Revisiting Those Printed Genealogy Books

When I began working on my husband's family tree 26 years ago, I was fortunate to have many clues in hand, including a 1959-era genealogy book about Larimer ancestors. Even better, my late mom-in-law had jotted notes, fixed typos, and corrected dates of folks listed in the book. Today, the Larimer book has been digitized and is available for free download from FamilySearch--including a handy name index. 

Fleshing out "no record" ancestors

Despite the paucity of sources and various omissions and errors, I've revisited this book again and again in search of clues. Of course, now it's easier to research distant ancestors ... even those who the author marked as "no record" 65 years ago when he printed this book. So one of my goals is to flesh out the lives of the "no record" ancestors and add their descendants to my hubby's family tree. 

Nothing in this book is a fact until I confirm with other evidence, but it's been a good starting point for many avenues of genealogical investigation. 

Clues to military ancestors

I've also used the book to identify possible military ancestors in the Larimer family tree. Above, an excerpt from p 30, indicating that Isaac Larimer (1828-1910) and John Larimer (1836-1871) both served in the US Civil War. My research (using Fold3, obits, Census records, and more) confirms that yes, both of those men (1c4r from my hubby) were fighting for the Union.  

Isaac Larimer was in the 35th Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry. As shown above, during his first battle against Confederate forces, Isaac was captured. His obit says he was held for three weeks until he escaped and rejoined his unit. Then he was wounded by a gunshot to the face in 1863. He nearly died but managed to recover and eventually was mustered out, returning to his wife and children on the family farm. 

With more than one John Larimer in the family tree during that period, I had to be sure I had the correct spouse, children, dates, and place. John Larimer's Civil War pension record showed dates when he was declared an invalid, and dates when his widow Anna Mary claimed pension and money for minor dependents. Also this card showed his unit (10th Missouri Cavalry) which helped me reconstruct where he was and what he did during the Civil War. 

Other Larimers in the military?

What about the other two adult Larimer men in this excerpt, the brothers of John and Isaac? James Larimer's obit mentions nothing about military service. He registered for the Civil War draft but was marked as married with children, I saw on the ledger page. Very likely he did not serve, but I'll take a closer look. George Larimer doesn't seem to have been in the military, either, but I'll dig a little deeper just in case.

Interestingly, lower on this same page, J. Wright Larimer and Harvey J. Larimer are listed as younger sons of Moses Larimer and Nancy Blosser Larimer--without mentioning that both enlisted in the 151st Indiana Volunteer Infantry in 1865, ready to fight for the Union. My own research uncovered their stories, which are now in the booklet. Maybe their descendants weren't aware of this military service?

Anyway, go ahead and revisit those printed genealogy books but be sure to double-check names, dates, and everything else!

Turning the FAN Club into the FANI or FANIL or KFAN Club

Over the 25 years of my genealogy journey, I've learned to investigate friends, associates, and neighbors (FAN Club) of ancestors to try to understand any relationships, familial and otherwise. More than once, I discovered that a "family friend" or neighbor was actually a relative.

What about rechristening the FAN Club as the FANI Club, to explicitly include in-laws? OR call it FANIL Club (for in-law, maybe FANI is not the best acronym). OR KFAN (for Kinfolk)!

Many of my hubby's Larimer ancestors settled in Indiana in the 1800s. A good number intermarried with men and women from the McKibbin family, the Short family, and the Work family. Investigating the in-law situation helped me untangle the cousin connection and recognize naming and marriage patterns in multiple generations.

As a result, I've come to suspect that these families were related in some way across the pond, well before they left for America. Some of the obits hint at that, and some of the old newspaper coverage of family reunions a century ago make that claim. No proof yet, but intriguing to investigate by scrutinizing in-laws.

Currently I'm looking at a family genealogy book (digitized and available for browsing or download via FamilySearch) called: "A family history of Murrays, McKibbins, Smiths, Planks, Neffs, and related families of Elkhart and LaGrange Counties in Indiana." As shown in the excerpted index, these families intermarried with Larimer folks, including some of my hubby's Larimers. 

The detailed index is a huge help, so I can focus on one Larimer at a time. I've already found a couple of fresh leads to follow and confirm through additional research. 

My takeaways: (1) do look at in-laws in the family tree, because some may actually be cousins or descendants of confirmed cousins; and (2) do check for digitized genealogy books in the Family Search collection.

Book Review: Learning More About Your Ancestors Online

I've been a big fan of Kenneth R. Marks's website The Ancestor Hunt since I came upon it a few years ago. 

In one easy-to-navigate site, he's assembled 160,000+ links to free genealogy resources in North America, arranged geographically and by type of resource.

Kenneth also offers a series of free, downloadable Quick Reference Guides with useful tips for family-history researchers at all skill levels.

Now I'm a big fan of his new, very affordable reference book, Learning More About Your Ancestors Online: Genealogy Guides for Newbies, Hobbyists, and Old Pros, available in paperback and digitally on Amazon.

A baker's dozen of chapters

In 13 chapters, Kenneth organizes his advice and links according to topic: 

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Birth and marriage 
• Chapter 3: Death records and information 
• Chapter 4: General advice about genealogy research
• Chapter 5: Immigration, naturalization, travel
• Chapter 6: Military 
• Chapter 7: Miscellaneous records (such as secret societies, old-time illnesses)
• Chapter 8: Newspaper research
• Chapter 9: Occupations
• Chapter 10: Photos and physical description
• Chapter 11: Residences and other locations
• Chapter 12: Schools and yearbooks
• Chapter 13: Resources

Every chapter has a ton of useful ideas and time-tested suggestions. The final chapter, not to be missed, is a roundup of links to other websites with additional information about search techniques and genealogical records.

I highly recommend Kenneth's book, which I purchased in paperback as soon as it was published. It's a handy reference book for everyone interested in genealogy research, from beginners to experienced professionals. Happy to have it on my genealogy bookshelf!