How To Donate an Item to a Repository

 

Is there an item in your family-history collection that you might consider donating to a historical society, a museum, an archive, a library, or a genealogical group? 

A great example is something not directly related to your family tree, such as this air raid poster that my late father-in-law (Edgar James Wood, 1903-1986) saved following World War II. He kept it with other wartime memorabilia and many decades later, my husband inherited it.

Posters like this were so commonplace that many folks just tossed them at the end of the war, but not Ed. 

Describe the Item and Take a Photo

This poster is in very good condition, with a few slight creases but nothing torn or illegible. It even has the name/address/phone number of the local air raid warden in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, which adds to its historical significance.

When my husband and I decided to donate, we approached the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland. Having visited its museum in the past, we had an idea of what the collection contains. The website explains, in detail, exactly what types of donated materials this repository accepts and how the process works.

I emailed one of the curators and described the air raid poster's size, summarized what it says, and described its condition, sending along a digital photo. She replied that it would fit nicely into the current collection. She asked for background on how it came into our family's possession...and ultimately accepted our donation.

Do the Paperwork!

After signing legal paperwork that transfers ownership of this item to the society, we carefully packed it flat and mailed it. Our letter included two paragraphs about my father-in-law and mother-in-law and their life in Cleveland Heights during World War II. This info will be in the archives, along with the air raid poster, as a result of our donation.

We alerted our family about the donation and let them know the society would welcome the donation of similar items if we unearth something else in the future. Meanwhile, this air raid poster -- of no personal significance for our family tree but of interest from a historical perspective -- has a fitting new home where it will be safe and ready for scholars and historians in years to come.

NOTE: As Amanda says in her comment below, sometimes an item will not be accepted, because it doesn't fit with the repository's collecting goals, for instance. If that happens, ask the institution to suggest where you might offer the item.

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This is only one of the topics I'll cover in my members-only webinar, "Curate Your Genealogy Collection - Before Joining Your Ancestors," for the Virtual Genealogical Association on Tuesday, November 24th, at 8 pm Eastern time. Hope to see you then!

Discrepancies Disprove a Genealogy Theory

 

Recently, I wrote about the perils of researching my young 1c2r Pauline Jacobs (abt 1901-1907).

When Was Pauline Born?

I didn't know exactly when this little girl was born, although I knew she was born in New York City. 

Several possibilities turned up when I initially searched Ancestry and the Italian Genealogical Group (see results excerpt below). 

After seeing this list, I theorized that my Pauline Jacobs was born on June 26, 1901. The birth date fit quite well with what I knew from her death cert. Still, the bare-bones index or even a quick transcription wouldn't be enough to prove or disprove this theory. I needed more details, available on the full/original birth certificate, to more definitively prove a match--such as the parents' names and birthplaces, their home address, etc. 

Not my Pauline Jacobs

When I obtained the actual cert (excerpt is shown at top), I noticed that the parents' names do not match what I know about MY Pauline. Here the mother's name is Pauline Uhle, but MY Pauline's mom was Eva Micalovsky. Same goes for the father's name on this birth cert, not a match for MY Pauline. Father's occupation is not what I know of Pauline's father, either. Parents' birthplace differs from what I know.

Moreover, my Jacobs ancestors didn't live on West End Avenue in Manhattan (the address on this cert) and probably didn't even know anyone there; West End Avenue is quite far from the Lower East Side where the Jacobs family lived in this period. Looking at all the discrepancies, I'm confident this is NOT my cousin Pauline. The details don't match what is already known from other documents.

Theory disproved, next steps

After ruling out June 26, 1901 as Pauline's birth date, I redid my search to see whether there were other possibilities. This time I used the Germany Genealogy Group's database page, which checks volunteer-transcribed birth indexes from New York City.

The results shown here include a Pauline E. Jacobs born in May of 1899, but I'm not even tempted to look at her cert. Why? Because my Pauline was NOT in the Jacobs household according to the 1900 Census. That year's Census was taken on June 1. The Pauline E. Jacobs in the search results was born in 1899 and I strongly believe my cousin Pauline was born after the 1900 Census.

One big reason I think Pauline was born after mid-1900 is because Eva Jacobs told the enumerator she had 5 children in all but only 4 were living. All four were named in the Census listing and I know them all. So far, no good possibilities for a birth cert, but I'll keep looking.

Who's in the plot?

Knowing that Eva and Joseph Jacobs had lost a child before the 1900 Census, I took a little side trip looking for a child's death cert from before 1900. 

