Don't Wait! Obtain Original Documents Sooner, Not Later

What documentation are you missing for key ancestors such as those in your direct line or specific ancestors of particular interest?

I suggest inventorying birth, marriage, and death records in your possession and prioritizing the process of ordering what you're missing. Try to obtain original documents sooner rather than later.

Why? Many municipalities are increasing fees, some are limiting access to vital records, and a few have a backlog of orders that translates into a long wait.

Also order a copy, not an extract, if you have a choice. This way you can see the actual document, not selected data retyped by a clerk who viewed the document and extracted info to send you. You never know what interesting details will be left off the extract! 

New York ugh

My immigrant ancestors settled in New York City/State, and my dad-in-law passed away in New York State. Inventorying my documentation last year, I realized I was missing a key ancestor's death cert from a county north of the city.

I was lucky: I waited only nine months for that death cert, despite having been told the wait would be 6-10 weeks. Other genealogy folks have waited years, literally, and some are still waiting long long after the state cashed their checks.

As I write this, New York State is considering tighter restrictions on access to vital records as well as ridiculously higher fees to obtain records. The genealogy community has protested, but the situation is not pretty at this moment.

In some cases, you can either send to the New York county or city where birth/marriage/death took place or actually visit the county/city clerk to obtain the vital record. For more info, here's the Family Search wiki page about New York State vital records.

Ohio yay

My experience with Ohio has been the opposite of my experience with New York. My husband was born in Ohio, as were many of his ancestors, and it has been much easier to obtain vital records. 

Some death records are available from Ohio History Connection, at a fee lower than the government charges. I've used this source many times in the past decade. Detailed info about Ohio vital records are on this Family Search wiki page. 

When I ordered a birth cert and a death cert from Cleveland recently, I received certified printed copies in less than two weeks! The death cert included the coroner's report, which explained the many health problems that contributed to the man's untimely death before age 50.

Worth the investment

Vital records for selected ancestors are a worthy investment IMHO and can be kept with your family history documentation to be passed along to descendants. They are full of clues and can help fill in the gaps in our knowledge of ancestors and their family relationships.

Please start the process of obtaining any original vital records sooner rather than later. If record access is restricted in the future, or fees skyrocket, or wait times stretch out, you won't be shut out. 

Grandma Floyda and the Push for Delayed Birth Registrations

Hubby's maternal grandmother, Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948) went to probate court in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944 to register a birth--her own. Two of her older sisters submitted affidavits attesting to Floyda's home birth. They would have been old enough to have known about the birth. Carrie was 8 and Etta Blanche was 14 when their baby sister was born, ninth of nine children of Edward George Steiner (1830-1880) and Elizabeth Jane Rinehart Steiner (1834-1905). 

Millions of births not officially recorded

Originally, I believed Floyda was registering her birth with the court so she could apply for a Social Security number. But then I read newspapers of the time and discovered that this wasn't the only reason for registering births years or decades after the fact. 

In 1940, with Social Security in place and WWII draft registration in force, the question of how to prove name, birth place, and birth place was becoming more urgent. According to the Milwaukee Journal newspaper (Aug 13, 1941), some 60 million people had no legally-acceptable birth documents because they were born before the requirement to officially register births (and sometimes marriages and deaths) with county or state authorities. 

In Ohio, where Floyda was born, probate judges were strongly urging the governor to act to provide a pathway to legally and smoothly register births and correct errors that may have been in the oldest records. According to the Toledo Blade newspaper (Thursday, Jul 18, 1940), about half of the old records in the state were incorrect. Names might have been wrong, dates wrong, even sex recorded incorrectly. Fixing the mistakes and registering births not on the books were priorities, but no standard process existed for doing so.

How to prove birth in Ohio

In 1941, the Ohio House unanimously passed a bill mandating that the state Department of Health set up a system for official filing of birth and death records in the state. The goal was to ease the way for draft registrants and applicants for defense jobs to prove who they were, according to the Wooster Daily Record newspaper (Feb 21, 1941). These registrations would also help in the event of veterans applying for benefits later in life.

