Who Tells Your Story? Choosing to Be Family Historian

With a nod to the now-iconic musical Hamilton, I've been thinking a lot lately about the question: "Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?"

Long after my grandparents and parents were gone, I chose to be the family historian. I was curious about all those stories I didn't hear (or didn't pay attention to) when I was growing up. And I was especially motivated to dig out the stories NOT told, about my family and my husband's family. Remember, I married him for his ancestors ;)

By the time I chose our families as my focus, there were faces I could not recognize in old photos. There were important family stories and cousin connections that had somehow been forgotten.

I chose myself to tell the stories of who lived and who died--and that's how I came to understand that their stories are our stories, too.

Honoring the memory of ancestors, finding "new" cousins

My paternal grandfather Isaad Burk died years before I was born. Only after years of research did I come face to face with his face, on his naturalization papers. That clue helped me identify him in other family photos.

I really don't want to be the last person on Earth to recognize grandpa. In addition to captioning, I wrote a brief booklet about Isaac and his wife, my grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk, whose face I did recognize. This honors their lives and preserves their stories for future generations.

Happily, my family history activities put me in touch with delightful cousins from the Burk and Mahler families. The same happened when I investigated my Schwartz and Farkas family tree--I forged new and treasured connections with cousins near and far.

Forgotten heritage, now preserved

Hard as it was for me to believe, my husband's Wood family somehow didn't inherit the knowledge of their Mayflower ancestry. Only thanks to my hubby's 2c1r did we find out about 5 Mayflower ancestors in his Wood family tree: Degory Priest, Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris Allerton, Mary Allerton, and Francis Cooke. Needless to say, I'm not letting family forget this story, especially during this year of Mayflower 400 remembrances.

My research also led to uncovering the tragic story of many Schwartz family members killed in the Holocaust. I watched my mother's first cousin tell that story on video for the USC Shoah Foundation project. Her courage and survival against all odds gives me hope.

It's up to me, as guardian of family history for both sides of the family tree, to document who lived, who died, and to tell their stories.

--

"Chosen family" is Amy Johnson Crow's prompt for week 34 of #52Ancestors.

The Women Married to Civil War Ancestors

Excerpt from Wood Civil War Ancestors booklet

In researching and writing about my husband's Civil War ancestors (both blue and grey), I'm making sure to document the lives of the women they married.

Some wives outlived their Civil War veteran husbands, by a few years or decades; some wives died while their husbands were away at war; some wives died soon after the vets returned home. Each has a story and I want to be sure their lives are remembered, along with their husbands.

Here's my plan for writing "cradle to grave" about each veteran and his wife or wives:

• Head the first page with veteran's full name and dates. 
• Explain the veteran's relationship to readers in the next generation.
• List the full name of his wife (or wives) and her dates. 
• List the units in which the veteran served (blue indicates Union, red indicates Confederate).
• First paragraphs summarize the man's family background (parents, siblings, birthplace, movements, occupation). This is the "cradle" part of "cradle to grave" in a nutshell.
• Emphasize "story" part of family history by adding a dramatic hook early in the veteran's life narrative. Here, I say that this man and two brothers were all in the Union Army, but their lives diverged after the war was over.
• Include at least one illustration, such as a newspaper obit or a Civil War Pension card. 
• Say when and where the man got married, and any special circumstances. In the excerpt above, John N. McClure married Rebecca Jane Coble only 3 days after he enlisted in the Union Army, just before he shipped out with his unit. Quite a start to their married life.
• Describe the wife's life as well as the veteran's life to add context to the family tree overall. 
• Say when and where (and why) the veteran and his wife died and were buried, the "grave" part of this "cradle to grave" profile.

What's in This Family History Booklet?

My booklet will have a table of contents, a listing of Civil War military units in which the men served, and possibly the key battles or actions in which they participated. 

This is a work in progress, having grown from the quickie booklet I originally envisioned, so I may decide to add an index. After all, I'm profiling 19 men and their wives/families. That's a lot of names. I want to make it easy for descendants to look up any particular ancestor by checking the table of contents and/or the index.

Highlight the Drama: Spoiler Alerts Wanted!

I'm going to write a page highlighting "not to be missed" dramatic or interesting details about some key ancestors. Spoiler alerts will actually whet my readers' appetite for more. 

For instance, Robert Crooke Wood was the next generation's 4c5r and a senior U.S. Army surgeon. He married Ann Mackall Taylor, the oldest daughter of Major General Zachary Taylor--yes, the U.S. Army veteran who later became the 12th U.S. president. Zachary Taylor's daughter Sarah married Jefferson Davis. Yes, that Jefferson Davis. So Robert Crooke Wood's father-in-law was a future U.S. president, and his brother-in-law was a future Confederate president.

The Civil War intensified the family drama: Two of Robert Crooke Wood's sons fought for the Confederacy, while their father remained on active duty in the Union Army. (Many thanks to my hubby's wonderful cousin L for sharing his knowledge of this distant part of the Wood family tree.)

Don't you think such spoiler alerts will get my readers' attention?

Beyond Civil War Service and BMD

Searching for Larimer name inside
"History of Miami County, Indiana"

I'm still working on my booklet about my husband's Civil War ancestors. In addition to birth, marriage, and death dates plus considerable readily-available information about their military service, I want to paint a fuller picture of each man's early life. That means going beyond the basics, beyond the Census, to learn more.

The Larimer Brothers Enlisted Together

For instance, I'm writing a page each about Harvey Heath Larimer and Jacob Wright Larimer, brothers who enlisted together in the 151st Indiana Volunteer Infantry in 1865. Harvey was the baby of the family, barely 17 when he left Indiana with the infantry regiment. Jacob was not even 19 at the time. Both came home safely--their regiment was never in a formal battle!