I clicked to the "interment search" on the website for Mount Zion Cemetery in Maspeth, NY, where the Jacobs family is buried in the Plungianer Society plot. Doing a search for any "Jacobs" in that plot I found Annie Jacobs, who was buried in that plot on February 1, 1896 according to the cemetery's website. 

Family Search shows a death index record of a one-year-old girl named Annie Jacobs on February 15, 1896, with burial on February 16, 1896 in Mount Zion Cemetery. Parents are Joseph and Eva Jacobs. With the theory that Annie Jacobs was the missing baby lost before 1900, I asked a kind parking lot angel to pull Annie's death cert image for me to examine more carefully. So grateful to these volunteers for their assistance!

Not all details fit . . .

Sadly, I saw on the death cert that this Annie was only 13 months old when she died of bronchitis, with contributing causes of rubella and "brain congestion." 

The cert says her parents were Joseph Jacobs and Eva (no maiden name, darn it!), both born in Germany (supposedly). Address was a tenement on West Third Street, close to the Lower East Side. 

Doctor Oscar Smith, who signed the death cert, lived around the corner. Since he wasn't at Annie's side when she died at 1 a.m. on February 15, according to his own statement, he might not have really known where the baby's parents were born, but made a guess based on their foreign accents. (I'm guessing about his guess now.)

Until I can locate a birth cert and get more info, I'm going to put Annie down as "very possibly" the daughter of Joseph Jacobs and Eva Micalovsky Jacobs--the child who passed away before the 1900 Census. I still need a bit more evidence, but most of the details fit AND she is buried close to her parents in the cemetery, which helps to support but not prove my theory. Yet.

4 Reasons to Keep Conference Syllabus Files

Do you have old syllabus files from conferences you attended in past years? Here are 4 very good reasons to hold onto them and keep them handy. Note: Mine are all digital, taking up no room on my bookshelf and yet easy to find and review in a matter of moments.

Refresh Your Memory 

Sometimes I can't absorb all the key points from a session even with the handout in front of me. This is especially true for topics that are new to me or techniques I use only very occasionally. 

For instance, Pamela J. Cooper's "Railroad Trilogy" session at the 2013 FGS conference got me started researching my husband's ancestors who worked on the railroad. She had so many great ideas! I've returned to her handout in the syllabus more than once to remind myself of occupational words (like gandy dancer) that suggest a railroad background, and for how to obtain employee and pension records.

In 2014, I attended Maureen Taylor's NGS session about "Photo Detecting 101" and got educated on the basics of photo identification. Her handy chart comparing the daguerreotype, the ambrotype, the tintype, and cartes des visite has been such a treasure as I sort my family's old photos for dating and captioning. I refresh my memory on the differences as often as needed.

  

Less Relevant Then, More Relevant Now 

In 2013, I had no idea I would find so many ancestors in my husband's family tree who worked for railroads. Back then, I was thinking primarily about the background of my husband's grandfather (Brice Larimer McClure), who worked as a machinist for the "Big Four" railroads in Wabash, Indiana at the turn of the 20th century. 

Since that conference, I've discovered some of hubby's ancestors were station agents ... some were railroad machinists ... and on and on. Having the syllabus available with a few clicks allows me to return to Pam's handout and see it with fresh eyes, getting more out of it because I know more about family history than I did back then. In short, the session is even more relevant to my genealogy research today than in the past.

Sources, Techniques, and Tips Are Timeless 

Nearly all of the info in my syllabus files (even the oldest, from 2013 and 2014) has stood the test of time, particularly methodology and tips. The basics are sound and remain valuable. The syllabus files provide quite an education and allow me to expand my knowledge well beyond the sessions I attended.

Some speakers included web addresses in their handouts. A few led to "404 Not Found" but the vast majority are still working and still helpful. In fact, some of the links led to pages that are being updated on a regular basis. I was delighted to see that Pam's link to Jim Sponholz's page on "Locations of Railroad Genealogical Materials" was very much alive--Jim updated it just a few weeks ago!

Talk about timeless: I should put Maureen Taylor's "Photo Detecting 101" handout from NGS 2014 on speed dial. Having connected with more cousins in recent years, I refer to her tips and techniques often as I investigate each new family photo.

