Boots on the Ground Researching – Page 3

Making the Most of Your Research Trip – Part 5

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 24 Aug 2016.

I’ve been blogging about my recent research trip to Franklin County, Pennsylvania. My last post told about a cemetery where reinternments of the family I was researching were placed. I had discovered that the cemetery did not have original records from the first burial site – only derivatives – and that the records that that were available most likely were not accurate as one individual was mentioned in church records but not in the cemetery records. I was hoping to find the original cemetery records for Union Cemetery so I decided I would drive back to Chambersburg and check out the Franklin County Historical Museum and Library to see what information I could find.

I had tried to make contact via email and phone several times in the past few months with this archive but no one ever returned my query regarding whether or not they had City Directories for Waynesboro from the mid to late 1800’s.

On the way, I passed another cemetery and I recalled that the brother of the family I was researching was buried there. Hmmm, could this be the final resting place of the parents I was looking for? I pulled in and made a plan. The cemetery was small. Actually, there were two cemeteries adjacent to each other. The first was very tiny and had a chain link fence around it. It was close to a brick building that had no name but was too big to be an office. It was locked. The second cemetery started on the other side of the chain link and was being mowed by a woman on a riding lawn mower. She had on head phones so she couldn’t hear me. There was a second brick building that I assumed was a church. It, too, was locked. I could hear someone inside vacuuming. Besides me, there were only 2 vehicles in the parking lot – a truck with a window open and a car.

I had a copy of the Find-A-Grave page for the family interred so I knew what I was looking for but it didn’t have coordinates. The family was not on Billion Graves. I walked to the woman mowing and she stopped to chat. She told me that the Reverend was in the church and I needed to speak with him for records. She informed me that she was responsible for mowing the larger cemetery and that the smaller, enclosed one was owned by a different church. She was not familiar with the markers as she was just hired to cut the grass. Looking at my Find-A-Grave picture, however, she pointed out that the stones I was looking for most likely were towards the road I had pulled off of as she could see the enclosed cemetery and the building in the background. Good point!

I went back to the church and knocked again and again but the Reverend could not hear me. I decided to find the stones and using the hint in the background, quickly gained perspective and found the family. Some of the stones were unreadable. My goodness, have stones in this area deteriorated since the memorials were placed online! I took a lot of pictures.

What I found most interesting were 2 things. First, the end stone had a family name of Pentz on a large marker. I have no idea how that family is related to the people buried there. There were no other Pentz’s in the row, either. Very weird! Next odd thing was the empty space that looked like it could hold 3 graves between the Pentz marker and the start of the family I was seeking. The area looked depressed – no stones – but sunken somewhat. Hmm.

I went back to the car and took out a notebook. I wrote a brief note to the Reverend, including my name and cell number and requested he contact me about cemetery records for the family. I had included the couple’s name and dates. I left the note on the seat of his car because he left the window open!). On to Chambersburg…

Well, not exactly. On the way I found another Church of the Brethren and decided to make a detour to ask the office staff if they knew the name of the German Baptist Church that had once been between Waynesboro and Gettysburg. I wanted this information as the sister of my Generation 1 wife had supposedly been married at that church. I was hoping to see if I could find a marriage certificate that may firm up where the sister had been born in Maryland as I was stuck on going backwards with that line for my own personal interest. The office staff had no idea and couldn’t direct me to anyone that might know. Oh, well. (I have the sister’s death certificate, cemetery record and diary – they all say she was born in Maryland but not specifically where. No obit or will, either.)

Made it to the museum about 11 AM and got a wonderful parking space outside:

This was the former jail so the door is extremely heavy. No one around but I saw a sign that showed the library was upstairs. I was met by a wonderfully kind volunteer who had lived in the area her whole life. I love finding people like this! The library was very small – 2 rooms. She didn’t charge me for research, either, which I greatly appreciate. She suggested we look in a book of Franklin County Cemetery inscriptions that was written in the 1970’s. The people I was seeking weren’t listed. I wasn’t surprised, my people are always elusive. The volunteer was certain that the compiler had done a marvelous job and included everything she had seen. Perhaps, but it’s the unseen I needed. Like the unreadable grave stone in Green Hill or the possible sunken stones in the second cemetery where I had stopped.

There was no voting records, city directories, educational records, or road orders. I guess no one had ever asked about road orders – the family had been wagon makers so I thought maybe they also were in charge of the roads. I have had that happen with another line on Long Island about the same time and thought I’d give it a shot.

We looked at the donated genealogies and although there was some information on related lines, it was nothing new. Actually, it had been lifted from the text that had given me the missing sibling name I was trying to find at the cemetery. I was going in circles!

She suggested I contact a volunteer librarian at the Chambersburg library who had once worked at the Alexander Hamilton Library for information about the possibility of Union Cemetery records being housed there but not noted in the holdings. She pointed out the window to the library next door.

Awesome, wouldn’t have to move the car! Except, the library is closed for renovation and somehow the volunteer didn’t know that. Walked around the barricades (on the wrong side, of course) and saw the new temporary location address. Back to the car and gps!

A few minutes later I arrived at the library. The lady I needed to see wasn’t there. Big shock, there! She wouldn’t be back for several days. I left her a note with my email address. I also asked for hers and emailed her when I returned home. She never responded.

No one else there had any knowledge of the area’s history. Time for lunch!

I had 2 half days left in the area and wanted to make the best use of what little there was left to see. Over lunch, I decided I would go back to Waynesboro and stop at their historical museum, visit any antique stores I might find open and go back to the library to see if the volunteer genealogist had shown up. I could accomplish all that in the afternoon and would just leave earlier than I had anticipated the following day. Little did I know what was about to happen!

Making the Most of Your Research Trip – Cemeteries – Part 4

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 21 Aug 2016.

Last time I wrote about my meeting with the Cemetery Director on a recent research trip I took. His records did not direct me to the grave stone I was seeking but gave me an area in which to look. That was due to the re-internments of the stones from an older cemetery, Union, that had been exhumed when the land was sold.

I drove by the building that housed the re-internments. I thought it was a large shed to contain the tools to maintain the cemetery. Hmm. Nothing noted it to be a mass grave.

