Prairie Patrimony

I have always been a big fan of this book and have mentioned it in numerous lectures. It is the study of farming and inheritance trends in several Illinois farm communities from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century.

The author studies one Ostfriesen community in Illinois. When I read her comments, it was as if she had looked at my genealogical research, and grown up in one of those areas as I had. "Unwritten rules," the importance of the homeplace, were all issues she talked about as she discussed Ostfriesen immigrant farmers. She studied non-Ostfriesen Germans and "Yankees" as well. As the descendant of all three types of families (my Mother is Ostfriesen and my Dad is non-Ostfriesen German and "Yankee") the differences she points out really hit home when I thought about my different families and how certain things were done.

Anyone with farm ancestors in the Midwest in the 19th century would be well-served by reading the book. I've read mine several times.

The book is Prairie Patrimony: Family, Farming, and Community in the Midwest (Studies in Rural Culture). The author is Dr. Sonya Salamon and it was published by North Carolina University Press.

Working on Illinois Mental Health Records

My current project (on the big long list) is to try and get the mental health records of Ira Sargent from the Illinois state hospitals in Bartonville and Jacksonville. Ira was sent to Jacksonville in ca. 1906 and then to Jacksonville a few years later.

The records are under permanent seal by Illinois statute and are housed in the Illinois State Archives (I think). I'll keep readers posted on my attempts to locate and obtain these records.

1886 Hancock County Directory Being Reprinted

I am again reprinting the 1886 Directory of Hancock County, Illinois. This book was originally published in Burlington, Iowa, by T Wright. This directory includes town and farm dwellers. The rural part of the county is divided into the respective townships.

Cost is $34, which includes postage. Book is softcover. Orders will be shipped after February 20. Only a limited number will be reprinted.

More information is available on our site at www.rootdig.com/1886.html

A Few Spaces Left

We have just a few spaces left in our May 2009 genealogical research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Our trip size is kept small to ensure that everyone is able to get their questions answered and the help that they need. We begin preparing this week, but will still accept new registrants. Our online preparation continues until shortly before we leave for Utah. Everyone arrives on their own and we meet at the hotel the first evening for an informal session and an orientation to the library. I make morning presentations (an hour long only) and am available for consultations while the library is open.

We would love to have you join us. More details are available on our website at www.rootdig.com/slctrip.html or I can be emailed at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

Michael

From Squire to Prince

From Squire to Prince; Being a History of the Rise of the House of Cirksena (published in 1901) is one of the books I discovered on Archive.org. The House of Cirksena is a history of the Counts of Ostfriesland and was written by Walter Phelps Dodge.

Like other books on Archive.org, it can be downloaded as a text file or as a PDF file. The image on this blog post comes from the PDF file.

Hancock County, Illinois Books on Archive.org

For those looking for Hancock County, Illinois books on Archive.org:

History of Hancock County, Illinois, together with an outline history of the State, and a digest of State laws - Gregg, Thomas, b. 1808. cn16Keywords: Hancock County (Ill.) -- History; Hancock County (Ill.) -- Biography

Portrait and biographical record of Hancock, McDonough and Henderson counties, Illinois : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the countyKeywords: Hancock County (Ill.) -- Biography; McDonough County (Ill.) -- Biography; Henderson County (Ill.) -- Biography

Biographical review of Hancock County, Illinois : containing biographical and genealogical sketches of many of the prominent citizens of to-day and also of the past - Hobart Publishing Company, ChicagoKeywords: Hancock County (Ill.) -- Biography; Hancock County (Ill.) -- Genealogy

Biographical review of Hancock County, Illinois : containing biographical and genealogical sketches of many of the prominent citizens of to-day and also of the pastKeywords: Hancock County (Ill.) -- Biography; Hancock County (Ill.) -- Genealogy

American aerial county history series : (Volume 16 (HANCOCK)) - Drury, John, 1898-Keywords: Farms -- Illinois; Illinois -- Pictorial works; Illinois -- History

Images from Archiveorg

I've been playing with the scans of books on Archive.org.

