Update on Monteville Harness Year of Marriage

We have an answer to when Monteville Lobb/Harness/Rampley was married-1882. Readers will remember that there was some doubt as to the year of Monteville's marriage based upon online transcriptions. The blog post brought a response from a researcher who had access to microfilmed copies of the actual records (and has actually joined me on a few research trips). She indicated that it appeared that the 1881 year was a transcription error that no one caught in a publication done twenty or so years ago. Researchers are advised that these sort of transcription errors can easily happen. This is why when one is confused, reference to the original is always recommended. Indexes are finding aids, not ends in and of themselves

From Marriage Book 3, I found the information given below.

 

License number 2317 was issued to M. Harness on Sep 20, 1882. His name is listed as Monteville Harness, a restaurant keeper living in Loraine, Adams County. Age at next birthday is 26 and place of birth is Hancock County. Father's name is listed as "do not recollect" and the mother's name is listed as "do not know." The bride's name is listed as Jennie Meltabarger, resident of Loraine, age 22 at next birthday, born in Adams County, daughter of Jacob Meltabarger and Sarah Poling. They were married at Quincy on Sep. 20, 1882 by Wm. R. Lockwood, J. P. Witnesses were H. M. Swope (again faint, middle letter may have been different) and H. K. Rhoads. The return was made on Sep 20 and registered that day.

I'm still working on Monteville for an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues, but we'll have updates here as well.

1885 Iowa State Census Find

I really didn't expect to find this 1885 Iowa State Census entry. In fact, I happened upon it while searching for something else at FamilySearch.

It is the family of August and Louise Mortier, living in Winfield Township (page 581), in Scott County, Iowa. The Mortiers are in Rock Island County, Illinois (across the river) in 1880 and there again in 1900 and 1910, although the 1880 and 1900 census lists them living in the city.

The Mortiers did not live in Iowa very long, but the census enumeration does tell me that August and family was  living in the Northeast quarter of section 14 in Winfield Township. There is no indication of whether he owns the property or is renting--I need to check land records for that.

It is somewhat unusual for Belgians to be living on the Iowa side of the River in the 1880s--there's another item to learn more about as well.

Weird Stuff On the FamilySearch Site

I was doing a little searching into on Iowa resident Gideon Town for Casefile Clues and came across some interesting things on FamilySearch.

There are three marriage results for Gideon. The bottom two are both from Iowa marriages for 1809-1992 and the duplicates within one database are not uncommon. What is strange is the reference in Marion County, Ohio.

Expanding the Ohio entry reveals additional information:

It claims these are Ohio records.

Searching the FamilySearch Library card catalog for source film 1019714 brought up the following screen:

This clearly indicates the marriage records are Marion County, Iowa and not Ohio records.

I'm not certain what brought about the error.

But now it has me wondering about how I use locations in FamilySearch.

The Iowa marriage references in the original screen shot are from actual Iowa records as well.

Gideon was in Iowa from 1856 until at least 1910.

What's the real answer? I'm not certain to be honest. I was only researching Gideon for a Casefile Clues article where he's really a "side" interest. The varying locations for the marriage caught my attention and I decided to search into them a little further.

The date of marriage on all three entries is the same.

Reserve Your Space in My May 2012 Family History Library Trip

We've made arrangements for our May 2012 Family History Library Trip. We're excited about our fifth annual trip to the Family History Library.

Trip members will arrive on Wednesday 23 May 2012 (meet at 6:30 PM) and depart for home on 30 May 2012. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday, we have morning sessions at 8:00 AM in the hotel. I consult with participants during the times the Family History Library is open. It is open on Memorial Day its normal Monday hours. Trip participants are encouraged to send me problems for pre-trip consultations as early as possible. We'll have additional details, but that's the gist of it. We keep our trip number at no more than twenty--you are not joining a herd of cattle on this trip--and our price is low!

We stay at the Salt Lake Plaza at a special group rate of $82 a night (plus tax). Join us!