By 1942, those without official birth documents were finding help in all kinds of places. Even the US Census Bureau was offering to search its records (for a small fee) and provide documentation of someone being enumerated in a specific place and time (according to the Columbus Evening Dispatch newspaper, Sep 15, 1942). The Census folks were also drawing on WWI draft registration cards as proof of name and birth date/place. An estimated 2.8 million Ohioans were in need of official birth proof at that point.

Floyda's birth is recorded 66 years late

Why Floyda needed or wanted an official birth document, I can't be sure. Her husband Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970) worked in a defense industry firm and had proof of his own birth, so perhaps the employer(s) were checking that spouses and immediate family passed muster. 

I can't find Floyda in the Social Security claims or death index. She did work during WWII, as a part-timer in a Cleveland department store, but it's unclear whether the store would have requested a Social Security card as part of her employment process.

Most likely Floyda simply wanted to register her birth because of the state's publicity campaign to get all births on the record. And so her older sisters stepped up with affidavits that enabled Floyda to have her birth filed with the state of Ohio 66 years after she was born at home in Nevada, Wyandot County.

Lived in Ohio, Married in New York Because...?

Matilda C. Kohne (1892-1948) and her fiance, widower August Jacob Carsten (1884-1975) lived in Toledo, Ohio, yet they took the train to New York City in August of 1917 to get married. Why wed there and not closer to home?

Mary Amanda Wood Carsten's death

August had been widowed in January of 1917 when his first wife, Mary Amanda Wood Carsten, died from hemorrhaging in the hospital during an emergency procedure for what the death cert called "an extrauterine gestation, tubal" (translation: ectopic pregnancy). Sadly, Mary was only 32 when she passed away. She was my husband's 1c1r.

Mary left behind four young children ranging in age from 3 to 12 years old. Her husband August had a busy construction company, building homes all around Toledo, Ohio. How he met and proposed to Mathilde Kohne isn't known, but the engaged couple boarded a train for Manhattan in mid-August of 1917 and returned home as a married couple--NY marriage cert shown at top.

Officiant: Pastor Schumm

Looking closely at the marriage cert, I saw that August and Matilda were wed at the New York rectory residence of Pastor Ferdinand C G Schumm, a well-respected clergyman who headed the congregation at the Lutheran Church. The pastor's second wife (Minnie Brookmeyer Schumm) was the only witness. It seems no other family members accompanied August and Matilda to their wedding, or I think there would be other witnesses listed on this cert. 

"Schumm" rang a bell because I've seen that surname on Karen's Chatt, a blog written by certified genealogist Karen Miller Bennett. I got in touch with Karen and asked about Pastor Schumm, and she confirmed he was part of her extensive Schumm family tree. 

I told Karen that August's first marriage had been handled by a judge, but his second wife Matilda and her family had a strong, lifelong connection to the Lutheran Church in Toledo, Ohio. My hypothesis was that the couple wanted to be married specifically by Pastor Schumm or in the pastor's current church, even if that necessitated a train trip to New York. Karen agreed this was a good possibility. 

Why that pastor, why that church, why NYC?

She and I have so many questions. Why choose to be married by Pastor Schumm in the rectory of that particular church, when NYC has other Lutheran churches? Why go all the way to New York rather than marrying in a Lutheran church in Toledo? And isn't it interesting that Pastor Schumm's son became the pastor of a Lutheran church in Toledo years later, another Schumm connection with Ohio?

Although we can never know for certain, we speculate there must have been a friendship or other personal connection between the bride or groom and Pastor Schumm or his family. Also, the New York trip was probably intended as a nice honeymoon destination before the newlyweds returned to Toledo and the four children awaiting their new stepmother. Thank you to Karen for helping me think this through!

Finally, I note that Pastor Schumm, who served New York's Lutheran community for more than 20 years, was laid to rest in New York's beautiful Woodlawn Cemetery.

Takeaways

First, read and analyze absolutely everything on the document. Two Ohio folks going all the way to NYC to get married was not typical for that family or that time period. The officiant turned out to be of special interest too! And only one witness, the pastor's wife, no family as witness.

