Creating Confusion by Repeating Names

I have been typing up a 1942 affidavit for an issue of Casefile Clues and now I'm seeing one of the reasons the statement was needed to clarify the title to the property.

The repetition of names had to be confusing.This chart lists the names that repeated themselves in the family. Relationships are given with respect to the man making the testimony.

James Rampley	Grandfather
James Rampley	Father
James Edward Rampley	Affiant
Elizabeth Rampley	Grandmother
Elizabeth Rampley	Aunt by marriage
Nancy  J. Rampley	Aunt by marriage
Nancie E.Rampley	Mother
Sarah E. Rampley	Sister
Sarah S. Rampley	Wife
John Rampley	Uncle
John Luft	Uncle by marriage

It is no wonder there was confusion.

Half of Webinar Sales Donated To Cyndislist

I've known Cyndi Howells of Cyndislist fame for over fifteen years--back when she was one page. She's recently had a variety of expenses associated with her site recently, so I've decided to help her out.

Half of all webinar purchases made after you visit this page go directly to Cyndislist to help with upgrade fees and various other expenses. There is never a charge to use Cyndislist. You can even type in coupon code "cyndislist" to get $2.50 off your order.

But don't wait, this offer ends on 15 April  2013.

New On FamilySearch

Additions to FamilySearch since our last update:

New York, Orange County Probate Records, 1787-1938

Georgia, Marriages, 1808-1967

Georgia, County Marriages, 1785-1950

A Customer in the Rothweiler Saloon

One does not expect to obtain evidence of saloon patronizing in Civil War pension applications, but the seasoned researcher knows that there's always the chance of something interesting in these materials.

Ignatz Schmidtz testified on 13 February 1895 in St. Louis, Missouri, on behalf of Wilhelmina Rothweiler's Union Civil War widow's claim. Schmitz was sixty-three years old at the time and was living on Second Street in St. Louis. He served in the war with Rothweiler.

Testimony of Ignatz Scmitz, obtained in the widow's Union Civil War pension application for Wilhelmina Rothweiler, widow of George Rothweiler--St. Louis, Missouri.

Schmitz indicated that he was employed by Rothweiler in Rothweiler's brewery in the early 1860s and that afterwards Schmitz was a "customer" in Rothweiler's saloon.

The rest of the testimony indicates that Schmitz thought Rothweiler was in good health and capable of working.

Citation reminder: We are a strong believe in citing genealogical source material in the spriit of Evidence Explained. However, we choose not to include properly formatted citations in these blog posts. There's always enough information in the post to create a citation and full citations are included in my how-to newsletter Casefile Clues. 

Spreading the Facts

Affidavits in land records can provide all sorts of family details, particularly because the statements are often free form.

This is the end of a wonderful affidavit made out by James Edward Rampley in 1942. At the end of it, the typist has included the phrase:

"...in order that the above facts may be spread upon the records."

Hancock County, Illinois, Mortgage Book 126, page 455.

A funny way to say "have a copy at the courthouse."

The entire affidavit contains great family history information and will be featured in an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues.

An Update of Sorts of Anna Apgar Verikios Lake in 1920

Here's the update I had promised on the search for Anna Apgar Verikios in the 1920 census. Unfortunately, I really only have suggestions for where to go at this point and can update to the point where I can say she still has not been located.

Anna could be enumerated under the last name of Apgar (her biological father's surname), Verikios (her step-father's last name), or DeMar (her mother's last name). Her parents were married well before the time of her birth, but there is always the chance that if she is enumerated with a maternal relative that she is enumerated under that name.

Anna is not with her mother and step-father in Chicago as we discussed in an earlier blog post. Her father cannot be located after 1918. Anna is not with her paternal grandfather in Chicago and her three other grandparents are deceased.

Anna's siblings are too young to have been heading their own household in 1920. One real possibility is that Anna is enumerated with the sibling of one of her parents. Work continues on locating the siblings of William Apgar (her father) and Mary Demar (her mother) in the 1920 census. 

It is also possible that Anna was living with a neighboring family in 1920 or with a family that used to be a neighbor. If this is the case, it is entirely reasonable that Anna is enumerated with the last name of that family--which is unknown. The enumeration district where her parents lived could be checked in an attempt to locate an eight-year old Anna in the household.

Anna's step-parents are living in 1920 in an area some distance from their "home" area of Chicago which is the Pullman area. It is also possible that Anna remained with someone in the Pullman area while her mother temporarily lived elsewhere. 