You can reserve your spot for $50 (refundable until 1 Mar 2012) here.  The deadline for paying just the deposit is 17 January 2012. After that registrations must include the total trip fee of $175.A PayPal account is not necessary, but this allows me to process credit card payments. The total trip fee is $175. The balance can be paid in March of 2012 for those who registered by paying the deposit. 


Don't Wait! The early bird registration deadline ends 17 January.

Digging Out the Tombstone

The previous post "Clear the Leaves from the Stone" generated such commentary on our Facebook page for Genealogy Tip of the Day that I decided to post another picture from several years ago.

This stone for Lucinda Kile, who died in Mercer County, Illinois, in 1878 is located in Keithsburg's Greenmound Cemetery. We didn't have to do too much digging, but part of the stone had sunk under the ground. We didn't have a shovel, but one has to be careful when digging stones out that they are not inadvertently damaged in the process. Hands worked pretty well in this case for removing the dirt, but small garden tools would have served the same purpose.

Clear the Leaves from the Stone

I took this picture of Riley Rampley's tombstone in the Buckeye Cemetery in Hancock County, Illinois' Walker Township five or so years ago. I really liked the peony bush that was next to it and I thought the bloom looked nice with the stone.

I just realized today that there was something I should have done before I took the picture. The blooms could stay, but I should have moved or done something with the leaves so that they did not block the inscription.

Buckeye Cemetery is on Hancock County Highway 23, west of West Point. Google Maps will pull up the location in this blog post. The small rectangular area is the cemetery. It is on County Highway 23, also known as County Road 350.

View Buckeye Cemetery in a larger map

My Ancestors in the SSDI

Every so often, I practice with a database--usually because that's how some discoveries are made.

Today it was the Social Security Death Index. I located only direct line ancestors in this database:

NEILL, CECIL	29 Oct 1903	Dec 1968	65	62321 (Carthage,Hancock, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Paternal grandfather
NEILL, IDA	01 Sep 1910	21 Jul 1994	83	62321 (Carthage, Hancock, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Paternal grandmother
UFKES, JOHN H	27 Jan 1917	02 Dec 2003 (V)	86	62321 (Carthage,Hancock, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Maternal grandfather
UFKES, DOROTHY HABBEN	12 Apr 1924	09 Sep 2008 (P)	84	34205 (Bradenton,Manatee, FL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Maternal grandmother
NEILL, FANNIE	16 May 1883	May 1965	81-82	(Illinois)	(none specified)	Illinois	Grandpa Neill’s mother
UFKES, TENA	17 Apr 1895	Nov 1986	91	62321 (Carthage, Hancock, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Granddad Ufkes’ mother
HABBEN, MIMKA	11 Nov 1881	Feb 1969	87	62321 (Carthage,Hancock, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Grandma Ufkes’ father

I have seven ancestors in the database. I always thought it neat that my grandparents were seven years apart, being born in 1903, 1910, 1917, and 1924. Interestingly enough my parents are only a year apart in age. I searched for all my great-grandparents in the database--except for great-grandfather Trautvetter who died in 1934. I figured he was not in the SSDI.

The search results even listed an age range for my great-grandmother Neill as her date of birth is given as 16 May 1883, but the death date is only as specific as the month of May of 1965.

I decided to search for my wife's ancestors in the SSDI as well. There were not quite as many.

JOHNSON, WILBUR W	17 Oct 1912	Apr 1991	78	(HC)	(none specified)	Illinois	Wife’s paternal grandfather
JOHNSON, GRACE M	05 Dec 1913	12 Jun 2000 (V)	86	61201 (Rock Island,Rock Island, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Wife's paternal grandmother
LAKE, OLA	10 Jun 1906	Apr 1969	62	61265 (Moline, Rock Island, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Wife's maternal grandfather
LAKE, ANNA	08 Mar 1913	Nov 1987	74	61265 (Moline, Rock Island, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Wife's maternal grandmother
MORTIER, HENRY	20 Feb 1885	Dec 1966	81	61201 (Rock Island,Rock Island, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Father of Grace Johnson--above.
MORTIER, COROLINE	13 Feb 1884	Apr 1981	97	61201 (Rock Island,Rock Island, IL)	(none specified)	Illinois	Mother of Grace Johnson-above

Caroline Mortier's first name is spelled incorrectly. I also discovered a number of relatives in the file (particularly on my wife's families) because of how the searches were conducted.