Ideas and Inspiration from Old Syllabus Files

Like browsing a library's shelves in search of a good book to read, clicking through old syllabus files can lead to fresh ideas and inspiration. Just now, I was clicking through the 2014 NGS syllabus and stopped at the handout for Elizabeth Shown Mills's session "War Is Hell." She not only suggested a strategy for researching military claims made by ancestors, she included a detailed list of sources to check for claims related to each war or conflict. This is an angle I didn't even consider when examining hubby's Civil War ancestors, but now will try to investigate.

Old syllabus files are the gift that keeps on giving, year after year. If you haven't opened one lately, find a quiet moment to take another look. You're sure to notice something you can use in your current genealogical situation!

Reading Frederick William Slatter's WWI Military Records

My husband's Slatter family had a multi-generational tradition of military service. This post honors the memory of his 1c1r Frederick William Slatter (1890-1958) who was severely wounded while serving with Canadian forces in World War I. Frederick was the second son of Capt. John Daniel Slatter (renowned military bandmaster in the 48th Highlanders of Toronto) and Sophie Marie Elizabeth Le Gallais (1861-1943).

Beyond Attestation

According to Frederick's Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces attestation paper, he joined the 75th Battalion on August 11, 1915. It had just been formed as an infantry unit for World War I service. 

Frederick, a bank clerk, was just weeks shy of his 25th birthday. He told officials he was unmarried, had been a member of a Canadian militia, and had previously served in the 2d Queen's Own unit. 

The complete military record covers 62 pages (including envelopes and blank pages) in the Library and Archives of Canada. This comprehensive file tells the story of his journey from the time he signed the attestation (and resigned and signed a new attestation) to his period of service in the European theatre and then to hospitals and finally to leaving the military. Unexpectedly, the file even included his date of death, decades after the war.

From Private to Acting Sergeant

After Frederick was medically cleared to serve in the 75th Battalion (formerly the 180th Battalion), he went into training. He was ranked as a private when he resigned from the 75th Battalion on February 8, 1916 to accept a commission as an acting sergeant with the 109th Regiment and then absorbed into the180th Battalion.  

Before being deployed overseas, Frederick trained at Camp Borden, the same Canadian training camp where his father (Capt. John Daniel Slatter) was training hundreds of buglers for World War I service. Then, 104 years ago this week, Frederick sailed from Halifax to Europe with other Canadian troops on H.M.T. Olympic. 

"GSW Chest Sev" Before Battle of Vimy Ridge

By early 1917, he was one of the thousands of soldiers massing in France to prepare for the notorious battle of Vimy Ridge. Many were wounded or lost their lives before the major offensive. On March 28, only days before the big battle began, Frederick was shot and subsequently admitted to the Duchess of Westminster Hospital in Le Touquet, France.

His medical condition was noted as: GSW chest sev - meaning a severe gun shot wound to the chest. He was moved to two other hospitals for treatment before being discharged from medical care on May 6, 1917. He was promoted to become Lt. Frederick William Slatter in September, 1917, and appears with that rank in the history of the 180th Battalion booklet. Ultimately, he was reevaluated by medical boards, declared medically unfit for service in early 1918, and returned to Canada for discharge.

Unexpected Find: Death Date

As I scrolled through Frederick's lengthy file, I found several pages that revealed his death date. Above, the card noting that Frederick was considered active in the theatre of war (France) from November 13, 1916 (the date of his sailing from Canada). Typed above his name at top left is the date he died, July 15, 1958.

Rest in peace, Lt. Frederick William Slatter, being honored for Remembrance Day and Veterans Day in 2020.

For Remembrance Day, Honoring Lance Sgt Arthur Albert Slatter

My husband's 1c1r, Arthur Albert Slatter (1887-1917), was among the second generation of Slatters to choose military service as a career. 

Born in London, England, on July 2, 1887, he was the son of hubby's great uncle, Henry Arthur Slatter (1866-1942) and Alice Good Slatter (1864-1914). Great uncle Henry was a military bandmaster and not surprisingly, his son Arthur was musically inclined.  

With Remembrance Day approaching, I thought this post would be a straightforward bio of Arthur and his death while serving in World War I. To my surprise, there was more to the story, as I learned by digging deeper into his military service.

Serving with the Royal Fusiliers, 1902-1914

In 1902, supposedly at the age of 16 years and 11 months, Arthur enlisted for a dozen years of service in the Royal Fusiliers. He said he was a musician (see paperwork at right). 

In reality, Arthur was not yet 16, if his baptismal record and second record of military service are both correct--and I do believe them!

