Free Genealogy Websites -- But Sometimes It Pays to Pay!

Randy Seavers issued a Saturday Night Genealogy Challenge this weekend: "Your Top 10 Free Genealogy Sites."

My summary page for "Genealogy--Free or Fee?" shows many top picks for free genealogy.

The Ancestor Hunt by Kenneth Marks

One free website I'm adding to my list is The Ancestor Hunt, a very useful website by Kenneth Marks (on Twitter at @marksology). 

As shown at top, the site links to free genealogy resources (arranged by U.S. state and Canadian province) such as newspapers, birth-marriage-death records, photos, school yearbooks, directories, immigration, divorce, and lots of other categories!

Here's a sample of what these state-by-state links look like. Definitely worth taking a look and clicking for the state where our ancestors lived! Be sure to look at all the headings. There's a lot here, thanks to Kenneth Marks.

When It Pays to Pay

Sometimes I need information that I just can't find for free. Direct line ancestors (parents, grandparents, great-grannies, etc) are a key priority. If those key vital records aren't available for free, I order and have them in hand for careful scrutiny. More than once, I've noticed tiny details that changed my understanding of an ancestor's life! And, as my friend Linda Stufflebean points out, the free version of a record may not have all the info that is available on the original version ordered for a fee.

I also pay for birth, marriage, death, and other records when I need to find out (or confirm) a maiden name, get an exact date, or see info that my ancestor actually wrote. This includes original photocopies of my ancestors' Social Security applications (SS-5). 

In general, vital records tend to get more expensive as the years go by--if they are available at all. Some states are restricting access, unfortunately. If I want that record and it's not available for free, I'm going to buy it now and keep it.

Before I send money, I always look at a blank copy of the record to be sure I understand what will (and won't) be on it. If I'm hoping to learn an exact birth date but early marriage records show just an age or state whether bride/groom are over 21, I may look for a different record to obtain the birth date.

A Genealogy Record Actually Got Cheaper!

Prepping for my "Free and Almost Free Genealogy" talk this week, I double-checked the cost of sending for an ancestor's Social Security (SS-5) application. 

Although there is a fee for obtaining SS-5 documents, they are filled with detail. Don't bother with the "computer extract" which usually doesn't have all the details on the actual application. Go straight for the "photocopy of original application" even though it costs a little more. You want to see the original with your own eyes!

When I couldn't find my great-grandma's maiden name any other way, I paid to get my grandpa Isaac's Social Security application. 

As shown directly above, Isaac applied for a Social Security card on December 1, 1936, giving the following info on his application:

• First name and surname
• Home address
• Employer name and address
• Current age AND birthdate AND birthplace (including country)
• Father's full name
• Mother's given and maiden name
• Sex, color
• Date of application and signature 

The price of obtaining this SS-5 has varied over the years. Two years ago, it was $24 for the photocopy. 

Today, as shown at top of this post, the cost of a photocopy is only $21. Rarely does a genealogy record get cheaper. If you, like me, want to get more info about an ancestor who had a Social Security account, I encourage you to spend the money to see the photocopy. IMHO, the investment can be quite worthwhile. Here's the link to get started.

Why I Love Bite-Sized Family History Projects

Bite-sized family history projects are more like a sprint than a marathon--and that's what makes them so practical and doable.

Here's why I love bite-sized family history projects:

• They don't drag on and on forever. Researching and writing an entire family history can be overwhelming and time-consuming. Rather than spending many months or even years on one big project, I ease my way into family history by planning, researching, and creating each bite-sized story in a matter of weeks. 
• My enthusiasm remains high when I limit my focus. Focusing on only one or two ancestors, one event (like a wedding,) or one heirloom motivates me to stay engaged for the limited time needed to complete the project.
• Focusing sets the direction and scope. I have a clearer idea of what I'm looking for when conducting genealogical research on just one ancestor or a couple. I also know the time-frame when exploring background issues to put their lives into context for my audience, the next generation (and beyond).
• Smaller projects allow for flexibility and creativity. Do I want to tell the story through a colorful illustrated booklet? A slick photo book? A video featuring family photos and narration by an older cousin? Whatever the final result is, bite-sized projects can be assembled into larger blocks later on.
• The audience will have something now. It's never too soon to get relatives interested in the family's past. A bite-sized project eases them into learning about ancestors little by little, just as it eases me into telling the stories little by little. 

