Sharing Ancestor Bite-Sized Bios More Widely Because LOCKSS

Another post about bite-sized ancestor bios! Many of my husband's US, Canadian, and UK ancestors served in the military over the years. Researching them over the past year, I prepared bite-sized bios as part of a family history booklet for the family. 

Most of the bios are 4-8 sentences long. I mention parents' names, birthplace, spouse, children, not just military service. Sometimes I include a sentence or two about significant military battles or awards, if appropriate. But even a couple of sentences will help flesh out a bit of the life of each military ancestor.

The next step was to share the bios on multiple websites so these ancestors and their military service is not forgotten. Remember, LOCKSS (lots of copies keep stuff safe).

Bite-sized bios on Fold3

You don't have to subscribe to post a bio on an ancestor's memorial page on Fold3, which is owned by Ancestry and focuses on military records. Searching the Honor Wall of service men and women is free, as is adding a bio. Search the wall using this link. Also on that page is a link to create a new memorial (free) if none shows up in your search. Sharing ancestor/veterans' bios on that site has been an ongoing project for me.

As an example: For my husband's great great uncle Benjamin Franklin Steiner (1840-1924), I added a bio by clicking the add button on his memorial page (see yellow arrow in image above). You can either type it in or copy from a document and paste it in. Once you save it, you can edit if you like by clicking the pencil tool (see green circle on above image). 

Be sure to bookmark or tag the memorials so you can easily return to them later. The tag tool is at top right (orange circle on above image). You can tag with a phrase like "US Civil War" or use a bookmark tag for a later visit.

Bite-sized bios on Find a Grave

Many (but not all) Fold3 memorials include links to the person's Find A Grave memorial. Since the bite-sized bio is already written, it's easy to copy and paste onto that person's Find A Grave memorial. Above, a slightly edited version of the bio I wrote for Benjamin Franklin Steiner's Fold3 memorial is also posted on his memorial at Find A Grave. 

Benjamin's memorial page is managed by someone else, so I submitted the bite-sized bio using the suggest edits function...also indicating that this man was a veteran. The edits were accepted. A small V shows next to this ancestor's name, a visual symbol of military service that any visitor to his Find a Grave page will see.

Wash, rinse, and repeat

You can post bite-sized bios on even more sites. I added Steiner's bio to WikiTree (above), FamilySearch (below), and MyHeritage (at bottom).  

LOCKSS in action! I don't want family history to fade away--I want to perpetuate it for future researchers and descendants.

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.

Is That a 7 or a 1? The Entire Document Tells the Story

My hubby's great-grandparents, Elizabeth Jane Rinehart (1834-1905) and Edward George Steiner (1830-1880), were married on this date in the 1850s. Elizabeth was the subject of two very nice obits after she died, full of detail with names, dates, places, background on when and where they moved. 

I really appreciated learning so much about her and comparing the details with the paper trail I was gathering. Still, having seen obits with names not spelled correctly and other inaccuracies, I took nothing at face value, especially since the obit at top says Elizabeth married E.J. Steiner, when actually it was E.G. Steiner.

Obits say...

According to Elizabeth's two obits, she and her husband Edward were married on August 7, 1857.

But since I had handwritten notes left by a descendant, showing birth dates of Elizabeth and Edward's children, I really doubted the year cited in the obits. 

Their first child was born and died in October, 1852. The couple had two more children before 1857. I could document, from other sources, those three children's birth/death dates. No wonder I didn't quite believe the obits, given the tradition of, well, tradition in this family with weddings preceding the births of children.

Look at the entire document

Glancing quickly at the original marriage cert, it's easy to see how someone might think the date was 1857. In the image below, the date of the license is 6 August 185_ and the date of the marriage is 7 August 185_. Might be a 7, might be a 1, it's just not easy to distinguish. 

But looking at the rest of the page, the year is clearly 1851. So the obit writers got it wrong and the cert actually indicates that Elizabeth and Edward were married on August 7, 1851. Happy 173rd anniversary to these ancestors.

WikiTree Categories Help Highlight Ancestors' Stories

This year, I've done more with categorization to add to the stories of the ancestors posted on my WikiTree. Remember, WikiTree is free and available worldwide. I'm proud to have my ancestors on this wonderful collaborative site. Each has at least a bite-sized bio, now I'm adding to their stories in a different way.

For example, I'm starting to add cemetery categories, as shown above for my husband's ancestors, Carrie Steiner Traxler and Floyda Steiner McClure. This means that the category of Old Mission Cemetery now appears on the bottom of these ancestors' WikiTree pages, and their names appear in the listing of folks in that particular category. 

Old Mission is a historic cemetery and it was important to these ancestors that they were laid to rest in that special place. Now the categorization highlights their final resting place.

Sadly, a number of folks in my maternal grandfather's Schwartz family were killed in the Holocaust. Because survivors submitted testimony to Yad Vashem about these people, their names and lives and deaths won't be forgotten. 

I'm categorizing those ancestors on WikiTree, as well, such as those killed in Auschwitz (category explanation shown above). Many thousands of names appear in this category, I'm sorry to say, but I feel this is one way to "never forget" who these people were and what happened to them.