When the road started turning I knew I had somehow passed where I needed to be so I turned around and looked again. I parked and decided I might do better on foot. Very quickly I saw the older stones laying flat on the ground.

The grass had recently been cut and the stones were covered with debris. Having flown and then taken a rental car, I did not have my cemetery tools with me. It was about 8:45 AM and already starting to get hot. I hated to get all dirty and then have to be in that condition the rest of the day as I had two historical museums and a return trip to the library. It looked like rain so I decided to go for it.

Let’s give a cheer for fast food! I returned to the car and grabbed a knapkin I had from the Dunkin Donut stop earlier that morning. This is what I was dealing with:

Underneath all that brown stuff in the picture was tombstones. One lone Dunkin Donut knapkin and a bunch of dirty tombstones from the early to mid 1800’s. Oh, joy!

After taking the pic, I started at the bottom right hand corner and walked hunched over using the knapkin as a fan to blow the grass and dirt off the flat stones. It didn’t work very well but I kept at it.

By the time I got to the 3rd row (that’s the one the tall stone is in) and the 6th from the right (not visible above), I had found my man! There was Bart Bear’s stone (not his real name) in far worse condition than when it was first photographed for Find-A-Grave. To the immediate right was a smaller marble stone that was completely unreadable. It sort of looked like there had been a lamb shape in the center at one point but maybe it was just my mind trying to make sense of the senseless. I had assumed that per the cemetery and church records, that this stone listed as “Unknown” would have been Bart’s maternal grandfather’s marker as the church records stated they were buried next to each other. These were the only two stones that were made of the same marble but why the grandfather’s stone would have been so small didn’t make sense to me. Perhaps this was the marker for Bart’s missing sister, Barbara, who had not been recorded in church or cemetery records. She had also been missed in census records having died between census years. The only reason I knew of her was that one of her siblings had given her name to a family member who had written a genealogy of the family years later.

I cleaned the two stones the best I could and verified that the stone to the left was not a family member. It, too, was difficult to read and I wasn’t sure at first. After taking pictures, I then walked quickly through the remaining stones using the same fanning technique but with the knapkin a mess at this point. I found nothing else.

I stopped back at the cemetery office to let the Director know I much I appreciated his help. I guess I looked disarrayed as he asked if the stones were clean. I told him they were not and had tried to blow off the grass and dirt with a knapkin. He shook his head and told me the people who maintained the cemetery were not responsible workers and he would report them to their parole officer. Yikes! Wish he had warned me before I was out there alone wandering around. Would I have done something differently? Probably would have kept my phone in my hand and not in my pocket. Please keep this in mind when you’re out stone hunting. I’ll soon write about some other unsafe really dumb things I did on this trip that I would not do again (well, I probably would but I shouldn’t)- stay tuned!

Making the Most of Your Research Trip – Cemeteries – Part 3

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 17 Aug 2016.

Today’s blog is all about cemeteries! Actually, I’ll have to split the blog as I have too much info!

I like to get an early start when I visit cemeteries in the summer as it gets HOT during the day.

My first stop of my recent research trip was Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesboro, PA. Opened in the late 1800’s, by 1923 it had accepted re-internments from Union Cemetery when the church who owned Union sold the property and the new owners didn’t want the bodies.

What saddens me about that decision is the property was sold from one church to another. Union meant what it said – it was the “Union” of all of the burials of the 3 churches in the town – at that time it was Evangelical Lutheran, German Baptist and Presbyterian. From histories of the area I read on GoogleBooks, I learned that in the mid 1800’s there was only one church in town and that all 3 denominations used it on a rotating basis. Due to structural problems and it needing repairs, one of the churches decided to rebuild on their own. The other two continued together. By the 1920’s, the two combined churches had split and the property was sold to the church who had first separated. How weird is that?! That church’s former parishioners had been buried in that space for years but the church didn’t want the bodies of the other denominations so part of the real estate deal was to have the seller get all the bodies moved. (I’ve seen this happen so many times – I’m glad I selected a City Cemetery for my own final resting place. I want a public referendum for a change!)

The selling church tried, but as was the case with the families I was researching, no local family members would have seen the newspaper notice that they needed to claim the bodies. Any body not claimed was dug up and re-interred at Green Hill in a combined location. The stones were placed on a hill, laying flat, supposedly in the same order in which they were originally placed. They are in horrible condition!

I met with the Cemetery Director and he provided me a map of the location where the old stones were kept. My dilemma was twofold. I had the names from church records that two family members were buried at Union but on Find-A-Grave, Billion Graves and the cemetery itself (I had called twice before) only one of the family members names were recorded as re-interred there.

Since I was using these people in my Kinship Determination Paper for my Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), I’m hesitant to use the real names I was researching so I’ll be using some assumed names to make this understandable.

Adam Apple was in the church records as buried next to his grandson, Bart Bear. Find-A-Grave has a photo on the memorial for Bart Bear but no mention of Adam Apple. Neither are on Billion Graves. The cemetery records have only Bart Bear listed. I was told twice by cemetery personnel that they believe their database is complete as it was based on the original Union Cemetery records they had received from the church. Those records were supposedly housed in the Alexander Hamilton Free Library and the cemetery had a copy of those records since 1923.

To complicate the story, Bart Bear had a sister, Barbara Bear. The only way I knew about Barbara was from a family genealogy text that had gotten the info from a sibling of Bart and Barbara. Barbara supposedly had died as an infant, in between census years. The text has no year of birth or death. The church has no record of her. Neither does the online resources or the cemetery. Where was she buried and when?

Bart and Barbara’s paternal grandfather – I’m calling him Alex Bear, and his wife Amanda Bear, are also missing from every source I’ve consulted. Alex’s will was indexed but is missing so all I know is that it was probated in 1874 in Franklin County. I suspect he died towards the end of 1874 as the probate was in late November but I don’t know that for sure. He may have been buried in Union as they still accepted internments at that time.

My mission was to answer the following:

Why was Adam Apple not listed in the cemetery records but was in the church records?
Why was Barbara Bear not listed in the cemetery records or church records?
Was Alex and Amanda Bear buried in Union or Green Hill?
BONUS QUESTION: Was Adam Apple’s wife (name unknown) buried next to Adam?

