A New Blog By Me : Friday's Fallen Acorns and Other Nuts

FRIDAY'S FALLEN ACORNS AND OTHER NUTS

I am so sorry to those who anxiously await my new posts.  You see, I have not posted here since August of 2014.  Terrible, just terrible.  I am so embarrassed.

But, since the new year has arrived, it's time to make those resolutions.  Yes, I do plan to lose weight, just like 50 percent of the American population.  I might join Weight Watchers....Oprah says its OK.  I also want to continue writing on this blog, and not skip a month ever again.  We will see if I hold up to that commitment.  News flash : I decided to start a totally new blog entitled Friday's Fallen Acorns and Other Nuts.

In this new blog, I will share stories and research that I find regarding persons from my family, my collateral relatives  connected to me through marriages and friendships, and any other persons that I come into contact with this year.  I chose this subject because I happen to have an overabundance of persons in my research that have made news in the past, but not very pretty stories.

Murder, kidnapping, extortion, firebombing, assault, etc.....it's all there.  Some persons are the instigators, and some are victims, and then there are those guilty of associations with these activities.  Sound interesting?  I think so.

Stay tuned for my first blog....new posts will be written every Friday....Friday"s Fallen Acorns and Other Nuts will be entertaining, if not just plain useful to others who are afraid to publish their own stories of unsavory and unfortunate characters.

See you on Fridays

The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster in Illinois

Dedication of the Cherry Mine Monument

I have been reading a book by Karen Tintori entitled Trapped, The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster.  Love it.

Karen tells the story of a tragic event in the fall of 1909.  Four hundred and eighty men went into the mine as was their usual jobs. Recent immigrants filled the employee roles....some from Italy, Germany, Sweden, etc.  But one afternoon a small fire began up top at one of the openings, and later burned out of control.  More than half of the mine workers would be burned to death or buried alive.

Officials had a very hard time containing the flames, and they had to cover the mine openings in hopes of smothering the flames down below.  When finally opened various attempts to save the lives of those that they hoped were still alive were made.  So many bodies were recovered, including the carcasses of the donkeys used to pull cart loads of coal on underground tracks.

Twenty men were finally rescued, against all odds.  They survived by sheer will, a few drops of water that came trickling down the shaft walls, and chewing on the leather of their shoes.

This was one of the worst coal mine disasters in United States history. Since this event, workers compensation laws were changed, as well as child labor practices in the coal business.

Karen used diaries, letters and hand-written accounts of people with firsthand knowledge of the terrible event to describe, in detail, the lives of those who lived through this horrific event.

Why did she write this story?  Her grandfather survived the Cherry Mine disaster.  She has a very personal tie to the event.  I am sure that her grandfather looks down on her with great pride and admiration.

If you are looking for a good historical read, I highly recommend this book.  Good job, Karen.

bringing the surviving men to the surface

historical marker for the Cherry Mine Disaster

What is FamilySearch Wiki and Will it Help My Research Problems?

You may have heard about Wikipedia ( http://www.wikipedia.org/ )....a free on-line encyclopedia where topics can be searched using a wide variety of international languages.  FamilySearch has a similar learning webpage entitled FamilySearch Wiki ( https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Main_Page ).

 FamilySearch Wiki answers the question, What is the Wiki ?

 The Wiki is about finding records that may have been generated about your ancestors and the places in which the records might be found. It is a vast record depository of the paper trail that people leave behind long after they are gone. The Wiki has records from the United States as well as from 244 countries.  Here you will be able to find documents such as census records, marriage records, birth records and death records and much more. Probate documents are often very informative and may help you in your search.  There is an extensive list of United States military records on the wiki .    

Search by place or topic by clicking on a map, as seen below:

OR learn how to search your family history, simply by choosing from the many research helps offered, from getting suggestions about organizing your family history, choosing a database to file your family facts or learn about basic research principles to keep you on track.

Using the Wiki Tools, you can view many articles written regarding online library catalogs, international websites, and internet repositories, just to name a few topics.  

Most importantly, there are links to contact research help specialists at FamilySearch.  I have never contacted them....yet.  But, sometime in the future if I am unable to break down a brick wall in my research, I just might take advantage of these specialists.  I suggest that you do, too.

You can also share your information and suggestions regarding research in a particular topic or country.  Adding your own "user page" could help to keep yourself more organized, too,  There are Talk Pages to share your ideas, or communicate with a specific user.  Sign up for a Watch List, and be notified when new content has been added to topics that interest you.  Browse the WikiProjects lists and join one if you'd like, or establish a new one yourself.  Submit an article regarding a particular topic in which you have expertise, or add to the content of articles already featured. 

Ever have trouble with geographic places with the same name?  The category "Ambiguous Place Names"     (https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Category:Ambiguous_place_names) can be a big help for you.  I searched for the location "Georgia".  The result made me pleasantly satisfied :

Georgia may refer to:

• Georgia (country), formerly Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) 1921-1991; and Democratic Republic of Georgia 1918-1921.
• Georgia (state), a state in the southern United States, and formerly one of the British colonies in North America.