My newest bite-sized family history project is approaching the finish line: A photo-studded booklet about my mother (Daisy Schwartz Burk, 1919-1981) and her twin sister (Dorothy Schwartz, 1919-2001). 

The excerpt at top shows part of a page telling about my Auntie Dorothy's experiences in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. She was on board the RMS Aquitania as the oceanliner-turned-troop ship made its way from New York City to Scotland, with the constant fear of German submarine attack anywhere in the Atlantic. Now that's a story the next generation doesn't know and will be astonished to hear!

"Newest" is the #52Ancestors prompt for week 41. Only 11 more weekly prompts in 2020. This is one of my Genealogy Blog Party links for December, 2020!

NOTE: My newest presentation, "Bring Family History Alive in Bite-Sized Projects," will debut at the all-virtual New England Regional Genealogical Conference in April. More event details available soon!

Jane Ann Wood, Oldest and Longest-Lived Child

My husband's grandfather was one of 17 children of Mary Amanda Demarest and Thomas Haskell Wood. The oldest of their children was Jane Ann Wood (1846-1936). She was born in Plaquemine, Louisiana, and came along as her parents moved first to West Virginia and then, as the Civil War began, moving with the family  to Toledo, Ohio.

In 1880, when she was 33 years old, Jane still lived with the family on South Street in Toledo, Ohio. Her occupation on the Census was listed as "at home." Two of her brothers were already working while four of her siblings were listed as "at school." The youngest two siblings--including hubby's grandfather--were also attending school but that was not their listed occupation.

Jane in City Directories

Tracking Jane after 1880 would have been difficult if not for the many Toledo, Ohio city directories available on Ancestry. When Jane's father died in February of 1890, she was still living at home with her mother. 

In the 1893 Toledo city directory excerpt at top, she is listed as "Jennie A. Wood" boarding at the address where her mother lives, 414 South Street. Her brother James E. Wood was also boarding at that address--this is hubby's grandpa, not yet married.

In the city directories, Jane appears at 414 South Street in 1894, 1895, and 1896. However, she's missing from the 1897 Toledo directory. 

Jane in Census Years

After a gap of years, I finally found Jane at age 63 in the 1910 Census. She was married to 60-year-old George A. Black, who was listed as blind. They told the enumerator that they had been married for 12 years (approximate marriage year would be 1898). This was his 2d marriage and her 1st. One more person was in this household: A boarder named George Sader, also blind, also in his 2d marriage. 

At age 74 in 1920, Jane was listed as head of household in the Census. She and husband George were still living in Toledo, Ohio, again no occupation for either. 

In the 1930 Census, Jane was 83 and her husband George was 80, and they have not left Toledo. Neither showed an occupation, but now they had a roomer. She was Anna Rosebecker, married and age 67.

Jane Outlived George

In February of 1934, Jane's husband George died in Toledo. After an inquest, his death was recorded as being caused by heart problems. 

Jane "Jennie" Wood Black lived on two more years, dying in Toledo of liver problems at the age of 89, leaving no descendants. She was not just the oldest but also the longest-lived of all 17 children of Thomas Haskell Wood and Mary Amanda Demarest. I'm honoring her memory with this post for week 40 of #52Ancestors.

Fact List Reveals Gaps in My Genealogy Research

This week's "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" challenge from Randy Seaver is to create a fact list using genealogy software and share the results.

Since I use the same software that Randy uses -- RootsMagic7 -- I simply followed his instructions. I prepared a fact list of marriage facts in my Wood family tree. Above is an excerpt from this 38-page report. (I didn't print it--to save trees, I saved it in digital format.)

As I'm still learning to use my RM7 after 3 years, Randy's challenge was an opportunity to identify gaps in my research. Above, I have no marriage date for one ancestor but I do have a place. For another ancestor, I have a year but no marriage place. And for two ancestors, I have only a city or county name without the state.

I ran this fact list for marriages...now I'll run one for births and one for deaths. Those are the very bare basics, but I can drill down further when I'm ready. Thanks to Randy, I'm be able to see at a glance where I need to focus my research to fill in the gaps!

Family History Month Starts with Backup Day

The first of every month is backup day--time to make backups of whatever you've digitized as a way of keeping precious genealogy data safe. 