I also wanted to see Bart Bear’s tombstone.

When I met with the Cemetery Director I explained why this information was important to me. I also explained that I had visited the Alexander Hamilton Free Public Library the evening before and they couldn’t find any records for Union Cemetery. Of course, the Cemetery Director was basing his information on what he had been told as he wasn’t even born when the reinternments occurred. He did admit that he had original records from Union Cemetery but due to their delicate nature, they were not be copied. I understand and asked if I could simply view them. This took quite some negotiation. I was given all the standard reasons I could not see them – the transcriptions that were placed on the cemetery database were complete, the paper the original was on was so thin it was too delicate to handle, the writing was very difficult to read and I wouldn’t be able to read it, and he wasn’t supposed to share the information as it contained family information for others that had not given permission to view the records.

Of course, I had an answer for each point. I acknowledged that whoever transcribed from the original most likely did their best but that it was always advisable to have someone check your work as humans inadvertently make mistakes. I would not handle the paper – he could and it could be placed on the desk with the minimum amount of handling. I have taken classes in reading old handwriting and told him one of my most recent client transcriptions was extremely difficult as the writer had turned the paper 90 degrees and written in cursive from the middle of the 1800’s, on a boat, during the Civil War, over what had previously been written. Not only had I transcribed it successfully the article was published in the Florida Genealogist in June and I could show him a sample of that work.

The sticking point became the appropriateness of my viewing the records of other internments. My rebuttal was that the gravestones had been photographed and were online. I brought up Find-A-Grave on my phone and showed him Bart Bear’s information. I reminded him that the Union reintenrments consisted of families that had NO KNOWN LIVING RELATIVES in 1923 and that HIPPA and confidentiality were not the law at the time the bodies were moved. He reluctantly agreed.

Bringing back a small business envelope he removed several folded pages. I was so disappointed. All were written in the same handwriting – this was not original records. This was a derivative from another source, uncited. Geez. Now I understood why Adam Apple wasn’t in the cemetery records. Whoever copied the current cemetery record from the original most likely had overlooked him and who knows how many others, probably Barbara Bear, too. I explained that to the Director. He had no idea where the original records were housed. He assumed, if the library did not have them, that the church did. REMEMBER: When researching, staff you will meet with may not have the knowledge of records that genealogists do. They don’t understand the difference between original and derivative. Educate briefly while you’re there – it’ll save time for another researcher who comes along later.

Personally, I believe that the church has the originals somewhere in their archives and that the current office staff has no knowledge of that. If the cemetery book was donated to the Alexander Hamilton Library it most likely would have been listed as one of their holdings, which it is not. Now that library was not organized so the possibility remains that they do have holdings that aren’t catalogued. I know they don’t know the valuable resources that they have as I had planned to see at the Library of Congress a rare book written by one of the individuals I was researching and it was just sitting in the stacks – same edition – like it was just a regular old book for check out. I didn’t say anything as I figured it’s safer on the shelf than letting the staff know and having someone pilfer it and sell it on Ebay. (I’m not saying the library staff has no scruples, I just don’t want that scenario to occur. Someone had already ripped out indexes of several books that were in the stacks so I think it’s better to keep my lips sealed). But, back to the cemetery…

Interestingly, next to Bart Bear on the “original” derivative cemetery records it was clearly written as “unknown.” I first suspected that the unknown individual may have been Adam Apple as that would confirm the church records that stated Adam was buried next to Bart. I gave the Cemetery Director a copy of the church records I had received (which he didn’t have – go figure!) and wrote a note on it that I believed that space had been Adam’s.

The records did not list the other individuals I was seeking. They could have been accidentally omitted or they may never have been buried there. Who knows?! I was on to visiting the gravesite.

Next time, I’ll blog more about being in the cemetery.

Making the Most of Your Research Trip Part 2

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 11 Aug 2016

By the second day of my research trip in Pennsylvania I was much more familiar with the area and had a better sense of how long it would take me to get from point A to point B, thus I could organize my day efficiently.

Before any trip I plan extensively from home so I don’t waste time and miss resources while I’m on the road. Sometime I get lucky and connect with “boots on the ground” folks who are willing to provide me needed information immediately. In those situations, I like to take a minute to visit in person when I arrive to personally thank them for their help. That was on top of my agenda for the day.

I rose early and didn’t want to wait around for repositories to open so I drove to nearby Greencastle where a Dunkin Donuts had just opened. I bought a box of donut holes with the intention of bringing them back to Waynesboro and giving them to the office staff of a church who had so graciously emailed me copies of original records. Those records took me back a generation and I was very greatful!

Not a lot of traffic so I arrived back in Waynesboro 30 minutes before the church office opened. That was fine, though, as I had previously identified on a map the location of where 3 of the people I was researching owned a business in the mid 1800’s on Main Street. I had a copy of the map in my phone download so I could bring it up and orient myself to what the present area looks like. Since the business day hadn’t begun I was able to park easily and snap photos of the lots. All of these lots had been verified by deeds (remember, I had first gone to the Court House and had from home, rented Family History Library films).

I also like to take photos of the view from the lot. Why? This gives me a sense of what the ancestor may have seen from their land.

Of the 3 lots, one still viewed mountains off in the distance. I could imagine the Rebel Army swarming down on the night of 3 July 1863. How did I know that had happened? Before the trip I had read several histories of the area available on GoogleBooks. I also had the Civil War claim of one of the individuals and two newspaper articles by eyewitnesses of the events of that evening. The day I visited, thank goodness, the view was not threatening!

I still had time before the church opened so I drove by two other churches . I took pictures of those places, along with closeups of the visible cornerstone. This told me that one of the churches was indeed built at the time the ancestor lived in the area. The other church cornerstone clearly showed a later date. This was important because it confirmed that the church bought the lot from another church that had previously used the space for a cemetery. The bodies had been removed to another cemetery in the 1920’s. Two known people I was researching had been reinterred due to that real estate sale.

Stopped by the church office, dropped off the donuts conveyed my appreciation and was off to visit cemeteries. Check back for more!

Making the Most of Your Research Trip Part 1

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 7 Aug 2016.