Other categories tell the story of an ancestor's life from the perspective of occupation, residential location, and so on. Above, the three categories I added for Elfie Asenath Mosse, truly a trailblazing woman as the founding librarian of the first public library in Santa Monica, CA, and a champion of women in the library world at the turn of the 20th century. 

I'm still exploring the full list of categories available to highlight elements of an ancestor's life. More to come!

Two Birth Years in Family Lore for Minnie

 

What if family lore indicates two different dates for an ancestor's birth year? These two notes were handwritten by hubby's grandfather, Brice Larimer McClure. One of his sisters-in-law was Minnie Estella Steiner Halbedel, who died on this day in 1947, as shown in the note above (see blue line). Brice recorded Minnie's birth year as 1867 in that note.

Here's a second note, written at a different time by this same man, with Minnie's birth year recorded as 1868. 

So which year is correct? 

AI Record Finder says birth was in 1868

I asked MyHeritage's new AI Record Finder to locate church records for Minnie, providing her full name and birth place to get the process started. In response, I received several family tree records (from MyHeritage and FamilySearch), but no church records. 

Then I asked: "Show me birth info to prove Minnie's birth in 1868." The AI's response: "The records confirm that Minnie Estella Halbedel (née Steiner) was born on May 1, 1868, in Ohio. Her parents are listed as Edward George Steiner and Elizabeth Jane Steiner (born Rinehart). These details substantiate her birth date and place for your genealogical inquiry." 

Well, no. All that was shown were family trees asserting Minnie's birth year was 1868. No proof as such. Since no official birth records are available for the time and place of Minnie's birth, and church records from that time/place are scarce, how could I resolve the conflicting dates in family lore?

My research: census records, obit, death cert, gravestone

I looked at what Census data, obits, and the death cert said about Minnie's age at different points in her life, and also looked at her gravestone. I found out:

  1870 US Census - Minnie was 3 years old (implied birth year 1867)

  1880 US Census - Minnie was 13 years old (1867)

  1910 US Census - Minnie was 42 years old (Census was taken weeks before Minnie's May birthday) (1867)

  1920 US Census - Minnie was 52 years old (Census was taken weeks before Minnie's May birthday) (1867)

   1930 US Census - Minnie was 63 (Census was taken weeks before Minnie's May birthday) (1866)

   1940 US Census - Minnie was 73 (Census was taken weeks before Minnie's May birthday) (1866)

    Obituaries: Two obits noted Minnie's age as 79 when she passed away (implied birth year 1868)

    Death cert: Informant was Minnie's youngest sister, Floyda, who gave the birthday as May 1, 1868. The cert showed Minnie's age at death as 78 years, 8 months, 2 days (calculation agrees with birth year of 1868).

    Gravestone: Birth year is shown as 1867. Not the same as the death cert!

1867 or 1868?

Ordinarily, I would put more weight on what a sibling says on a death cert than on what a Census says. The informant, a sister, should know her sister's birth year. She said on the cert that it was 1868. Yet the gravestone shows the birth year as 1867, so one of the sisters or more of them believed that was the correct year.

Contemporaneous Census records of 1870-1920 point to a birth year of 1867. I put considerable weight on earlier records like these since parents are likely to know when their children were born and what their ages are.

A bit murkier: IMHO both the 1930 and 1940 US Census enumeration answers were probably meant to suggest a birth year of 1867, with the assumption that Minnie's age was "approximately 63" in 1930 and "approximately 73" in 1940. In other words, even though Minnie's birthday was a few weeks later than the date of the Census, her age was recorded as though she had already celebrated her birthday. That's what I think, anyway.

My conclusion: Minnie was almost certainly born in 1867. The detailed note about family lore most likely had the correct birth year, 1867; the briefer note about sibling birth years was most likely incorrect in asserting 1868.

Given the scant info available to MyHeritage's AI Record Finder, I understand why it told me the birth year was 1868. Yet the AI seemed so certain! Not me. I thought it was worth digging deeper. Then again, these are my husband's ancestors.

"Family lore" is the first #52Ancestors genealogy challenge of 2024 from Amy Johnson Crow. 

Previewing and Editing Family History Books

 

Last month, I ordered one family history photo book so I could preview it before ordering multiple copies for relatives on my husband's side of the family. The main subjects are Floyda Mabel Steiner (1878-1946) and Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970).

I've spent much of 2023 creating such professional photo books so I can memorialize ancestors for the sake of descendants who want to read the "story" rather than just looking at a family tree or a couple of photos. The books include a tree and many old photos, but also quotes from the ancestors and memories from descendants.

Preview copy for my edits and recipients' comments

The preview allowed me to see what the cover and pages look like, in print, as a final check. Sure enough, I noticed little things to improve AND little things to add.

In addition, I showed recipients the preview book and they took time to look at each page, offering comments about what they like and don't like (feedback I appreciated). My audience has repeatedly told me that "black and white is boring" so every page has some color, such as a color title at top and a colorful border around each photo, and some pages have a small saying. Also, I colorized two old photos and noted that they were colorized to avoid misleading future generations.