Family History Month is an especially good time to remember to back up all of these files: scanned photos, digitized documents, electronic reports, and gedcoms.

Ideally, have a backup of your genealogy files on an external drive you can access quickly, also backing up onto a second external drive you keep off-site, and a backup in the cloud as well. 

Backups help protect our family's history for the next generation and preserve what we've learned in our years of genealogy research!

Family History as Window into Local History

My Dad, Harold D. Burk (1909-1978) was born in the middle of an historic celebration in New York City and environs. Despite the magnitude of this special event, I had never heard of it until I looked at the front page of the New York Times for his birth date, September 29, 1909.

New York was marking the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing up the river that now bears his name...plus the 100th anniversary of Robert Fulton successfully using steam power on a paddle-boat. 

This combined commemoration was called the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, a multi-day extravaganza that captured the American imagination and attracted millions of viewers to parades on land and on water, flyovers, children's events, and much more. Wilbur Wright actually flew over the Statue of Liberty on the day Dad was born. Who knew? 

This celebration (remembered in postcards, medals, coins, and many other items) put the spotlight on new technology of the time, such as airplanes and electricity. Meanwhile, Dad was being born at home in Manhattan, just a couple of miles from all the fanfare and the honored guests (including President William Howard Taft, Vice President James Sherman, and NY Governor Charles Evans Hughes).

On what would have been Dad's 111th birthday, his special day in family history led me to learn about a special period in New York history. Miss you, Dad. 💙

Curating My Genealogy Collection: New Home for 1911 Postcard

This photo postcard, sent in 1911 to my maternal grandma by a younger brother, is on its way to a new home--returned to the sender's grandson after 109 years. This is part of my ongoing efforts to curate my genealogy collection, keeping items most important to my family and finding new homes for other items.

Entrepreneurial Albert Goes West

My great uncle Albert Farkas (1888-1956), born in Hungary, was quite an entrepreneur. In his early 20s, he left New York City to establish a manufacturing business in the Pacific Northwest. Simply making that cross-country journey by train must have been an adventure in 1911, when he set out.

Albert bounced between Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia, as he made contacts and arranged his new business. He registered with the Canadian Consul in 1916, saying he was a U.S. citizen (by virtue of his father's naturalization in 1906) and had entered Canada in 1912.

Farkas Family Vacations on the Farm

In August of 1911, my grandma, Hermina "Minnie" Farkas Schwartz (1886-1964), was taking a two-week vacation with her mother and younger sisters. (She married my grandpa later that year.) To escape oppressive heat in New York City, they boarded with a farm family in Hudson, New York, and enjoyed fresh air and greenery. 

While Minnie was at the farm, this postcard arrived from her brother Albert ("Berti") in Seattle, Washington. Another cousin who reads Hungarian translated  the postcard as, loosely: "Is it still hot in New York State? If so, you can come here, where it's cold." Now this picture postcard is in an archival sleeve, protected by cardboard in a padded envelope, and winging its way to Albert's grandson--who lives in Washington state! 

Family History at the Movies

Growing up, my husband's family attended many summer theater productions at Cain Park, a large outdoor theater in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. When hubby was a teenager, he and his siblings got summer jobs working backstage. Happily, his sister saved some of the old Cain Park programs inherited from their father, including the one shown above, for The Wizard of Oz. They have many fond memories of those days!

Fast-forward to 1980, when Frank Langella (fresh off his famous Dracula role) starred in a movie based on Cain Park's halcyon days: Those Lips, Those Eyes. The critics didn't think highly of the movie, but in watching it recently, my hubby felt great nostalgia for that theater, as an audience member and as part of the crew.

What made Cain Park special was the lovely outdoor setting, with plays under the stars. And the up-and-coming stars, such as Dom De Luise, who acted for several summer seasons at Cain Park. Above, the cast bio for his 1954 role as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. 

My husband just donated this and seven other programs from Cain Park's productions to the special collections room at Cleveland State University, which catalogs and archives local theater artifacts. This is one way we're curating our genealogy collection to keep nonpersonal items safe for future generations. 

"Should be a movie" is this week's #52Ancestors blogging prompt.

Adding Context for 3D View of Ancestors, Part 3

In addition to examining family situation (part 1 of this series) and community (part 2), another way to flesh out ancestors' lives is to look at influences on society at that time. 