I knew these young men were born in the 1840s and grew up on their father's farm in Miami County, Indiana. I have their Census info, but little else for the early years and the immediate aftermath of their service. So I wondered: What was the area like? What was the Larimer family's involvement in Miami County during that period?

Adding Local Color

A simple online search turned up an 1887 history of that county, available for free and name searchable. Not only does the book describe the county's development over time, it also features a number of Larimer entries (see excerpt at top) from the period I'm exploring. The content is quite informative, although the exact dates are not always accurate (I compared with other documentation).

Thanks to this book, I learned more about Harvey and Jacob's father as an early settler...about their mother joining the first Methodist Church...about sister Sarah's marriage, one of the first in their township...about brother George building the first hotel in town as the railroad was being completed. And so on.

Interesting background (taken with a grain of salt) that helps me write an engaging narrative which I hope descendants will actually want to read!

Hubby's Ancestors in the Civil War: Part 3, Teenaged Thomas

After taking steps to identify potential Civil War veterans in my hubby's family tree, I found 21 likely possibilities to investigate.

I used Ancestry's Civil War collections, Family Search records for Massachusetts, state records, newspaper databases, city directories, and other sources to get a better picture of these ancestors' lives.

One by one, I'm writing about these ancestors for a family history booklet for the grandsons who are riveted by the Ken Burns Civil War documentary.

My first ancestor of focus was a teenager from the Wood branch of the family tree.

Thomas F. Wood of New Bedford

Thomas F. Wood (1843-1925) was my husband's 1st cousin, twice removed. He was born and buried in the whaling center of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Pvt Thomas F. Wood
Civil War documentation

The son of tinplate worker Isaiah Wood and Mary T. White, Thomas also became a tinplate worker during his teenage years. When the Civil War erupted, Thomas took up arms (with his parents' permission, as shown on the documentation at right).

Private Thomas F. Wood of the Militia 

Searching local newspapers of the time, I found Thomas listed as a private in a local volunteer militia group called the New Bedford City Guards.

This militia was soon recruited into the Union Army for a nine-month enlistment. Thomas joined Company E of the Massachusetts 3d Infantry Regiment. He was mustered in on September 23, 1862 at Camp Joe Hooker, Lakeville, Mass, 20 miles north of his home in New Bedford. (This camp, named for "Fighting Joe" Hooker, even had its own newspaper, the Camp Gazette!)

Civil War Service in the Mass 3d Infantry Regiment

Thomas and his fellow soldiers were moved further north to Boston, where they boarded steamers and disembarked days later at New Bern, North Carolina. His regiment made several expeditions in the area, including Foster's Expedition to Goldsboro, North Carolina in December of 1862. This operation successfully burned down a bridge to disrupt key supply lines of the Confederacy.

In April of 1863, Thomas and his regiment helped to provide relief to Union Army troops at Little Washington, North Carolina. According to another Union soldier's diary of the time, the massed Union forces engaged with the Confederate Army on April 9, 1863 and used artillery to push back the Southern troops.

Thomas was mustered out of the 3d Regiment on June 26, 1863, again at Camp Hooker in Lakeville, Massachusetts. But that wasn't the end of his Civil War service.

Civil War Pension Card for Thomas F. Wood
of New Bedford, Massachusetts

Civil War Service in the 15th Unattached Company

Thirteen months after Thomas left the 3d Mass Infantry Regiment, he enlisted as a sergeant in the 15th Unattached Company. This 100-day enlistment began on July 29, 1864. He was mustered out on November 5, 1864.

Sgt. Wood served with the 15th at Fort Warren on George's Island, an important post guarding the entrance to Boston Harbor.

Post-War Life

After his military service, Thomas returned to civilian life. In the 1865 Massachusetts Census, he was again a tinplate worker, living at home with his parents. He married Ellen L. Dean in 1868.

Changing his career with the times, Thomas became a steam and gas fitter (according to 1900 Census). His Civil War pension card indicates that he filed for invalid status in 1905.

In his 60s, he was a partner in a steam factory (1910 Census). He did not list any occupation in the 1920 Census, when in his mid-70s, but he did say he owned his New Bedford home "free"--without a mortgage.

After Thomas's death in April of 1925, his widow Ellen L. Dean Wood received his Civil War pension until she died on July 1, 1926. Her death date was shown in the city directory of New Bedford, Massachusetts (see below).

From 1926 City Directory of
New Bedford, MA

Which of Hubby's Ancestors Were in the Civil War? Part 1

The 1910 US Census asked about veteran status.
UA = Union Army service during the Civil War.

Thank you, Ken Burns, for getting the younger generation interested in ancestors who fought in the U.S. Civil War!

A young relative just mentioned watching the popular Ken Burns documentary series The Civil War for the first time.

Me: "Hey, I'm writing a family history booklet about your Civil War ancestors."

Young relative: "Wow, we had ancestors in the Civil War?"

Me: "More than one! Wait till you hear their stories." [Doing the genealogy happy dance--a descendant asking about ancestor stories!]

First Step: Who Was Old Enough to Serve?

From previous research, I'd already identified 10 ancestors of my husband who served in the Union Army. That was just a start.

Now I needed to go through his family tree in a systematic way to see who else might have served in the Civil War. Given the migration patterns in my husband's family (including Ohio Fever that attracted Northeastern ancestors to settle the Ohio River area), I expected to find NO service for the Confederacy, only for the Union side.

My first step was to use RootsMagic7 to sort the family tree by birthdate. I printed the report and used a red pen to mark men eligible for the draft or enlistment. As a rough guide, I was going to investigate those born between the mid-1820s and the late 1840s.

The initial list included 71 men of eligible age for military service.

Second Step: Ancestral Relationship and Location

After deleting a few male ancestors who died just before the Civil War, I examined ancestral relationships and locations. My goal was to eliminate men who had an indirect connection to the family tree and men who lived in another country during the Civil War years.

