Family Tree Maker’s Fall Newsletter Makes Me Feel Vindicated!

Well, well,  I’m feeling pretty righteous!  I recently received the Fall Newsletter (which, BTW, is the ONLY newsletter that Family Tree Maker has emailed to me this year so it correctly should be labeled as the “First Fall Newsletter” since Software MacKiev bought the rights for the Microsoft version which is what I formerly used.)

The newsletter was designed to notify the public that they are running behind and don’t have the synch ready as they had earlier stated would occur before the end of 2016.  Okay, glitches happen and I am pleased that the organization is taking ownership that they will not be able to meet their self imposed deadline.

IMHO, this is a major step forward.  I’ve been blogging for quite a while about my frustration with FTM not syching with my large Ancestry.com tree.  Every time I called customer service they would blame Ancestry.  I’d call Ancestry and they’d tell me to call FTM.  I’d wait a day or two and try again as I was hoping whoever was on duty would have the knowledge to assist me.  I posted for help, too but no one seemed to know what the problem was.  The only “help” I ever received was twice when I was emailed a useless pdf that supposedly would get the synch back but that never worked, either. The final time I called, the rep tried to tell me I couldn’t follow instructions.   So much for service! That was the day I switched to Legacy Family Tree’s standard edition.

But back to the newsletter… I quote, “…So, should you get the latest build right now then? Well, it depends. The improvements are mostly in stability and performance. So if FTM is crashing or has slowed to a crawl with large trees, then have at it. ” Finally, they admit that the product doesn’t work well with large trees!  Now it’s official who owned the problem and I don’t blame Ancestry.com one bit for cutting the prior company owners’ off last December.  What a nightmare it must have been for Ancestry staff to have to take all those calls from unhappy FTM users!  I also give kudos to Ancestry’s staff for handling the calls I made to them in a professional manner.

I tried to link to the newsletter but I don’t see it posted on their website so I’m providing the link to sign up to their Mailing List instead.

I would like to see FTM offer a goodwill gesture by providing the new version for free to anyone with a large tree to make up for the wasted time and lack of support.  FTM could determine the size of the tree for the offer.  For now, that’s the only way I’d be back.

Ancestry’s New Connection Ap

I downloaded Ancestry.com’s new ap “We’re Related” on October 25th.  The first day I couldn’t get it to stop loading the “Who are you?” page.  I tried several times in the following week and always time out getting the “Error communicating with server, please try later.  Error getting trees.  We seem to be having trouble pulling up the roots.”  Cute but annoying.
I’m not sure if it’s because my tree is so large or if there is some other issue on their end.  I travel a great deal and thought it would be neat to find others who might be related to me.  Definitely don’t use this if you don’t want your gps coordinates known!

Watching the Waistline – Diets from My Family’s Past

Just had my annual physical and was happy with the results.  I always brace for the doctor lecture about losing weight.  It didn’t come, though, because it’s hard to tell someone to diet when the lab results are all good. Still, I know it’s not healthy to be carrying around extra weight.

I come from long lines of fat people so I like to believe it’s genetic and not lifestyle.  That’s actually delusional on my part as they all loved food and so do I,  My grandmother’s best gifts were cookbooks of which I inherited many.

With the holidays approaching, hubby and I decided it would be wise to be more selective of our food choices for the next few weeks.  My hydroponic garden is doing awesome with the warm days and cool nights so I have a bountiful supply of organic lettuce, kale, and cabbage.  Only 3 tomatoes so far but it’s early for a Florida harvest.  Same with the peppers, broccoli and cauliflower but that’s ok, too.

With the weather cooling off I decided it would be a good idea to make my grandmother’s stuffed cabbage recipe.  About 15 years ago I took all of the family recipes, retyped them and had three books made – one for each of my kids and one for me.  I also included anecdotes about the recipe, such as the awesome beef stew from the Lutheran Church Woman’s Guild Society’s cookbook that was attributed to my sister-in-law  When I first made it and let her know how good it was she had no idea what I was taking about.  Turns out, my mother-in-law submitted the recipe because she wanted to have her daughter’s name in print.  We chuckle every time someone mentions beef stew.