So many elements influenced the society in which ancestors lived and the daily lives they led--including religion, economics, legal and political considerations, industry and technology, urban/suburban/rural life styles, plus local and global health developments. Not everything had a profound impact on every ancestor, but I try to consider key developments that shaped the course of their lives.  

I read the news today, oh boy! 

My top pick for analyzing societal influences is the newspaper. Not just local newspapers where that ancestor lived, but statewide and/or national news sources. For ancestors who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries, papers are a particularly valuable research resource--I browse the news as well as the advertisements, which reflect norms and beliefs of the time.

My immigrant ancestors settled in New York City, so city papers are good starting points for me. Actually, most papers (even small-town papers) had some national and international coverage, I noticed while researching my husband's ancestors in rural Ohio and Indiana.

Newspapers provide accounts of local/national politics, infrastructure improvements, crime, food and fashion, and so much more. Ads and reporting reflected new types of jobs, new transportation, new products and services, all part of societal influences on ancestors. Letters to the editor reveal unvarnished opinions expressed at the time and are fascinating to read.

Constant change

All these changes kept coming, affecting my ancestors day to day and over the long period. After the Roaring Twenties, when many ancestors got on their feet economically, the Great Depression was real challenge, followed by World War II. News reports allow me to follow along and understand these influences. Commercial radio, motion pictures, commercial television, jet planes, computers--these innovations were in the lives of my parents and some in the lives of my grandparents, and all were covered in the newspaper. 

Political and legal events made a huge difference in ancestors' lives. My mother was born late in 1919, a few months after Congress passed legislation granting women the right to vote (the 19th Amendment wasn't ratified until 1920). I read all about it in the newspaper! No wonder Mom brought her children to the polling place each year so we could watch her exercise her right to vote.

The drafts instituted in WWI and WWII affected the men in my family tree--of course, all well documented in newspapers of the time. Food rationing was a daily concern for ancestors living through WWII, especially for my maternal grandparents, who ran a grocery store and needed customers to bring ration books along when they made a purchase. 

Many genealogy websites have information and videos about paid and free access to old newspapers, just go ahead and search...and think creatively about the personal and professional lives of your ancestors. It was fun to run across ads for a Hungarian-style restaurant run by an ancestor in New York City when I searched via Fulton History, for instance. When this type of restaurant went out of fashion, he went out of business, context I kept in mind while looking at the arc of his life.

Don't forget: New newspapers are added to free and paid sites every month, so redo your searches now and then to pick up new clues to the context of your family history.

Book review: "Roots for Kids"

 

Note: The Genealogical Publishing Company provided me with a free review copy of Roots for Kids: Finding Your Family Stories, but the positive opinions in this review are entirely my own!

Susan Provost Beller emphasizes "family stories" as a key thread running throughout this practical and engaging book, aimed at introducing the younger generation to the fascinating and fun process of genealogy. She writes: 

History means much more when it is 'YourStory!'

Each of the 15 bite-sized chapters opens with an interesting story, drawing the reader in. Topics range from food and first names to geography and generations. After a few pages of clear explanation, each chapter ends with an activity --something the reader can easily try now to get involved with family history.

Beller encourages curiosity and individuality, giving readers ideas plus hands-on tools to start on the road to discovering and documenting family history. The book includes a blank pedigree chart, a blank family group sheet, suggested websites to take research to the next level, a useful illustrated glossary, and an index. 

The cover and illustrations by Kate Boyer beautifully complement the text and really enhance the reading experience. Do take a look at this book if you want to get the younger generation interested in family history!

Documenting Grandma Floyda's Needlework Legacy

Handmade items by Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure

My husband's maternal grandmother, Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948) left a legacy of beautifully-crafted needlework! 

Above, a snapshot showing only a few of these treasured crocheted doilies and dainty gloves, a lacy embroidered tablecloth, a cross-stitched tablecloth, and a colorful crocheted afghan, and more . . . all painstakingly hand-made by Floyda, with great care. 

Being a needlecraft enthusiast myself, I can appreciate Floyda's expertise. For some projects, she used the tiniest steel crochet hooks and ultrathin cotton threads. Her stitches are neat and even, with fine finishing touches. 

These lovely items were preserved neatly and safely for decades by my sis-in-law, who kindly gave them to me for documentation before we share with other descendants. 