I’ve been blogging about my recent genealogical hunt in Pennsylvania. After packing essential research tools and visiting the County Courthouse I was off to the Franklin County Historical Museum. Problem was, due to my rental car delay, I arrived later than I anticipated and with only a half hour until closing, I didn’t want to spend the $5.00 research fee and have to return the following day and pay again. I opted instead to drive about 20 minutes to nearby Waynesboro where the Alexander Hamilton Free Library was open until 7 p.m.

Lucky for me, there was a parking space right in front of the library and I had coins for the meter in my research bag. Whenever I enter a new library I always ask where the genealogy section is housed if there was no map online. The sweet librarian pointed to stairs and told me there were “a few rooms.” More than one, seriously?! I like that! The room at the foot of the stairs was awesome, too:

After climbing the stairs I discovered the Civil War room was to the left and the church/cemetery/county histories and genealogies were to the right. A third, smaller room held file cabinets of clippings and donated genealogy records.

What I found strange was that there was NO staff member or computer to access the holdings upstairs. It was also extremely HOT. If there was air conditioning it wasn’t working. (And I’m from Florida so when I say it was hot, it was really hot!)

I quickly walked through the Civil War room. Although the family I was researching lived in the town during that time and had been affected by the War, the materials were not specific to the area. Several series of volumes were placed on the shelf in mixed up order and my OCD tendencies kicked in – I just wanted to put them in sequence. Time was a wasting so I moved on to the next room.

I would love to tell you that this room was in better shape but it wasn’t:

Messy libraries make me nuts! I decided I would just start at the northwest corner of the room and read the shelves. By reading, I mean I don’t just read the books that have their names on the spine. I pull out books that don’t and sure enough, within minutes I found the following:

It’s hard to see in the pic due to the small size but the book was once owned and signed by Clarence Harbaugh. I was researching the Harbaugh family. Although I wasn’t focused on Clarence I did have him in my tree so I took the book to a nearby table and took a picture with my phone. Now I had Clarence’s signature so I could add it to media in my tree. If I ever extend the project I’m working on then I have a good start for another generation!

I had a list of areas I wanted to check – city directories, town records, historical maps and the cemetery and church records I was told were housed there. I was disappointed to find the oldest City Directory was only from 1905, much too late for my family. The church records were missing the index. It was a derivative and I already had the original from the church emailed to me earlier so no loss for me but sad for anyone else who needed that. Since I couldn’t find a burial location for the father of my Generation 1 individual, I really was hoping to locate a cemetery record from a cemetery that no longer exists. I had been told on the phone twice that the library had the Union Cemetery records but I couldn’t find them. I did find an 1843 tax list and the folks I was researching were listed so that was a happy dance.

I moved on to the file cabinet room but there was nothing on the family I was researching. I still had an hour before closing so I went downstairs and asked the librarian where I could find the Union Cemetery records. She looked on the library holding database but couldn’t find it. There is a volunteer genealogist but he wasn’t available and staff didn’t know his schedule. I decided I’d try again the following day as I had emailed twice and left two voice messages but had never gotten in contact with him. The librarian signed me on to a public computer as a guest since I didn’t have a library card and I happily spent the next hour checking out the remaining newspapers that had been digitized. Due to the fragile nature of the originals I was only able to view the digitized copies. Better than nothing! They aren’t available at Newspapers.com, Chronicling America or Genealogy Bank so it was very important for me to see. I did find two references to the family I was interested in – jury duty and an advertisement for a sale. Very nice finds!

The library was supposed to close at 7 but the computers shut down at 6:45. I was almost done with the newspapers but would have to finish the next day.

Soon after I had eaten dinner and checked into my hotel I checked my laptop to see if my phone’s pictures had synched. I don’t carry the clunky laptop when I research anymore but I do take it with me on extended trips as it’s easier to manipulate the photos on the laptop then my Kindle, especially when my old eyes are tired after a long day researching.

I save the photos of places to a Word document and place a caption under each so I don’t forget why I took the picture. I also save pictures of book pages and place the individual pictures in a created folder. For example, I usually take a picture of 1) the index which I then flag with a stickee, 2) the pages that the index pointed me to and 3) the title page. Using the stickee helps me flip back and forth from index to the page I’m directed to quickly. To create the folder to save the pic, I use last name, first name of the individual found and what was the find. In this case, Weaver.Christin.1843TaxList. In the folder I place the picture of the index, the title and 2 pages where I found info. All of the finds are then slipped into another folder labeled with the repository name and date of visit (This would be HamiltonPublicLibrary.WaynesboroPA.14Jul16.. That way, when I get home and merge the pages together to pdf, I can add to media on my tree and note where and when I found the source. I’m old school and like to cite the location of the find in my notes.

Stay tuned for more hints in Part 2.

Researching at the Courthouse

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 3 Aug 2016.

Last blog I mentioned two rules I use to make a research trip rewarding – KNOW BEFORE YOU GO and PACK EFFICIENTLY. Just back from researching in several states and in various libraries and archives so I’m going to share what worked for me at the different locations I visited.

My first stop in Pennsylvania was the Chambersburg (Franklin County seat) Courthouse. I had called ahead to verify the times the facility was open and that the old deeds and wills I needed were available. I knew the cost of the copies and how they accepted payment (cash/credit/debit). I knew which building (there’s an old and new courthouse) and what department and the floor I needed to go to. I also asked where I should park. This allowed me to save time and money when I arrived.

I had also previously identified what the deed dates I was interested in finding by using an index on Familysearch.org. I had ordered the film for the actual deeds but when it arrived in June, it didn’t contain them. Sometimes the films are mislabeled and you don’t get what you expect. One of the films did have a deed but it was of such poor quality I couldn’t read most of the page no matter how I tried to play with it. I was hoping for a better copy. I also knew exactly what Will Book and page I needed based on an index I found on Ancestry.com.

Since the area was just north of the Mason-Dixon line I wondered what the family I was researching’s views were during the Civil War when they lived in the area. I had a hunch but hunches are useless without a document to back it up so I also wanted to check out if any voter’s records survived.

So, in this complex of one stop, I had 3 missions – a will, deeds and voter’s records.