Since food was always a big deal in our family, I wanted to pass down as many stories as I could and adding them to the cookbook insured they would be remembered.  By creating a cookbook, I also eliminated wear and tear to the originals.

I don’t know why but instead of going to “my cookbook” I pulled out one of my grandmother’s old ones and there was her “Miracle Diet” consisting of apple cider vinegar.  I don’t know where or when she got it so I did a little internet searching and discovered that no one else can figure out that diet’s origin.  I can assure you it didn’t work for her.  This got me thinking of other diets.

I found this on a blog by Peter and Drew Greenlaw from 3 March 2016:

“Dieting goes back at least as far as the 3rd century BC, according to Louise Foxcroft, author of Calories & Corsets:  A History of Dieting Over 2000 Years.  She says that followers of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates recommended a diet of light and emollient foods, slow running, hard work, wrestling, sea-water enemas, walking about naked and vomiting after lunch.”  I guess this was also the first documented recommendation for purging.

I’m making a great leap here but my maternal line was originally from the Greek island of Kos. Hippocrates’ medical school was located on Kos Island.  I can only imagine my ancestors going to Dr. Hippocrates and being given the fat lecture and his diet.  Clearly, that diet didn’t work either or it would have been passed down.

Happy Hunting!

  

Genealogy Catch Up – Using the Extra Hour of Day Light Savings to Keep Organized

My goodness I accomplished a bunch last weekend with that hour of extra time!  I’m taking the advice I preach and cleaned out my emails, making sure that I saved everything that was important to my desk top and if it was super important, to the Cloud.  I use the free Dropbox.  For information that may someday be important, I save the link to an Excel file I keep in Dropbox.  For example, if there is a particularly interesting blog about clues from old photographs from Ancestor Cloud or Genealogy in Time Magazine, I copy the link in the Excel spreadsheet.  One column is Topic, next is the link and the third is comments, if any.  That way, if I ever have a brick wall or a client comes to me with a difficult quest with an area where I’m not an expert, I can quickly find useful information.

One email I had received from last month was for a special on Roots Magic.  For my faithful readers, you know I dearly miss the simplicity of the old PAF that Family Search once provided for free. I switched to Family Tree Maker when PAF was dying and was happy until it stopped synching with my Ancestry.com tree.  The many calls and emails I made between both organizations were pointless so I gave up and went to the Standard free version of Legacy.  I liked it so much several months later I bought the Deluxe version.  IMHO, Legacy has the BEST charts of any genealogy software product out there and is a bargain for the price.  But back to the Roots Magic email, there was a special offer for $29.95.  I thought I could do better so I hunted around and found I could get it for $20.00, along with an instructional ebook.  I decided to make the purchase, download my GEDcom from Ancestry and upload to Roots Magic in preparation for when Ancestry.com and Roots Magic are able to synch like Family Tree Maker failed to do.  I got my $20.00 price from the Association of Professional Genealogists but I also found it by looking for special offers.  Here’s the link if you’d like to purchase it – ROOTS MAGIC SPECIAL.

Another special for the upcoming weekend – November 12-13 – is Arkivdigital will be free for everyone.  If you have Swedish family it’s a must use.  Yes, the records are in Swedish but there are helpful hints on their site or you could use Google Translate.  Happy Hunting!  Now back to Roots Magic…

I was pleased with how quick the upload was; Legacy takes a whole lot longer.  After updating both Legacy and installing Roots Magic, I saved to the Cloud and to a stand alone hard drive as I am paranoid to lose the information.