And I need to remind myself how important this enumeration actually is. I know Anna's parents and whom she married and her children. While it is always possible that the 1920 census is "earth-shattering,' the more likely scenario is something a little less revealing. It might not be worth hours and hours spent in order to locate her. 

And there is always the chance she was simply missed.

New Updates or Additions to FamilySearch

New additions to FamilySearch since our last update:

Washington, County Marriages, 1855-2008
Ohio, Trumbull County Court Records, 1795-2010
New England, Petitions for Naturalization, 1787-1906
Idaho, Lincoln County Records, 1886-1972
California, San Mateo County Records, 1855-1991

Vanderlinden Was A Chicago Cop with Good Aim

GoogleBooks continues to amaze me with the gems I discover. 

A 1912 report of the Chicago General Superintendent of Police for the year ending on 31 December 1911 contained two references to Frank Vanderlinden. Vanderlinden was on the Chicago police force in the early twentieth century. 

Report of the General Superintendent of Police of the City of Chicago to the City Council for the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 1911, Department of Police, Chicago, 1912, title page.

 Vanderlinden was one of the best marksmen on Chicago's police force in 1911. The chart below mentioned his score on a firing test. It also indicated he was a patrolmen in precinct 14.

p. 89

Vanderlinden also appears on a list officers who apprehended fugitives in Chicago in 1911. He and officer Griffith apparently caught Frank Helden on 10 October 1911 in Porter, Indiana, on a rape charge.

p. 41.

The front portion of the book provided a verbal description of the police precincts within the city of Chicago, including the 14th where Vanderlinden was supposedly assigned in 1911. The seven square mile district was bounded as indicated on page 17 of the Report.

Quite a few interesting items in this report. I'll have to try and map out the precinct's boundaries. It should not be too difficult as it is after the street renumbering in Chicago and a modern map websites should help.

I will have to see if Vanderlinden is mentioned in additional reports from the superintendent.

------------------------
Vanderlinden is the son-in-law of Thomas and Elizabeth (Watson) Frame--English immigrants to Chicago from County Cumberland, England. He married their daughter Hannah in Chicago in the late 1800s.
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Citation reminder: We are a strong believe in citing genealogical source material in the spriit of Evidence Explained. However, we choose not to include properly formatted citations in these blog posts. There's always enough information in the post to create a citation and full citations are included in my how-to newsletter Casefile Clues. 

An 1886 Hyde Park Fireman--Hook and Ladder Company Driver

Early twentieth-century records indicated that Frank Vanderlinden was a Chicago policeman. Apparently in the 1880s he worked for the Hyde Park, Illinois, fire department as indicated in this partial clipping from a local newspaper.

Date: Saturday, May 1, 1886  

 

Paper: Hyde Park Herald (Chicago, IL) --obtained on Genealogybank.com 

The article also indicates that the drivers of the hook and ladder companies received a pay raise of $5 per month, from $55 to $65.

If your relative was a public employee, there may be some mention of him in a local newspaper--if only to indicate that he had been hired at a regular meeting.

Muzzle Your Dog--Or Else

They did not mess around with un-muzzled dogs in Hyde Park, Illinois in 1886.

Date: Saturday, May 1, 1886  

Paper: Hyde Park Herald (Chicago, IL) --obtained on Genealogybank.com 

I discovered this little gem while searching Chicago area newspapers on Genealogybank.com for references to a relative of my wife who was a Chicago policeman.

Apparently your dog could be on the street of Hyde Park in 1886, but there better be a muzzle on it.

Anna Apgar Verikios Lake Turns 100-Where Was She When She Was 7?

This is the "Application for Social Security and Tax Account Number" for Anna Margaret Lake, my wife's grandmother who would have been 100 years old on 8 March 2013
.
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There is no birth certificate for Anna in Cook County, Illinois, which is where her parents were living when she was born and where her older and younger siblings births were recorded. I've speculated on why she has no birth certificate (her older siblings have delayed records and her younger brother has a contemporary birth certificate).

The real mystery with Anna is where she is enumerated in the 1920 census. She has been located in 1930 living with her mother Mary Verikios and step-father Peter Verikios) in Chicago at 221 E. 115th Street (Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 431; Page: 38A; Enumeration District: 405; Image: 324.0; FHL microfilm: 2340166.)

Her mother and step-father have been located in Chicago's 1920 census, but Anna is not enumerated with them although her siblings are. The family is living at in 907 E 43rd Street in Chicago (Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Chicago Ward 3, Cook (Chicago), Illinois; Roll: T625_313; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 159; Image: 267.).