I had a difficult time searching for Wilbur Johnson because there is no death place listed. A quick search did not reveal what (HC) stands for, but I'll look and post a follow up if a reader doesn't first.

From the Rootsweb site's section on fields:

(V) indicates the SSA verified the report with a family member or someone acting on behalf of a family member. (P) indicates the SSA saw the death certificate.

My Trip to the Allen County Public Library In Ft. Wayne

I'm getting ready for my annual group to the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. As a part of my preparation, I'm making a short list of families or individuals on which I want to work while there. I'm going to keep this page up as sort of a log/notebook for what I'm going to do. Hopefully we'll have updates as time allows during my trip.

William Rhodes/Rhodus and Lucretia/Matilda Jones in 1860

I think that William and Lucretia are enumerated twice in the 1860 census--once in Macon County, Missouri, and once in Breckenridge County, Kentucky. This does seem a little bit unusual, but there are a few reasons which I'll get into as the research progresses. I'm hoping to work on some published materials the library has for Kentucky in an attempt to learn more about the Kentucky individual and his family. Multiple census enumerations in non-adjacent states in this era are very atypical.

School's Out Blowout-Year 1 of Casefile Clues Back Issues for $10

To celebrate the end of summer school for me, we're offering a discounted rate on year 1 issues of my newsletter Casefile Clues.

• Year 1 of Casefile Clues for $10! (only valid as long as this blog post still loads--if you can see it, the offer is still good).

Grow your genealogy, see how problems are solved, sources analyzed, and information organized. We focus on showing the method, not just the one way that worked to solve the problem. Our concentration is on clear writing that explains process.

Topics from Year 1 can be viewed here--click back to view this offer page.

10 Signs You Have Genealogy OCD

1) You check FamilySearch at 8 AM; 12NOON, 6 PM, and 9 PM every day for updated releases or databases.

2) You've grabbed a green leaf on a real TREE thinking it was on your Ancestry.com page.

3) Your family takes the long way places to AVOID cemeteries when you are in the car.

4) You have seriously thought about HIDING in a library to get locked in after it closes.

5) You spent more searching for your ancestors 1810 tax records than you did preparing your own 2010 taxes.

6) You know more about your spouse's ancestors than you know about your spouse.

7) You would easily spend your entire vacation in a library.

8) You have already scheduled a vacation day from work for when the 1940 census is released.

9) The majority of pictures in your facebook photo section are of people who are dead.

10) You've recognized yourself in at least half of these signs.

(sharing these is great, but please give credit....thanks!)

Ancestry.com--Let's Get Better Source Descriptions

I know others have blogged about it, so I'll keep my rant on this topic short.

Online providers of image data need to make it clear where those images were obtained. Any documentation contained in the records needs to be contained in the website created by the online provider. Users need to know where images were originally made. We should take whatever we're being given and "be happy that we have anything at all."

Microfilm copies of actual records usually have a cover sheet or page that at the very least explains the holder of the records. In some cases there may even be more detail in a sheet or two of explanation that was microfilmed before the actual records.

Others have made eloquent arguments that consistent citations need to be created by Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, and others that provide access to digital images of original records. I agree with those sentiments.

We also need information on the provenance of the records, precisely who had the records that were digitized and if there were any caveats about those records.

I used a set of Tennessee marriage records for a Casefile Clues article. The records were on Ancestry.com and came from microfilm at the Tennessee State Archives. That is as specific as Ancestry.com got about the source of the records. Searches for specific individuals took me to specific pages in the apparent books, but it was not possible to move the images to get to a "title page" or "cover sheet" as one can on microfilm. If there was a sheet or two of background information, I did not see it. If the cover of the actual book was filmed (as sometimes is done) I did not see it.