While I was doing that, Hubby was working at his desk beside me.  I looked over and what did I see but visions of holiday shopping appearing on his screen!  So I gave him my gift list for this year – a new sewing box and three genealogy books.  I did have to have him log onto my National Genealogical Society account to get a discount on the books but that was a good savings, too.

All that took up my extra hour but I felt so good about cleaning up my data I decided to move on to finishing the Canvas project I started in the summer.  I’m just about done with our family poster. I think it’s a bargain for $34.95.  Granted, I’m going to have to get it framed.

Haven’t checked out how to make one?  If you click on EXTRAS on the Ancestry ribbon and then click on the drop down menu for Photo Books and Posters you leave Ancestry and go to MY CANVAS.  To make a poster, click on their ribbon FAMILY HISTORY.  You can import your Ancestry.com tree to their template and get creative from there.  It’s an awesome holiday gift.

If only I could have an extra hour every weekend!

John Duer, Where Art Thou Buried and Other Duer Mysteries?!

My last post, Records Breadcrumb Trail May Lead to Wrong Conclusions, and an earlier post, Circular Migration Patterns-How History Repeats Itself, 30 May 2015) noted my research of my Duer line.  My latest hurdle is finding the burial location of John Duer, my 3rd great grandfather.

I know from his Indiana probate records that John died on 25 February 1885 in Adams County, Indiana.[1] John and his second wife, Margaret Martz Searight, were living in Jefferson, Adams County, Indiana in 1880, along with their two children Charley, age 14 and Lucinda, age 12.[2]  Adams County, Indiana is adjacent to Mercer County, Ohio where both had resided with their first spouses.  I’m descended from John’s daughter, Maria, with his first wife, Mary Jane Morrison.[3]

I’m discovering some interesting information regarding John and Margaret and I wish I could connect up with relatives who might be able to shed light on my findings.  The first “odd” event was John and Margaret’s marriage on 11 December 1864.[4]  How that is odd is that first wife, Mary Jane, did not die until 10 July 1866.[5]  No divorce documentation has been found.  Nothing leads me to believe that John was a polygamist; he was raised as a Presbyterian and his father, Thomas, was buried in a Presbyterian cemetery in Trumbull County, Ohio.[6]  The Justice of the Peace for the second marriage was a third great uncle of mine on another line, John Leininger.  The Leiningers were Lutheran.  Since Mary Jane’s tombstone clearly states she was “the wife of John Duer” and there was only one other John Duer living in the area at the time who happened to be her son who was married to a Carolina Kuhn, this isn’t a case of mistaken identity.  I’m positive that the John Duer that married Margaret was not John and Mary Jane’s son John (Jr.) as I have his marriage certificate to Carolyn in 1863.  John Jr. and Carolina’s first child, John (of course!) was also born in 1866.  Likewise, John Sr. and his second wife, Margaret’s first child, Charles, was born in 1866.  I haven’t been able to find the exact birth date but remember, first wife didn’t die until July 1866.

If John Sr. and Mary Ann had divorced, why would Mary Jane’s tombstone inscription note her as a wife?

Figure 1Mary Jane Morrison Duer Tombstone[7]

To further support I have the correct John Duer, his will probated in Adams County, Indiana not only mentions his children from his second marriage to Margaret, but Angeline, his youngest daughter with his first wife, Jane.[8]

John and Jane had ten children; at the time of his death six were known to be living.  Yet, he did not note any child from the first wife in his will except Angeline.

There could be several reasons for the omission.  Perhaps his older children, as well established adults, did not need financial assistance.  Maybe there was a falling out and the older children were no longer speaking to their father.  Angeline, Mary and James, children from his first wife, were living in Adams County, Indiana while the other children were living in Mercer County in 1870.  Although geographically these counties are next to each other, perhaps John decided only unmarried children living in Indiana would receive compensation.

I’ve searched for an obituary for John and Jane and haven’t been able to find one.  I’ve also been unable to find where John was buried.