Name by name, I dropped ancestors such as "father-in-law of niece of 1c2r" as well as ancestors who arrived in America after 1865.

This shortened the list to 33 male cousins and great-great-uncles of eligible age who were living in the United States from 1860 to 1865.

Third Step: The 1910 US Census Clue

Before doing serious Civil War research, I took a quick shortcut to see, as a clue in the 1910 US Census, which of the men on the list had indicated they were veterans.

This clue only works if the male ancestor was still alive in 1910 (he served as late as 1865, so he would not be a spring chicken). And of course it only works if the man or his relative knew enough to tell the enumerator about his military service. Remember, this is a CLUE, still to be verified by further research.

See the snippet at top? The 3d column from the far right on the 1910 Census was a question about whether the person was a veteran.

For Union Army veterans, like my husband's ancestor in this example, the enumerator would write "UA." The National Archives posted this list of veterans' codes for 1910:

• "UN" for Union Navy
• "UA" for Union Army
• "CA" for Confederate Army
• "CN" for Confederate Navy

In Part 2, I'll describe my next steps in determining which of my husband's ancestors were in the Civil War, where, and when.

Mid-Year Review and Preview in Pandemic Year One

Presenting a genealogy webinar from home!

Now that we're nearly halfway through the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, it's time for a mid-year review. I'm reviewing what I've accomplished in family history so far in 2020 and also previewing what I hope to accomplish before year-end.

How Did Life Change? Let Me Count the Ways...


The second quarter of this year was incredibly different from anything that came before the spread of COVID-19. Many of you, dear readers, have been having similar experiences, so you know first-hand about how life has changed.

Eat, sleep, genealogy, repeat!

Wearing a mask outside. Keeping six feet away from others. No in-person family visits and, alas, no in-person family graduations (all virtual only). No in-person genealogy club meetings or presentations (all virtual only). By now, I'm proficient enough to make presentations via GoToWebinar, WebEx, and Zoom (wearing my colorful headset).

I am sincerely grateful that my loved ones, friends, and neighbors remain healthy and that we can help each other through these trying times, one day at a time.


Genealogy Activities, January-June 2020

Staying close to home since mid-March has given me time to learn new tools, follow and post new cousin bait, concentrate on genealogical questions of long standing, and dig deeper into records that are becoming available online. 

• Cousin connections. Cousins from around the world have found me (and my hubby) through DNA matches, through this blog, and through my family trees. It's wonderful to be in touch with cousins, sharing info and photos to flesh out the lives of our ancestors. Family stories often have at least a kernel of truth that can suggest new research possibilities and ultimately contribute to a better understanding of lives and relationships.
• Discoveries in photos and letters. I've been going through my old photos and sharing with cousins. Just this month, we confirmed ancestor relationships with photos we pooled and I enhanced. My paternal first cousin has been kind enough to share newly-found letters and photos between our UK cousins and our paternal grandma Henrietta Mahler Burk, sparking fascinating talks about memories and more.
• Military service. This spring, I dug deeper into ancestors' military service (especially WWI, WWII, and the Union Army). I've been commemorating them on war memorial sites, in cemetery records, on my blog, on family trees, and in written family histories.
• 1950 and 2020 Census. After studying the enumerator instructions and questionnaire for the 1950 Census, I wrote extensively about the details we'll see when this census is released in April, 2022. Also, I blogged about the "Census doodle" I wrote on the printed 2020 Census. With luck, descendants in 2092 will see my message ;)
• Documenting heirlooms. I'm photographing heirlooms and writing their stories so future generations will know what has been passed down and why these items are significant. Not every item is an heirloom, but items I want to be remembered are getting this special treatment.
• Czechoslovakian census. Thanks to Lara Diamond's post, I found my maternal Schwartz great-grandparents in Ungvar, enumerated in the Czechoslovakian Census of 1921! Living in their household were daughters Paula, Lenka, and Etelka, plus relatives of great-grandpa and more. The census has birth month/year, birthplace, and more. I'll be blogging about this exciting discovery very shortly. 
• Presentations and Twitter chats. From February to June, I made seven genealogy presentations (three in person, four via webinar). I was honored to be the guest expert for two #Genchats in February about "apres vous"--what happens to your family history after you join your ancestors.

 Genealogy Plans, July-December 2020

The second half of 2020 will be as busy as the first. If I'm lucky, there will be BSOs (bright shiny objects) that pop up as a fun genealogical diversion. My plan is to work on the following:

• "Daisy and Dorothy" booklet. My mother was Daisy Schwartz Burk (1909-1981) and her twin sister was Dorothy Schwartz (1909-2001). It's not easy writing about people that Sis and I knew so well for so long, and this project has dragged on for a LONG time as I add photos and notes to write about their lives. The goal is to give descendants insights and tell stories to bring the Schwartz twins alive as people.
• DNA and cousin bait. I'm color-coding my known DNA matches according to common ancestor (Farkas matches would be one color, Schwartz matches another color, etc.) This will help me analyze unknown DNA matches and see how we might be related. Also, I'm continuing to post photos of ancestors on multiple genealogy sites as cousin bait, and contacting people who posted photos I've never seen of my ancestors and their extended families.
• Captioning old photos. Relatives have been kind enough to help with identification and context of many old photos. For instance, my 2d cousin recognized the people standing next to our great aunt Nellie Block in a photo, and the home where they were photographed. Because of who was in the picture and who was missing, she said the photo had to be taken during World War II. Now, with better enhancement to sharpen faces and remove scratches, I expect to identify more people and places in the near future!
• Improve sources. Some ancestors in my trees have only limited sources attached, because dates and places were "known to the family." Where possible, I want to attach and improve sources, giving my trees added credibility.
• New presentations. I'm planning a new presentation for 2021: "Get Ready for the 1950 Census Release!" (lots of great info is in our future as of April, 2022, when this release is scheduled--but you need to know how to search and what clues to look for). One more new presentation, for NERGC 2021: "Bring Family History Alive in Bite-Sized Projects." 