Second, read genealogy blogs...often the reasoning behind what a blogger did to research or document an ancestor can give me an idea for my own family history. Or a blogger might write about trying a new database or new tool, something good for me to learn about.

Third, don't hesitate to reach out to a blogger who might know the same surname or be familiar with a specific place or both. Two heads are better than one!

"Trains" is this week's #52Weeks genealogy prompt by Amy Johnson Crow. 

What Did His Paternal Great-Greats Die Of?

My latest family history photo book, just completed, covers the lives and social/historical context of my hubby's paternal grandparents, great-grandparents, and their siblings, spouses, and ancestors. This is a full-color photo book with bite-sized bios of the men, women, and children in this part of the family tree, part of my plan to keep family history alive for future generations.

In the process, I'm documenting what folks died of, if cause of death is documented in the records. The very youngest in the Wood family tree tended to die from diseases that are treatable today, such as diphtheria and diarrhea. Ancestors who lived to adulthood usually died from a variety of other causes, including typhoid, tuberculosis, pneumonia, stroke, and heart disease, only very occasionally dying of cancer on this branch of the family tree.

Mary: Age and cardiac asthma

My husband's paternal great-grandma, Mary Amanda Demarest Wood (1831-1897) died of "age, cardiac asthma," which ultimately is caused by congestive heart failure. At top, an excerpt from the death records in a ledger in Lucas County, Ohio, showing her cause of death. 

Now consider that Mary was only 65 when she died, not nearly as ancient as her husband. On the other hand, she had 17 children, the first born when Mary was 15 years old (you read that correctly) and the last born when she was 44. This must have taken a toll on her health. Also, she saw the death of 10 children during her life, a handful from childhood diseases like diphtheria but also one drowned, others had health problems as adults. RIP, great-grandma Mary. 

Thomas: General debility from age

My husband's paternal great-grandpa, Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890), died of "general debility from age," as described in the ledger in Lucas County, Ohio. He was 80, and would have been 81 if he had lived just a few more weeks. 

Thomas was born into a family where many of the men were whalers, either owning ships or captaining ships or working on ships out of New Bedford, Mass. He became a carpenter, supporting his family by working on the railroad most of his life. In later years, he built coaches for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway out of Toledo, Ohio. 

Lots of years of physical labor could have both strengthened Thomas's body and slowly worn it down over the decades. When Thomas died in early 1890, his oldest son went to work as a laborer at age 17 to help support the household. A few unmarried adult children remained at home with the widowed Mary, who sometimes worked part-time as a nurse when her health allowed. RIP, g-g Thomas.

"Health" is Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors prompt for week 23 of her genealogy challenge.

Try It! FamilySearch's New Full-Text Search

If you have ancestors in the United States and Mexico, who may have been named in historical land, probate, or notary records, don't wait to try FamilySearch's new full-text search now available at FamilySearch Labs. It's part of a suite of experimental features you can learn about via this YouTube announcement.

From Browse to Search 

Until now, these mostly handwritten documents were browse-only (and good luck reading the cramped cursive)! But thanks to AI, FamilySearch has unlocked the names and details for us to locate via full-text search. The transcriptions aren't perfect, but they're sure good enough as a head start!

Lisa S. Gorrell explains, step by step, exactly how to search this collection. She also explains in detail, on her other genealogy blog, how to locate all the info needed for a useful source citation. Thank you, Lisa!

Finding Mary Amanda Demarest Wood's Will

Trying the new full-text search, I was able to quickly locate all the probate documents in Toledo, Ohio, including the will, of hubby's paternal great-grandma, Mary Amanda Demarest Wood (1831-1897). Surprisingly, Mary's administrator for the will was one of her younger sons, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939--my husband's grandpa). 

Best of all, the will had a listing of Mary's heirs, with "degree of kin" and "PO address." The heirs continued on the next page. Now I can definitively connect the youngest generation of heirs to the family tree, and continue descendancy research because of the addresses at time of this probate, 1897. Next step, 1900 Census!