Kessler Cemetery records are incomplete.[9]  Jane is mentioned in the records, however, John is not.  According to one of the county trustees, the older section of the cemetery has no empty plots.  There is an empty space in Jane’s row so it is possible that John was interred there with no stone.  If they had divorced, why would he be interred close to his ex?

To rule out a burial elsewhere, other cemeteries in Mercer and Adams counties were examined.  No burial location for John was found.  John died before death certificates were mandatory in Indiana so there is no clue to be discovered there.

John’s second wife, Margaret, was also buried in Kessler Cemetery and her burial is notated in the records.  There are no empty spaces in Margaret’s burial location and all surrounding graves have readable tombstones, very similar to Jane’s.  Like Jane, Margaret’s stone denotes her as the wife of John Duer:

Figure 2 Margaret Ann Martz Searight Duer Stone[10]

Margaret was first married to a Mr. Sea(w)ri(gh)te.  She had a daughter, Effie, from her first marriage that was born in 1856.  Effie was born in Ohio so Margaret had emigrated from Hesse, Germany prior to that time.

I’ve never been able to determine where Margaret’s first husband was buried, either.  Oh, these missing men!

Here’s the second odd situation with this family – John and Jane’s daughter, Maria (not to be confused with Mary, another of their daughters) married Henry Kuhn Jr.  Henry was also an immigrant from Germany; he was quite prosperous and well known in the German community in Mercer.  The Leininger family (the JP for the second marriage) were much like the Kuhns; born in Germany they adapted quickly and held many political offices in the community as well as being successful farmers.  Surely these individuals would have all known each other.  Maria and Henry’s tombstone is ornate and also in Kessler Cemetery.  They could have well afforded a small stone for John. Why doesn’t John have one if he was buried there?

Some individuals do not want a stone but I find no reason that John would have been one of those folks.  His father, mother and grandfather had stones, as did both of his wives.  It seems to me that his passing wanted to be forgotten.

As I was researching obituaries I came across the following unsettling article:

John’s wife, Margaret, had met a similar fate[11]

Figure 3 The Fort Wayne [Indiana] Daily News

The son that lived nearby was Charles.

Figure 4 The Evening Republican

Figure 5 The Fort Wayne [Indiana] Evening Sentinel

Figure 6 The Indiana Tribune (in German)

John and Margaret’s son, Charles Edward Duer, was married to Almeda Buckmaster.[12]  I thought she was the “Mrs. Duer” who had died on 1 June 1894[13].  I began to wonder if there wasn’t a sinister side to this line but I’m happy to report that upon analysis, there were two Charles Duers, one in Indiana and one in Ohio.  Both had a loved one die by fire but they were not one and the same.  Whew!  Thought I was identifying a murder suspect for a bit.  Guess it’s just a creepy coincidence!

__________________________________                              [1] “Indiana, Wills and Probate Records, 1798-1999,” John Duer, Volume A-C, page 484-486; digital image, Ancestry.com (http:  ancestry.com:  accessed 16 October 2016), citing Adams County, Indiana Circuit Court.

[2] 1880 U.S. census, Jefferson, Adams County, Indiana, population schedule, page 6 (handwritten), family/dwelling 54, John Duer; digital image, Ancestry.com (http:  ancestry.com:  accessed 16 October 2016), citing FHL microfilm 1254263.

[3] See previous blogs for citations.

[4] Ohio, Marriage Intention Application, John Duer,

[5] Find-A-Grave, database and image (http://www.findagrave.com:  accessed 16 October 2016), memorial page for Jane Morrison Duer (1804-1866), Find A Grave Memorial no. 22503919; memorial created by Teresa citing St. Kessler Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio; image by Cousin Becky.  Tombstone states “Jane, wife of John Duer” and clearly shows 1866 as the death year.