Thanks to Fold3 and Ancestry, I could read all pages of Arthur's paperwork documenting his initial time in the Royal Fusiliers. He trained as a stretcher bearer and ambulance driver, passed a swimming test, and qualified in chiropody (treating feet) at Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight. By 1913, he had been promoted to a corporal. This was one year before he was due to complete his 12 years of service.

From London to Vancouver, 1914-1915

In the ordinary course of events, Arthur would have gone on to the next stage of his life after earning a pension for a dozen years of service with the Royal Fusiliers. 

He was, in fact, honorably discharged on July 17, 1914, "on the termination of his first period of engagement." This was only a few weeks before the United Kingdom became embroiled in World War I. 

After leaving the Royal Fusiliers, Arthur journeyed to Vancouver, Canada, where his parents had moved in 1911. Arthur's father Henry was bandmaster of the 72d Seaforth Highlanders, and Arthur joined up as well. But tragedy struck on Christmas Day of 1914, when Arthur's mother Alice died at the age of 50. 

On May 20, 1915, after six months with the 72d, Arthur signed papers to serve with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces. He was single, in his late 20s, and he stated his occupation as "musician." (See excerpt above.)

The Plot Thickens

Upon enlisting, Arthur was made acting sergeant of the 11th Canadian Mounted Rifles and then promoted to provisional band sergeant by June, 1915 (see document directly above). By November of 1915, however, the red ink tells the story of an unexpected event: Arthur was discharged as a deserter, having apparently gone away in October of 1915. 

Yet Arthur somehow made it across the Atlantic and rejoined the Royal Fusiliers. That's clear from the index card at right. He was officially listed as wounded and missing in action in France as of May 20, 1917. At the time, he was serving in Company C of the 20th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. 

In addition, I found documentation that Arthur was awarded a Victory medal posthumously for WWI service in the 1st and 20th Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers. 

Somehow, Arthur unofficially left the Canadian forces and rejoined the Royal Fusiliers, but so far I haven't located the exact paperwork to indicate how he managed to do this in wartime.

Memorializing Arthur Albert Slatter and the Royal Fusiliers

More than 20,000 servicemen of the Royal Fusiliers, including Arthur Albert Slatter, lost their lives in World War I. The graceful Royal Fusiliers Memorial in London is a fitting way to honor their memories and service. 

Arthur's name isn't actually on the London memorial, but it is on the hauntingly stately Arras Memorial which serves to commemorate the passing of the many thousands of soldiers who died in the area during World War I.

Lance Sgt. Arthur Albert Slatter's name on the Arras Memorial has been transcribed and photographed on Find A Grave by volunteers. He has his own memorial page (shown at top of this post) that I've now linked to the memorials of his parents.

There is one more memorial to Arthur Albert Slatter: His parents, Henry and Alice, chose to add their son's name to their joint gravestone in Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, Canada. Arthur's name is not in the cemetery's database because he's not actually buried in Vancouver. But looking at the photo of Henry and Alice's gravestone, I noticed his name/date below theirs. 

When Henry Arthur Slatter died in 1942, his obit stated that his son Arthur Albert Slatter had been killed in action during World War I, a final bit of evidence that I am honoring the memory of the correct Slatter ancestor on my husband's family tree.

This is my Genealogy Blog Party post for November, 2020.

Continuing to Curate My Genealogy Collection

As I curate my genealogy collection, I'm finding new homes for items with historical value but no real family-history value.

Case in point: The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper from Monday, December 8, 1941. Shown at top, it is intact and in good condition, despite being folded neatly for nearly 80 years.

My Cleveland-born father-in-law (Edgar James Wood, 1903-1986) and his entire family had gathered around the radio on the night of December 7th, listening to the terrible news about Pearl Harbor. When the next day's newspaper arrived, he wrapped it and put it away in a dry, safe place.

Because many families did the same thing, this newspaper is anything but rare. In fact, other historical societies and museums I contacted already had one or more copies of this day's newspaper and didn't want another. 

But after exchanging emails with a senior library official at Cleveland State University in Ohio about donating Cleveland theater programs from the 1950s, I brought up the subject of donating this 1941 newspaper. I explained my worry that the paper would inevitably deteriorate little by little unless kept under the proper archival conditions.

Understanding my concern, the official agreed to accept this issue of the Plain Dealer. My husband signed a deed of gift agreement, legally transferring ownership to the university library, found protective packaging to keep the newspaper safe during its journey to Cleveland, and sent it on its way. 