I had no clue where those Davidson County marriages came from. Most likely the county.

Why does it matter?

Because it appears that the records I was using on Ancestry.com's digital images were handwritten transcriptions of the originals. I cannot be certain, but the handwriting was very consistent and the pre-printed form just did not look like late 18th century. But I could be wrong. The problem is that there is no way of telling.

Does it really matter?

Yes it does. The names in this family are slightly unusual and an untrained eye could easily misread Hettie for Lettie or Lottie, etc. And in families where several brothers are in the same area, resulting in thirty first cousins getting married within fifteen years of each other details matter.

Not only am I calling for better citations, I'm asking that vague statements about the origin of images be replaced with meaningful statements.

I'm glad Ancestry.com is indexing records and linking them to record images. It saves me time. What doesn't save me time is when I have to hunt down the probable source of that image.

I'm grateful for the indexes we have at Ancestry.com and FamilySearch. What I'm not grateful for are those record sets where the actual source description is vague. I should not have to try and reverse engineer where the records came from.

The Old Ancestry.com Search

There were several things that were helpful about the old searches at Ancestry.com. One of those things was that when we had the "pull down" menus for the census searches, only those states and counties for whom the census was extant would appear on those pull down menus.

Now, every location in the WORLD comes up when I'm searching the 1810 census. I have to go and browse to determine what locations are available in 1810.

I really wish there was the old drop down menu for each census year that only pulled those locations listed in that year on the search box.

Why the 1810 census search for the United States needs to pull up "Peking, Bordekreis, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany" is completely beyond me.

Completely beyond me.

Totally beyond me.

Yes--that is sarcasm.

Finding the Book on Erasmus Trautvetter

I'm hoping to get someone to help me. According to a search of Google Books, this book has a reference to Erasmus Trautvetter. The book apparently is a German directory.

The book is not online and apparently there are few copies. A WorldCat reference indicated the book was only at Harvard University. The book won't interlibrary loan.

Is anyone able to make a copy of the page that contains the entry for Erasmus?

Organize the Inconclusive with Discrepancy Charts

This originally appeared on Genealogy.com nearly 10 years ago and was written by me.

(note--this post does not use current definitions of primary and secondary--we no longer classifiy sources as primary or secondary, these terms apply to information only)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the data genealogists collected always agreed and was always consistent, many professional genealogists would be out of business. So would a few authors. Discrepancies and inconsistencies are a matter of course in genealogical research, as is dealing with those inconsistencies.

In terms of consistency, genealogical data can fall into one of three categories:

1. Entirely consistent, every document providing the same date and place for each event, with no conflict between sources (the ideal);
2. Conflicting, but consistent enough to allow different researchers to reach the same conclusion;
3. Entirely inconsistent and inconclusive.

In your research you may run into discrepancies such as ages listed in the census that do not correspond with ages obtained from other sources, birth dates in the family Bible that do not agree with the birth certificate, death dates on the tombstone that do not match the death certificate, and so on. There are many reasons for discrepancies. Sometimes you can determine the reason and explain the difference. Such is the case with birth or marriage dates "changed" in some records so that the first child did not come "too early." Different surnames for an individual may be due to a remarriage by a parent and not the result of dishonesty on the part of our ancestors or ineptitude on the part of clerks.

But often you will be unable to explain the difference and may never be able to say with a degree of certainty which date or location for an event is correct. There are cases where almost every document or record gives a different age or place of birth and determining which one is correct can be nearly impossible. The purpose of discrepancy charts is to summarize the conflicts between different record sources and to indicate the source for each conflicting piece of data. Using discrepancy charts will more easily allow you to weigh the evidence.

Sample Discrepancy Charts

The two samples below show how discrepancy charts can help organize any conflicting information that you may have.