--

Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors prompt for week 26 is "middle."

June 1 = Backup Day

Old backup technology

Today is backup day.

After a computer glitch deleted hundreds of my photos a few years ago, I restored most of them by rummaging in my old backup CDs. Old-fashioned by 2020 standards, but they worked exactly as they were intended!

These days, I safeguard my 22 years of genealogy research with automated backups and backups of my backups.

Plus, on the first of every month, another backup ritual.

Automated:  My Mac's Time Machine backs up every day to a dedicated external hard drive. In addition, I have a BackBlaze account that backs up files and photos and letters (not applications) to the cloud on a daily basis.

Not automated: Every time I open my RootsMagic 7 genealogy software, I first sync with my multiple Ancestry trees. Then I backup these trees to my external hard drive before I close the software.

On the first day of every month, I manually download my Ancestry trees as Gedcoms and back them up on my Mac and in the cloud.

Plus I have a separate external hard drive backup just for photos, scanned images, and other genealogy data.

When I prepare a family history booklet or scan an album or some old letters, I put copies (works in progress and finished products) on this drive.

How do you backup your #FamilyHistory?

Disaster Avoided, Thanks to Old Technology

Letter written to Mom (Daisy Schwartz) and postmarked
the day before her birthday, on December 3, 1941

For her entire life, my mother (Daisy Schwartz Burk, 1919-1981) kept a box filled with letters she received in the period 1935-1946.

As part of my family-history efforts, I've mined those letters for insights into Mom's life, activities, and feelings.

Adding Context for Future Generations

I transcribed all of the letters nearly a decade ago. It took a few weeks of deciphering handwriting and taking a magnifying glass to the postmarks. I also looked up the people's names, not always sure of who they were.

For the sake of future generations, I began adding photos and historical notes for context. Otherwise, how would Daisy's grandchildren and great-grandkids understand that it was commonplace to mail a letter in the morning in the Bronx or Manhattan and have it delivered to the Bronx or Manhattan that same afternoon?

I also added other context I considered significant, such as the fact that the envelope shown above was postmarked December 3, 1941, the night before Daisy's 22nd birthday--and only four days before Pearl Harbor, which precipitated America's entry into World War II. Young relatives might not make those connections so quickly.

Uh-oh, Potential Disaster

What I didn't realize was that 50-plus pages of text, interspersed with dozens of images and color highlights, would result in a BIG file.

When I went to open that file as background for my forthcoming family-history booklet on Mom and her sister, I discovered it was so old and so gigantic that it wouldn't open.

I'm not sure of the technical reasons, but trust me, I was concerned. It would have been a disaster if I was forced to transcribe from scratch and add all the images and context all over again.

Unfortunately, the files on my two external hard drives and my cloud storage were exact copies of the file that wouldn't open. I was more than a little worried when I couldn't get any of those backups to open.

Old Technology to the Rescue! 

Just when everything seemed bleak, old technology came to my rescue.

I remembered that I had a backup of this big file on a CD, believe it or not, from the old days. Luckily, I was able to open that file on the first try!

I immediately copied and pasted half of the pages into one new file and saved it. Then I copied the second half of the pages into a second new file and saved it. I used descriptive file names to indicate the specific years covered by each of the two new files.

Let me point out that I did have a second possibility to avoid disaster if all else failed. I had long ago printed the entire transcript file and stored it with the letters. If necessary, I could have scanned the transcription--but it wasn't necessary.

Back Up For Yourself and For Future Generations

Turns out, old technology was what I needed to avoid disaster. In the days before cloud backups, I burned CDs and kept them.

Then there's good ole paper. More than once, I've blogged about how I appreciate new technology but I like paper. I print important documents as a backup, and file them in the appropriate folder or box.

This way, my heirs will find the printed versions when they open my genealogy folders and boxes in the distant future, after I've joined my ancestors.

--
This is my post for week 9 of #52Ancestors, the prompt being "Disaster."

Two Bracelets, Two Family Heirlooms

Daisy and Dorothy Schwartz, mid-1920s

Shown here in one of my favorite photos is Mom (Daisy Schwartz Burk, 1919-1981) and her twin sister (Dorothy Schwartz, 1919-2001), with matching Buster Brown haircuts and lacy dropped-waist dresses.

Look very carefully at the arm of the smiling twin on the right, and you can see a dainty pearl bracelet dangling from her wrist. No doubt both girls had identical bracelets, but only Mom's survives.

It's a tiny heirloom (see the ruler to see how tiny) that will be shared with Mom's descendants, along with the treasured studio photo of the twins.

Worn by Daisy Schwartz Burk

The second bracelet heirloom is this one from the late 1950s, a piece of Mom's costume jewelry with photos on both sides--photos of her twin daughters (Sis and me).

As with the pearl bracelet, this charm bracelet will be shared with Mom's descendants, along with memories of her and her twin sister, my Auntie Dorothy.

One of my 2020 goals is to finish a booklet about Daisy and Dorothy, with lots of photos to bring them alive for future generations who never had the opportunity to know them.

"Favorite photo" is this week's #52Ancestors prompt.

Who We Are and How We're Related

List of Larimer ancestors written by Brice Larimer McClure

"I am Brice McClure, a son of Margaret Larimer McClure and Wm. McClure," begins the scrap of family history above. It was written by my husband's maternal grandfather (Brice Larimer McClure, 1878-1970) in the first half of the twentieth century.

The family treasures this scrap of paper in Brice's handwriting, listing what he was told about his Larimer family's history. It also demonstrates Brice's pride in his family's background and his hope that these ancestors would be remembered for generations to come.