The acknowledgement of this donation arrived the other day. It feels good to know this item is in an appropriate repository, and will NOT be tossed in the rubbish or sold for pennies at a flea market after I join my ancestors!

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Want to learn how to curate your genealogy collection? I'm giving a members-only virtual presentation to the Virtual Genealogical Association on Tuesday, November 24, starting at 8 pm. The VGA's membership fee is extremely affordable ($20/year), and includes benefits like webinars and discounts and more. Please check it out if you're not yet a member! 

The Perils of Researching Pauline

 

It took a village to overcome a number of perils in researching Pauline Jacobs, who sadly died at a very young age.

Pauline, my 1c2r, was a daughter of paternal g-g-uncle Joseph Jacobs (1864-1918) and g-g-aunt Eva Micalovsky Jacobs (1869-1941). She was a younger sister of Flora Jacobs, whose life I wrote about yesterday.

My first actual document recording Pauline's death (see above) came from the cemetery where she's buried, Mount Zion in Maspeth, New York. The cemetery has a handy "interment search" where I located Pauline, her sister Flora, and her parents and grandmother, all buried in the Plungianer Unterstutzungs Verein plot. They copied and sent me Pauline's interment record, shown at top of this post.

Even with this information in hand, I still faced four perils in researching Pauline!

Peril One: Details Count 

If I had not seen the cemetery record card with my own eyes, I might have believed the incorrect death index for Pauline, shown at right, which indicates 1908 as her year of death. There is no access to images of the actual index, just this transcription. In general, I prefer to see for myself, not blindly trust transcriptions.

My guess is that the actual death info was received by New York City in 1908, since Pauline died just two days before the end of 1907. But I believe the cemetery got the year correct and the index/transcription was incorrect. Therefore I searched for Pauline's official death cert with the assumption she died in 1907.

Peril Two: Limited Access to Images

Searching on FamilySearch.org, I could see that Pauline's death cert was in fact in the database. However, images of many vital records are accessible only at a Family History Center. The pandemic has mostly closed these down for the time being. 

Happily, I knew from social media that a few volunteers regularly visit FHC parking lots and access the database wirelessly to pull images by request. It's impossible to say enough good things about these volunteers, who are incredibly generous with their time and energy.** 

A kind parking lot angel saw my FB request for Pauline's death cert (I provided full details, including the cert number from the index and my belief that the year was 1907). Within a few minutes, she had accessed and sent me the image, for which I am truly grateful. 

The cert says Pauline had been treated for 3 weeks at Willard Parker Hospital in New York City (specializing in communicable diseases). The cert also solved the medical mystery of Pauline's untimely death at the age of 7. Well, it would have if I could have deciphered the cause of death. 

** During 2021, Family Search is offering a remote lookup service that takes the place of parking lot angels. I've had very good luck using this service! Try it.

Peril Three: Handwriting and Medical Jargon

The cause of death was handwritten...and I couldn't decipher what it said, let alone what it meant. More eyes were needed. I took a screen shot of the cause of death and posted on Twitter with a request for #Genealogy help. And I got out my tissue box, ready to cry.

Within moments, answers began pouring in. Not only did these savvy folks know that the cause of death was scarlatina (scarlet fever), but they read the rest of the details: 24 days, sepsis. Scarlet fever can be treated today but it was quite perilous in the early days of the 20th century, well before antibiotics, making me tear up. 

Thanks to the helpful Twitter community of genies, I knew a lot more about Pauline's fate. But I still needed one more piece of the puzzle for a better picture of Pauline's life.

Peril Four: Finding the Right Jacobs

My next quest was to obtain little Pauline's birth certificate. I clicked to the Italian Genealogical Group's New York City vital records databases and searched for births of "Jacobs, Pauline" after 1899 and before 1902. Jacobs is a fairly common name, of course. I began with her name as recorded on the cemetery and death documents. I would have tried "Jacob, Pauline" if no decent possibilities showed up--because different official records showed "Jacob" OR "Jacobs" for this family's surname at different times. 

I was able to narrow down the list of possibilities, as shown above, from the ItalianGen database results. In my opinion, the most likely is the second on the list, Pauline Jacobs, born on June 26, 1901. I decided it was worth paying $15 for this record and I ordered online from New York City, saving a week or more in the long waiting time for a response. 

Having overcome four perils of researching Pauline, I'll hope to see this birth certificate before the end of 2020. Meanwhile, I'm remembering this cousin who unfortunately died way too young, keeping her memory alive for future generations. 

-- This post is part of the Genealogy Blog Party "Virtual Research Trip" for July, 2021. 