[6] Find-A-Grave, database and image (http://www.findagrave.com:  accessed 16 October 2016), memorial page for Thomas Duer (1775-1829), Find A Grave Memorial no. 57798621; memorial created by BLJns75 citing St. Pricetown Cemetery, Newton Falls, Trumbull County, Ohio.  No tombstone pictures but confirmed with a local genealogist in Trumbull who had tripped over Thomas’ fallen stone and had it reset, the cemetery was for Presbyterian’s only.

[7] Find-A-Grave, “Jane Morrison Duer,”

[8] “Indiana, Wills and Probate Records, 1798-1999,” John Duer, Volume A-C, page 484-486

[9] Author to       , Mercer County Trustee, Phone and Email, date, .  Author is deeply appreciative of         for not only scanning and emailing the cemetery records for the Duer family, but including other family members who were interred in the cemetery.            Also physically went to the gravesite to verify that there was no stone for John Duer.  She took pictures of surrounding stones and emailed to the author.  Her dedication is exemplary!

[10] Find-A-Grave, database and image (http://www.findagrave.com:  accessed 16 October 2016), memorial page for Margaret A. Duer (1823-1904), Find A Grave Memorial no. 22546617; memorial created by Teresa citing St. Kessler Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio; image by Cousin Becky.

[11] “Burned in Her Home,” The Fort Wayne [Indiana] Daily News, 29 December 1904, p. 1, col. 3.

“Aged Woman Cremated,” The [Columbus, Ohio] Evening Republican, 30 December 1904, p. 1, col. 2.

“Aged Woman Burns to Death in Home,” The Fort Wayne [Indiana] Evening Sentinel, 30 December 1904, p. 1, col. 3.

“Radridten and Indiana,” Indiana Tribune, 30 Dec 1904, No. 110, p. 1, col. 6.

[12] “Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941,” Charles E. Duer and Elmeda Buckmaster, 6 March 1886; digital image, Familysearch (https://familysearch.org:  accessed 17 October 2016); citing FHL microfilm 002321466; citing Adams County, Indiana County Clerk Office, p. 124.

[13] “Fatal Burns,” The Lima [Ohio] Times-Democrat, Vol. X, No. 195, p. 1, col. 1.

Records Breadcrumb Trail May Lead to Wrong Conclusions

I’ve been researching my Duer line lately with the idea that I’ll write a Kinship Determination from where my line begins, with Maria Duer, my great great grandmother, to my gateway ancestor, Thomas Stone Duer.

I’ve blogged previously about the serendipitous events and detailed how history repeats itself (see Circular Migration Patterns-How History RepeatsItself, 30 May 2015). After discovering the connection, I’ve become more determined to learn about the Duer Family.

Maria left some wonderful records, however, they initially led me to a wrong conclusion.  Years ago, I had found her obituary through the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Obituary Index[1] but I couldn’t decipher it as it was in German and used Gothic script.  Her daughter Emma’s death certificate stated Maria was born in Germany.[2]  The obit and the daughter’s death certificate led me to believe that Maria was of German descent.  By just looking at the surface, those two records reinforced what I already knew about my father’s long line of German ancestry; I had Leininger, Bollenbacher, Kuhn, Kable, and Kettering surnames sprinkled everywhere in my tree and all of them were German immigrants.  No surprise that Maria Duer would have also been German.  How wrong I was!

Maria was born in Mahoning, Ohio on 2 September 1833.[3]  Adam Kuhn, Maria’s son with whom she resided at the time of her death and who was the neighbor of his sister, Emma, had served as Emma’s death certificate informant.  It is understandable that Adam most likely identified himself with his father Henry Kuhn’s German heritage.  German born Henry Kuhn was a prosperous citizen in Mercer County, Ohio and maintained a close connection with others who had immigrated from Germany.  Henry and Maria had been married for 55 years so she, too, would have been known in the German community so her obituary in a German newspaper makes sense.  After having the obituary translated, I learned that it never stated she was German but it did mention her German born husband.  Daughter Emma died at age 50 after suffering long term physical abuse from her ex-husband of 25 years.  Adam likely recalled his father’s birth place instead of his mother’s when he provided Emma’s death certificate information.  In grief, he probably just made an error.