My necklace did set off security which was odd since it didn’t at the airport. Next time, no jewelry! When I entered the Recorder’s Office I introduced myself to the clerical worker and ask for directions to secure what I need.

Directed to a computer I was able to pull 5 deeds in 5 minutes. The printer was a little slow so while it was still printing, I asked about finding the will.

This is not the first time I tried to find the will – I’ve been to the site before and I hired a researcher to also try to find it. Again, I was told it was lost. This time, I whipped out my business card and asked to speak with the head of the facility. I explained to this gracious woman why it was so critical that I find this document and asked if I could go into the basement where the originals were stored as I believed that the will had been misfiled. She informed me policy prohibited anyone but employees from going into the basement. I showed her an email I had received from the state archivist that showed, according to their records, the will was located in the basement. I suggested that the box of wills be brought upstairs and I would go through them to make sure that it wasn’t misfiled. She agreed and sent an employee to bring up the box. All 3 of us went through the box and sadly, it was not there.

Had I been allowed in the basement, I would have gone through every box but that wasn’t going to happen as I had pushed it to just have one box brought upstairs. There is still some hope as the missing document was placed on the “missing list” that a county archivist maintains and if it is discovered, I will be contacted.

The deeds also turned out to not be for the person that I was researching but that’s okay, I have additional information on a related line and the one poor copy I had from the Family History Library microfilm was readable and what I needed. Two down, one to go!

It was a short walk from one building to the next (and through security again – this time my jewelry didn’t set off the alarm!) to the voter’s registration office. The clerk told me that by law, only 10 years of records needed to be maintained so none were available for the years I wanted. She suggested that I go to the historical society as she wasn’t sure when the law was passsed and perhaps, they had older records. That was my next stop and just around the corner! Stay tuned…

Research Tips

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 30 Jul 2016.

I spent the past two weeks researching in several states. Each archive I visited had different policies and procedures but there were commonalities that helped me use my limited time efficiently. On a visit to one of the libraries I had a co-worker tag along and she asked me to share how I found so much so quickly. Since she’s a dear reader, per her request, I’d like to share how I plan my research trips.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO – Your time is valuable and you don’t want to waste it! The only way to make to the most of your visit is to PLAN AHEAD. How do I do that? As soon as I know I will be arriving in a distant area I identify who is in my tree that lived in the area I’ll visit and what additional information for that individual I’d like to find. I look at the sources I have and focus on what’s missing. I next go to Familysearch.org and do a search for archives I may be interested in visiting to quickly plan the visit.

Here’s an example from my recent trip to Franklin County, Pennsylvania. I click on Familysearch.org and under SEARCH at the top, use the drop down and click WIKI. On the map of the world I click the US, then Pennsylvania, then Franklin County. Up pops wonderful information! I scroll down to the bottom where the repositories are located. I snip to Word (or if you are using a Kindle – copy/paste to Evernote) and in just a minute or two have created a guide of where I need to go. Is the list complete? No, but it’s a wonderful tool to start with. Using the identified places that look promising – Courthouse in Chambersburg (for deeds and wills), Alexander Hamilton Library in Waynesboro (for obit), and the Franklin County Historical Museum (for knowledge of the area’s records in general) I can visit those websites for opening/closing times, admission costs, records that are housed there, and policies in place. I add that info to my Word document. As I’m Googling to find additional information about these places I discover more archives to add by looking at the right hand bottom of the Google search results page under “People Also Searched For.” To make sure I’m not missing any smaller gem that may not receive alot of internet traffic, I also Google “Franklin County Pennsylvania USGenWeb” Voila – scrolling down under Historical & Genealogical Societies and Museums is listed Waynesboro Historical Society. That’s a place I need to add to my Word/Evernote document as I know that the folks I’m searching for lived in that location. Depending on the time I have to spend in the area, I add churches (baptism/marriage/death/parishioner records) and cemeteries (family plot info), too.

In a perfect genealogical world, I would have time to contact the repositories ahead of my visit to make sure that the old deeds are still housed in the courthouse and weren’t moved to the museum but sometimes that’s not possible and I just have to wing it. For this trip, though, I did call ahead or search the website to verify who had what.

I then prioritize what I wanted to find as sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we want. Several years ago I planned a trip around a library in Morristown, New Jersey and guess what?! The day before I arrived they had a gas leak and the library was closed when I got there. I had nothing else identified to visit in the area and the trip was an expensive waste of time. Live and learn!

Once I’ve identified my list of sites to visit I route based on my priorities. On the Franklin trip, my number one priority was to find a will, then the deeds, as I hoped that would lead me to a firm death date and I could then locate the burial site. If they weren’t available my backup was to find an obituary.

Even with planning, sometimes life gets in the way so you have to be flexible. I arrived at Reagan National in DC mid day on a Thursday. I had pre-paid for the rental car thinking I could drive in 1 1/2 hours to the courthouse to get the will and deeds, go next door to the county historical museum to check out their index of county burials and then head to the library (which was open late that evening) to find an obit. Well, it didn’t work out as planned. Arriving early at National I then encountered a long wait at the rental car counter as it was lunch time and there was only 1 employee available who was arguing with the customer ahead of me over company policy. The kiosks were all down due to a computer glitch. I waited and waited and finally another employee came back from lunch. He was new, though, and couldn’t find my reservation even though I had a copy of my confirmation with me. Then he found it but the transaction wouldn’t go through as the credit card I had used to pre-pay had been compromised two weeks earlier and I had a replacement card with another number. He told me my option was to rent a car at the going rate (much higher) and deal with getting a credit on my pre-payment after my trip. Nope! Asked to speak to a manager and none available. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking…. After two calls to corporate customer service I was permitted to update my credit card information and get the rental. Thinking it would be smooth sailing ahead I happily followed the employee’s directions to go to the top floor of the parking garage and find the car in the space he wrote on the paperwork. Except there were no rental cars on the top floor – he should have sent me to the 3rd floor. Took me several minutes to figure out where to go. When I got to the designated space I couldn’t get into the car. I then had to hunt down an employee who told me they rented me the wrong car and I needed to go back downstairs to get it straightened out. When I arrived downstairs there was a long line and seriously, the first employee was still arguing with the customer who had been there when I first arrived. Thankfully, the nice people in line let me take cuts and the new employee again didn’t know what to do. A manager now magically appeared and they found me a different car. Back to the 3rd floor and another wait to get out of the parking lot as there was one employee to check me out. I lost an hour plus that I had expected to use researching. Deep breathing helps!