Remembering Thoroughly Modern Flora

The 1c2r cousin in this picture is Flora "Florence" Jacobs (1890-1923), the first child born to my paternal great-great uncle Joseph Jacobs (1864-1918) and his wife, great-great aunt Eva Micalovsky Jacobs (1869-1941). 

Until this week, Flora was just a name from the past on my father's side of the family tree. 

Flora Jacobs in the Roaring 20s

Now I can see from the photo that my cousin Flora was thoroughly modern for the 1900s, a young woman of the Roaring Twenties with cropped hair and a fashionable frock. 

What an emotional experience it was to see Flora's face for the very first time. I am very grateful to the exceptionally kind photo angel who visited the cemetery and sent this closeup of Flora's gravestone. She also was thoughtful enough to post the gravestone photos on Find a Grave.

From US and NY Census records, I learned that Flora worked as a bookkeeper for a neckwear company in 1910, as a "forelady" in a garment factory in 1915, and as an operator on knitted goods in 1920. Working in New York City's garment district, she would have seen and wanted to wear the latest styles, I'm sure, gazing at her fashionable dress.

Flora Laid to Rest in Mount Zion Cemetery

Sad to say, Flora died of rheumatic endocarditis on September 26, 1923, only weeks before her 33rd birthday. She was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, New York, near her father (who died 5 years earlier) and sister Pauline (who died 16 years earlier).

Flora's headstone, translated by the nice folks on Tracing the Tribe/FB, indicates that her Hebrew name was Bluma--"flower." She was named for her maternal grandmother,  Blume Manes Micalovsky - I found Blume's name on Eva's marriage license!

Notice the unusual wording "My beloved daughter" just above Flora's name? If I hadn't been aware of the father's death, this wording would be a hint that only one parent was alive when Flora died. The surviving siblings at the time were Louis, Hylda, and Frank Morris. 

In 2020, I'm remembering thoroughly modern Flora of the last century's Roaring Twenties and honoring her memory by keeping her story alive.

Remembering Great-Great Uncle Joseph, the Cap-Maker

On this day 102 years ago, my great-great uncle Joseph Jacobs died. Born in what was then Russia (but today is Lithuania), Joseph came to New York City via Castle Garden in the 1880s. He was a single young man, the first wave of immigration in his family, paving the way for his mother and his sister (and her family) to find more opportunity in America.

Joseph and his mother (my paternal great-great-grandma Rachel Shuham Jacobs) and sister (my great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler) initially lived in the Lower East Side of Manhattan where so many immigrants crowded into small apartments. At the time he was naturalized in 1888, Joseph's occupation was "cap-maker" (see naturalization index card at top). This was a period when well-dressed men wore hats and boys of all ages wore caps, so his skill was in demand.

He married Eva Micalovsky in March of 1890. In December of that year, the couple welcomed their first-born child, daughter Flora. I'll be remembering Flora in tomorrow's post.

Why Joseph's Occupation Changed

In the 1900 US Census, Joseph was listed with his wife Eva and four children, still living on the Lower East Side. Now his occupation was peddler. Then in the 1905 NY Census, he was a janitor, supporting his wife and five children. I wondered about this change in occupation, because peddler and janitor jobs probably meant he earned far less than as a cap-maker. 

I got a hint of why he changed occupations when I found Joseph in the 1910 US Census. Joseph was no longer living with his wife and children. Instead, he was listed by the Census as being in the Montefiore Home & Hospital for Chronic Invalids. 

The enumerator wrote that Joseph was in his first marriage (correct), was married for 19 years (actually 20 but close enough), was 55 years old (sort of close), could read but not write (likely true), had petitioned for naturalization but was not yet a citizen (nope, he was naturalized years earlier). 

When Joseph died on November 3, 1918, the death certificate revealed the sad reason why Joseph had been hospitalized for so many years: his cause of death was "paralysis agitans" or Parkinson's disease. He is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, Maspeth, New York, where others in his family were laid to rest.

On the anniversary of Joseph's death, I'm reminded of his courage as the journey-taker who left Eastern Europe so the rest of his family could have a better life in America.

Happy Halloween: Postcard from Aunt Nellie

 

Happy Halloween from my husband's Wood family! This colorful holiday postcard was sent to hubby's uncle in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 28, 1913. 

The sender was Aunt Rachel Ellen "Nellie" Wood Lewis Kirby (1864-1954). Nellie was an older sister of James Edgar Wood (1871-1939), my hubby's grandfather. James and Nellie were close and Nellie was very fond of his four boys. 