Pencil edits on preview copy

At top, the title page. In real life, it's NOT this yellow looking. I made a pencil note to move the left-hand photo further left to balance out the page. Also, I made a tiny pencil note under the page number, so I could quickly spot which pages had changes. 

After reading and rereading the timeline in the book, I discovered I'd inadvertently omitted two key deaths in the lives of these ancestors. In pencil, I reminded myself to add one death in 1880 and one in 1887--both are described in the narrative, but not included in the timeline until my revision.

Reorder with changes

Now I've reordered multiple copies with these and other edits, ready to give as holiday gifts to relatives who are actually excited about learning more. This is not my final family history photo book--I have one more to go, about my husband's paternal grandparents, Wood and Slatter. I'm currently gathering old photos for that project, which I'll begin in January. 

Previewing a Family History Project

Finally, after more than two months of on-and-off work on my latest family history project, I pressed the "buy" button for a single copy. This is a professional photo book telling the story of my husband's maternal grandparents, Floyda Mabel Steiner (1878-1948) and Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970). 

Of course, I previewed the book many times on my screen, zooming in on every page to read carefully and look at how the images are positioned. I made countless changes during the project and had my husband preview the book at least 5 times in the last few days. So many small adjustments might even introduce tiny errors or omissions, right? Not to mention typos, missing words, inconsistent dates or spellings, and other mistakes that can creep in and get overlooked at the finish line. Also, the color of the background on each page might appear slightly different on the screen compared with how it appears in print. 

That's why I'm ordering a single copy at first. I want to be sure the book looks as it should, as I envisioned it. If I like the first copy, I can reorder multiple copies for relatives. If not, I'll make any necessary corrections and then buy multiple copies. The first copy will stay in my collection, with any changes noted by hand. This is only my personal approach, of course, and it might not work for you, but it's working out well for me.

Above, a sample page from this book, showing an ancestor's marriage cert and a handwritten listing of Floyda and her siblings. The story begins with Floyda's grandparents, briefly telling the highlights and low points of their lives. In the sample, Floyda's father was embroiled in legal trouble when his brother was arrested for burglarizing a storehouse. (Spoiler alert: Floyda's father wasn't actually a culprit but his brother was convicted and went to jail--story here.)

On the sample page, you can see a yellow exclamation point on the handwritten note illustration. This is an indication that the image might not print well, another reason to order a single copy before committing to multiple copies. Usually, I've found that even with the yellow warning exclamation, images tend to print well if I've prepared them carefully, including adjusting contrast. Only very low-resolution images will look terrible, in my experience, but who needs surprises? 

Given how many hours I put into this kind of project, and how enthusiastic I am about sharing ancestral stories/photos with future generations, I'm willing to invest in a single book to do a preview in print, hold the book in my hands, and check carefully before investing more heavily in multiple copies. I've done this in the past, and made tiny corrections that improved later books. I want one copy in my own collection anyway, even if there are a few notes or changes here and there. 

PS I only buy with a discount code or coupon! 

How Floyda Won Her Divorce Plus Alimony and Court Costs

 

In my current family-history photo book, I'm telling the story of my husband's maternal grandparents, Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948) and Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970). One page is devoted to Floyda's first marriage, to an affluent local farmer in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in 1898. Three years later, Floyda left him and filed for divorce--very unusual for a woman in her early 20s in small-town Ohio, circa 1901.

Which court house?

A few years ago, I called two county court houses in the area to see which might have the divorce files. Turns out Floyda filed in the closest court to her hometown, much to my surprise. Other ancestors I've researched filed for divorce in a neighboring county or even another state. Not Floyda. I imagine her mother and sisters stood by her as she prepared to confront her husband in the court room. 

It cost me only $3 and postage to obtain photocopies of all the divorce documentation by snail mail. Here's what I learned, all of which I'm sharing in my photo book.

Floyda's side

Floyda alleged that her husband was verbally abusive (calling her a "damn hen" and jeering that she was low-bred, among other taunts and curses I won't repeat here). She said he was also physically abusive (scratching her face, kicking her, threatening to do more). 

Her husband's side

Her husband's attorney responded to the petition with just a few handwritten lines to the court. The lawyer wrote "that the facts stated therein are not sufficient to constitute a course of action." Note that the lawyer didn't dispute Floyda's version, just said the allegations weren't enough to lead to divorce. Hmmmm.

No-show leads to divorce

Floyda's husband failed to respond in person to the court summons and the judge therefore ruled entirely in Floyda's favor, granting the divorce and all she requested in her petition. 

At top is the accounting of how much Floyda won: $215 in alimony and full payment of her divorce costs (in all, worth $8,400 in today's money). 

The court also ruled she could return to her husband's home and retrieve her own belongings. Floyda now legally resumed using her maiden name. I found her mentioned in newspaper social items as "Miss Floyda Steiner" once again. 

Only recently did I figure out how Miss Steiner met Mister McClure. That story is also in the current photo book! 

Surprise! How Floyda Met Brice

As I work on my latest family history photo book about hubby's maternal grandparents, I'm redoing some research and correlating older and newly-found details to tell the story of these ancestors.