2. PACK EFFICIENTLY – Below is a pic of what I keep together to make my research trip more efficient:

This is all I take – my Kindle as it contains my tree, my phone so I can take pictures of my finds, a small change purse with quarters for parking meters, locker rental or snacks, a thumb drive to save what I find, identification (those are Library of Congress and NARA library cards but I also put my drivers license credit cards and a few business cards in the change purse), a pencil, red pen, black pen and highlighter, stickees (to flag the index as I’m going back and forth in a text), hand sanitizer and a magnifying glass.

All of this fits into a quart size baggie:

Remarkable how everything fits except the Kindle! Sometimes I take a large rubber band and band the baggie to the Kindle so I don’t drop anything.

This small amount of needed tools helps me move quickly through security and not spend time digging through my purse to find what I need when I’m in the stacks. I also check out quickly as employees can see I haven’t “accidentally” taken something out that I shouldn’t have. This set up is a win-win for everyone!

I actually prefer mechanical pencils to the standard shown above but I was out so I used what I had at home. I’ll get those mechanical ones when the back-to-school sales start this week.

It’s important to know the repositories policy as some do no allow you to take paper, pens, pencils or highlighters in with you. At the National Archives, I had to leave my Kindle case in a locker, too. Again, flexibility is needed.

Next blog, I’ll give you hints for being effective and efficient when you reach your destination. Happy Hunting!

Visiting the New England Historic and Genealogical Society

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 18 Nov 2015.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of researching at the New England Historic and Genealogical Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

New England Historic & Genealogical Society, Boston, MA Nov 2015

If you’re planning a first visit, here’s some tips I found useful:

The library is SMALL but filled with tremendous resources that you might not find anywhere else. Don’t let the size fool you! Obviously, the holdings are fantastic if you have New England relatives but there is also a sizable collection of Long Island and New Netherlands. My most awesome find was from Indiana, though, so don’t discount other areas!
COST is free if you’re a member (about $90.00 a year) and $20.00 if you aren’t. Click for Info on Joining! I highly recommend being a member for the following reasons : First, if you’re planning on spending a few days, it’s cost effective. Second, as a member you get a lot of perks you wouldn’t get with a day entrance fee – those wonderful journal articles that the society puts out, discounted fee on accessing a genealogist, training opportunities and so on. Third, you’re helping the society keep the materials available to everyone.
BE PREPARED (Yay, Boy and Girl Scouts!) Seriously, know what you’re trying to find before you get there so you don’t waste valuable research time. You can do a search of the card catalog online at http://library.nehgs.org/ . If you haven’t registered, which you can do even if you don’t join the society, it’s easy and if you save the search items, you can email them to yourself so you have it on your phone and tablet when you arrive. It saves results with the FLOOR listed so you know exactly where you need to look. Emailing saves a tree, time and having to juggle more stuff in the stacks! (HINT: Many of their holdings are digitized so you can peruse the text online and focus on books in the library that you can’t view from home.)
To get familiar with the library you can watch their video, which I did, but if you’re short of time you’re fine if you don’t watch it. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page for the video. (HINT: Start on the 7^th floor which is reference because those are the books you can’t easily find elsewhere.)
Getting there is simple – I took a cab from Logan Airport because I had my heavy bag that I couldn’t check into the hotel since I arrived too early. It was $23.00 without tip. Another option is to take the subway, called the T, which is super easy to navigate, inexpensive and available right from the airport to Copley Square. It’s a short walk. There are also parking garages close by if you drive which I would recommend against. I learned to drive in Chicago and I drive in New York City but I never ever drive in Boston. Those narrow streets and congestion intimidate me!
Lockers are available but they are very small and my large purse didn’t fit. The website says NO SUITCASES so I packed light, stuffing everything in the bag, thinking I could get away with a purse. I mentioned this to one of the employees and she laughed and said they wouldn’t have minded the suitcase. Oh, well. Since the flights were overbooked and there was no space in the overheads it all worked out anyway. Across from the lockers is a coat rack so I hung my coat (Wicked Boston cold last weekend, it was 89 degrees when I left Florida) and put my bag on the floor in the corner. No one messed with it.
Check the website for hours and days opened, especially with the holidays approaching. I arrived shortly after 10 AM. There were few patrons researching and no one in the stacks so I was able to accomplish a lot in a little time.
When you arrive there is a welcome counter to your left where I was given a map. They will check your membership before permitting you entry. Once you’re checked, you will be directed to the elevator.
I was greeted by a wonderful genealogist on the 7^th floor – she welcomed me, was willing to help me get started and was open to answering any questions I might have. She had a client so another genealogist took over for her. He was very professional, too, and gave me the wireless access. I always bring just my Kindle as I find it’s a light, space saving alternative to a laptop. With access to my online tree I can fact check right in the stacks. The internet was spotty, though.
The stacks are narrow and dark. There is a small counter in the midst so you can put your finds on the counter and snap a picture of the page. You can also use their copy machine or save to a thumb drive but my smart phone’s camera is good with low light so I could happily click away. I like that approach because I tend to look at many volumes and it wastes time to carry them to a copier, wait for the copier to warm up, and you know the rest. Read an interesting article in Family History Daily that recommends the use of other devices. View here for other ideas but I’m good with my phone.
BRING PENCILS – they don’t allow pens. I did print a concise list of the books I wanted to see and wrote my notes, mostly negative findings, on the margin to transfer to my tree notes later. Here’s an example: “No Adams, Cole or Dennis.” To me, that means those are the surnames I checked out but there were no references in the index to them. That way, I know later if there was another surname I overlooked and I’ll not have to recheck the source in another library for what I’ve already checked.
BRING A MAGNIFYING GLASS or have an ap on your phone. I miss my young eyes, I really do!
BRING POST IT NOTES. You can quickly flag pages to take pictures of findings without having to flip back and forth to the index and they’re reusable.
Once I finished with the 7^th floor I moved to the 5^th. No warm and fuzzy welcome there – two young ladies didn’t even look up from the desk when I entered. What’s cool about these stacks is there is a light switch from the aisle you can turn on to get more overhead light. Very useful!
After you’ve checked out your pre-identified books you may have additional time to look over the stacks. That’s how I discovered my most intriguing current genealogical mystery. Hmmm – why would my husband’s grandmother be enrolled in school at age 7 by someone named Frank? Have NO ONE named Frank in that line. It could be Frank’s name is an error or the record is for someone else in the area with the same name as hubby’s grandma (not likely, though, since I’ve been over the census numerous times without finding another with her name and she has an unusual first and middle name!). Immediately texted hubby and asked “Who’s Frank?” He didn’t know so now I’m on a hunt to discover more. The book was a transcript of school enrollment for the late 1800’s in Indiana. Must find the original record to make sure Frank is correct!
Food and directions – ask at the front desk on the first floor. The first person there was a volunteer not from the area but she was so sweet she phoned someone to help me. I ate at a pizza place inside the YWCA but there’s many places to get a quick bite. I only stopped there because I was freezing and it was half way to my hotel so I could eat and warm up for a bit.