During the early 1900s, Nellie sent postcards to her beloved Wood nephews for every conceivable occasion. The recipients really enjoyed hearing from this favorite aunt -- so much so that the Wood family kept these postcards for more than a century!

Nellie's Story

Nellie married her first husband, Walter Alfred Lewis Sr. (1860-1897), when she was 20 and he was 24. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 37, leaving Nellie with a son to raise alone. She moved to Detroit to find work. In Detroit she also met the man who would become her second husband, Arthur Kirby (1860-1939).

Not long afterward, Nellie and Arthur moved to Chicago...and eloped to the "Gretna Green" town of Crown Point, Indiana, in 1907, where they could be married and return home that same day to the Windy City. According to the 1910 US Census, he worked as a barber and she worked as a seamstress. In 1920, he was still a barber but she was running a nursery from home. In 1930, he continued working as a barber but she had no occupation. 

The year 1939 was sad for Nellie. Her brother James (my husband's grandfather) died in January in Cleveland, Ohio, and then her husband Arthur in Chicago died in March. From then on, Nellie lived by herself in Chicago, but remained in touch with her Wood family back in Ohio until her death in 1954.

Remembering Nellie on Halloween with this postcard she sent to the Wood family 107 years ago today.

Happy Birthday Lady Liberty, From My Immigrant Ancestors

 

"The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World" was dedicated on this day in 1886. A gift from France to the United States, Lady Liberty is situated on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. She doesn't look a day over 134, does she?

My maternal great-grandparents (Moritz Farkas and Leni Kunstler Farkas) passed the iconic statue when arriving in New York City from Hungary. Moritz sailed in 1899 and Leni sailed in 1900. Four of their children (including my maternal grandma, Hermina Farkas), followed them to New York in 1901. I remember folks in the Farkas family expressing a fondness for Lady Liberty, a symbol of freedom and opportunity for our immigrant ancestors.

My widowed paternal great-great-grandmother (Rachel Shuham Jacobs) and her daughter (my great-grandma Tillie Jacobs Mahler) both arrived in 1886. Along with Tillie came her two children, my grandma (Henrietta Mahler) and great uncle (David Mahler). All of these immigrant ancestors saw the Statue of Liberty on their way into New York City. 

My paternal great-grandfather Meyer Elias Mahler (husband of Tillie Jacobs Mahler) arrived earlier, in May of 1885, so he definitely did NOT see the statue, which was brought to America in June of 1885. 

On behalf of my immigrant ancestors, I wish Lady Liberty a happy birthday--and I salute the courage and determination of my ancestors who sought a better life in America! To celebrate, I enjoyed a breath-taking virtual tour of the State of Liberty, seen here. 

A Is for Alfred or Alford

Is it likely that a sibling would know how to spell his brother's name?

The reason I wonder is that one of my husband's Wood ancestors appears as Alfred O. Wood in some documents and Alford O. Wood in other documents. It's definitely the same man, but with a slightly different given name.

Alfred/Alford O. WOOD was born on October 17, 1855 in Cabell County, Virginia (now Huntington, West Virginia). His parents were carpenter/coach builder Thomas Haskell Wood and Mary Amanda Demarest. He died on March 26, 1895 in Toledo, Ohio, at the age of 39. According to funeral home records, the cause of death was consumption.

I've found info about Alfred/Alford in the following sources. Keep in mind that Census enumerators weren't required to ask about correct spelling; the way this ancestor's name was inconsistent in Census records.

Sources showing name as ALFRED:

• 1860 US Census - As shown at top of this post, Alfred was listed as 5 years old when the enumerator came around to the household of his parents. NOTE: This enumerator used creative spelling. The 1-year-old girl in this household was listed as Levacia, but her real name was Levatia.
• 1870 US Census - Alfred was listed as 14 years old during this Census, occupation as chairmaker. No creative spelling for rest of siblings.
• 1874 Toledo City Directory - Alfred is shown as a carpenter with Jonathan N. Williams.
• 1879 Toledo City Directory - Alfred O. Wood is shown as a carpenter with the Wabash Railway.
• 1880 Toledo City Directory - Alfred O. Wood is shown as a carpenter with LS & MS Railway.
• 1881 Toledo City Directory - Alfred O. Wood is shown as a carpenter.
• 1891 Toledo City Directory - Alfred O. Wood is shown as a carpenter with Wood Bros.
• 1894 Toledo City Directory - Alfred O. Wood is shown as a carpenter.
• 1930s listing of Wood siblings - Alfred O. Wood is included in this list, handwritten by his younger brother on "Wood Brothers, Builders" letterhead. This page was kept in the Wood family bible for decades.