Georgia may also refer to other local jurisdictions:

• Georgia, Lawrence, Indiana, United States
• Georgia, Cherry, Nebraska, United States
• Georgia, Franklin, Vermont, United States
• East Georgia, Franklin, Vermont, United States
• New Georgia, Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean near Papua New Guinea and Australia
• South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, in the South Atlantic Ocean near the Falkland Islands near Argentina
• Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada

And, of course there is the wonderful topic : Family History For Beginners

From evaluating the family history that you know, to starting the research for the information that you want to know....this is the ultimate in self-learning, step-by-step instructions to get you started in your quest to find your ancestors and their life stories.  Learn how to properly document and cite the sources of your research results. And, don't forget to review the genealogy and legal terminology categories.  It helps to know what you're talking about, right?  

I can go on, and on, about FamilySearch Wiki.  But, I won't be able to cover everything in this blog.  Try it yourself, and see what you can learn, and maybe contribute, to this FREE resource.  It's just waiting for you to experience the fascinating world of learning.

Where to Find Family History Books

Wouldn't it be nice to find that someone had already researched your family history, cited all sources, and published it in a book?  Sure would save you a lot of time, right? Well part of that wish just might come true for you.

Where would you look for such a text, if it does indeed exist?  Several places are available to you, without leaving your home.  Curl up with your computer and come explore a few websites with me.

Internet Archive : http://archive.org is a digital library of internet sites, and they provide FREE access to the general public. Research videos, texts and audio files.  Very cool.

FamilySearch :https://books.familysearch.org/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=FHD_PUBLIC
Eight libraries that hold 100,000 family history and genealogy books are connected to this website.  This site is also FREE.

New England Historic and Genealogical Society : www.americanancestors.org  has many texts to discover, however it is a PAY SUBSCRIPTION site.  Some of the texts are linked to another site:
Hathi Trust Digital Library : http://www.hathitrust.org/digital_library with is free to the general public.

Look through your family history notes and find someone that you know was involved in an important job, took part in a historic event, made the newspaper, etc.  If you can't find one, just pick a surname and go with it.  Search each website with the term "_________ family"  and that should get you started.  Be sure to read the search suggestions from each site.

I chose to search the BATES family.  This family is from my husband's ancestry, and I know that they lived in New England, and some of the members participated in the Revolutionary War.  Let's see what I can find.

Internet Archive search resulted in 16 texts regarding BATES family, including many publications of the Bates Family Bulletin. I did not want to browse through these yet, as none of the titles seemed to jump at me, but I will return to them.  Bookmark that!

FamilySearch results included 412 returns.  Wow, too many to look through, so I narrowed the search, this time looking for "Joseph Harrison Bates" (who I had known served in the Revolutionary War).  This time 2 results appeared, from the Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books, Volume 162. Now, this looks more promising.

Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution

After browsing the index for the BATES name, I was directed to page 23 to follow a notation for James BATES.  Here is what I found :

A Mrs. Elizabeth Bates Tyler had provided her ancestry lineage to a James BATES, who had served in the Continental Army, in the Virginia Line.  This is very helpful to me. I saw the name Joseph Harrison Bates, and highlighted it.  I did not have the name of the father of Joseph Harrison BATES.....until now.  Very cool.  Note that it provides that birth and death years, places of birth and death, and the wife of James BATES.  These items may not be fact, but certainly, clues that I can follow up with a little more research.

Finally, a New England Historic and Genealogical Society search  for Joseph Harrison BATES, provided me with the result of a link to make my heart leap :

search result from NEHGS Library website, Jossph Harrison Bates

Note that there is a link to "Online Version of Book in Hathi Trust Digital Library".  Yes! I clicked on that and voila!....I was able to download this non-circulating book right onto my computer within seconds.

Bates, Madison C., A Brief History and Genealogy of Joseph Harrison Bates, 1915, The Galesburg Printing Company, Galesburg, Ilinois

A few pages into the book, there is a photo of Joseph Harrison Bates, the great, great, great great grandfather of my husband. Could this get any better?  Yes, it can.  

Well, I have about 50 pages of reading to do this weekend.  After browsing this text, I find that Madison Bates tells his recollections of his father and mother, their families, and everyday life in central Illinois.  Of course, nothing printed in books is absolutely valid, but it appears that there will be much   information in this book to follow up, and prove, or disprove, what he has written as the truth.  But for the moment, let's just relish in the fact that this man look the time to write this wonderful book about the BATES family.

  Do you plan to search for your possible family history books?  If this hasn't piqued your interest, I don't know what will.  Good luck, and share your findings, too.

County Maps and Family History Books - Where to Find Them

When researching your family history, there is a need to review the social, political, economic, geographic, religious and educational history of the area where your family lived.  Where can you find this sort of information?  Well, one place is right at your fingertips...

This website has been one of my favorite for years, and evidently the favorite of many other researchers, as it has been mentioned as one of the Family Tree Magazine's 101 Best Websites for several years.  

Found at www.mygenealogyhound.com , you can have access to county histories, family biographies, genealogy references and county map images.  Did I mention this website and it's listings are FREE?