Brice set a wonderful example: He told descendants (1) exactly who he was and (2) exactly how he was related to his ancestors.

I've been putting my name and the date on every family history booklet I write. Now I realize that's not enough information about me.

When I wrote my most recent booklet about my late father-in-law's musical life, I added a longer note to the title page:

"Written by Marian Burk Wood, daughter-in-law of Edgar James Wood, in December, 2019."

In a decade or two, when some descendant pulls this dusty booklet off the shelf, he or she will see both my name and my relationship to this ancestor.

Although I could add even more info to explain how I fit into the family, I want to keep things simple and leave the spotlight on the featured ancestor in my booklet.

Now future generations will at least know my name, my relationship to the ancestor I'm writing about, and when I prepared the booklet.

Window into Postwar America: 1950 US Census

It's not even 2020, and I can barely contain my excitement for April of 2022. That's when the 1950 U.S. Census will be released--an important window into the demographics of postwar America.

And of course a really important source of information for genealogists!

This is the first Census that will show my mother and father together as a married couple. Three of my four grandparents were still alive, and one of my great-grandparents. Not to mention a plethora of aunts, uncles, cousins and possible cousins that I'll be able to research in greater depth.

What Questions Were Asked?

The 1950 census form was highly detailed. Everyone in the household was listed by name and relationship to head of household. Race, sex, marital status, age, where born, whether naturalized. If I don't already have someone's naturalization papers, this will be a clue to go looking!

Below, a set of questions asked of people aged 14 and older. Working? Looking for Work? Number of hours worked? Type of work and industry? Private worker, government worker, or without pay on family farm/biz?

For all people at each address, there were lots of questions about "where" -- where were they living a year ago, by county and state or foreign country. And what country were his/her mom and dad born in?! A double-check on birthplaces--fabulous clues! Where living a year ago--I'll be able to look for city directories in those places.

Also asked were detailed questions about income and military service--with check boxes to indicate a person's service in WWI, WWII, or another military action. This will give me more clues to follow up for my family's military service.

All About the Census, 1790-2000

Download free from this link 

As part of my research for a new presentation, I downloaded the U.S. government's very useful free booklet explaining all the questions asked in each Census through 2000.

The booklet, Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses from 1790 to 2000, can be downloaded for free in pdf format from this link.

Importantly, this booklet shows the questions/forms plus the instructions given to enumerators for each census.

Now I know why some of my ancestors were listed specifically as "cloakmakers" in the 1900 Census, for instance (see excerpt from enumeration instructions, below). Is it any wonder I'm so excited about the 1950 Census?

Excerpt from 1900 enumerators' instructions

PS: I'm gathering all my 1950 Census posts into a single summary page, shown on the header at top of this blog. You can visit the page via this link.

Looking Back on 2019 and Ahead to 2020

It's time for a look back at this year's genealogical progress and a look ahead at my genealogical FUTURE (#52Ancestors style).

At the start of 2019, my genealogy goals were to connect with more cousins, network with other family-history researchers, continue my genealogy education, develop additional presentations, follow up on DNA clues to ancestors, and write new family-history booklets.

So how much genealogical progress have I made this year? A lot, even as I look ahead to the FUTURE:

• Through a DNA match, I connected with a paternal 2d cousin in Canada and shared 1940s photos of his grandfather! At least eight other solid DNA matches haven't responded to my outreach efforts, but I'll try again soon (FUTURE). I've also asked several more cousins to consider testing...and I hope they will agree. It's not an easy sell these days, with people concerned about privacy and what happens to their DNA results. 

• Presenting lectures at the inaugural Family Tree Live in London gave me a chance to meet really lovely genealogy folks I previously knew only through social media. I came home with great tips about UK genealogy research, wonderful memories of a rewarding conference, and new genie friends. 

• Participating in Twitter chats like #AncestryHour (2 pm EST on Tuesdays) and #GenChat (10 pm EST on alternate Fridays) has been fun as well as highly educational. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve as a "guest expert" during a #GenChat in 2020 (FUTURE)! 

• "Attending" the virtual conference of the Virtual Genealogical Association in November triggered lots of new ideas. I've also found their webinars both practical and informative (with great handouts). I'm excited about presenting a webinar for the VGA in November, 2020 (FUTURE)!

• I created or heavily revised several presentations, including a new "intermediate" talk on cousin bait, a revised "all levels" talk on curating family-history materials, and a new "beginners" talk on US/state censuses (with a 1950 preview). In addition, I'm starting to develop a talk about Northeastern ancestors catching Ohio Fever (FUTURE) and a full talk about prepping for the 1950 Census. My 2020 speaking schedule has several programs booked, with return dates held for other groups (FUTURE).

• Through more than 135 blog posts, I wrote about ancestors and discussed new-to-me resources and methodologies. Again in 2019, I participated in Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors genealogy prompt challenge, and was truly honored that she highlighted several of my posts in her recap emails. Blogging is fun, a first draft of family history, and excellent cousin bait. More blogging is in my FUTURE!

Not originally planned but done! I completed a booklet about three of my husband's ancestors (Denning, Larimer, McClure) who, caught up in Ohio Fever, became pioneers on the frontier along the Ohio River. This booklet began as a series of blog posts--a rough draft of family history that I  enhanced with more historical context and personal specifics of each ancestor's life.

Not originally planned but done! I also finished an 11-page illustrated booklet about the musical life of my late Dad-in-law, Edgar James Wood. It's going to descendants, along with his "fake book" of musical standards. I wrote the story behind his learning to play piano, playing with college jazz bands in the Roaring Twenties, and playing nights and weekends as a professional musician when his day job was insurance adjustor.

Planned but not done! For the past year, I've been slowly gathering photos, documents, and info to write a booklet about my Mom (Daisy Schwartz Burk) and her twin sister (Dorothy Helen Schwartz). My Sis says she will do this with me in 2020. Thanks, Sis, I really appreciate the help in the FUTURE.