Lo and behold, I believe I have solved a long-standing mystery: How did Floyda Mabel Steiner (1878-1948) meet master mechanic Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1948)? They were married on June 10, 1903, in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where the Steiner family lived. But Brice was from Wabash, Indiana. Until now, my hypothesis was that his work for the railroad industry took him to Upper Sandusky. Turns out, that hypothesis was only partly correct, according to my latest research.

Newspaper social items 

Using newspaper databases, I found Brice mentioned several times in a Huntington, Indiana paper, in columns about current and previous employees of the Erie Railroad. In 1899, several social notes said Brice (living in Huntington) regularly visited his family in his old hometown of Wabash, Indiana. 

In March of 1902, this Huntington newspaper reported: "Brice McClure and Ott Christain, two former Erie machinists, were in the city today from Kokomo." Okay, Brice was no longer living or working in Huntington but he and his associate visited anyway. Seeing friends? Or . . .

Looking for Floyda, I found a social item from Huntington in September of 1902, with the newspaper reporting: "Miss Floyda Steiner, who has been a guest at the F.W. Rhuark home several weeks, returned to her home in Upper Sandusky, Ohio today."  

Key FAN Club link

This rang a bell about Floyda's sister Etta Blanche, married to Erie railroad mechanic Frank W. Rhuark. I went back to the 1900 US Census for the Rhuarks in Huntington, Indiana. They had a roomer with them: Otto Cristman, a machinist just like Frank Rhuark. Just like Brice. Snippet at top shows the Census, names creatively spelled.

In the past, I had no idea who this roomer was...but it's now clear he was a key member of the FAN club: a work associate of both Frank AND Brice. This man was the missing link, a definite connection between Brice and Floyda's family. 

Matchmaker sister and brother-in-law?!

Knowing that Brice and Ott had earlier worked for Erie RR, where Frank worked, and Ott once roomed with the Rhuarks, I conclude that Rhuarks were almost certainly involved in introducing Brice to Floyda, Blanche's sister.

Another reason for this matchmaker activity to occur away from Floyda's hometown is that she divorced her abusive first husband in 1901. Divorce was still uncommon and Floyda's family probably felt she had a better chance of meeting eligible men elsewhere. Thank you, Blanche and Frank, for setting the stage for Floyda and Brice to meet and marry.

"Surprise" is this week's 52 Ancestors genealogy prompt from Amy Johnson Crow. Never give up, and keep redoing your searches because new info becomes available all the time. I sure was surprised and happy to finally solve this family history mystery! 

Hubby's Ancestors Worked on the Railroad

As I create new family history photo books about my husband's maternal and paternal grandparents/great-grandparents, I'm doing a bit of research to provide historical, social, and economic context for their lives.

Wood carpenters worked for a railroad

Two of my husband's Wood ancestors, father and son carpenters, were employed by a giant railroad in Toledo. In the 1880 city directory, paternal great-grandpa Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890) is listed as "coach builder, LS & MS R'y." His son, hubby's great uncle Alfred O. Wood (1855-1895), is listed as "carpenter, LS & MS R'y." Not everyone's occupation was listed with an employer--clearly this employer was important to the economy in Toledo, Ohio.

At top, you can see that Toledo, Ohio was a major center of the Lake Shore & Michigan South Railway (known as the LS&MS). Look at all the railroad lines feeding into it, at the western edge of Lake Erie (red circle). Lots of employment opportunities in a growth industry! This railway system evolved over the years.

McClure ancestors worked for railroads

Other men in hubby's family tree also worked in the railroad industry. According to the 1880 US Census for Wabash, Indiana, my husband's maternal great-grandpa William Madison McClure (1849-1887) worked for a railroad. In the 1900 Census for Wabash, William's son John N. McClure (1840-1919) was enumerated as an engineer for a railroad. 

Another son of William, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970), hubby's maternal grandpa, also worked for a railroad, beginning about 1900. Family lore says he was a master mechanic for the Big Four, formed later than LS & MS and focused on travel in Ohio and the midwest.

Brice and his new bride (Floyda Mabel Steiner, 1878-1948), moved to Cleveland, Ohio in the middle of first decade of the 1900s. For at least a decade, they lived fairly close to the railyards there so he could easily commute to work. As a master mechanic with his own tools, he had his pick of jobs and worked in a variety of industries. In fact, he delayed retirement past the age of 65 to work during World War II, when his expertise was important to the war effort.

In my family history photo books, I'm going to summarize this interesting context in a few sentences plus include a map or two to inform descendants of how and where grandparents and great-grandparents made their living back in the day. 

New Family History Photo Book, New Surname Word Cloud

Working on a new family history photo book for my hubby's side of the family tree, I created this colorful surname word cloud for the back cover. I like to use the free WordClouds site. The bright colors, diverse fonts, and overall shape are intended to catch the attention of my readers, young and old. 

The front cover will have the wedding portraits of my husband's maternal grandparents, Floyda Steiner McClure (1878-1948) and Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970), the main subjects of this book.