Seeking Birth Information, Case 1
In the process of searching for my great-grandmother's (Ida SARGENT TRAUTVETTER MILLER) place of birth, I found several different birth localities. One locale did not appear on any of the other records and even Ida had listed different places of birth on each of her marriage applications. Some places had been listed more than once and I soon could not remember what document had provided what location. After a while, my confusion hindered my research efforts. While the localities were in close proximity to each other, there was no "preponderance" of evidence that allowed me to conclude which place was most likely.

There was no way that I could list the different places Ida was "born" on a pedigree chart or an ancestral chart (try listing five different locations for a birthplace!). So, in order to help me possibly discover the correct place, or to at least keep track of what each document said, I decided to make a list of all the different localities I had and indicate what sources had given those localities (and, if known, the informant on each of these records). In further research, I am using all of these localities (at least the ones that are specific) with the thought that maybe some of the places were residences of the family at some point in time. For Ida, the birth date of 1 April 1874 seems to be correct, since the majority of records either gave that date or do not significantly contradict it.

As you can see below, I used several columns for each record. Not all the sources provided all these pieces of information and in some cases I estimated her birth date from her age at the time the record was created. When I did this, I indicated that the birth date is estimated. You can see that some records provide both an age and a birth date. For the purposes of this article, some records have been omitted from the chart, citation information is not complete (although it is important), and the exact date of the event/record has not been included.

Record	Birth date	Birthplace	Age	Informant	Source Type
John TRAUTVETTER death certificate, 1937	Not given	Alexandria, Missouri	Not given		Secondary
Ida MILLER death certificate, 1939.	1 April 1874	Adams County, Illinois	65 years, 2 months, and 22 days	Hospital Records	Secondary
Ida's Obituary, 1939	1 April 1874	Warsaw, Hancock, Illinois	65 years		Secondary
Marriage to George TRAUTVETTER, 1898, Hancock County, Illinois	Ca. 1874/1875 (estimated from age)	Iowa	23 years	Probably Ida	Secondary
Marriage to William MILLER, 1936, Hancock County, Illinois	Ca. 1873/1874	Lima, Adams, Illinois	63 years	Probably Ida	Secondary
1880 Census, Hancock County, Illinois	Ca. 1873/1874 (estimated)	Iowa	6 years		Secondary
1900 Census, Hancock County, Illinois	April 1874	America	26 years		Secondary

Seeking Birth Information: Case 2
The second discrepancy chart is for Ida's father, Ira William SARGENT. In this case, the birthplace, while not overly specific, is at least consistent. Based upon the records used in the chart, a reasonable birth date estimate would be between 1840 and 1845.

Record	Birth date	Birthplace	Age	Informant	Source Type
Death Certificate, 1916 Peoria County, Illinois	Ca. 1840/1841 (estimated from age-birth date not stated on record)	Unknown	75 years	Hospital records	Secondary
1880 Census, Hancock County, Illinois	Ca. 1844/1845 (estimated from age)	Canada	35 years		Secondary
1900 Census, Hancock County, Illinois	March 1843	Canada F.	57 years		Secondary
1910 Census, Peoria County, Illinois	Ca. 1841/1842	Not listed	68 years	Probably Hospital records	Secondary
1883 Marriage to Martha PHELPS, Adams County, Illinois	Ca. 1842/1843	Not listed	40 years		Secondary
Adams County, Illinois Poor House Records, August 1907	Ca. 1844	Canada	"about 63 years"		Secondary
Insanity Case, Adams County, Illinois, September 1907	Ca. 1843/1844	Not listed	63 years		Secondary
Insanity Case, Adams County, Illinois, September 1905	Ca. 1838/1839	Canada	66 years		Secondary

The Role of Primary and Secondary Sources

While analyzing conflicting pieces of information, genealogists need to be aware of the differences between primary and secondary sources. A source is considered to be primary if it was an original record recorded close to the time when the event actually took place and the informant had a logical reason to know the information and was likely present at the event. A source that is not primary is considered secondary.

Classifying a source as primary or secondary does not comment about its accuracy. Secondary sources can be correct and primary sources can be wrong. However, more credence is placed in primary sources for an event, especially when there are two or more primary sources that corroborate each other.