NOTE: Although the transcriptions were not entirely correct, still they were a great place to start. The second name on the first list is Frank E. Wood, transcribed by AI tech incorrectly as Frank S. Wood. A few lines down, Robert O. Wood was transcribed incorrectly as Robert B. Wood. 

These are minor quibbles. The big picture is that we can find the documents and check the transcription by comparing with the image on our own. Do try it! Truly a game-changer, thanks to FamilySearch.

Forest Cemetery, Traditional Burial Site for Many Wood Ancestors

On this day 75 years ago, my husband's great uncle Marion Elton Wood passed away after a lengthy illness. By tradition, he and a good number of Wood ancestors were buried in Forest Cemetery in Toledo, Ohio, just north of the downtown area.

Marion was born in Toledo on August 29, 1867, the 13th of 17 children of Thomas Haskell Wood and Mary Amanda Demarest. Marion was a life-long Toledo resident, becoming a carpenter like his father and most of his brothers. He and his first wife (Wilhelmina "Minnie" Caroline Miller) were married in Toledo in 1890 and had two children in the city. Their Toledo home was also the first site of the Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church, which they helped organize in 1917 as charter members.

Sadly, Marion had many losses in his life, including the death of his daughter in 1895 (buried in Forest Cemetery), the death of Minnie in 1918 (buried with her parents in Detroit), and the death of his second wife, Johanna in 1928 (buried in nearby Woodlawn Cemetery with her first husband). Marion died on December 13, 1947, at age 80, and was buried in Forest Cemetery's section P. He was survived by his third wife, his son, three grandchildren, five great-grandkids, and two sisters.

According to a book by local historians, Forest Cemetery is the final resting place of nine police officers, 13 firefighters, 16 Toledo mayors, multiple Civil War veterans, a founder of the University of Toledo, and ship captain Samuel Allen.

As well, Forest Cemetery is the final resting place of many Wood ancestors, including spouses and some of their children. 

"Tradition" is Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors prompt for this week.

Penny Postcard Christmas Greetings

 

More than 100 years in the past, this colorful penny postal greeting was sent by a loving aunt and uncle in the Wood family to a young nephew living in Cleveland, Ohio. 

This and other postcards are still in family hands today, much treasured and well preserved.

Dear readers, may you have a joyful Christmas!

Quirks of Old City Directories

My husband's great-grandparents, Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890) and Mary Amanda Demarest Wood (1831-1897) settled in Toledo, Ohio early in the 1860s. I have had fun tracking these ancestors through city directories, great sources of family-history clues between Census years.

Along the way, I've noticed a few quirks of these early directories. (For more about the history of city directories, see this excellent post from the NY Public Library.)

Previously, I wrote about not relying on the cover date of a city directory. Today I'm looking at two more quirks: how alphabetical order was a bit elastic, and how different publishers included different details.

Not strictly alphabetical

Directories were being revised up until the moment of printing. As a result, names didn't always appear in strict alphabetical order. In the 1868 directory for Toledo, Ohio, the publisher acknowledged wanting to include as many entries as possible, even if the final arrangement was less than perfect.

As you can see in the excerpt at top, the entry for "Wood, Thos. H., carpenter" appears after the entry for "Wood, William, carpenter." 

Also, Mrs. K.L. Wood appears after "Woodard, Samuel E" and before "Woodbury, Geo." 

In other words, it pays to look at entries before and after where the ancestor would be expected to appear.

Also look at the very last-minute name/address additions in any directory, which are on a separate page, usually near the front of the alpha listings.

Clues beyond name, occupation, residence

In the 1868 Toledo directory, I was surprised and pleased to see the notation "fmly 10" at the end of the entry for Thomas H. Wood. The abbreviations page confirms that this refers to "family." A real find, the first time I've ever seen a notation like this. 

Of course, I wouldn't necessarily assume the directory's family count was accurate. Still...it could be a clue.

I compared my husband's family tree to the directory's notation of 10 people in the Thomas H. Wood family that year. Counting the 2 parents and 8 living children, my tally agreed with the directory. If my tally had not agreed, I would follow up by looking for a child I might have missed or some other change in the household. 