Census records, a second obituary in English, and a mug sheet entry all confirm Maria was born in Ohio and connect her to her parents, John and Mary Jane (Morrison) Duer.  Maria Duer was once a brickwall ancestor but no longer!  What a great lesson in making sure a reasonably exhaustive search was performed AND analysis of all the found records was done.

[1] “Maria Duer Kuhn,” obituary, Die Minter [Ohio] Post, 1 August 1913, page 1, col. 3.

[2] Ohio, Bureau of Vital Statistics, death certificate, “Emma Landfair,” number 12296 (stamped, 21 February 1914.

[3] 1850 U.S. census, Killbuck, Holmes County, Ohio, population schedule, page 245 (handwritten) dwelling 557, family 572, Maria Duer; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:  accessed 16 October 2016); citing NARA microfilm publications M432_696.

1860 U.S. census, Liberty, Mercer County, Ohio, population schedule, page 141 (handwritten), dwelling 1008, family 1013, Henry and Maria Coon Jr.; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:  accessed 16 October 2016); citing NARA microfilm publications M653_1009.

1870 U.S. census, Liberty, Mercer County, Ohio, population schedule, page 15 (handwritten) dwelling 55, family 58, Maria Kuhn; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:  accessed 16 October 2016); citing NARA microfilm publications M593.

1880 U.S. census, Liberty, Mercer County, Ohio, population schedule, page 7 (handwritten) dwelling 55, family 58, Maria Kuhn; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:  accessed 16 October 2016); citing FHL microfilm 1255048; citing NARA microfilm publications T9_1048.

1900 U.S. census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, population schedule, sheet 9 (handwritten) dwelling141, family176, Meriah Kuhn; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:  accessed 16 October 2016); citing NARA with no further information provided.

1910 U.S. census, Liberty, Mercer County, Ohio, population schedule, sheet 9 (handwritten) dwelling 320, family 278, Miria Kuhn; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com:  accessed 16 October 2016); citing NARA microfilm publication T624_1214.

Ohio, Department of Health Division of Vital Statistics, death certificate, “Maria Kuhn,” state file number 41826, 22 July 1913.

“Marie Kuhn,” The Grim Reaper, The Celina [Ohio] Democrat, 25 July 1913, page 1, col. 4.

Compilers, A Portrait and Biographical Record of Mercer and Van Wert Counties, Ohio (Chicago,IL:  A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896) 400-401; digital image, Google Books (https://books.google.com:  accessed 16 October 2016).

Helpful Old Technology

I recently received a cassette tape of an interview done by a distant family member with one of my husband’s aunts in 2001.  Both of those ladies have passed away and the tape became the possession of the interviewer’s daughter.  She doesn’t have a tape recorder any longer and has a transcription so she was not interested in keeping the tape.

My husband’s Aunt Ruby was a sweetheart and with his Aunt Marge, always made me feel as I was part of their family.  We had made a quick visit with her about 8 months after the tape was made but it wasn’t a happy time as I was in the area to bury my mother’s cremains so it never occurred to me to tape what became our last visit with Aunt Ruby.

When the tape was offered to me I was happy to get it – I’d love to hear her voice again.  Problem was, who has a tape recorder anymore?

Evidently, I do.  When the tape arrived hubby emailed several friends and colleagues to see if anyone had one we could borrow.  No one did.  Then it hit me!  Several years ago, pre bluetooth, we used to use a boom box in the backyard on our deck.  Had to think hard what we did with it and then remembered it was outside in a pool storage bench.  Thank goodness it still worked!

Hubby transferred the tape to MP3 using the instructions from this site – How to Transfer Old Cassette Tapes to MP3 Files

The quality is not great – it was made in a nursing home greeting area and a restaurant so there is a lot of background noise.  I’m still glad we have it and updated it to the latest technology.