In some cases, you may not be able to determine who provided the information and therefore not know for certain if it is a primary or secondary record. Some records have a place for informant, but many do not. Speculation about the informant may be necessary, but if you are speculating, you should indicate this by use of "probable," "possible," or some other similar word.

In the case of Ida SARGENT TRAUTVETTER MILLER, the sources all listed are secondary sources for her birth date and birthplace. This does not mean that they are wrong; however, in this case since they all provide different birthplaces, some of them are obviously incorrect. It should be remembered that in some cases, Ida might not have provided the information herself, or that the informant might have misunderstood the question.

Sources will not all agree, and one source can easily be incorrect. For this reason, genealogists need to access more than one record or source where possible and focus on primary sources where available. Unfortunately, there are times when primary sources are not available and genealogists are left using a number of secondary sources. There is no birth certificate for Ida, no baptismal record for Ida, and no Bible record that lists her date and place of birth (I'd love to hear about it if there is!). As one researches in the era before vital records, including secondary sources becomes necessary. For this reason, in this era, analyzing all possible records is even more important.

The discrepancy charts here have focused on dates and locations, but maiden names, and names of parents also disagree. Similar charts could easily be compiled for these facts as well. Again, classifying each source as primary or secondary is an integral part of the chart.

One Last Important Note

You should never change a source to correct it. If you are fortunate enough to determine the cause of the discrepancy, or at least be able to explain it, indicate that in your notes. My grandmother believed she was born in Tioga, Hancock, Illinois. Her marriage record, application for a social security number, death certificate, and obituary all list this birthplace. However, she was not born in Tioga. She was born several miles east of Tioga in a town called Elderville. Her birth certificate and baptismal record indicate she was born in Elderville. Additionally, her parents are listed with an Elderville address in the 1910 Census, a few months before her birth in September of 1910. The sources where Grandma listed her birthplace are secondary sources. Her birth certificate and baptismal record are primary sources. The census record doesn't prove her birthplace, but lends credence to it being in the Elderville area. Grandma always insisted to me she was born in Tioga.

Grandma's belief regarding her birthplace should be recorded in with my notes, either on her family group chart or in her record in my genealogy software program. There are programs that allow you to enter multiple places and dates for an event. Take advantage of this capability. Tracking these different sources and their differing pieces of data is an important part of the research process.

---

This originally appeared on Genealogy.com

My Wife's 16 great-great-grand's Pie Chart

I'm not going to have time to post the names and places of birth, and I'm not certain readers are all that interested in those anyway. However, the chart I think is interesting.

My wife's great-great-grandparents pretty much each hale from a different location--with two from each of the following places:

• England
• Sweden
• Belgium
• New York State
• Iowa
• Illinois
• Kentucky
• Missouri

This makes the chart kind of boring.

The Iowa slice is actually half German and half Swiss. The New York State slice is French-Canadian.

Back to work...

Four Generations of 4H

This isn't my usual genealogy post here. It's the week of the 4H fair in Knoxville, Illinois, so I decided to post some 4H pictures I have in my collection. I've got 4 generations of 4H pictures, beginning with my granddad Ufkes' steer in 1933. I have pictures of my dad and myself with livestock and my daughters with their rabbits. My mother was in 4H too, but I don't have any pictures of any of her projects. Of course, when my parents were in 4H, there were "boys' projects and girls' projects." It's not that way any more.

The first picture in this post was the 1933 4H steer of John Ufkes, my grandfather. This is the only livestock picture I have of Granddad's. It most likely was taken at his parents' farm east of Basco, Hancock County, Illinois. Looks to me like this is a shorthorn, but I could be wrong. Granddad always raised Hereford cattle, but 1933 is a little before my time and I'm not certain what great-grandfather Ufkes raised.

The second picture is my Dad, Keith Neill, with one of his livestock projects, probably in the 1950s. I don't think this was taken at the fair--it looks like the west barn, but I'm not certain. It would have been an Angus calf--there was no other breed for Grandpa Neill.