Fast-forward to the Toledo directory for 1890. It listed the exact death date of Thomas H. Wood, confirming what was already on the family tree. The directory got it right!

One more quirk: The 1864 Toledo directory has a listing for "Wood _______, carp, h East Toledo." A blank wasn't really that unusual. Every page in that directory had an entry missing a given name. Looking at multiple years in the same decade helped me feel confident that, based on the occupation and home location, this entry is indeed that of my hubby's ancestor.

My 1950 U.S. Census Release To-Do List: "Who Was There" List

With my eye on the public release of the 1950 U.S. Census in less than a year, I'm preparing to look for ancestors I'm particularly interested in.

No indexing will be available on April 1, 2022, so the only way to find these ancestors at first will be to browse enumeration districts where they were living. The catch is, I need some idea of where each ancestor was residing in 1950. 

Generating a RootsMagic "Who Was There" List

As an experiment, I opened my RootsMagic7 genealogy software and looked for a report that might give me a head start in grouping ancestors who were (1) alive in 1950 and (2) living in a certain area.

At top is a screen shot showing me preparing to generate a list of "Who Was There" in Ohio in 1950. I set the parameters for everyone in that particular tree (my husband's Wood family). 

I could have narrowed the parameters to everyone in Cleveland, Ohio, for instance. 

In this case, the list for Ohio ran for a dozen pages. It was initially organized alphabetically by surname, showed birth and death dates, and showed in detail each person's residence and key facts. A bit too much detail, but I expect to learn how to refine the list as I gain experience.

Next, Save and Sort the List

Importantly, I was able to save this list in my choice of formats. I selected .rtf so I can open it in Word and then sort as I please, choosing to sort by any of the columns. 

Here is an excerpt of the Wood list for 1950, sorted by "place" (the final column). This gives me a starting point for seeing where each ancestor was in 1940 and then researching a more specific residential location to search in the 1950 Census. Only a starting point, because I'm also looking for more recent directories and other sources to bring me closer to the 1950 address.

About the column marked "age"--it indicates the ancestor's age in 1950, not the ancestor's age at death.

This experiment encourages me to explore more ways to use the software and learn more of its functions on the road to the 1950 Census release next year.

--

For more posts about prepping, please see my special page on the 1950 Census.

My 1950 U.S. Census Release To-Do List: Find Addresses

When the 1950 U.S. Census is released to the public on April 1, 2022, I want to be ready to find ancestors of special interest. I'm creating a list of priority ancestors and filling in their 1940 address/Enumeration District (ED) and then their 1950 address (see my previous post here). With an exact address, I can find the 1950 ED. This will enable me to browse images before the Census is indexed.

Sources for 1950 addresses

There are many possible sources for finding an ancestor's 1950 address, as shown in the above graphic. You may not find an address for that exact year, but one close to that year is a good starting point.

Today I'm on the trail of a 1950 address for my husband's maternal grandfather, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970).

Spoiler alert: I don't yet have the address. But I can share the steps I took to try locating Brice in the years surrounding 1950. And I may be successful in the end!

Where was this ancestor in the 1940s?

I know where Brice Larimer McClure was living during and after World War II. The last "known sighting" of an actual address is in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where he and his wife Floyda Steiner McClure were living at the time of her death on November 2, 1948.

Family story: Not long after his wife died, Brice moved to Willoughby, Ohio and then later, around 1953, he moved to Cleveland to be closer to family.

My search plan for an exact address

I began with a "from scratch" search on all the major genealogy websites, entering Brice's information and specifying residence in Willoughby, Ohio, in the years 1949-1953. That didn't work.

Records show Brice's Social Security card was issued "prior to 1951." Actually, it was just after World War II, when he intended to retire and collect (which he did). Unlikely I will find a Willoughby address on that application (and it takes time and money to get this document). 

Moving on, the Willoughby-area newspapers were either too old, too new, or not very local for my purposes. 

Looking for a house purchase/sale would take time, digging into deeds, land records, etc. I set this aside for now.

Other non-official potential sources I tried, as suggested by Joel Weintraub on his super- detailed, info-rich page about the 1950 Census were: photographs (nope); address book (not that far back); diaries (none that far back).

