the first document in each year’s stack. I used the tiny post it notes on some documents to tag a date or note about something in that document. Things that stuck out. I paper clipped multiple pages together. It took me about a half an hour to sort and organize the 100 pages for one file, then another half an hour for the other.
What do I have now? An organized file by date. I can track the medical issues for each man from the date of his discharge to his death. I learn the names of doctors who treated them and the neighbors and friends who vouched that each man was who he said he was. I can also track when Milton moved from Iowa to Missouri. I had an idea of when that took place but now I can narrow it down to a few years thanks to his pension file.
No matter if your documents for a person are thick or thin, putting them in date order can make a world of difference when it comes to fully understanding a person and locating clues.
Related articles
- Military Monday – Searching Beyond those Federal Records (dupagecountygenealogicalsociety.wordpress.com)
My friend Terri at Finding Our Ancestors blog asked me why someone would get a marriage license in Chicago and go to Kewanee, Illinois to get married. That is a good question and one I have wondered as my grandparents appeared to have done the same thing!
I have two documents for my grandparents, Joseph Holik and Libbie Brouk. One is a Marriage License issued 19 April 1930 in Chicago. States they married on the same day. The second document was given to me recently by my father and is a fancy Certificate of Marriage for Joseph Holik and Libbie Brouk. Glancing over the document I can see it was signed by a Judge of the Circuit Court of Kewanee, IL named H. Sterling Pomeroy.
So they married in Kewanee? Why on earth in 1930 would they drive from Chicago to Kewanee to get married?
They didn’t. Let’s break this down and look at the clues.
As Terri and I found, looking more closely at our documents, they were indeed married in the County Building in the city of Chicago. The address given is 226 County Building, Chicago, IL.
They were married by a Judge from Kewanee, IL, who spent time serving in the Cook County Courts. Both documents say Chicago, IL as the marriage place. On the license, his name is stamped as the name of the officiant. On the Certificate of Marriage he signed his name and stamped “Judge of the City Court of Kewanee, IL.”
The Certificate of Marriage was even signed by the witnesses, my Great uncle Ladislav Brouk and Great uncle John J. Holik, Jr. Signatures are nice to have to compare documents.
When you break down a document for the first, second, or even third time, pull out all the clues and make sure you are reading things in the context in which they were intended. Why would you break down a document more than once? Sometimes you think you pulled all the details out but when you go back to it later, after more research is done, you may see something you “missed” before. Something that didn’t mean anything to you at the time. I find reviewing documents for an individual after more research is done sometimes sparks a new research idea or shows me a clue that now has greater meaning.
Upon first glance at both of these documents you think my grandparents drove to Kewanee to get married. Breaking down the details you find out that was not the case.
If you follow me on Twitter @jencoffeelover, you may have seen my rant recently about those Ancestry.com leaves and people merging stuff into their trees. Let me explain.
My Holik ancestors came to Chicago from Senetin, Bohemia. They all came to Chicago and appear based on all the records I have found, to not have lived anywhere in between once they got off the ship. Their ship logs all indicated another member of the family as the person in the U.S. they were meeting. For pretty much all the kids that immigrated, Frantisek Holik, their father in Senetin or Anna Holik, their mother in Senetin, was listed as the closest relative in the old country.
I found a tree on Ancestry.com where a woman had merged all my Holik stuff into her tree for a Marie Holek. Names and birth years were close so it must be right? Right? Wrong! This researcher took my Marie Holik, sister to my great grandfather John, as hers. She merged in records for that Marie and my great great grandmother Marie Rataj Holik into her Marie.
I was reading some comments on being a professional genealogist and new genealogical researchers that my friend Caroline posted and was inspired to write a breaking it down series for kids. I want to not only teach you about documents and research but break things down so you learn techniques to look for clues and make better decisions about what to add to your family tree.
Subscribe to the blog so you get updates on breaking it down. I’m going to walk you through step by step all the reasons and documents showing why my Marie is not this other researcher’s Marie. Through the process you may discover something I did not.
Related articles
- May I Introduce You at Geneabloggers (chicagofamilyhistory.wordpress.com)
- Analyzing a Neighborhood (chicagofamilyhistory.wordpress.com)
Yesterday I posted a set of questions I gave my son. Below are his answers and my responses.
Why is my family history important to me?
Son: So I can learn how far my family goes back in history.
One interesting thing I learned about my family history is:
Son: My cousin was a Flying Tiger.
If I were interviewing my parents, I would ask these five questions.
1. Did you get expelled? Mom: No. Your father and I were never expelled from school.
2. Favorite food Mom: Chocolate and Home Run Inn pizza.
3. Worst grade Mom: F. I’m fairly certain I flunked out of one college course early on.
4. Favorite teacher Mom: Mrs. Willis my first grade teacher. She was so nice.
5. Best subject Mom: Band and English/Literature. I loved playing my clarinet and I loved to read. I still love to read. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.
Other things I want to know about my family history:
1. How many family members served in a war? Mom: On my side, Michael Kokoska WWI, Frankie Winkler WWII, Robert Brouk WWII, your great uncle John Vietnam. Those are the ones I have confirmed. There were a few other Kokoska men who were stateside during WWI either training or working in the Army. On your father’s side I have not identified anyone who served yet.
2. How many cousins do I have? Mom: Too many to count.
3. What is my oldest living family member? Mom: Currently that would be your great aunt Bea I believe.
4. Was my family rich? Mom: Not that I am aware of.
5. Was my family ever famous? Mom: Robert Brouk could be considered famous as he was one of the Flying Tigers in China between 1941-1942.
Kids, what would your parents answers to these questions be? What other questions do you have? Write them down and start talking. You never know what interesting facts you will uncover.
Related articles
- May I Introduce You at Geneabloggers (chicagofamilyhistory.wordpress.com)
Hey Kids, it is Family History Month!
The month of October has been designated as Family History Month. A month where people are encouraged to start or continue working on their family histories.
Who is in your family tree? Anyone famous? Do you have a connection to a President or King? Do you not have anyone famous in your family? Do you think your non-famous family was boring? If so, why? My family is in no way related to Abraham Lincoln. However, if I examine the life of that family, I may find some similarities to my own.
Every family, famous or not, has an interesting story. You just have to keep talking to your family and digging into records to find it.
With this in mind I decided to post a set of questions I gave my oldest son. If your mom or dad asked you these questions, what would you say?
Why is my family history important to me?
So I can learn how far my family goes back in history.
One interesting thing I learned about my family history is:
My cousin was a Flying Tiger.
If I were interviewing my parents, I would ask these five questions.
1. Did you get expelled?
2. Favorite food
3. Worst grade
4. Favorite teacher
5. Best subject
Other things I want to know about my family history:
1. How many family members served in a war?
2. How many cousins do I have?
3. What is my oldest living family member?
4. Was my family rich?
5. Was my family ever famous?
Check back tomorrow and I’ll answer my son’s questions.
