1940 Teacher College Board Report Tells Where Aunt Margaret Taught

Virtually any printed material can contain a genealogical clue.

The image in this post is part of the "Teacher College Board of the State of Illinois" from 1940. The image itself was located on Mocavo.com. 

I've known for some time that my grandmother's sister Margaret Habben Hutchison taught home economics both before and after her marriage. I also had determined that Aunt Margaret graduated from what is now known as Western Illinois University in 1940.

According to this report, Aunt Margaret actually graduated on 19 July 1940 and her first teaching position was apparently in Gridley, Illinois-in McLean County.

Alumni magazines, yearbooks and other items published by the college are places where researchers typically think to find this type of employment material. In this case, since Aunt Margaret graduated from a state university her name appeared in this annual report.

I'm pretty Aunt Margaret is listed as "absent" in the 1940 census enumeration of her parents, Mimka and Tjode Habben, in Prairie Township, Hancock County, Illinois. If this information is correct, she would still have been in college at that point in time.

I'll have to do a mental check for other family members during this time period who might have graduated from "Western Illinois State Teachers College" during this time frame for similar materials.

I am doubtful the publications extend to the early 1960s when my mother graduated from the same institution. In her case I know where she taught during her entire teaching career, so while it would be neat to see her name "in print" the information would not be any revelation.

Lease from 1874--Can You Read?

This is part of the text of an 1874 lease found in my ancestor's estate papers. The landlord wanted the balance of the payments and this was part of his proof. The property was in Prairie Township, Hancock County, Illinois. The parties were Jesse Quimby and Mimke Habben. Habben died in 1877 before the terms of the lease were completed.

Think you can read it?

I'm pretty certain what it says. It's not often one finds this kind of a record. Leases during this time period are not typically part of any record.

Archive.org has Hobart's Biographies of Hancock County

I am a big fan of Archive.org. I recently downloaded Hobart's 1908 set biographies for Hancock and Henderson Counties in Illinois. The PDF version makes for nice visuals, part of one is shown in this post.

One of the nice things that I can do on this site is a full text search. I found references to several relatives that I would not have found using only the book's index. The full text search is great. One reference was to a cousin of my great-great-grandfather who lived with another cousin of my great-great-grandfather--contained in a biography of the cousin's in-laws.

One thing I didn't notice on the site were too many old county plat books. That was what got me looking at the site initially today, until I got sidetracked.

The person shown in this image is John Habben--my great-great-grandfather.

Habben Family Found in 1880 Mortality Schedule at Ancestry.com

I already knew they were there, but it was nice to find them in just a few clicks.

The image contained in this blog post contains part of the 1880 mortality census schedule for my aunt Christina Habben and her son Harm. They died in Harmony Township, Hancock County, Illinois. Interestingly the entry indicates that she had been in the county for 12 years and son Harm for 10 years.

I've also included the search results page for Christina from Ancestry.com as well. I really wish they would not use the word "city" on the results, but I realize that database administrators have to pick some word to use. The problem is that the political jurisdictions smaller than county are not always cities, sometimes they are townships. There is no town of Harmony in Hancock County.

The 1880 mortality schedules provide information on:

• gender
• marital status
• place of birth
• age
• month of death
• cause of death
• census year
• and location
• how long in the county

Remember that mortality schedules are a "census of the dead," and only are for those deaths that took place in the 12 calendar months before the census date. So the 1880 mortality schedule not deaths for all of 1880. It is deaths in the 12 months preceding the date of the 1880 census--1 June 1880.

The 1850-1880 United States Mortality Schedules can be searched here.

These records were microfilmed by the National Archives years ago and have been available there at at the Family History Library for some time as well.

Christina was a sister to Johann Ufkes (1838-1924), my great-great-grandfather.

Habbens at Castle Garden and Ancestry

This is the entry for the Habben family at http://www.castlegarden.org/. Note that except for the youngest child "U" everyone has their complete name spelled out. Other than Trientse, whose name was Trientje, and Meinke (father and son) whose name was Mimke, the names are on the mark. This is apparently the same data that was used to create the Germans to America series which is where I first found the Habben family. Note: I "connected" two pages of hits together to make the one image shown here.