Check the directories!

High on my list and on Joel's list were--directories! After a few false starts, I checked the local library in Willoughby. The website has a convenient "chat with a librarian" feature (see my screen capture at top).

I typed in a succinct chat question. Within a few minutes, the librarian typed back that directories from the 1950s era are most likely at the Willoughby Historical Society. She provided contact info, and I wrote an email, requesting a lookup when convenient. My husband remembers Brice having a home phone in Willoughby, so he should be listed in either the phone directory or the city directory.

Update: Librarian found no listing in the directory. 

-- For more about the 1950 Census, see my page here.

52 Ancestors #4: Inviting GGM Elizabeth Rinehart Steiner to Tea

In this 4th week of Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge, "Invite to Dinner," I want to invite my husband's maternal great-grandma, Elizabeth Rinehart Steiner, to tea.

This matriarch grew up in a pioneering family, and I'd like to ask about her daily life, her dreams, her happiness, her disappointments, her thoughts of the future, and her view of the past.

Elizabeth was born on 18 February 1834 in an area later organized into Ashland County, Ohio. No official record of her birth can be found. She died on 4 November 1905 in Upper Sandusky, Wyandot County, Ohio. The Probate Court there hasn't located her death record. I do have two obits that offer a lot of clues to Elizabeth's life.

Elizabeth married hubby's maternal great-grandpa Edward George Steiner (1839-1880) on 7 August 1851, at age 17, in Crawford County, Ohio. (The obit has the year incorrect--I have the marriage license from 1851, and it indicates Elizabeth needed her father's permission to marry.)

Together, they had 9 children. Their first two children died young, unfortunately. My husband is a grandson of their ninth child, Floyda Mabel Steiner.

There are so many questions to ask GGM, but I'll limit myself to six since this is, after all, tea time:

1. What was it like growing up as the daughter of a pioneering family in the 1830s? 
2. Were the family stories true: Rinehart and Steiner were supposedly from Switzerland? Or were they from Germany or Austria or another area?
3. How did you meet your future husband, and what kind of life did you envision with him?
4. Is the family story true: that you chose the name Floyda for your youngest child because you were hoping for a boy after five boys in a row?
5. What did you think of the Suffrage Movement and the idea of women gaining the right to vote?
6. Of all the changes you witnessed and experienced in your 71 years of life, which most surprised or astonished you, and why?

Family History Month: Who Needs an Official Record?

Too often, states only want to sell "official" vital records, charging fees that are more than I really want to pay.

So I applaud the Ohio History Connection for making death certificates available for just $7 each. These are uncertified and not for any official use, but perfect for genealogy! All I want is to  pull every last detail from such records.

Of course, not all of the details are going to be accurate. Case in point is this death cert, obtained through Ohiohistory.org. It's for hubby's grandfather, James Edgar Wood.

The most accurate piece of info on this is the death date. The informant's name is completely incorrect, the widow's name is incorrect, the father's name is completely incorrect. No mother's name is shown, and the birthplace of the mother is entirely incorrect. Note that the handwritten name of deceased had to be corrected from "Woods" to "Wood."

Let me say how glad I am that I only spent $7 on this unofficial copy! I'm collecting and digitizing all BMD and naturalization records for everyone in my direct line and that of my husband, so it's great to be able to save a few bucks. And to help other researchers, I always post purchased records like this on my public family trees.

For more in my Genealogy, Free or Fee series, click here.

 

Genealogy by the States: McClures, Steiners, and Rineharts in the Buckeye State

Benjamin McClure (1812-1896)

Hubby has many ancestors in the Buckeye State of Ohio! I've been researching his 2d great-grandpa, Benjamin McClure (1812-1896), who is also the subject of my Facebook genealogy experiment. Benjamin was born in Adams County, Ohio, and although he later moved to Indiana, some of his descendants returned to Ohio for farming, carpentry, and other pursuits.