Lots to look forward to in 2020!

Now there's only one more prompt to go in Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors series for 2019.

Writing Ed's Musical Family History

Page 2 of illustrations to accompany "Music in the Life of Edgar James Wood"

In the previous episode of "obsessed family historian," I said I was going to write a brief biographical booklet introducing the sheet music fake book created by my late father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986).

Brief? Good grief. My original estimate was a couple of pages. Once I got going, I found more and more to say and show.

To create a narrative about Ed's musical life, as an intro to the fake book being given to his grandchildren this holiday season, here's what I did, step by step.

Start with the Research

What do I know about Ed and his piano-playing? I have a great deal of info on his life. Some of the sources I consulted included:

• My paper files on Ed (including his copyright documents, passports, etc.)
• My trees on Ancestry and MyHeritage (to check what happened when and locate passenger lists and other documents) 
• A new Google search for his songs, which turned up published copyright notices like the one above!
• My digitized photos of Ed's life (ranging from his Roaring Twenties period to the year before he died)
• My archival boxes, which held treasures such as Ed's photo album from his 1926 European tour with the Dick Bowers Band and Ed's album of negatives (with captions!!) from his 1928 European tour, again crossing the Atlantic on Cunard's R.M.S. Berengaria.
• Interviews with Ed conducted by my husband in the mid-1980s and later transcribed (easy to search for key words).

I typed out a few notes from these sources, showed them to my husband to get his recollections and any corrections. Then I arranged my notes in rough chronological order.

Create a Time Line


Next, before I began to write, I put together a simple two-column table of years on the left and events on the right. This timeline kept me on track and forced me to expand my research and add notes when I had little or nothing for a particular period.

Also, the time line revealed a conflict between what Ed remembered when interviewed in 1984/5 and what Ed's passenger lists revealed from my research. How did I resolve this conflict? I opened one of the archival boxes where I store Ed's photo albums. There, in his own handwriting, were captions dated 1926 for the trip I was referencing. It's not surprising that Ed was a year off when trying to recall events from nearly 60 years earlier, is it?

Write and Insert Subheads

I wanted to tell Ed's musical story chronologically, a sneaky way of spoon-feeding some of his family's history. But too much text can be daunting. To break up the pages, I inserted subheads that guide the reader through each stage of the story--and lead to the eventual reason for this musical bio, Ed's fake book:

• Playing [piano] at home and at school
• Playing at college
• Playing all summer
• Playing after college
• Playing for Gershwin
• Playing for his wife and his family
• Playing from the fake book

Include Lots of Illustrations

Younger relatives, in particular, always enjoy illustrations. I had some they'd never seen! I scanned Ed's photo albums from the 1920s to show him with the band on the Lido in Venice, in Paris, on board the S.S. Rotterdam and the R.M.S. Berengaria.

I also included his passport, some news clippings about his musical exploits, and copyright publications. I arranged the illustrations with captions as shown in the sample page at top. Page one is a title page with a large, full-color photo of Ed playing piano for family caroling on Christmas, 1985. These pages all include a touch of color, and I'll have them color-laser-printed at the local copy shop, to catch the eye of younger descendants.

Present in an Easy-to-Keep Format

All pages (bio and sheet music) will be three-hole punched and inserted into a small loose-leaf binder, ready to be saved for posterity. Of course I'll use my trusty label-maker to add the title "The Musical Life of Edgar James Wood" on the front and "Ed Wood's Fake Book" on the spine. The binder is easy to flip through and easy to store on a bookshelf.

In all, the brief booklet I envisioned as a couple of pages turned out to be eleven pages: four pages of text, two pages of time line, and five pages of illustrations. But because I did this little by little over the course of a couple of weeks, it was fairly easy and very satisfying.

I can't wait for the family to open their fake books this holiday season and peek into their ancestor's musical life!

Edgar Wood's Untraditional Fake Book

Edgar J. Wood's untraditional fake book--created from scratch!

My late dad-in-law Edgar James Wood (1903-1986) played piano to pay for his college education at Tufts.

He also played piano with college jazz bands to pay for summer trips to/from Europe during the Roaring Twenties.

Impressing Gershwin

After leaving college one course short of graduation, Ed tried to break through as a professional musician in New York City.

However, he felt like a little fish in a big musical pond, he told his son 50 years later. So he returned home to Cleveland, Ohio, with the hope of being a bigger fish in a smaller musical pond.

In 1934, Ed won a prestigious songwriting contest judged by George Gershwin. The newspaper headline read: "Gershwin Winner Plays for Meals." Even though he was talented, Ed simply couldn't make a living playing piano during the Depression.

Fortunately, Ed landed a job as an insurance adjustor, and stayed with the same company for 30 years. During that time, he married, had a family, and still got to play piano professionally on weekends and holidays. He liked the extra income--and he really loved to play.

An Untraditional Fake Book

Performing with bands at dances, weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other social events, Ed needed a wide-ranging repertoire. That's where his untraditional fake book comes in. ("Fake" because even if the musicians didn't know the song very well, they could fake it by following the basic melody--and fake because the real composers didn't get royalties on these non-officially-published versions.)

Edgar J. Wood (1903-1986) playing Christmas
carols on his Steinway Baby Grand Piano

Fifty years ago, Ed wrote out the musical notes by hand and typed in lyrics for dozens of old-time standards like The Sidewalks of New York, Deep in My Heart, and Silent Night. 

Today, commercial fake books are widely available--but back then, Ed chose the unconventional route of creating his own from scratch. He assembled all the songs he wanted into a loose-leaf binder to take when playing for an audience.

Flipping through the fake book, Ed could quickly read the notes and chords (and cue the guitarist or bassist) for nearly any song the band planned to play or was asked to play. Each song was on one side of the page, for his convenience, with chord changes noted here and there.