My sis-in-law also wrote down some personal memories that will accompany these needlework keepsakes to their new homes in the family. One specific memory is that Floyda "taught me to sew when I was about four years old, and gave me fabric for my projects, mostly doll clothes..."

After I air these items, I will preserve them in archival tissue and archival boxes. Each box will include a write-up of Grandma Floyda's life story, growing up as the beloved only child of doting parents and becoming an accomplished crocheter and embroiderer, plus family remembrances of Floyda.

I do hope that sharing Floyda's legacy and details of her life with her descendants will inspire them as they admire the needlework items she created with love and dedication! 

Ancestors Followed the Subway Out of Manhattan

1989 map of New York
City subway system

Sometimes a map or multiple maps can help us understand ancestors' movements within a city or region. That's the case with my immigrant Farkas and Schwartz ancestors who lived in New York City around the turn of the 20th century. 

Although they began their new lives in Manhattan, my maternal great-grandparents and grandparents were able to move to less-crowded residential neighborhoods in the northern borough of the Bronx because of the subway.

The Farkas family rode the subway and "the el"

My collection of now-obsolete
New York City subway tokens

My great-grandfather Moritz Farkas (1857-1936) was escaping financial ruin after hail destroyed his crops in Hungary. He sailed to New York and initially was a boarder in someone else's Lower East Side Manhattan tenement apartment. This was in August of 1899, before any modern mass-transit systems were even built. Once his wife, Lena Kunstler Farkas (1865-1938) and their children arrived from Hungary, they moved to an apartment of their own on the Lower East Side.

By 1920, however, Moritz, Lena, and their family (and many of the married children) were living in the borough of the Bronx, just north of Manhattan. This move was made possible by the expansion of the city's subway lines into what was then a much less-populated area. Ironically, many of the subway lines were actually overhead, not underground, and were usually called "the el," short for "elevated."

Now Farkas family members could ride the subway to work and to visit each other, not to mention go to the Bronx Zoo, the Bronx Botanical Gardens, and Coney Island by train! Family stories, corroborated by more than one cousin, say that to save money, Lena sometimes gave her two middle sons only a nickel each per day to ride the subway to work...one way. They had to walk home when the nickels ran out.

Teddy and Minnie never needed a car

My maternal grandpa Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz (1887-1965) also came to New York City from Hungary, arriving in 1902, before the subway opened to the public. He lived as a boarder on the Lower East Side for the first nine years, then married my grandma Hermina "Minnie" Farkas (1886-1964) in 1911. At that point, the subway system was growing by leaps and bounds, reaching far and wide year after year.

With affordable mass transit within walking distance, Teddy and Minnie moved their family from Manhattan to the south Bronx, then a fast-growing residential area with new schools and parks. They settled on Fox Street, directly across from an elementary school, and Teddy opened a grocery store down the block.

Teddy and Minnie never had a car and didn't need one, given the ongoing improvements of the New York City subway system. Here's what the network looked like in 1939. By that time, all three of their children were working--taking the subway into Manhattan and back to the Bronx on every business day. The price was right and the subway was the fast track to better-paying jobs in the heart of New York City.

"On the map" is the #Genealogy prompt for week 38 of the #52Ancestors series.

Adding Context for 3D View of Ancestors, Part 2

In part 1 of my series, I looked at how analyzing an ancestor's family situation can provide valuable context for seeing that individual in three dimensions.

In part 2, I look at how analyzing an ancestor's community can add depth and context to that individual's life from our perspective in the 21st century.

Community context: County history books

Those wonderful late 19th century and early 20th century county history books really come in handy for community context. You can find some of these as links from the FamilySearch.org state/local pages, in the Ancestry catalog, in the MyHeritage catalog, by searching Hathitrust, and by searching with the place name (as I did with: "History of Fayette County, Indiana"). 

Despite the boosterism, such books provide fascinating background on not just local history, but topography, natural resources, industry, civic life, culture, and much more. Many include "reminiscences" of early settlers and veterans, a bonus for getting a sense of what the community was like, first hand.

Case study: Ira Caldwell

Ira Caldwell (1839-1926), my husband's 1c3r, served in Company I of the 84th Indiana Infantry during the Civil War. He was mustered in during 1862 and mustered out during 1865, marrying two years after leaving the Union Army. What could I learn about his life from looking at his communities?