If you have tapes and would like to update it is not difficult to do.  I recommend putting that on your winter to do list and with the holidays around the corner, you might want to ask to borrow from family and friends if you don’t have a tape player.

It’s going to be a constant upgrade from one technology to another but I think the time expended is well worth it.  Your descendants will think it’s awesome when they will see a picture of their 5th great grandparents and hear their voices!

Obtaining US Ancestors Immigration Documentation – What You Need to Know

In May, I requested an index search request for $20.00 from the USCIS website.  I’ve always meant to do so but never got around to it.  I had read a blog on Judy Russell’s Legal Genealogist site that mentioned the price may be going up dramatically so I decided the time was now and quickly followed through with the request.

You must complete and index search request ($20.00) if you don’t know the Case ID number.  A Case ID number is needed to request Alien Registration Forms (AR-2) and Naturalization Certificates (C-File) which are an additional $20.00-35.00. I was requesting two index searches, one for each of my maternal grandparents.

In August, I received a letter in the US mail that provided me with a Case ID number for my grandmother.  The letter referred me to the Department of Homeland Security website so that I could obtain the AR-2 and C-File.  I tried to follow the directions but I was unable to gain access.  Frustrated, I decided to try from different computers as I wasn’t sure if cookie settings were the problem.  After making a number of attempts from my home’s laptop, desktop, Kindle, phone and my work computer I came to the conclusion it wasn’t me.

The only way to contact the agency is via email.  I was livid when I received a response stating they would respond by December.  Seriously?!

A survey popped up and I took the time to complete it;  I mentioned the poor customer service access, the long delay between the letter’s date (July 8) and receiving it (date stamped August 18), lack of a functional website and that my initial request was for two searches and I only had one returned. I also sent an email to the agency on August 22 because their phones don’t work.  Here’s the response:

“It is our goal to complete all requests within 90 days of receipt. 

Nevertheless, due to an increased volume of requests we are now answering:

  • Index Search Requests (Form G-1041) received in MARCH 2016.
  • Record Requests (Form G-1041A) received in FEBRUARY 2016. Please note that pending record requests submitted prior that date are waiting for files or privacy screenings.”

Clearly the response isn’t even accurate as I didn’t even request the documents until May and had half of my request returned in August.

The following day I received this email response:

“Your payment has been submitted to Pay.gov and the details are below. If you have any questions or you wish to cancel this payment, please contact the USCIS Genealogy Program at (866) 259-2349.”

I called the number but never could reach anyone.

I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from James Igoe on October 3rd that attached my grandmother’s C-File.  I responded with a thank you and then asked for an update on where my grandfather’s file was.  Here’s the response I received on October 3rd:

“It is our goal to complete all requests within 90 days of receipt. 

Nevertheless, due to an increased volume of requests we are now answering:

  • Index Search Requests (Form G-1041) received in MARCH 2016.
  • Record Requests (Form G-1041A) received in FEBRUARY 2016. Please note that pending record requests submitted prior that date are waiting for files or privacy screenings.”

Sound familiar?!  Between August 22nd and October 3rd the agency had made NO progress with their backlog.

My advice, if you need to request records, is to do so with out delay cause it’s going to be a long, long time before you receive them.

Saturday Serendipity in Cycadia Cemetery

On a crisp sunny October morning, Hubby and I took a cemetery tour of Cycadia Cemetery in Tarpon Springs, Florida.  As one of the oldest cemeteries in the county, many figures of historical prominence in the area are buried there.  Eight historical re-enactors portrayed former residence who were important to the town’s development.

The first tour stop was for John C. “Greek” Maillis who had been born in Gary, Indiana in 1918. Hubby and I were, too and our grandparents lived there at the time.  I plan on researching Greek’s father as I’m guessing he worked for U.S. Steel as that was the big industry in town.  My grandfather, great grandfather and hubby’s grandfather were all employed there in 1918.  What a small world!