Sharing the Story Along with the Heirloom

The fake book has been in the family for a long time, but now it's about to have a new home. The original is being gifted to one of his grandchildren, along with a booklet telling the story of Ed's musical career (with photos, of course). I've scanned every page and created a replica fake book for other descendants to save, complete with the story of Ed's musical training and career.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this week's #52Ancestors prompt of "Tradition." Only two more prompts left in this year's challenge!

Artsy-Craftsy Marian Jane McClure Wood

Ceramic sculptures by Marian Jane McClure Wood, 1950s

Aren't these lively little creatures? They were all sculpted by my late mom-in-law, Marian Jane McClure Wood (1909-1983), the beloved only daughter of Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970) and Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948). Marian married my dad-in-law Edgar James Wood (1903-1986) in 1935.

When her children were in high school, Marian began studying ceramic art with a world-famous sculptor, Edris Eckhardt, who--like Marian--was born and raised in Cleveland. Edris was in the vanguard of glass sculpture, inventing new processes and making a name with her innovative techniques.

My mom-in-law found joy and satisfaction in learning from Edris how to depict the animal world through careful crafting. She studied proportions and anatomy, trying different sizes, shapes, and colors to create lifelike ceramic animals with a touch of personality.

Marian was so serious about her ceramic art that her husband and father build a kiln in the basement of the Wood family home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. They had to install special wiring to operate the kiln. This enabled Marian to fire pieces at home, at her convenience.

To share the story of these sculptures with descendants, I've written a brief booklet liberally illustrated with photos of Marian's sculptures. Each of Marian's great-grandchildren will inherit one of these sculptures, along with the story, at some future time.

My goal is to write a page or two about every family heirloom, so the next generation understands why these items have been so treasured. This way, they'll inherit the provenance and the backstory along with the heirloom itself.

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for this week's #52Ancestors prompt of "craft."

Remembering the Twins' Centenary

Dorothy and Daisy Schwartz, circa 1921

One hundred years ago today, my mother and her twin sister were born, at home, at 651 Fox Street in the South Bronx, New York. My aunt Dorothy Schwartz (1919-2001) was older than my Mom, Daisy Schwartz Burk (1919-1981), by four minutes.

Their birth on December 4th was exactly six months after the U.S. Senate passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote--a right my mother and her sister exercised regularly once they were old enough to go to the polls. 

1920 Census for 651 Fox St., Bronx, NY - Schwartz family

When the 1920 Census was taken in their neighborhood, as of January 1st but actually enumerated on January 15th, the twins were listed as 0/12 years old (see above excerpt from Census).

Thinking of these beloved family members and missing them, still, on the 100th anniversary of their birth. I've been collecting photos, documents, and memories for a booklet about the twins--a project I'll complete and give to relatives in 2020. I want to tell their stories so future generations have a sense of who they were and what they did!

How Blogging Helps My Genealogy

The movements of an ancestor who caught Ohio fever

Every blog post I research and write helps my genealogy. Even after more than 11 years of blogging, and 21 years of genealogy enthusiasm, there are always new things to learn.

The process of blogging enhances my genealogy because it (1) sharpens my focus, (2) reveals gaps, and (3) serves as a rough draft of written family history.

Sharpening My Focus

Every time I blog, I narrow my focus to one ancestor, one surname, or one occasion. Or I choose one genealogical resource or method to explore. The point is to keep the focus on someone or something I can discuss in one post--a bite-sized piece of my family history.

My recent blog post about my great uncle Julius Farkas is a good example. I'm participating in Amy Johnson Crow's intriguing #52Ancestors series of weekly prompts for genealogy bloggers. For the "soldier" prompt, I decided to focus on Julius, the only conscience objector I've ever found in my family--someone who did not want to be a soldier.

Previously, I had written a few sentences about Julius in the context of others from my family who served in World War I. This time, to flesh out his story, I dug deeper into his military experience, going beyond the usual draft registration card and the summary of military service.

To my surprise, I discovered an Army transport list that had not been available when I last searched. Julius's name was the only one crossed out. The others were sent overseas into combat. With a shiver, I realized Julius would have wound up in the second battle of the Somme, had he not been reassigned at the very last minute as a Stateside Army cook. Sharpening my focus led me to this new aspect of his life.

Revealing Gaps

Gaps--yes, there are still quite a few in my family and my husband's family tree. When I blog about one ancestor or a branch of the tree, I often discover that I'm missing some information.

Take my recent two-part blog post about Mary "unknown maiden name" Shehan, my husband's ancestor who lived in London but was born in Ireland. My original intention was to try to find out where exactly she and her husband were born, and (if possible) to learn her maiden name. I wrote my blog post as I did my research.

First, I reviewed their whereabouts according to the UK census. Nowhere was any county or town listed, only "Ireland" as their birthplace. Sigh. On the other hand, there was nothing at all after 1871--a gap I needed to fill.

That's when I switched my goal to finding where and when these ancestors died. I had to dig deeper to find more documents, but ultimately I learned the sad ending to Mary "unknown" Shehan's life, unfortunately echoed in her daughter Mary Shehan Slatter's life. Blogging about these ancestors led me to discover gaps and conduct research to find out more. And it gave me crucial new insights into these ancestors' lives.

Rough Draft of Family History

Blogging allows me to "think out loud" about an ancestor or family-history situation in a post. Sometimes I write a series of blog posts about a particular topic of family, which I later turn into my first draft of a written family history.

That's what I did with my "Ohio fever" series. After reading David McCullough's well-researched book, The Pioneers, I turned my attention to three of my husband's ancestors who had caught Ohio fever. With the historical background in mind, I could understand "why," not just "when" and "where" they moved to Ohio.

