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.

Passport Applications on Footnote.com

Passport applications are an excellent source and one that is particularly helpful for searching on those extended family members. Passport Applications 1795-1905
are currently available on Footnote.com.

John Goldenstein was born in Wrisse, Gemany, 4 January 1876. He is a first cousin of my great-grandmother. His passport was dated 1905 and it indicated he had naturalized in Albuquerque in 1902. It also provided his date of immigration to the United States.

He had lived in Gothenburg, Nebraska; Sterling, Nebraska; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Douglas, Arizona; since coming to the United States. The first two locations were areas where other family members were known to have lived. He was a 29 year old motorman on the application. The witness was L. U. Albers, a distant relative, who lived "out west" but I was unaware that Albers had spent time in the Southwest.

These images are pretty nice as well.

Too bad his uncle, Frank Goldenstein (my actual ancestor) never got a passport when he visited Germany in 1910.

Check out the applications for more than just your direct line ancestor. If I had not known where the Goldensteins were from, this would have been a very helpful document.

Those wishing to search the Passport Applications 1795-1905 can do so at Footnote.com.


(The first time this entry was published, I hit the publish key a little too fast and all that was published was the image.)

Now Writing for Dick Eastman

Starting today, I'll be writing pretty much a weekly column for Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. I'm looking forward to being a part of the writing team and getting back to writing on a frequent basis. Readers are welcome to submit ideas and suggestions to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

That said, my site here will be making a few changes. There will be even less posting of genealogy "news" to this site in order to devote more time to actual research and writing. I'll still be posting research experiences and discoveries on the ancestors and families of my children. And I'll still be speaking at conferences and workshops as my schedule allows.

Additions to Our Famous Census Pages

We've added the following years and people to our famous cenus pages at http://www.famouscensus.com

1860 Abraham Lincoln
1860 U S Grant
1870 Theodore Roosevelt
1870 Boss Tweed
1870 Harriet Beecher Stowe
1870 Allen Pinkerton
1870 Wyatt Earp
1870 John Deere
1870 Scott Joplin
1850 Franklin Pierce
1900 Dwight Eisenhower
1900 George Burns
1900 Laura Ingalls Wilder
1900 Carl Sandburg
1900 Frank Lloyd Wright
1900 J C Penny
1900 Babe Ruth
1900 Theodore Roosevelt
1870 Bunker Siamese Twins
1870 Amelia Bloomer
1870 Chester Arthur
1870 Bill Cody
1870 Jane Addams
1870 Frederick Pabst
1900 Mark Twain-Samuel Clemens
1870 P T Barnum
1870 George Custer
1870 George Pullman
1870 Lizzie Borden
1870 Henry Ford
1870 Philip Armour
1870 Levi Strauss
1870 Joseph Schlitz
1870 Laura Ingalls Wilder
1870 U S Grant
1870 Marshall Field
1860 Frederick Douglass
1860 Jefferson Davis
1860 Sojourner Truth
1860 John Wilkes Booth
1860 Robert E Lee Again!
1860 Robert E. Lee
1860 Eberhard Anheuser
1860 Louisa May Alcott
1860 Kit Carson
1860 Wyatt Earp
1860 John Deere
1860 Calamity Jane
1860 Jesse James
1860 Allan Pinkerton


There are more images there and suggestions are welcomed. This site is slowly replacing the set of famous census images we used to have posted on www.rootdig.com.

1900 Census Back at Family Search

Those who have been waiting can now search the 1900 census again at FamilySearch.

Happy Holidays 2008!

I will be taking a break for a week or so from regular blogging as the Holiday Season swings into full gear at my household.

As a reminder...

• We are still accepting registrations for the 2009 trip to Salt Lake. If you learned about it after our early registration deadline of 15 December, let me know and you can still pay the early rate. Our trip's website is http://www.rootdig.com/slctrip.html
• We are adding images to our "Famous Census" site at http://www.famouscensus.com. Right now the bulk of our images are from 1850-1870. We are taking suggesions for additions to our site.
• "Genealogy Tip of the Day" is running at http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com. Feel free to check it out and subscribe or become a follower. And spread the news, our advertising is zero.

And we'll be making a big announcement, hopefully by the first of the year. Stay tuned.

1870 Census 98% complete at Family Search Pilot Site

The Pilot site on Family Search is now reporting that the 1870 census on their site is 98% complete. A complete list of currently indexed states is available on their site. Give it a try.

More in the Florida State Census at Ancestry.com

As mentioned in an earlier post, Ancestry.com just released the set of Florida state censuses 1867-1945 on its website. I found cousin Martin Fecht in 1945, apparently with a different wife and two new children. He still is operating a gas station in Dade County, though. The nice thing is that the 1945 census provided his address.

Ancestry has Florida state censuses for

Florida State Censuses at Ancestry.com 1867-1945

Ancestry.com just released the set of Florida state censuses 1867-1945 on its website.

This includes the years of:

• 1867
• 1875
• 1885
• 1935
• 1945
  

I actually found a cousin of my great-grandfather in the 1935 census for Dade County, Florida--Martin Fecht. I split his entry over two images, but he is shown with his wife Gladys and children, Billie and Harlan.

On the second image, his family's four entries start with the one where the husband is born in Illinois. I was not aware that he ran a service station and I did learn that he must have gone to school through the eighth grade and that his wife graduated from high school.

Readers with Florida ancestors can search the Florida state censuses 1867-1945 on Ancestry's website.

Famous Census Pages are Back!

After a hiatus, our famous census pages are back. It will take a while to bring all the images again to our website, but we are making progress.

Our pages have a new look and a new domain name
http://www.famouscensus.com

Take a look--we're starting off small while we work out the bugs.
Suggestions for additions are welcome and can be sent to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com.

Stick with the Facts

Ancestry.com has revised their New York City Passenger Lists database (or at least it showed up as "new" on their home page recently). This prompted me to look for an elusive ancestress, Barbara Siefert.

Barbara was born ca. 1826 in Germany. She is known to have married in 1849 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Peter Bieger. They headed to Illinois shortly after.

I would love to find her in a passenger manifest.

Barbara's obituary indicates she came to the United States as a "young girl," originally living in Ohio. I am really wondering how accurate this "young girl" phrase actually is. After all, it was in her obituary which was probably written by one of her children born in Illinois. To the best of my knowledge, Barbara had no blood relatives in Illinois other than descendants. Consequently her children would have used what they remembered from their mother in compiling an obituary. It wasn't like there was an aunt or uncle they could ask for information. As a result, I'm not assuming too much about the age at which Barbara immigrated. And "young girl" could mean different things to different people.


The 1900 Census for Barbara indicates she arrived in 1846. And while the census can be incorrect, I am slightly more inclined to believe it than the obituary. Barbara is listed in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, in 1900--living by herself with her married daughter as a neighbor.

Before I search for Barbara in the manifests, I should review what I know about her. And this analysis is best done before I start typing information willy-nilly in search boxes.

Based upon census records, I think Barbara was born between 1824 and 1826. She immigrated before her marriage to Peter Bieger in 1849 (if I have a specific date, that should be kept in mind). I also need to think about how accurate I believe her maiden name is. Then I can start searching the passenger lists.

But analyzing what I have before I search is important.