This is me taken at the 4H fairgrounds near Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois. Probably taken in the late 1970s. It may be difficult to see what is on the hat, but it's a picture of an Angus cow, bull, steer, or heifer. I can't quite see what's on my feet, but I know I'm not wearing tennis shoes.

This picture is of Sarah and Katie Neill, taken in the 2000s at the Knox County, Illinois, fair in Knoxville. The animal of choice is now a rabbit!

My 16 great-great-grandparents

I rarely try these, but I decided to try Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun and post information about my great-great-grandparents.

16) Samuel Neill, born 1838 probably County Derry, Ireland. Married in 1865 in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. Samuel died in 1912 in St. Albans Township, Hancock County, Illinois.

17) Anna Murphy, born about 1840 in Ireland. Died in St. Albans Township, Hancock County, Illinois.

18) Riley Rampley, born 1835 Coshocton County, Ohio. Married in 1867 in Walker Township, Hancock County, Illinois, which is where he died in 1893.

19) Nancy Jane Newman, born 8 July 1846 Milroy, Rush County, Indiana. Died 1923 West Point, Hancock County, Illinois

20) John Michael Trautvetter born in 1839 in Wohlmuthausen, Thuringen, Germany. Married in 1868 in Tioga, Hancock County, Illinois. He died in 1917 in Walker Township, Hancock County, Illinois.

21) Franciska Bieger, born 1851 in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois. She died in Walker Township, Hancock County, Illinois.

22) Ira William Sargent, born about 1843 in Ontario, Canada (probably near Darlington). Married Davis County, Iowa 1870. He died in 1916 in Limestone Township, Peoria County, Illinois.

23) Ellen Butler, born about 1856. Died after 1880.

24) Johann Ufkes, born 1838 Holtrop, Ostfriesland, Germany. Married in 1873 in Harmony Township, which is where he died in 1924.

25) Noentje Lena Grass, born in 1848 in Backemoor, Ostfriesland, Germany. Died in 1902 in Bear Creek Township, Hancock County, Illinois.

26) Jans Jurgens Janssen, born in Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany, in 1856. Married in Adams County, Illinois, in 1888. Jans died in Bear Creek Township, Hancock County, Illinois in 1929.

27) Fredericka Maria Sartorius, born 1865 near Golden, Adams County, Illinois, died in 1913 in Bear Creek Township, Hancock County, Illinois.

28) Jann Mimka Habben born in Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany, in 1859. Married in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois, in 1881. Died in Elvaston, Hancock County, Illinois in 1939.

29) Anke Hinrichs Fecht, born in Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany, in 1860. Died in Elvaston, Hancock County, Illinois, in 1941.

30) Foche Jansen Goldenstein, born 1857 in Wrisse, Ostfriesland, Germany. Married in 1882 in Coatsburg, Adams County, Illinois. Died in 1913 in Golden, Adams County, Illinois.

31) Anna Margaret Dirks, born 1861 in Honey Creek Township, Adams County, Illinois. Died in 1932 in Golden, Adams County, Illinois.

The chart was not a real surprise.

Birth Place Pie Chart

I tend to like fractions:

• 1/8 Ireland
• 1/16 Ohio
• 1/16 Indiana
• 1/16 Canada
• 1/16 Thuringen
• 1/16 Unknown
• 3/16 Illinois
• 3/8 Ostfriesland

Actually 3 of my great-great-grands were born in the same Ostfriesian village--Wiesens.

Places of death in the case of my sixteen great-great-grandparents are even more homogeneous. The vast majority died in Hancock County, Illinois. Breaking the individuals up by state would have been rather silly as all but one died in Illinois.

For those who like fractions, the death locations work out:

• 3/4 Hancock County, Illinois
• 1/8 Adams County, Illinois
• 1/16 Peoria County, Illinois
• 1/16 Unknown

Of the twelve who died in Hancock County, Illinois, most died within 8 miles of each other.