S I’ll definitely come back after my portfolio has been submitted and spend time trying to uncover more of our New England ancestors. So much to look at and so little time!

My finding at NEHGS also confirms what professionals emphasize – you have to look high and low to find proof. I can’t explain why I found my husband’s several times great grandfather from New York’s place of burial in Salt Lake City and his Indiana grandmother’s school enrollment in Boston. What’s strange is I looked for the burial records in numerous places in New York and never found them. I never looked for school enrollment records in Indiana so I can’t say that they don’t exist there, I just find it odd to find it in Boston. My point is check as much as you can about everyone everywhere you go. I also find it interesting on Who Do You Think You Are celebrities fly from place to place to trace their families. Lucky for them, their family records are ALWAYS where they lived. Clearly mine are not!

The Scoop on Salt Lake City’s Family History Library – Views of a First Time Researcher

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com 26 Apr 2015

Yours truly, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 2015

If you haven’t been bitten by the genealogy bug you don’t understand why anyone would spend a week of their hard earned vacation time in a library far from home researching dead people. My work colleagues gave me polite bemused smiles last month when I shared my exciting news – I was FINALLY going to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Definitely not a dream vacation for any of them but it’s always been my hope to one day research there.

Here’s what I learned from my adventure…

BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME:

Form a goal – mine was finding clues on how to climb over at least one of my top 10 walls in the four days I would be visiting.
Make a list of the people you want to search – what you know, how you know it, & what you want to know. Then, narrow your list down as you aren’t going to have time to check out every one. I used a small pocket notebook as a backup to my electronic tree. I have my tree saved to a cloud (Dropbox and ancestry.com) so it’s available in case I needed to view saved original records. The notebook enabled me to write down call numbers, page numbers and thoughts and was a backup if the electricity went out. (Ok, I realize that would be highly unlikely but being from Florida where we have the power go out frequently, I was going to find a window and keep working from my paper notes.)
If you haven’t already done so, join FamilySearch – like the library, it’s free. Then, use the online catalog to identify resources you’ll be checking. If you’re not sure how to use the catalog check out this Youtube video. Make sure you remember to print and bring the list you’ve compiled! You’ll be using the catalog as you find new information at the library but this initial search is a great way to identify a starting point. If you see “Vault” on an item request that it be pulled for you so it will be available on the day of your visit – you can do that from home.
View these YouTube videos so you are familiar with the library procedures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_umqQmaGvM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sAr7NltMaY
You’ll quickly get acclimated to the floor collections: British Isles-Basement 2, International-Basement 1, Surnames and Canada books-1^st floor, US/Canada microfilm-2^nd Floor and US Books and Maps-3^rd floor. Here’s a floor plan of the library: https://familysearch.org/locations/library_floor_plans
Go online to verify the library hours (Typically Monday 8AM-5PM, Tues-Fri. 8AM-9PM, Sat 9 AM-9PM). I saw a sign while there of an upcoming closure so do check ahead of time or you may be in for a disappointing surprise.
Google Earth your hotel and the library (35 North West Temple Street) so you know the route. The blocks are much longer than in my area but it was a pleasant walk as passerbys were very friendly.

WHAT TO BRING:

Kindle Fire/IPad/Tablet if you have one. Don’t go out and buy one if you don’t! I used my Fire to take notes, sign on to the free wifi to check my tree, use Google translator and do quick searches of the catalog while in the stacks or at the microfilm area. Saved time getting up and walking over to a computer.
Digital camera, scanner or your phone with a fully charged battery. I took pics of the book pages and microfilm discoveries. If none of those suggestion work for you, purchase a copy card. I wanted to come home without killing a forest and be able to quickly import what I found to my tree page so the camera worked well for me. I bought an extra sd card but didn’t need it. Make sure you bring the charger to recharge the battery overnight!
Office Supplies I found useful were a pen (there are pencils with no erasers and scrap paper everywhere), stickees to tag book pages that I wanted to photograph, and a highlighter to highlight the microfilm index pages I wrote down so I knew that I checked each page. (I so despise microfilm even though that’s where I seem to find my most amazing discoveries!)
A magnifying glass – seriously! Some of the records are small and difficult to see.
A bag to carry your research goodies. I used my airline carry-on purse but a backpack would also work. My hotel was several blocks away and it rained so the bag and the rain poncho I brought kept my stuff safe and dry.

WHAT TO LEAVE HOME OR IN YOUR HOTEL ROOM:

Laptop – there are plenty of computers to use. I brought mine the first day and it was heavy to lug around as you don’t want to leave it out unattended. I used it in the hotel in the evening to upload my discoveries, record the source citation while they were still fresh in my mind, and plan for the following day’s research but I really didn’t need to bring it at all since I had the tablet.
A thumb drive – always have one on me but didn’t use it.