The point of making a professional photo book is that it looks polished and attractive, as well as being sturdy enough to last for a long time, so family history will live on and on. I see these books as worthwhile investments in perpetuating the story of our ancestors...buying on sale or with discounts to keep costs down.

This book, like my earlier photo books, will be heavy on captioned family photos and include cropped scans of a few key documents. Not one of my younger readers will have heard of a delayed birth record--something I hope will intrigue them.

Honoring US Civil War Vets for Decoration Day

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, a day to honor those who fought in the US Civil War by decorating the graves of the fallen. 

For some years, I've been researching and documenting Civil War vets from my husband's family tree. Nearly all returned from the war, although a few died--mainly of disease.

To honor their service, I'm listing their names, genealogical relationship to my husband, and their military branch.

Union side, US Civil War

Ira Caldwell (hubby's 1c3r) - 84th Indiana Infantry

George H. Handy (hubby's 1c2r) - 4th Massachusetts Infantry

Harvey H. Larimer (hubby's 1c3r) - 151st Indiana Volunteer Infantry

Isaac Newtown Larimer (hubby's 1c4r) - 35th Indiana Volunteer Infantry

Jacob Wright Larimer (hubby's 1c3r) - 151st Indiana Volunteer Infantry

James Elmer Larimer (hubby's 1c4r) - 17th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry

John Wright Larimer (hubby's 1c3r) - 17th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry

John N. McClure (hubby's 2d great-uncle) - 89th Indiana Infantry, then transfer to 26th Indiana Volunteers 

Train Caldwell McClure (hubby's 2d great-uncle) - 89th Indiana Infantry

Hugh Rinehart (hubby's 2d great-uncle) - 15th Ohio Infantry

Benjamin Franklin Steiner (hubby's 2d great-uncle) - 10th Ohio Cavalry

Samuel D. Steiner (hubby's 2d great-uncle) - 8th Ohio Infantry

Lemuel C. Wood, Sr. (hubby's 3d great-uncle) - Commander of the USS Daylight, Union Navy

Lemuel C. Wood, Jr. (hubby's 1c3r) - 3d Massachusetts Infantry

Robert Crooke Wood, Sr. (hubby's 4c4r) - Asst. Surgeon General, Union Army

Thomas F. Wood (hubby's 1c2r) - 3d Massachusetts Infantry

Isaac Larimer Work (hubby's 1c4r) - 74th Indiana Infantry

John Wright Work (hubby's 1c4r) - 74th Indiana Infantry

Confederate side, US Civil War

John Taylor Wood (hubby's 4c5r) - Confederate Navy, CSS Tallahassee, CSS Virginia

Robert Crooke Wood Jr. (hubby's 4c5r) - Wood's Mississippi Cavalry Regiment

Dr. Thomas Fanning Wood (hubby's 6c3r) - 18th No. Carolina Infantry, 3d No. Carolina Infantry

November Is NaGenWriMo Time

A few years ago, my husband participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), writing fiction every day during November. The idea was to set goals, and make the time to write consistently throughout the month. He found the structure helpful and motivating. 

This year, I'm participating in NaGenWriMo, which stands for National Genealogy Writing Month. Taralyn Parker Pope (@KeepMovingTara on Twitter) is giving this a social media push and I'm jumping on the bandwagon! 

Today is the kickoff. 

My goal is to write and post bite-sized bios of more ancestors on my family tree and my husband's family tree. I've already completed and posted bios for nearly all of the ancestors in our direct lines: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and some great-greats. 

Now I'm branching out [pun intended] to write bios for aunts, uncles, and cousins in multiple generations--including spouses and partners, including infants who died young. 

I'll be posting the bios on sites like Family Search, Find a Grave, WikiTree, My Heritage, and so on. 

In the process, I'm sure I'll notice gaps in my knowledge of an ancestor and need to do a bit of additional research and attach sources before polishing a bio. That's great! 

But my main focus in November will be writing family history that I haven't written before and sharing widely because LOTS OF COPIES KEEP STUFF SAFE. 

Tuesday, day #1 of NaGenWriMo, I wrote about my hubby's great aunts and great uncles, including Carrie E. Steiner Traxler (1870-1963) and her husband John Newtown Traxler (1862-1924). 

On day #2, I wrote about two other Steiner ancestors, Etta Blanche Steiner Rhuark (1864-1956) and Minnie Estella Steiner Halbedel (1867-1947), and their husbands. Also I wrote about Lola A. McClure Lower (1877-1948) and her husband, Edward A. Lower (1873-1920).

On day #3, I wrote briefly about milliner Lucille Ethel McClure De Velde (1880-1926) and her husband, John Everett De Velde (1874-1947), a plumber. Also I added a memorial page for him on Find a Grave, based on the burial place listed on his death cert.

On day #4, after participating in the WikiTree Symposium, I wrote about Hugh Benjamin McClure (1882-1960) and his first wife, Olivette Georgianna Van Roe McClure (1885-1905). Next will be Hugh's second wife.

On day #5, while watching WikiTree Day festivities, I wrote about Rebekah V. Wilt McClure (1896-1975), the second of Hugh Benjamin McClure. Now moving on to siblings of hubby's other grandfather, Edgar James Wood.

