Full-Text Search Yields Unpublished Genealogy from 1959

Brick wall revisited: My husband's McClure line traces back to Halbert McClure (hubby's 5th great-grandpa) of Donegal, who with his family sailed across the Atlantic before 1740 and bought land to settle in Virginia . . . then his sons began fanning out south and west. I wanted to learn more about descendants from hubby's 3d great-grandparents, John McClure and Ann McFall McClure.

Thanks to FamilySearch's full-text search, I was able to find a big volume of typewritten (unpublished) genealogy from 1959, filled with helpful family history clues for this McClure line. The book's title is Pond-Adams Family and Allied Families.

I would probably not have found this book without full-text search, because the McClure section is buried deep inside the book, and the title doesn't even hint at any connection with my husband's McClure family tree. 

The careful researchers who compiled this genealogy are Rachel Adams Cloud Pond (a DAR Regent) and Chaplain Clifton Ray Pond (a member of SAR). They checked Census records, land records, family Bibles, and lots of other sources, specifically noting what they found and where (and what they didn't find). The authors also included family stories with comments about what could be confirmed.

For ease of understanding the various branches of this sprawling family tree, the authors separated the book into sections by surname. They thoughtfully included a detailed bibliography and multiple indexes for each surname section (one for the direct line, and one for in-law names, an interesting way to index). 

Above, one of several pages with info about the John McClure family. I knew that John McClure (1780-1834) had two wives, and Ann McFall was the first. This page transcribes and organizes birth, marriage, and death notes from the family Bible of John's second wife, Martha McClanahan McClure (1792-1876). I pasted the citation directly on the downloaded pages so I can retrace my steps in the future.

Several sources (such as this one) indicate John McClure and his first wife, Ann McFall (1780-1812) were married on April 8, 1801. I put my eyeballs on the handwritten notation from the time and confirmed the year as 1801. Happy 225th anniversary to these ancestors!

However, the Bible of John's second wife, Martha, lists that marriage as taking place on April 12, 1800. She began writing in this Bible during the 1860s, so I suspect she wasn't certain of the actual date of her husband's first marriage that many decades in the past. 

Family history from family Bibles are good clues, not necessarily facts. Still, sometimes Bible info is all I have for little babies who sadly died within a few days or weeks of birth, at a time/place when no registration took place. I'm chipping away at the McClure brick wall, one name at a time, and thankful for full-text search!

Lessons learned:

1. Periodically redo searches, especially when new search technologies become available. I've been slowly repeating searches on the main surnames in my tree and my husband's tree and digging deeper into the full-text results from FamilySearch. It's going well!
2. Don't judge a genealogy book by its cover. Check content (table of contents, index, and beyond) to see the various family names included. 
3. Double-check Bible genealogy. Martha seems to be incorrect about the exact date of her husband's first marriage. I'll do my best to check other dates, knowing that some late 1700s/early 1800s records are scarce. 

Brick wall revisited is an April genealogy prompt from Amy Johnson Crow's series of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

Full-Text Surprise: Divorce Papers!

My husband's grandmother Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure died 77 years ago this week, on November 2, 1948. She was 70 years old then, and had been married to Brice Larimer McClure for more than 45 years. 

But 20 years ago, when I first ordered their Ohio marriage license from 1903, I learned this was Floyda's second marriage. That sent me on a long quest to learn what happened. 

Old way: Phone, send $3 for photocopies 

When I first tried to find Floyda's Ohio divorce, I called a couple of courthouses in her area, and was advised to try showing up in person. Not logistically good for me, being in New England. I called back a few years later and spoke with the Clerk of Courts for Wyandot County, Ohio. She kindly listened to my brief explanation and told me to call back in 15 minutes, giving her time to check through the files for the relevant names and dates. 

I waited a full 20 minutes before calling back. Eureka, the clerk found an entire file on this divorce from 1901! I could have photocopies for a grand total of $3 plus snail-mail postage. When the envelope arrived, I was excited to learn the story of how Floyda's first husband was verbally abusive and threatened harm, so she initiated divorce and won alimony too--very unusual and rather courageous for a young woman of that time.

New way: Full-text search for Floyda

With the full-text search capabilities of Family Search, this week I decided to search again for Floyda among the many, many unindexed digitized documents. My search term was Floyda Steiner (her maiden name) and I filtered by dates 1878-1948, her birth and death dates.

Wow! On the first page of results, up popped her divorce papers, among other key documents digitized but not indexed from Wyandot County, Ohio probate and court records. At top, a screen shot showing the handwritten ledger on the left and the AI transcript on the right. The ledger is what the court clerk photocopied and sent me for $3. Now it's freely available through Family Search's full-text search and who knows what else I'll discover! Divorce documentation can be challenging to locate so this was a real surprise. And, as Lisa points out in a comment, finding these documents allows me to have a specific online source I can link to my family trees. 

Full-text search is giving me lots of clues and documents to add to my knowledge of family history. I've been working my way through hubby's family tree and my family tree, plugging in names and dates and places to see what unindexed records might show up. Wishing you luck as you try your searches!

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.