Nothing is known of Anna's father--William Apgar (aka William Frame) after about 1918. He was born in Chicago approximately 1888. It is unknown whether Anna was living with him, but it is doubtful. Family tradition has it that she never actually knew her biological father.

Anna is married and living with her husband Ola Lake by the 1940 census enumeration (as Anna and Ollie Lake living in Marceline, Missouri  (Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Marceline, Linn, Missouri; Roll: T627_2125; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 58-23). Her life is pretty well documented from that point--it's just the 1920 census enumeration where I cannot locate her.

Citation reminder: We are a strong believe in citing genealogical source material in the spriit of Evidence Explained. However, we choose not to include properly formatted citations in these blog posts. There's always enough information in the post to create a citation and full citations are included in my how-to newsletter Casefile Clues. 

A German Marriage Certificate Raises Questions

We've discussed the family of George and Wilhelmina Rothweiler on this blog before. These German natives were living in St. Louis, Missouri, as early as the late 1850s and remained in the area for the rest of their lives.

An 1870 era estate settlement in Hancock County, Illinois, indicates that this Wilhelmina Rothweiler is a member of my Trautvetter family--supposedly the daughter of an Ernestine Trautvetter Hess who was also the mother of William and Valentine Hess. Wilhelmina is referenced in one of the documents as having been Wilhelmina Hess befoer her marriage. The estate records seemed pretty straightforward in terms of stating the relationships, but they did leave out many key details about the family.

I recently discovered that George Rothweiler obtained a Civil War pension and that his widow Wilhelmina received pension benefits upon George's death.

Knowing that Wilhelmina would have needed to prove her marriage to George in order to qualify for the benefit and also reaonably certain that there may be other information on her in the application, I decided to obtain a copy of the pension. I was hoping that it may provide additional clues on either Wilhelmina's siblings or the family's early life in the United States (particularly the location of her marriage to George).

I have a researcher in the area who obtains materials from NARA for me. I indicated that I wanted the pension for Rothweiler and that, in an attempt to help her determine the right George had been located, I indicated that his wife was Wilhelmina and that Wilhelmina was a Hess before she was married.

The researcher emailed me back upon reviewing the file and said that there was a lovely marriage certificate in the application--in German. But, the name on the marriage certificate was not Wilhelmina  Hess, it was Wilhelmina Trautfetter.

I am confused. It is not uncommon on death certificates for maiden names to be incorrect. It is a little less common for a person to provide a wrong last name on their own marriage record.

Stay tuned...there may be more of a story here than I expected. I have a few theories, but it's probably best to wait until I've seen the actual images of George's pension.

New On FamilySearch

New or updated on FamilySearch since our last update:

United States Social Security Death Index

North Carolina, Civil Action Court Papers, 1712-1970

Montana, Sweet Grass County Records, 1885-2011

Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Estate Files, 1686-1915

Arizona, Maricopa, Mesa City Cemetery Records, 1885-1960

My Irish Origins

By ancestry, I am one-eighth Irish. It is the part of my ancestry about which I know the least. Maybe this blog post will "catch" someone who is also working on this family. This is all I have on the Irish origins of my Neill line.

The Irish Connection

My earliest NEILL ancestor is a John NEILL who was born ca. 1810 in Ireland and most likely lived in or around Newtown Limavady and environs in County Derry.  I only know of two of John's children with an unknown wife. Those two children are sons Joseph and Samuel. Samuel was my great-great-grandfather.  Family tradition has it that there were other siblings, but I have no information on those individuals. The Neills settled near West Point, Hancock County, Illinois, in the 1870s near where Joseph's wife already had family. 

My earliest information on the Neill family comes from two sources:

From  the "Quarterly returns of Marriages 1862 Ireland  Vol.  9," LDS microfilm roll 0101440, page 375.

What  follows is an abstract. My attempts to interpret  illegible handwriting are in brackets.

On  16 January 1862 at the Derrymore Presbyterian Church,  Joseph NEIL[sic] and Ann BRYCE[sic] were married by Wm. [JAMISON?], with witnesses  of  Wm. MC INTOSH and John ARCHIBALD.  Joseph  was  of full  age  and was a bachelor who lived in [Taques] Hill  in  the parish  of Drumachose.  Joseph was a servant, and was the son  of John NEIL[sic] who was a laborer.  Ann was a spinster of full age and  was  a servant living in White [??] in the parish of  Drumachose.  Her father was James BRYCE, a laborer. 