On day #6, I wrote about Lucy Maria Kize Wood (1851-70) and her brother Alfred Olando Wood (1855-1895), and will continue with more of their Wood siblings. 

Day #7: Wrote about Francis "Frank" Ellery Wood (1857-1933) and his wife, Louisa Mary Schultz Wood (1860-1948), and continued with their descendants, partly based on genealogy researched by a Wood cousin and supplemented with additional details. Also corrected Find a Grave info and located vital records for some of the Wood ancestors. 

Day #8: Wrote and posted sad story of Robert Orrin Wood (1873-1933), who died of myocarditis in the Toledo State Hospital for the Insane. While hospitalized from 1925-1933, one of his children was placed in the Institute for the Feebleminded in Columbus, Ohio, where she remained for the rest of her life. The other two children were taken in by the Lutheran Orphans' Home until they were of age to work. One grew up to be a nurse, the other worked for an oil refinery for his entire career. Also finished other siblings in the Wood line, now ready to begin working on my grandparents' siblings on day #9.

Day #9: Wrote about my great uncle, Lithuanian-born Abraham Berk (1877-1962) and his English wife Anna, who crossed the pond to settle in Montreal and raise their family. Then I wrote about Abraham's sister Jennie Birk and her husband, Paul Salkowitz, who operated a citrus grove in Florida during the late 1940s/early 1950s.

Day #10: Wrote about Matel Max Birk (1892-1953), one of my grandpa's brothers, and about Matel's wife Rebecca. He was a jeweler, she was a bookkeeper, and they eventually left New York to live close to Matel's sister Jennie in Florida.

Day #11: Wrote about Meyer Berg (1883-1981) and his wife Anna Paris Berg (1888-1981). Meyer was my great uncle and lived for a short time as a boarder in the NYC apartment of his brother's in-laws. 

Day #11: Wrote about g-grandpa Meyer Eliyash Mahler's first marriage/divorce in Riga, Latvia and about his oldest son, Riga-born David Mahler (1882-1964), a black sheep of the family. 

Day #12: Revised bio of g-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler, whose exact birth year has long been in doubt. She's my longest-living ancestor, supposedly either 99 or 100 years old when she died in 1952.

Day #13: Revised bio of Tillie's mother, Rachel Shuham Jacobs, who is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, NY, where her two children are also buried. 

Day #14: Enriched bio of Flora Jacobs, daughter of Joseph Jacobs & Eva Michalovsky Jacobs, granddaughter of Rachel Shuham Jacobs. She died at age 33, the third daughter of that family to die young. I added a gravestone photo to her bio.

Day #15: Corrected portion of Henry Arthur Slatter's bio on Find a Grave to include current link to photo of his gravestone, which also mentions his wife Alice and their son Arthur A. Slatter, a WWI casualty. Added Alice and Arthur's bios to various sites. The Slatters were part of my husband's family tree.

Day #16: Improving Mahler family bios, including Morris Mahler and his sister Sarah Mahler, who were siblings of my grandmother Henrietta Mahler.

Day #17: Finished Sarah (Sadie) Mahler Smith's biography. Will be documenting the military service of her sons.

Day #18: Wrote about Ida Mahler Volk (1892-1971), who was a favorite sister of my grandma Henrietta, and about Ida's husband Louis.

Day #19: I set up an account at Mastodon where I'll try tooting as @MarianBWood@genealysis.social so please say hello there! Wrote about my great aunt Mary Mahler Markell and her husband, Joseph A. Markell.

Day #20: More on Mastodon and writing about my uncle and aunt, Fred and Daisy, who were lifelong educators in New York City.

Day #21: Returning to my husband's family, beginning to write bite-sized bio of his Wood uncles.

Day #22: Wrote a blog post about Thanksgiving week weddings in my family tree, saved the info to plan future bite-sized bios. Created a Find a Grave memorial page for a cousin's baby born prematurely in 1924, who sadly died after only two days.

Day #23: Wrote bite-sized bio of Rosalind Ashby Wood, who was married to Theodore William Wood in 1949. 

Day #24: Wrote bite-sized bio of Leona "Lee" Zonna Wallace, my maternal aunt's life partner. Aunt Lee directed the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade for a number of years! Nov 24, 1903 was her birthdate so I wrote her bio on what would have been her 99th birthday.

Day #25: I blogged about Aunt Lee Wallace, an immigrant from Poland who rose through the ranks of Macy's to direct the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Day #26: I posted bite-sized bios of my great-grandparents, Leni Kunstler Farkas and Moritz Farkas. They were the journey-takers who left Hungary in search of a better life in New York City, after Moritz's harvest failed.

Day #27: I posted grandma & grandpa Schwartz's bios on additional genealogy websites and linked to their Find a Grave memorial pages. Here's Grandma Minnie's memorial page, for instance.

Day #28: Working on bios for Hermina Farkas's siblings and in-laws. Today I wrote and posted bios for Alexander Farkas and his wife, Jennie Katz Farkas. They were active in the Kossuth Society, a benevolent group helping Hungarian immigrants, founded in 1904.