Other key ancestors in Ohio are the Steiners (Jacob S. Steiner, one of hubby's 2d great-granddads, was a long-time resident of Tod, Crawford county, Ohio) and the Rineharts (Joseph W. Rinehart was another of hubby's 2d great-grandpas, also a long-time resident of Tod). More about the Steiners and Rineharts can be found in the ancestor landing page on the tabs below my blog's title.

My next genealogical step on some of these ancestors is to check local courthouses for probate and deed records. This week I contacted the Wabash County Clerk's Office in Indiana to find out whether Benjamin McClure left a will. Guess what? There are 8 pages of estate info in the clerk's office! And for one buck a page, I can have photocopies sent by mail. By this time next week, I hope to know what Benji left and who his heirs were.

* Genealogy by the States is a weekly prompt started by Jim Sanders. Thanks, Jim!

Tuesday Time Travel: 1812, When Benjamin McClure Was Born

Benjamin McClure, born in April, 1812 in Ohio, was among the early settlers of Wabash, Indiana (where he died in 1896). According to Wabash County Early Settlers, he and his wife Sarah and their son, Theodore W. McClure, came to Wabash in September, 1844. Benjamin is hubby's great-great-grandpa.

In this latest entry of my "time travel" series, I try to imagine a little of what life was like for Benjamin and family in the Ohio of 1812.

T-shirt keeps Benji alive for next generation!

The 1812 War was the big news in Benjamin's birth year, but it was also the year Louisiana became a U.S. state (as Google News Timeline reminded me).

• Did war touch the McClure family? I don't know for certain. Benjamin was born a few months before America declared war on Britain in 1812. According to Ohio History Central, some former British soldiers were settled in Ohio and gave firearms to native Americans to resist the westward expansion of colonists. Once US forces won the war and the British gave up their claims, this practice ended. But war was in the air around the world: Napoleon was trying to expand France's claims in Europe and in Russia (!). The US was still a young nation and I imagine that the McClure family was uncertain about the country's ability to survive, let alone thrive.
• Ohio was a fast-growing farm state. Admitted to the Union in 1803, Ohio had 230,000 residents at the time of the 1810 Census (and more than double that amount by the 1820 Census). Most were farmers, but during Benjamin McClure's lifetime, Ohio's industry developed rapidly because of ore deposits and other natural resources. Having access to water and good roads helped build the business base (steamboats were just being introduced in Ohio when Benjamin was born). Some settlers may have been attracted by the fact that Ohio tolerated diverse religions. I'm certain that Benjamin's parents were farmers, not refugees in search of a haven from persecution. Home was probably a simple cabin on the farm property, with no frills, at least in the early days. Later, with prosperity and more land, the family's home was more elaborate.
• Financial ups and downs. Just a few years after Benjamin was born, the Panic of 1819 prompted bankruptcies and financial turmoil in Ohio and many other states. Farmers were certainly not exempt from the problems, although I imagine that Benjamin's family was fairly self-sufficient because of the farm. That said, weather extremes must have caused the McClures hardships and worries. They also needed to get through the winters financially and weather hot/dry summers that threatened crops. How did they manage their money? The family was large, as most were in that time, and yet Benjamin had enough money to acquire 80 acres in Wabash by at least 1875. Very impressive.

Surname Saturday: Steiner in Wyandot County, Ohio

My husband's grandmother was Floyda Mabel Steiner, born 20 March 1878 in Nevada, Ohio. Floyda married Brice Larimer McClure and had one child, Marian Jane McClure, my mother-in-law (who I never met, sad to say).

She had no birth cert, apparently, and went to court in 1944 to have her birth registered through the testimony of her older sisters, Carrie Steiner Traxler and Etta Blanche Steiner Rhuark of Upper Sandusky, Ohio.

Thanks to the Ohio History Store, operated by the Ohio Historical Society, I ordered Floyda's brother Orville Steiner's death cert. This will help me with their parents' names, which are variously shown as Edward George Steiner (or George Edward Steiner) and Elizabeth Jane Rinehart Steiner.

I talked about the Steiners in my earlier post about the handwritten names/dates on the back of the McClure Shade Shop business card. Now it's time to pin down more specifics!