The second image comes from Ancestry.com and is for the same family. On this manifest (apparently the quarterly reports of immigrants), first letters of some names are only given. This manifest is difficult to read and one can see how the name might have been interpreted in a way other than Habben.

This data from Ancestry.com is from

Source Information:
Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.

Original data:
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls); Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957; (National Archives Microfilm Publication T715, 8892 rolls); Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Note: I "connected" two pages of hits together to create the image shown here.

A copy of the manifest (from the microfilm) appears as the last image on this post.

Now I am slightly confused. The Castlegarden.org database shows ten members of this family as immigrants. Ancestry.com (as well as the image) shows 11. The child who is "L" on the manifest image and the Ancestry.com index does not appear in the castlegarden.com database.

Trientje's age is also off on the http://www.castlegarden.org/ entry.

As a note, the names of all the children are "correct" order, at least when comparing the manifest entry with the list of children I have from church records in Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany from where the family originated. The "inft" was actually Antje, born 26 August 1867, shortly before the family left Germany.

Note: More to come...

Michael-2nd great-grandson of Jan Habben, son of Mimke and Antje.

How was Habben read on the 1867 manifest?

The name was read as "Walelsen." The image in this post shows how the last name appears on the actual record.

Our earlier post today regarding the Habben family's manifest from 1867 indicated I was having difficulty finding the same entry on Ancestry.com in their index. After some creative searching, I discovered the name was read by the indexers at Ancestry as "Walelsen." I can see it now that I know what they thougth it was. Of course, it looks like "Habben" to me, but that's because I already know what it is.

Finding a manifest a second time

This is part of the 21 Oct 1867 arrival manifest for the Union which landed in New York City.

The names are intended to be:

• Mimke Habben
• Antje Habben
• Trientje Habben
• L[ubbe] Habben
• Jasper Habben
• H.
• John
• M.
• J.
• Ger.
• Inft.

The names are a little "off" from what they actually are, but they are very close considering.

I actually located the reference several years ago using the Germans to America series--which included the last name spelled as "Habben." I am trying to find the family in Ancestry.com's indexes and so far have struck out. I'll keep trying and post a followup message on how these names appear in their database.

Trivial References May Be Clues

Even the slightest reference may be a clue. I already knew my 3rd great-grandmother married after her husband died. If I had not, her signature on the final accounting of the estate would have been a significant clue. Initial filings list her as Antje Habben. The final accounting in 1877 shows her signature as Antje Fecht. It always pays to read everything. Clues can be lurking anywhere.

More on ARC

Enemy Alien registrations from World War I are also in the ARC database at the National Archives. I've written about these registrations before and unfortunately many of them are not extant. However I was able to locate one for a cousin of my great-grandfather, Maria Siebels. These registrations from Kansas have been digitized and can be viewed on the National Archives site. The picture of Maria shown in this entry is from her registration.

These records are not only indexed by name of the registrant. In this case, I located it by searching for "Habben" which is Maria's maiden name which is included on her registration. Those who wish to view Maria's complete file can visit ARC database at the National Archives and search for "maria seibels."

Her fingerprints are included as well.

Maria is the daughter of Annepke Ufkes Habben--sister of Johann Frederick Hinrichs Ufkes (1838-1924), my great-great-grandfather. Of course my grandmother Ufkes was a Habben, too, but her Habben family is a different one from the Habben family Annepke Ufkes married into. Patronymics are wonderful.

1880 Female Head of Household

It is unusual to find a female listed as the head of the household, especially when her able-bodied husband is living with her and enumerated as well. The initial article I wrote on this subject generated a great deal of response and the follow up dealt with most issues presented by readers.

My ancestor in 1880 is a head of household and her husband is listed as the last member in the household (on the next page, no less). It is a somewhat unusual situation.

Part of the entry for the family of Anna Fecht in Prairie Township, Hancock County, Illinois' 1880 census follows.

Anna Fecht, aged 65, [head], married
John Habben, aged 20, son, single
George Habben, aged 18, son, single
Anna Habben, aged 13, daughter, single
Mattie Halts, aged 10, granddaughter, single
George Fecht, aged 12, stepson, single
Henry Fecht, aged 65, no relationship stated, married


Part I of the article can be viewed here and part II has been posted on our site as well.