Day #29: Wrote bios for Hermina's brother Bertalan Albert Farkas and his wife, Sadie Sari Klein Farkas, also active in the Kossuth Society. 

Day #30: Finished this month's write-ups with Albert & Sari's son George Eugene Farkas.

Wrapup: I wrote 70 bite-sized bios during the 30 days of #NaGenWriMo! 

Which ancestor(s) will you be writing about in November?

This is my blog post for the Genealogy Blog Party, November, 2022.

What's Wrong with This Picture?

One of the most famous gravestone typos of all time is on a stone at the Old Mission Cemetery in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. 

My hubby's grandparents are buried in Old Mission (Brice Larimer McClure and Floyda Steiner McClure), which is how we happened to see and photograph the headstone shown here.

Can you spot the mistake?

The Find a Grave memorial for Christiana Haag offers more info here.

In my family tree, the headstone for a great uncle shows an incorrect date--a discrepancy I discovered when I obtained his death cert. 

This stone with a typo is a great reminder: Even if a name, date, or age is "carved in stone," we still need to check and confirm!

This photo is, as my friend says, "a grave mistake."

Happy Easter Photo from 1913

 

Alas, I never met my late mom-in-law, Marian Jane McClure Wood (1909-1983). She was the beloved only child of Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970) and Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948). 

Here she is, all dolled up for Easter, in a 1913 photo that I've colorized using My Heritage's photo enhancement tools. What an adorable face (made clearer by My Heritage)! 

The Steiner Sisters in the 1950 US Census

Isn't this a delightful tea party, staged for a studio photo about 1903? 

Hubby's maternal grandma is pouring the tea--Floyda Steiner McClure, second from the left. Floyda was the baby of the family, and all the sisters were fond of her.

I used MyHeritage to enhance and colorize this tea party photo, which now looks quite eye-catching. Then I used MyHeritage's new LiveStory feature to pretend that one of the sisters was telling a brief story about the family (click here to view). I recognize that not everyone is crazy about these technologies, but I like experimenting and seeing how they work--while retaining the original photo intact, not colorized or enhanced in any way. 

Sorry to say, only two of these Steiner sisters will be found in the 1950 US Census. Both Etta Blanche Steiner Rhuark and Carrie Steiner Traxler will be in Enumeration District 88-27, because they lived around the corner from each other in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. They were my husband's doting great aunts and I really want to show him their names in the Census on Friday.

This is my "sisters" post for Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors genealogy challenge.

Preserving Our Family's Legacy of Needlework

Last year, I wrote about my husband's grandma Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure's needlework legacy. A love of sewing and crocheting has continued in that family to the present day. I've wrapped each item in archival tissue to keep it safe for the future when it will be inherited by the next generation.

In my family, we have a number of hand-made needlework items we treasure for their beauty and for the long tradition they represent. 

At left, a detail from an embroidered set of linens by my mother, Daisy Schwartz Burk (1919-1981). The set is in great condition, washed and ironed and stored in an archival box for preservation. I put a label on the box to indicate who made the needlework and who inherits it.

Mom learned to embroider and to crochet from her mother, Hermina Farkas Schwartz (1886-1964), who also used her treadle machine to sew clothes. I imagine Hermina learned needlework from her mother, Lena Kunstler Farkas, and so on.

Love of needlework has been passed down from generation to generation in my Farkas family. Here are two afghans, one knit by a special cousin and one crocheted by a special niece. Each time I cuddle up in one of these, I think of the person who painstakingly made it, one stitch at a time. 

My hope is that by documenting these homemade heirlooms, and keeping them safe, future generations will be know they come from a very long line of talented needlework enthusiasts. 

None of my ancestors were quilters, but I got interested and over the years, I've made a number of wall quilts, bed quilts, and baby quilts. Each one has a label attached to the back, showing my name as the quilter, the date, and a photo...sometimes the photo is me, sometimes of the recipient if the quilt was a gift.

Now another of my nieces has taken up quilting and enjoys stitching quilts for her young ones and for friends. I'm so happy the tradition of homemade needlework is continuing in our family!

This is my week 49 post in Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors series of genealogy prompts.

Prepping for the 1950 US Census: NARA ED Maps

I've been researching the street addresses and Enumeration Districts of dozens of ancestors, with the goal of being able to browse for these folks when the 1950 US Census pages are released (unindexed) on April 1. Most of these ancestors lived in urban areas, although a few were in rural areas.

Unified Census ED Finder doesn't cover every street in every town

Researching ancestors in rural Upper Sandusky, Wyandot County, Ohio, I was unable to find the town in Steve Morse and Joel Weintraub's Unified Census ED Finder tool. This is the easy-to-use tool I normally use to transform a street address into an Enumeration District. 

As shown in image at top, Wyandot is one of the few counties where the Steve Morse/Joel Weintraub tool has no provision for town or street address input. See FAQs 302 and 403 for an explanation.**

Because I do have a street address, I've learned to use National Archives's Enumeration District maps to locate the appropriate ED.

NARA Enumeration District maps to the rescue

To reach the ED maps via Steve Morse's site, click on the link titled "Viewing ED Maps in One Step." It's at the very bottom of the page (see brown arrow). Or click to reach that link here. 