With more detail and some editing, that three-post series became a seven-page booklet for the family, complete with colorful maps like the one at top. I especially wanted to grab the attention of younger relatives and show them how our family actually made history. With my blog posts as a rough draft, it was faster and easier to create the booklet than starting from scratch.

Genealogy blogging has another big benefit: It's absolutely fantastic cousin bait.

Some of my posts are brief, some are lengthy, sometimes I don't post for a week or two, but I always find blogging worthwhile and fun.

From Blog Posts to Ancestor Booklet

Sample page from "Three Ancestors Who Caught Ohio Fever"

Will the younger generation think the #FamilyHistory booklet I wrote this week is a trick or a treat?

Just in time to mail this for Halloween, I combined and edited three recent blog posts into a colorful seven-page booklet about my husband's pioneer ancestors in Ohio. One of these ancestors was born in the American Colonies, the year before the Revolution began; the other two were born in the newly-independent United States. All caught "Ohio fever" and went west for fresh, fertile farm land. That's my theme for the booklet.

The Pioneer Lives of Denning, McClure, and Larimer

To introduce the booklet, I created a cover page with a large, colorful map of the United States in 1785. It shows descendants where their ancestors Job Denning, John Larimer, and John McClure lived in the East before they moved.

The map also shows their wilderness destination in the Northwest Territory, then the western frontier of the fledgling country. Land beyond that belonged to Spain. Ohio statehood was years in the future when these ancestors began to clear trees for farming. All this is historical context that helps descendants understand and appreciate what their ancestors faced as pioneers.

Two Pages Per Ancestor

After the cover page, each of the ancestors has a two-page spread, including a full-color regional map (where he lived, where he moved). This is followed by a brief biographical sketch, written simply but in vivid terms, tracing each man's life from birth to marriage to children to final resting place.

The women in their lives figure prominently in my narrative because they, too, were pioneers--wives for all but also daughters, in some cases.

Where I had enough details, I mentioned specific pioneering activities, such as helping to found a church or serving in the local militia.

The excerpt at top shows the second page of Job Denning's ancestor sketch. I tried to succinctly sum up his life in context (above, I called Job Denning a "pioneer turned civic leader").

Descendants Want to Know: How Are They Related to ME?

These ancestors lived, like, a l-o-n-g time ago, right? I want my grandkids to see at a glance how, exactly, they're related to each of these ole-timey ancestors. 

So at the end of each sketch, I included a quick pedigree of the ancestor couple and the descendants in the direct line to my grandkids.

This will, I hope, give the youngest a very concrete idea of the family connections between them and their pioneering great-great-great-great-great grandparents!

Maybe the booklet will "trick" them into understanding that their ancestors weren't just old-fashioned characters from family history--they were true pioneers who actually made American history.

It was a treat for me to put this together.

This week's #52Ancestors prompt is "trick or treat" - thanks to Amy Johnson Crow.

Grandma Minnie in Costume for the Kossuth Society Ball

Hermina Farkas in costume for the Kossuth Society Ball, 1909

My Grandma Hermina "Minnie" Farkas (1886-1964) was a member of the Kossuth Ferencz Hungarian Literary Sick and Benevolent Society.

On December 4, 1909* she dressed in costume for the Kossuth Society's 5th anniversary gala ball. The ball raised money to further the society's aims of helping new immigrants get established in New York City and supporting a library for literacy.

The photo at top, showing Grandma at age 23 in 1909, was taken by the Society's official photographer, Gustav Beldegreen, in his studio on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Earlier this year, a professor in Hungary contacted me after reading about Beldegreen and the Society on this blog. He is researching Hungarian-American photographers and is interested in Beldegreen's involvement with the Society.

I provided him with a high-resolution version of Grandma Minnie's photo, including the dimensions, and high-resolution versions of pages scanned from the Society's special anniversary souvenir booklet.

When the professor's book is published, Grandma Minnie's photo will be included, along with a mini-bio (born in what is now Berehove, Ukraine; arrived at Ellis Island on November 12, 1901, just two days after her 15th birthday; married Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz, in 1911; died in the Bronx, NY on March 20, 1964.)

It makes me feel good that Grandma Minnie will live on in the pages of this book, forever young.
--
* Exactly 10 years later, Grandma gave birth to twin girls, my mother and aunt, Daisy and Dorothy Schwartz.

When Did The Schwartz Twins Start Kindergarten?

The Schwartz twins at P.S. 62 on Fox Street in the Bronx, New York

Finally I'm writing a new Family Memory Booklet about my mother (Daisy Schwartz, 1919-1981) and her twin sister (Dorothy Schwartz, 1919-2001). In the process, I've been assembling photos and stories from their childhood. I'm also doing my best to date each photo for the sake of future generations.

Together in Kindergarten 

Above, a photo from the Schwartz twins' kindergarten class at P.S. 62 on Fox Street in the Bronx, New York. The school was directly across the street from their apartment building.

In the photo, I think Daisy is on the left, Dorothy on the right. I'll let my Sis weigh in, perhaps her eyes are keener than mine.

Judging by the jack-o-lanterns, the photo was taken in October--but which year?

Checking the New York Census

As shown above, the twins (Dottie and Daisy) were 5 years old on June 1, 1925, the date that this New York State census was taken. The twins' 5th birthday was December 4, 1924.

In the household with the twins were their parents, Theodore and Hermina Schwartz, and older brother, Fred. Hermina didn't tell the enumerator her correct age, as usual. She was actually a bit older than her husband, but often shaved a year or two or three off her age when answering questions like on this census.

I noticed that in this 1925 NY census, 12-year-old Fred's occupation was "school" but the twins had nothing written in that column.

So I now believe the twins began kindergarten in the fall of 1925, when they were still 5. I'm dating the kindergarten as October, 1925.

Thank you to Amy Johnson Crow for this "School Days" #52Ancestors prompt.