Here is just some of what my "community" research uncovered to help me better understand his life:

• Where born - Ira and his siblings were all born in Indiana not very long after it became a state. Reading History of Fayette County, Indiana (from 1885) I learned that his Caldwell family was among the founders of very rural Posey township in Fayette County, arriving even before statehood. 
• Growing up - Ira witnessed the first roads, first schools, and so on as the local population doubled from 1830 to 1840 and beyond. Maps in the county history book helped me envision where he grew up on the family farm. The county history makes it clear that this was both an exciting time and a challenging period for pioneer farmers. 
• Transportation and technology - During Ira's youth, Indiana became part of new canal systems and new railroad networks, transforming the way people and goods were moved. Ira's farming community would have known about newly-invented threshers and grain elevators, among other key inventions. By the time he died in 1926, electricity, telephones and radios were commonplace technological changes that had a profound effect on everyday life. 
• Moving on - Tracking Ira in the US Census as he married and had children, I found him in 1880 as a farmer in Harrison County, Missouri. I located a digitized History of Harrison County, MO from 1921 and discovered that Ira left Indiana in the 1870s, spent four years farming in Illinois, and then settled in this Missouri county. See excerpt in illustration--this county history book was a gold mine of information! I would never have known Ira Caldwell won a solid silver cup for exhibiting the "best fat cow" at the Indiana State Fair in 1857 but for reading this book.

Adding Context for 3D View of Ancestors, Part 1

Last week, I finished a 40-page booklet about hubby's 18 Civil War ancestors. Even though these ancestors died generations ago, each lived a unique life that I wanted to honor and memorialize in this family history booklet.

Yet when I sat down to write, I had only bare-bones facts from the US Census, Civil War pension records, and similar sources.

To engage my readers (younger relatives of today and descendants in future generations), I needed to flesh out these skeletons beyond just names and dates. My goal was to provide a more three-dimensional view of each ancestor's life.

This first part of my new blog series examines how an ancestor's family situation can add an important dimension to understand his or her life. Later posts in this series will look at community, society, and history as context for understanding ancestors.

Ancestors in Context: Family Situation

Here are some of the elements of family situation I examined to understand the life of Benjamin Franklin Steiner, born in 1840 in Crawford County, Ohio. He was my husband's second great uncle, and he served for nearly three years in the 10th Ohio Cavalry, fighting for the Union side.

• Birth order - He was the seventh of nine children, and the fifth of six sons. But since his father was a tailor, not a farmer, having a lot of boys didn't necessarily help the household prosper. It probably meant mouths to feed. Perhaps this is why I found Benjamin not at home in the 1860 US Census but living 40 miles away with a carpenter's family, and working as a laborer at the age of 20. Then I looked further.

• Parents - Benjamin's mother was listed as head of household in the 1860 US Census, no occupation. Benjamin's father died before the Census. Still at home with his Mom were a 25-year-old son who was a carpenter; a 21-year-old daughter whose occupation was "sewing;" and three children under the age of 15. I think this explains why Benjamin wasn't living at home--he needed to board elsewhere and make money while one of his brothers remained at home to be the chief breadwinner for the family.

• Siblings - One brother was a carpenter, one a plasterer, one a grocer, one a butcher, and one a farmer. After serving in the Civil War, Benjamin first started farming. With his second family, he tried brick and tile making before returning to farming. Both of these occupations he would have seen first-hand. Interestingly, none of the children chose to be a tailor like their father.

• Spouse and children - In 1861, Benjamin married a farmer's daughter. He was 21, she was 23. They had one son before Benjamin went to war in October, 1862. It must have been difficult for his wife and child, on their own, financially and emotionally, while Benjamin was in the military. When he returned, he and his wife had two more children. Only months after the third child was born, Benjamin's wife died. He remarried three years later, to a widow bringing up three children on her own. Now Benjamin was supporting a wife, two children, and three stepchildren, which may be why he changed occupations to try brick and tile making. Once the children were all grown and gone, he went back to farming in his later years. 

Benjamin's life took many twists and turns, with both ups and downs, I realized as I looked at his changing family situation. This gave me a better appreciation of who he was and the decisions he faced--fleshing him out as a 3D human being, beyond the basics of birth, marriage, and death.

More about context in Part 2.