Irish Passenger Lists 1847-1871: Lists of Passengers Sailing from Londonderry to America on Ships of the J. & J. COOKE Line and the McCORKELL  Line,  Brian MITCHELL,  Genealogical  Publishing  Co., Balto., MD.  1988.

p.  158    listing of passengers who sailed to St. John  in  1864 mentions  Samuel NEILL (aged 22 from Limavady) and the family  of Joseph  NEILL (aged 26), Ann NEILL (aged 30) and Sarah Ann  NEILL (aged 1).  They were also from Limavady as well. 

Samuel Neill and Annie Murphy obtained a marriage bond in New Brunswick in 1865.

I'd like to know more about the Neills in Ireland, but so far my attempts at locating additional information "across the pond" has not been successful. Both Joseph and Samuel moved to Hancock County, Illinois, where they are living in 1870 and where they live until their deaths in the early 1900s. Exhaustive searches in Hancock County, Illinois, have located no additional information on the Irish origins of the family--particularly Annie Murphy, Samuel's wife. 

My connection

Samuel Neill died on his farm near West Point, Hancock County, Illinois, in 1912. His son Charles Thomas Neill (1875-1948--both in St. Albans Township, Hancock County, Illinois) is my great-grandfather. Charles' son Cecil Neill (1903 near Stillwell, Hancock County, Illinois-1968 Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa) is my grandfather.

My email is mjnrootdig@gmail.com

New or Updated on FamilySearch

These items are showing as new or updated on FamilySearch today:

Illinois, Northern District (Eastern Division), Naturalization Index, 1926-1979

Maryland, Naturalization Indexes, 1797-1951

Maryland, Naturalization Petitions, 1906-1931

Why We Look at Everything

I just wish my ancestors wrote wills like this one.

Will of Anna Dora Fairchild, written in 1910, Hancock County Clerk, Will Book J, page 53; digital image, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org)

This will from Anna Dora Fairchild is why some of recommend that researchers "look at everything." I realize that there are proponents of an "exhaustive search," but in reality when I'm stuck an in a pinch--exhaustive to me means everything I can get. Period.

This will is why. Anna requests money be set aside at a local bank for the care of her father's grave and then names him. She died in Illinois before this information will be on the death certificate.

She also directs what is to be on the tombstone for her husband and for her--dates included.

Of course, one always analyzes information for perceived accuracy. But if you don't look everywhere, sometimes you have less information to analyze.

[note--If you want to share this image with others, that's fine. I don't have copyright to the image. I know that and you probably do as well. But at please have the courtesy to indicate where you first found this image--on this blog.]

[note--this is one of those times when I'm writing about someone to whom I am not related...although Fairchild is buried in the German Lutheran Cemetery in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois which is where my ancestor Barbara Haase is also buried]

 Citation reminder: We are a strong believe in citing genealogical source material in the spriit of Evidence Explained. However, we choose not to include properly formatted citations in these blog posts. There's always enough information in the post to create a citation and full citations are included in my how-to newsletter Casefile Clues.

New On FamilySearch 6 March 2013

New updates to FamilySearch since our last posting:

Delaware, Death Records, 1855-1961

Maine, Veterans Cemetery Records, 1676-1918

Tennessee, Death Records, 1914-1955

Illinois School for the Deaf Attendees in 1889

Published reports can provide a variety of information on people one might not expect.

This report was published in 1889 and contained a listing of all the individuals attending an Illinois school for the deaf in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Included is Sarah Elizabeth Rampley from Hickory Ridge in Hancock County, Illinois.

Twenty-fourth Biennial Report of the Trustees, Superintendant, and Treasurer of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb at Jacksonville, p. 89, (1889), Illinois State Printer, Springfield; digital image, Google Books (http://books.google.com) 

Whether there are still records of the school is something I've not pursued.

Her father James Rampley appointed her brother James Rampley to be her conservator in his 1912 will in Hancock County, Illinois.

One never knows what one will find on Google Books. This reference was located by searching for "rampley deaf" on GoogleBooks.

 Citation reminder: We are a strong believe in citing genealogical source material in the spriit of Evidence Explained. However, we choose not to include properly formatted citations in these blog posts. There's always enough information in the post to create a citation and full citations are included in my how-to newsletter Casefile Clues.

Alfred Butler's Payment Card--Even Though He Is Dead

There's yet another pension index card for Alfred Butler--the payment card. These cards were created for pensions that were paid between 1907 and 1933. The veteran did not have to be living during this time period, there just had to be a pension being paid.

We've already seen his organizational index card and the remarried widow's card. This card indicates that there were two minors who were receiving pensions based upon Alfred's service:

• Bessie who expired on 28 March 1909
• Margaret who expired on 1 July 1911

Those dates of expiration are when the minor "ages out" of the pension system--not when they die.