There are a great number of books scanned on this site. There are

five scanned books from Hancock County, Illinois alone and thousands of others. The images on this post are from Thomas Gregg's 1881 History of Hancock County, Illinois, parts of pages 569 and 570 (a biography of James Rampley). I downloaded the entire book as a PDF file and can even do full text searches. This is really neat.

I located quite a few histories of Adams County, Illinois, and will be searching those as well. One can easily spend hours and hours at this site.

Columns for Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

The following are my columns for Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter that have gone "live" since I started writing for Eastman's in late December. We have now given my column a tagline: "Casefile Clues." This will be the new heading for all material.

• In Context
• Poor Farms and State Hospitals
• Wrong Names and Early Babies-Working with an 1880 Census Entry
• Casefile Clues: Working With Directories
• Casefile Clues: Off the Map Migration Chains

I'm looking forward to putting together more columns. I'll be focusing on actual research case studies and welcome suggestions for topics and content (mjnrootdig@gmail.com). However, I am unable to research for others.

Currently Open Famous Census Search Contests

Currently open Famous Census Search Contests:

Mae West 1930
Spencer Tracy 1920
Richard Nixon 1930
Georgia O'Keeffe 1930
Glenn Miller 1920
George Burns 1920
Hank Williams, Sr. 1930
Thomas Edison 1870
Bob Hope 1910

More information about the contest is on our site at:http://www.famouscensus.com/labels/contests.html

Thanks.Michael

Famous Census Search Update

We announced our latest Famous Census Search contest earlier this week and so far no winners or submissions. Richard Nixon in 1930 is the latest addition to our list of contests.

Our currently open contests can be viewed on our Famous Census site. A new one will be announced there later today.

Genealogical Society of Southern Illinois--17 Oct 2009

I will be presenting a seminar for the Genealogical Society of Southern Illinois on 17 October 2009 in Carterville, Illinois.

Topics and other details have not yet been set. More information will be posted here and on the Society's website. Stay tuned.

Genealogy Computing Week 2009

We still have openings in our week-long series of genealogy workshops at Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois, during 9-13 March 2009.

Days and topics include:
· 9 March 2009-Using Ancestry.com
· 10 March 2009-Using Footnote.com
· 11 March 2009-Using FamilySearch.org
· 12 March 2009-Using Land Records
· 13 March 2009-Genealogy Problem Solving
· 14 March 2009-Using Non-English Language Records

Our program is unique here in the Midwest and we welcome anyone to join us for one or more days. Class size is small and we are informal, but informative.

Registration is ala carte--sign up only for those days which interest you. Galesburg is easy to get to via interstate and Amtrak does serve Galesburg (but you'd need a rental car while here--Enterprise has a facility next to the train station). Registration is only $40 per day.

More information is available on our website at http://www.rootdig.com/sandburg.html. Questions can be emailed to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

First Winner in our Famous Census Search Contest

I'm a little bit delayed in posting this, but we have our first winner in the "Find the famous person in the census" contest: Marilyn V. of Maryland found Buffalo Bill Cody in the 1860 Census. She wins a copy of Elizabeth Shown Mills' Quicksheet for Citing Online Historical Resources.

I'm working on a page on that site to just list our winners.

We have several open contests, just waiting for players and winners.

Census Search Contests

Our find the famous person in the census contests have returned and have been announced on our sister site, www.famouscensus.com.

1930 Hank Williams, Sr.
1870 Thomas Edison
1910 Bob Hope

More details are on the respective pages. Good Luck!
Michael

Famous Census Search Contest Returning

Our "find the famous person in the census" contests are returning, with prizes. We will be announcing new contests on an ongoing basis on our new website Famous Census (http://www.famouscensus.com/). Two new contests will be announced on that site tomorrow at 8 and 11 a.m. Pacific Time.

Winners will be listed on our "Famous Census Search" Wall of Honor.

Our prizes will initially be copies of Elizabeth Shown Mills' Quicksheet for Citing Online Historical Resources. If your group, business, or society would like to donate prizes, please contact me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

Questions about the contest can also be sent to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com. Submissions must be made to the mailing address listed in the post announcing the contest.