WHAT OTHERS RECOMMEND THAT I DIDN’T FIND USEFUL:

Change – I used the lockers on the first day only to store the laptop I didn’t need.
Orientation Room– Since I viewed the YouTube videos I didn’t need to spend time there, though I did a quick walk through of the eye appealing displays in the room.
Snacks-I was so consumed by what I was doing I wasn’t hungry. I brought a box of granola bars but never ate them. There is a vending machine area if you do get hungry.
Meals at the Blue Lemon in City Creek Center that everyone raves about because the line was long (there was a conference in town). For a quick bite, eat at JBs, the old fashion restaurant on the corner – a nice salad bar, daily specials and a to die for chocolate chiffon pie to celebrate your finds! I figured I burned a 1000 calories using my brain to research so the calories didn’t count. JBs online reviews weren’t so hot but due to inclement weather, I didn’t want to venture far. Wish I had discovered them on day 1! Also did Johnny Rocket and Jimmy Johns for lunch, Olive Garden, Squatters Pub, and Blue Iguana for dinner. Used the hotel breakfast bar which had a nice selection of different items every morning.

city-creek-center — City Creek Center with real trout in the creek!

I’M HERE, NOW WHAT?

First Day – I admit that I’m a research nerd and I got so excited when I walked in that I announced to the world that my dream had come true. I guess that got me tagged as a Newbie which resulted in the staff asking me throughout the day how things were going. Each morning staff welcomed me back and asked what I’d be working on that day. By my last day I was hugging several volunteers and staff members good-bye as their genuine interest in my research bonded us. I sent a few email thank you’s upon my return home as one genealogist’s neighbor was from my childhood hometown and I had pictures to share. Another volunteer was researching the same surname (Coke) from the same areas (Virginia and New York) and we hit it off.
On each floor is a podium with helpful volunteers. I call them the Greeters. On your first time on each floor they can give you useful tips for their resources. For example, on the 3rd floor on the left wall is a notebook cheat sheet to quickly locate state-county-city books on the shelves. I wouldn’t have found it if the Greeter hadn’t told me about it. After you’re familiar with the floor I found myself going to the podium behind the podium – that’s where you ask for specific genealogical assistance.
Ask For Help – I liked to get there at opening because there are no crowds and you can quickly speak with a genealogist. If there is a wait, they’ll give you a restaurant style pager. I never waited longer than 5 minutes. Getting a new pair of eyes on your quandaries can open up a new direction for you. Blue lanyards are research helpers, red lanyards are collection helpers. Even if you forget which is which you’ll be directed to someone that can help you.
Pace Your Day – I varied my activities between looking at books, microfilms (which tires my eyes), following a new lead online after using their other resources, and talking with a genealogist. I tried to speak with a genealogist first because both of us are fresh first thing in the morning, there is no wait and the advice might have revised my plan for the day. I looked at books next because they don’t circulate to my home library for review like microfilms do so I didn’t want to miss them. On my last afternoon I browsed the surname books on the first floor. I found 2 books on Leiningers I didn’t know about and was surprised they didn’t have the 2 that I have, nor any of the 3 Harbaugh books. It’s important to remember they don’t have everything. If you don’t find what you’re looking for it still may be out there somewhere so don’t give up!
Classes – I didn’t think I would have time to take a class so I didn’t look at the schedule from home. Thank goodness that the daily classes are posted and an announcement is made about 30 minutes before the start of one. I found I did have time so I took Scotts-Irish Research Ideas and French Resources. Both were awesome, FREE and gave me additional direction to pursue. I wish I could have squeezed in the German class, too.
Have Fun Outside of the Library, Too! All research and no sightseeing makes for an exhausted and grumpy travel companion so do see the surrounding area. There is a Visitor’s Center next to Salt Lake Palace Convention Center (with a nice small gift shop) a block away that can assist you. My travel companion and I took the UTA light rail which is very inexpensive to the University of Utah to visit the “Dino” Museum and the botanical gardens next door.

Dino Family Tee at the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake

magnolia-at-red-butte-gardens — Magnolia at Red Butte Gardens

A student we met on the light rail gave us a short walking tour of the University which was also nice. There is a free campus van that will drive you from the light rail to the museum/gardens. It’s about a 10 minute walk but it’s all uphill!

One night we did the Grimm Ghost Tour which was fun but a little creepy – I skipped out on visiting the serial killer’s basement.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir had a dress rehearsal on another evening which was wonderful. (No pictures, no audio and they check your bags).

We also rented a car to go to Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake. This is where the bison and the antelope play.

WHAT I WISH THE LIBRARY BIGWIGS WOULD KNOW:

Your knowledgeable and dedicated employees and volunteers are beyond awesome! I so appreciated their wonderful recommendations, encouragement and patience with my many questions. I am thankful that I was able to visit your beautiful facility and plan on returning again and again!

Only suggestion I have is to remind your Elders if you want the Millennial generation to become interested in genealogy, they need to be encouraging. On two separate days, my travel partner was questioned by Elders as to why I was asking all the questions. She responded politely that she was new to genealogy and was in town for the conference. The response of both was, “Hrmph.” My advice, Elders, is listen to the Sisters. They always said, “Glad you’re here!”

WHAT I TOLD THE ‘KNOW AT ALLS’ WHEN I GOT HOME:

IMHO, there are 2 kinds of people in the world – the glass is half full and the glass is half empty. Before I left home I had several people tell me I wouldn’t find anything. WRONG! I found and learned so much that I only wish I had more time to spend and lived closer. I am truly sorry for the folks that never found what they were looking for. I know it’s frustrating but it is what it is. Just because you didn’t find anything doesn’t mean no one else should go.

I also had acquaintances tell me that I would be accosted by Mormons who were going to repeatedly attempt to evangelize me. WRONG! No one ever tried to persuade me to join the Mormon faith. No one ever asked me what my faith is. The ancestors I was researching had been Quaker, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Dutch Reformed, Puritan, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist. No one cared that they weren’t Mormon. No one tried to ‘baptize’ them. Just because a Mormon woke you up too early on a Saturday morning does not mean it’s going to be a problem in the library. It won’t be. So go visit – you really must!

Next time I’m going to share my thoughts on how the library experience pushed me to pursue becoming a Certified Genealogist.