Exhausting Those Homesteaders Who Regularly Attend Church in Nebraska

Genealogists talk about "exhaustive search" and what it entails. Generally speaking, it means look at all material that could reasonably answer the question at hand. I understand the concept of "exhaustive search," it does serve a purpose. And I do "get" why it is important--largely because there are people who only research one or two documents and declare themselves done.

Not me. 

I prefer to use "brute force" research. Get everything you can. Everything. And then keep looking and realize that there may always be something you have yet to uncover. But really, you never know what a record will say until you have seen it. Records that contain affidavits are particularly rich in "who knows what they'll put in there."  Such is the case with the homestead application of Jurgen Ehmen in Dawson County, Nebraska.

Renke Kaiser is one of the witnesses in Ehmen's claim from the 1880s.

Where We've Lived Before

Kaiser documents in his affidavit where Ehmen lived before settling in Nebraska, beginning with Ehmen living in Illinois in the 1860s. Kaiser states that he has known Ehmen for over twenty years, apparently since they were living in Illinois.  One of the neighbors mentioned in Kaiser's statement is Focke Goldenstein--actually a relative of Ehmen and the great-grandfather of yours truly.

Testimony of Renke Kaiser, 23 November 1887, Completed Homestead application of Jurgen  Ehmen, Dawson County, Nebraska, Township 11 North-24 West, section 18; digital image,  Fold3.com.

Kaiser indicates the Illinois counties in which Ehmen lived. This was a significant clue as the ethnic group (Ostfriesen) of which all these men were members settled heavily in Adams County, Illinois, and Dawson County, Nebraska. But Knox County, Illinois? That was an unusual place for an Ostfriesen to live and a place that warrants research as to why Ehmen was there (supposition is that he worked for the railroad).

Going to Church

Kaiser even states that he seens Ehmen regularly at church on Sunday and that the church was "near there."  One doesn't always think of homestead records as providing clues as to church attendance. But there it was.

Testimony of Renke Kaiser, 23 November 1887, Completed Homestead application of Jurgen  Ehmen, Dawson County, Nebraska, Township 11 North-24 West, section 18; digital image,  Fold3.com

Ehmen's other witness Eime Friesenborg also indicates in a statement from the same date as Kaiser's that he also sees Ehmen at church every Sunday. His statement includes similar statements about Ehmen's residences before he lived in Nebraska and that he had known Ehmen for twenty years.

Of course, Goldenstein probably attended the same church as the other men. And the reason why Goldenstein did not testify in Ehmens claim: relatives were not supposed to appear as witnesses in these claims.

Brute force with some finesse and some time spent reading. It may be just what your research needs.

A Cancelled Timber Claim from Nebraska

Records of cancelled federal land claims are an underutilized resource. Because the claims were not completed, patents were not issued and the original claimant never acquired title to the land. Because of this, the ancestor would not appear in property records as owning the property.

Yet the files can contain quite a bit of information, depending upon how far the claimant completed the process and whether or not he actually relinquished his claim or simply abandoned it for greener pastures.

These images are from the relinquished timber claim for Jurgen Ehmen in Dawson County, Nebraska.

We are sharing these images with readers in an attempt to make genealogists more aware of them--please do not use them in presentations, handouts, articles, other materials without asking permission. I don't know of anyone other than myself who is actively researching the Ehmen family.

These images are "front" and then "back." These images may be at a slightly lower resolution than they were obtained at the National Archives. The color scans are wonderful.

It takes some finesse to learn about the existence of these claims that were not completed. The tract books from the former General Land Office have to be searched manually. Without a completed claim, this is difficult if the area of settlement is unknown. In this instance, Ehmen's claim was within a few miles of several others in his extended family of immigrants. Two of those relatives completed their land claims. Because of that there were patents issued in their names which were recorded in the land records in Dawson County, Nebraska. Armed with the legal description of the property, the tract books were manually searched at the index entry for Ehmen's claim was located.

In a future post, we'll have more on claims of this type and how to research in these records. We'll have detailed analysis of these materials in an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues.

Citation reminder: We are a strong believer in citing genealogical source material in the spirit 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. 

Note: Jurgen Tonjes Ehmen was born in Wrisse, Ostfriesland, Germany, in 1832. He was a first cousin of Fokke Goldenstein, my great-great-grandfather.

This post is: http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-cancelled-timber-claim-from-nebraska.html

1885 Colorado Census

I've found my 3rd great-grandfather's sister living with her son and his family in Denver, Arapahoe County, Colorado, in the 1880 census.

L. U. Albers is listed as a merchant in the image shown here which is a partial copy from the 1880 Census (page 157A of Enumeration District 7). The family had only lived in Colorado a few years as all the children, including the youngest who was two years old, were listed as being born in Illinois.

Antje Albers, shown in the second image, is listed as L. U.'s 69 year old mother. Antje's maiden name was Antje Ehmen, born in 1811 in Wrisse, Ostfriesland, Germany. Her brother Johann Goldenstein (1814-1891) was my third great-grandfather. He remained in Wrisse and did not emigrate.

Historykat has released the 1885 census for Colorado and my next goal is to try and find her in that record.