Sources showing name as ALFORD:

• 
  1880 US Census - Shown here is the Wood household in 1880. Alford O. Wood (fourth name from top of list) is recorded as a 25-year-old carpenter. 
• 1895 Toledo City Directory - Alford O. Wood is shown as having died on March 26, 1895, at the age of 39.
• 1895 Funeral Home record from Toledo, Ohio - Alford O. Wood is shown as the deceased, death date of March 26th, with burial on March 28th in Lima, Ohio, which is 80 miles away from Toledo. 
  

Given that the vast majority of sources show the name as Alfred O. Wood, and his brother also used that name on the sibling list, I'm going with ALFRED O. WOOD unless and until more definitive, reliable evidence turns up for the Alford version.

Book Review: "Genealogical Research in Ohio, 2nd Edition"

Note: The Genealogical Publishing Company provided me with a free review copy of this book, but the candid opinions in this review are entirely my own.

Because so many of my husband's ancestors had "Ohio Fever" and moved to the Buckeye State after the Revolutionary War, I was interested in learning more about the state's genealogical sources. 

Kip Sperry's Genealogical Research in Ohio is a handy guide to Ohio and its robust family history resources. The second edition has lots of web addresses but its real strength is in covering the many resources that aren't available with a click, such as:

• Substitutes for missing or incomplete civil vital records - Sperry fills 4 pages with good ideas for finding birth, marriage, and death info when official records aren't available. For instance, the Ohio Genealogical Society has on file ancestor cards and charts, First Families roster, and Bible records; the Ohio Historical Society has grave registrations of soldiers buried in Ohio. Not everything is online, and the book encourages researching off-line sources.
• Historical maps - Sperry includes 21 maps that are useful in understanding when counties came into existence, when borders changed, how early bounty lands shaped Ohio's development, county seats, regional history research centers, and much more. Sometimes I needed a magnifying glass but the maps were fascinating and informative.
• Chronology of Ohio's history - Shows years (sometimes specific dates) of the state's settlement milestones, wars, land development, population growth, and more. This is invaluable as background and context for researching Ohio ancestors. Having it in handy book format is a plus. 

Ideally, a 3rd edition would update with the latest info (the 1940 US Census wasn't yet available when Sperry wrote the 2nd edition--and in 2022, the 1950 US Census will be available, a good target date for a new edition, IMHO!). A new edition should also delete mention of databases on CDs and update URLs for resources mentioned in the book. 

Meanwhile, I'll be reaching for this book regularly as I continue researching hubby's Ohio ancestors. I found much to recommend in Kip Sperry's expert review of Ohio genealogical resources!

One Ancestor at a Time on Four Sites (Plus Software)

One of my 2020 goals has been to improve the details and sources for ancestors on the family tree, part of my Genealogy Go-Over.

To keep the project manageable, I'm focusing on only one branch of the family tree at a time. Currently, my focus is on my husband's Wood side, starting with his paternal great-grandparents.

As shown here from Family Search, these great-grandparents were Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890) and Mary Amanda Demarest (1831-1897). They had 17 children, including hubby's grandfather, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939). You can spot him in the list of children: he's the guy with a face instead of a generic profile oval.

Add in the children's children and spouses and ex-spouses, and my Go-Over is not a rainy-day quick fix, but it is achievable if I go through the list systematically, one ancestor at a time.

I'm simultaneously checking each ancestor on my Ancestry and My Heritage trees, the Family Search collaborative tree, and on Find a Grave. Of course I am updating each ancestor in my RootsMagic software as I go along.

At a minimum, I'd like to have all ancestral names and dates/places complete and correct on all four sites. Ideally, I'd like to include a bit of a bio where possible, partly for cousin bait and partly to share what I've learned with other genealogists.

Just this month, I submitted an edit to fix the name on James Edgar Wood's Find a Grave memorial, a key correction. I had already added the photo (same as on Family Search) and a brief bio. UPDATE: For infants whose burial places are unknown, I'm mentioning their names/dates in the bios of their parents on Find a Grave, to keep their memories alive and keep families "together."

With the pandemic keeping me close to home, I expect to nearly finish this part of my Go-Over by the end of 2020. 

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!