At the Steve Morse link, once you enter the state, county, and town, you'll be taken to a page like the following:

Now you can choose the NARA viewer OR go directly to the images on the NARA server. Both work, just read the advantages and disadvantages to see which you prefer. 

Here is the small version of the NARA map for Upper Sandusky, Wyandot County, OH. I clicked to enlarge the map and looked around each ED until I located the ancestor's street address on West Bigelow.

As a result, I discovered my husband's great aunt Etta Blanche Steiner Rhuark's residence in ED 88-27. Next April, I'll be browsing pages of that ED to find her.

Let me call attention to Beth Finch McCarthy's excellent graphic about preparing to browse the 1950 US Census, including the use of NARA maps.

--

**Joel Weintraub explains: The National Archives has stated that urban areas of 5 or more EDs should have online 1950 ED maps, although I've seen such maps with less than that. Our One-Step criteria for street indexes are the location should have 5 or more EDs and also have 5,000 or more people. Upper Sandusky according to my information had 4,397 people in 1950 so I didn't include it on my list of areas to be done. We still have a database for searching ED definitions. In your case.... go to the Unified Tool, pick Ohio, pick from the city list "Other (specify)" which opens a box where you can type Upper Sandusky. You should then see 7 EDs with that name on the their ED transcribed description... on the lower left. Click on "more details" and you should see the ED transcribed definitions for each of the seven which also may help determine the exact ED wanted.

Family History Month: Needlework by Our Grandmas

My maternal grandma and my hubby's maternal grandma were both needlework enthusiasts. During Family History Month, I'm showing off their creations and telling the story of their love of stitching. The goal is to keep both the needlework and the stories alive for future generations.

Floyda's needlework legacy 

Above, doilies, bureau scarves, potholders, and gloves stitched by my husband's grandmother, Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948). She loved to crochet and work on embroidery. 

Her grandchildren also remember the family's old-fashioned treadle sewing machine, later electrified by granddaddy Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970). Floyda spent many happy hours at this machine with her granddaughter, stitching up doll clothing with intricate details. Floyda also created quilts, both by hand and by machine. One partially-completed quilt top remains in the family.

As shown above, Floyda's needlework is in great condition, currently wrapped in archival tissue inside an archival storage box. It will be passed to the next generation with the stories of Floyda's love of stitching.

Minnie's needlework legacy

My grandmother, Hermina "Minnie" Farkas Schwartz (1886-1964) also enjoyed  crochet, embroidery, and sewing clothing on her treadle sewing machine.

Before her marriage, Minnie helped support the family by sewing silk ties in a factory owned by a cousin. After Minnie married and had children, each of her younger sisters would move in with her for a time. The sisters gave a helping hand with the babies while Minnie measured and stitched each girl a few outfits.

The embroidered tablecloth shown above is not in as great condition as I'd like, but it does show off Minnie's embroidery and crocheted lacework. This is currently in archival tissue inside an archival storage box, awaiting transfer to the next generation in the years ahead.

Family History: Don't Keep It to Yourself!

Don't wait to share what you know about your family's history. 

Maybe you're just beginning your research or, like me, you've invested years in your ancestor search. Either way, share now to get the info to relatives and (if you choose) make it available to other researchers.

Some clues are better than NO clues

Consider this list of Steiner siblings, jotted on the back of a 1930s business card by my hubby's grandfather, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970). The list included his wife, Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948), and her eight older siblings, with birth years as remembered. 

How lucky that Brice wrote down this information--not wanting it to be lost--and my sister-in-law shared it with me, clues to be followed up. Not every detail in Brice's handwritten notes was correct, but the clues were much better than beginning with nothing. I'm so grateful he didn't keep it to himself.

Thanks to this listing, I had a head start in locating vital records, burial places, and other facts to flesh out and verify the family tree. Brice left other handwritten clues, too, steering me in the right direction to identify members of older generations. In turn, I've shared this list and similar genealogical clues about deceased people on my public family trees, to allow other researchers to make use of them. 

Share works in progress?

Even if your family tree information is incomplete or hasn't yet been verified, I encourage you to discuss with your relatives with the warning that your research is a "work in progress." 

Hearing what you've learned may help your relatives recall something from the past. I still have relatives casually mention key details previously unknown to me--leading to interesting breakthroughs! When something I write on a pedigree chart or family tree chart has not been confirmed, I include a question mark or "circa" or "about" or some other indicator that this is a "work in progress."

In addition to public family trees on multiple genealogy sites, I have a couple of private family trees on Ancestry. I use these for experimentation and I fully recognize they're not ready for prime time. Still, private trees can be helpful to other researchers. 

Recently, someone asked to see a private tree, listing his ancestors with that surname. Unfortunately, there was no connection. My ancestor had changed to that surname as an adult, and no one else on the tree carried that surname. Although disappointed, the other researcher was able to move on, investigating different possibilities in trying to locate more of his ancestors. 

To be continued . . . with a post about LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe).

For more ideas about keeping family history safe for future generations and researchers, please check out my newly-revised book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past, 2d edition.