Although that was an interesting connection it was T the tour’s end that had the biggest chance encounter happened.

Our last stop was to learn about Irish born Captain Thomas Carey who came to Tarpon Springs with his family in the 1870’s and worked in the sponge industry.  His reenactor became misty eyed, lost character and said he had to step out of being Capt Carey for a moment to tell us what had happened in the previous tour group.  As the program entry by the Tarpon Springs Area Historical Society stated, Capt. Carey “…left a legacy of exceptional off-spring.”  Not only exceptional, they were numerous.  A woman in the group stated she was a descendant.  Then another group member stated she, too, was a descendant.   A few generations removed from Capt. Carey they shared which of his children they had descended from.  Most remarkable was that these cousins had never met before.  Nearly 75 years after the Captain’s death his descendants are reunited at his grave site.  There was a large turnout for the program and groups were formed by your arrival time.  What a coincidence that these individuals just happened to be placed in the same group.  Serendipity at its finest!

Photo courtesy of thefifthofnov on Find-a-Grave

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund

Last week I received an email via Ancestry.com from the Research Manager with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF).  The group will be having a candlelight vigil in Washington, DC in May 2017 and reached out to me as I have in my Main Tree an individual that was selected to be honored.

We are not closely related to the fallen officer; Robert Flenner was my husband’s 4th cousin, 3 times removed through marriage to the grand daughter of a Harbaugh.  Since I have updated all the Harbaugh/Herbach family in the U.S., Robert appears in my tree.

I had never heard of the organization and did a little research.  The NLEOMF was founded in 1984 for the purpose of honoring and remembering law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty.  I’m not sure how they select the officers to be honored; Robert Flenner died in 1908.

After receiving the email and checking out the group I went to my tree to remind myself who Robert Flenner was.  I have a large tree and I didn’t recall him.  The citations I had were the 1870, 1880 and 1900 US Federal census, a death certificate that didn’t mention he was a fallen officer (cause of death-cancer of intestines; occupation of deceased-house duties), Pennsylvania Probate, Find-A-Grave memorial and a Social Security record for one of his children.  I did find it interesting that the death certificate noted he was buried in Harbaugh Church Cemetery.  I had visited there on my July research trip looking for the grave of one of my husband’s several times great grandmother.  I must have walked past Robert’s resting place as I was all over that small cemetery on my unsuccessful hunt.  Passed him without giving him a thought!  None of  my found records provided me the event that occurred to warrant being honored.  I looked for an obituary and found the following provided by KimTisha on Find-A-Grave:

Robert Flenner

Ironically, the same day I was contacted by NLEOMF I received a copy of my paternal great grandparents’ divorce records.  I had always suspected the root cause of the divorce was alcoholism because I had found a newspaper article written shortly before the divorce mentioning that great grandpa had been fined for providing alcohol to a known alcoholic.  I was also very aware that NO FAMILY member on that line drank.  So I was not surprised when the divorce documents mentioned that my great grandfather had had a drinking problem for 25 years.  I was stunned, however, by the long term physical abuse my great grandmother had been subjected to when great grandpa was inebriated.  He was definitely a mean drunk!  The records mention the severity of the abuse and it made me sick.

Reading the obituary for Robert Flenner and knowing the arrest he made had prevented another woman from receiving further abuse I was determined to find a closer relative who could represent him at the DC event.

The problem was, I had been unsuccessful in finding any close family members for my husband’s line when I visited the area three months ago.  What to do?!

The internet is a wonderful way to connect so I thought I’d try to locate family by following the bread crumb trail of known records.  I updated Robert’s line and discovered one of his two children had married and had children.  I emailed every Find-A-Grave memorial creator through Robert’s great grandchild.  Most didn’t respond but several wrote back that they knew of closer descendants and would forward the information to them.  I’m hoping that someone is able to attend the Candlelight Vigil in which he will be honored.