Butler, Alfred, "United States, Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933." Index and Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 4 March 2013. Citing NARA microfilm publication M850. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

These cards are available at FamilySearch.

On Errors in the Ancestry.com Trees and Those Who Will Not "Correct"

I posted this to the Association of Professional Genealogists email list today, but thought it would be good to post here as well. My opinion on dealing with the frustration of "errors" in the online "trees" created by others has matured over time. I do believe that there is a difference between errors in trees created by users and errors in databases and other finding aids created by Ancestry.com.

[message follows]

I gave up some time ago on trying to correct the masses. It takes time away from actual research and from making progress on challenging research puzzles. There are a few of us who really want to know (as best we can) the correct wife of John Rucker who died in Virginia in the 1740s and of Edward Tinsley who died there in the 1780s, but there are others who really just want "a name" for a wife, regardless of how that information was obtained or how long  it has clearly been proven wrong. It is faster to simply copy something from an old book than try and ferret out correct information from records that require slow work and painstaking analysis. I also find that (usually) those with a desire to be as accurate as possible tend to gravitate toward others of the same mindset. A handful of correspondents who are concerned about accuracy, precise in their work, and adept at catching (nicely and politely) flaws in the work of others are worth hundreds of correspondents who refuse to learn the difference between testate and intestate.

Ignorance is a good thing when one is aware of it and willing to learn in order to work one's way beyond it. Not everyone is willing to learn.

I publish slowly what I've found to be "right" along with my justification for it.  Those with an interest in being as accurate as possible usually seek out like minded people. 

One should always courteous to those who have not yet been converted to evidence and analysis-based researched. All of us fit into that category at some point. There is always the chance that the "collector" today matures into a seasoned researcher tomorrow.

[end of message]

Back to work. As mentioned in my message, lamenting errors in online trees doesn't help me to get any actual work of my own done.

Black Lung Pension?

Sometimes people remember things because something triggers their memory.

I was briefly discussing a Civil War pension case with my wife yesterday. Emphasis is on the word briefly. While talking, I wondered how many widows receiving a Civil War pension never married again because doing so would jeopardize their benefits. I then made some joke about a widow having a boyfriend or suitor but never marrying him for this reason.

And then my wife mentioned her Grandmother's "gentleman friend" that she had after her husband (my wife's Grandfather) died. I'm not certain if she had ever mentioned the friend before as her Grandmother died well before we were married. 

The only reason my wife mentioned her Grandmother's boyfriend was because she remembered her Grandmother getting a black lung pension check and my mentioning of Civil War widows and potentially "lost" pensions made her think of her Grandmother and her own pension and the suitor. Sometimes it does pay to discuss your research with family members.

Records of that pension are another record to try and locate. The Grandfather was a coal miner for some time before the family moved to a more urban location. 

Widows may choose to not marry again simply to keep their pension. Or the pension may be a convenient excuse to stay single--sometimes one husband is enough!

New On FamilySearch

Indicated on FamilySearch as new since our last update:

New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924

Texas, Death Index, 1964-1998

United States, Records of Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865

Vermont, Land Records, Early to 1900

Virginia, Fluvanna County Colbert Funeral Home Records, 1929-1976

Confusion About FamilySearch Data Update Dates

Regular readers know that links to updated databases on FamilySearch are posted here regularly.

I am confused.

I usually copy and paste these every day or so from the FamilySearch page for United States databases. Yesterday I made two entries in a blog post because they had update dates of 3 March.

BillionGraves Index
Arkansas, Probate Records, 1817-1979

Today these databases show different update dates.

The Arkansas probate records indicates an update date of 12 January 2013.

The BillionGraves Index shows an update date of 1 February 2013.

I'm not certain why they were indicating more recent update dates yesterday.

We'll keep posting material that is indicated as new until further notice. I'm hoping that for some reason the site is reverting to "old" update dates.

Genealogy Pastry

I'm not sure if cooking is appropriate genealogical metaphor, but here goes:

"You'll just have to hope that those who want accurate information will be able to discern the difference between half-baked, doughy-on-the-inside, under-cooked data and a lightly brown, delicately frosted, light and fluffy pastry treat (grin!)."

It takes a little more time to make genealogical pastry, but it's worth it!

A Few More Sunday Additions to FamilySearch

A few more updated items on FamilySearch since our last update--I never dreamed they'd update things during the day on Sunday.

Illinois, Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Parish Records, 1729-1956
BillionGraves Index
Arkansas, Probate Records, 1817-1979