I think in a later post mapping out the locations might be neat.

A Fruit Fully Ripened for Eternity

The Quincy Whig
Thursday, January 24, 1878
Page: 4

From the "Loraine Notes"

This is the short obituary for Keziah Elliott Holden who died in Adams County, Illinois, in 1878. The last sentence struck me as slightly unusual, ending with she "passed away like a fruit fully ripened for eternity." One just has to love obituaries with phrases like that.

Keziah's son Daniel P. Holden's step-daughter likely married Montivelli Harness, the adopted son of my ancestors James and Elizabeth Rampley, in the 1880s in Adams County, Illinois. Keziah and James Rampley were first cousins. The step-daughter likely died sometime between her marriage and Montivelli's apparent re-marriage in Oklahoma in the early 1900s.

Montivelli's life is not too well documented and we're working on an update on him for an upcoming issue of Casefile Clues.

Monteville Marries in the 1880s

There's a reason genealogists are told to utilize as many sources as possible and to get to the original when they can.

I've been working on Montevelli, the adopted son of James and Elizabeth Rampley, who lived with them in Walker Township, Hancock County, Illinois, from at least 1860 through 1880 when he appears with them in the census. In 1860 his last name is Lobb, in 1870 his last name is Harness, and in 1880 his last name is Rampley. His age changes by 10 years, which is a slight concern, but given the first name's unusual nature, I'm operating under the assumption it is the same person until information to the contrary is located.

One of the items I was working on was his marriage. FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, and the Illinois State Archives have Illinois marriage indexes online. All apparently pull from the original records--in this case from the Adams County, Illinois, courthouse. The Ancestry.com and Illinois State Archives dates agree (20 September 1881) and the FamilySearch only provides a year (1882) which is different from the other two dates.

[Click on the images for a bigger view]

What's the real date? That will have to wait until I get to the Family History Library to look at the microfilm, unless some kind soul takes pity on me and offers to look it up.

The difference is not crucial in this case. However, there are situations where differing dates could be significant.

And this situation makes the point that any index should be used as a means to get the original record.

Another reason for getting this record: Illinois marriages in the 1881-1882 era have the potential to provide names of parents--especially helpful for the apparently adopted Monteville.

Is Casefile Clues the Answer to Your Tight Genealogy Budget?

Is there not enough money in the genealogy budget for a conference or seminar? Are online educational opportunities a bit of a reach or too generic for your purposes? Casefile Clues may be the answer to your genealogical skill development.

Geared towards the intermediate and experienced researcher, Casefile Clues discusses real genealogical problems in every issue. Not broad overviews of records or generalities about how research should be done. Instead we look at real records on real families, see how those records were used, and what further research will be done.

Will we discuss your family? Probably not--although I do have several distant relatives who are subscribers.

But broad overviews of records do not discuss your families either. We've discussed Revolutionary War pensions, War of 1812 pensions and bounty land applications, civil war pension, land records, wills, probates, passenger lists, pre-1850 census records and more.

There is a fairly comprehensive list of our first eighty so issues here http://blog.casefileclues.com/2011/06/141-issues-of-casefile-clues-for-only.html.

A regular subscription to Casefile Clues is only $17 a year--for 52 issues. We focus on clear writing and explanation. There's no ads, no agenda and we're not trying to sell you anything.

Consider adding a subscription to Casefile Clues to your genealogical skill building activities.

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About Michael John Neill:

Casefile Clues author Michael John Neill is a genealogist with over twenty-five years of actual onsite and online research experience. He has given genealogy seminars in over thirty states and researched his children's ancestry in twenty different states and five European countries. He formerly wrote for the Ancestry Daily News and Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Ancestry.com Stock

Investor's Business Daily analyzes Ancestry.com's stock and predicts growth, etc.

Article fails to mention Ancestry.com's biggest competition: FamilySearch.

Now that's real in depth reporting and analysis.

Maybe I'm in trouble if the managers of my pension fund rely on this kind of advice.