Family biographies are now available for the states of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.  This website is constantly growing.  You can subscribe to a weekly newsletter, in which you will be advised of the new listings added periodically.  Browse the site for biographies by surname to see whether your family was mentioned in texts in more than one state.

I did a quick search for the BRYAN family name, knowing that it was quite important in the history books of Kentucky, and in the ancestry of my husband.  One of the returns was exactly what I was looking for :  

http://www.mygenealogyhound.com/kentucky-biographies/ky-jefferson-county-biographies/geo-b-eastin-genealogy-jefferson-county-kentucky-louisville-ky.htmlption

This excerpt is wonderful for me, because it just added more information to my husband's family tree which I did not have before now.  Try searching your family tree surnames, and see what results you can find.

Historical County maps are available to view for the states of Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Indian Territories, Tennessee and Texas.  More maps will be added in the future. State maps showing the location of each county can also be viewed.  

I searched for Fayette County, Kentucky maps to see if there would be something of interest regarding the BRYAN family.  Unfortunately, they do not have maps for the county, yet.  When searching for Jefferson County, Kentucky, there was only one from 1905, but with a note that there were more to come in the future.  Please check back again, soon.  

  Additional genealogy links are also listed, which include State county division maps, Articles about life in the United States prior to 1900, How to obtain a death certificate, Various genealogy and history news articles and Genealogy research in Missouri.  Also, there are links to various websites that may be of interest to family history buffs. 

Hearthstone Legacy Publications provides My Genealogy Hound for free.  However, Hearthstone Legacy Publications sells CD/DVD and digital downloads for county histories and genealogy titles for a wide variety of states. Census records and plat map books are also available.  Visit their website at http://www.hearthstonelegacy.com/ to review the extensive list.

My Genealogy Hound is a growing website.  Be patient with them.  And check back periodically, or, sign up for their free newsletter and keep abreast of their new content.  

Published Family Histories

Have you wondered  how to write a genealogy report or family ancestry story?  I like to read published ancestry books.  Recently I purchased "The Ancestry of Mayor Harold Washington" by Curtis G. Brasfield, 1993, Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie, Maryland.

I thought that it would be a good read about the first African-American mayor of the City of Chicago.  After reviewing just the table of contents, I was very impressed with the author's organization  of documents, tables and genealogy summaries.  In the second half of the book, Mr. Brasfield explained the methodology that was used in his research of the Washington family.  In my opinion, this was a very well crafted genealogy and biographical publication.  Well done, Mr. Brasfield.

In my experience with writing my own research projects, and reviewing the writings of other researchers, I have found various styles of organization of the vital records and general family stories.  There are so many ways that an author can present his/her research results.  However, finding just the right words to keep the reader interested and involved can be a task in itself.  Learning to write with excitement and describing the picture of the history and lives in a family are so important for the author to achieve.

I suggest that before you try to write a family history, genealogy report or ancestry, take a trip to your local library and read several works that have been published.  Take note of how the information is presented.  Are there parts of the work  that keep you intrigued?  What made it grab your attention?  Are there parts of the book that seem to be uninteresting?  What would make those parts more interesting to you?  Take notes from reviewing the works of others.  There is really no right way or wrong way to write your family history.  Whatever way you choose to present your work, make sure that it still grabs your attention time after time that you read your own work.  Make changes and ask someone else to review your work, asking for suggestions.

When you are sure that what you have written is the best work that you can present, then get it published.  Even if it is just a few copies for family members to keep, at least it is written and can be passed onto others.  But do consider giving a copy of your work to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City for their collection.  There are also fine research libraries in other states that will accept your work for their special collections.  Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana and St. Louis County Public Library in Frontenac, Missouri hold many published family histories.  Ask others for their suggestions about where to send your book.  Reading published family histories can be so interesting, and just might get you in the mood to finish that writing project that you never finished.

Family History Library
Salt Lake City, Utah

                                        

St. Louis County Library

Frontenac, Missouri

I'm looking forward to reading your work!

Books And Periodicals as Resources

Websites can be such fun to navigate when searching for data for your family tree.  But, don't forget that there are still  so many resources that are not on the Internet.  Books and periodicals can provide such great clues when trying to break through those pesky brick walls.

There are many older history volumes that have been digitized and are accessible online.  Many more have not been, and can still be accessed through inter library loans.  Here are some great websites to browse that may just have what you are looking for regarding Illinois and the world :

   Books We Own   www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bwo/illinois.html
       You can contact book owners and ask them to look in their volumes for family names, dates, etc.
   BYU Family History Archive    http://lib.byu.edu/digital/
       Harold B. Lee Library at BYU Digital Collections
   Genealogy Book Links  www.genealogybooklinks.com
       Biographies and Family Genealogies
   Google Books  books.google.com
      Search for any book, with the ability to locate it, read it online, download, or order.
   Illinois Periodicals Online  http://www.lib.niu.edu/perlist.html
      A digital imaging project at Northern Illinois University
   Internet Archive    www.archive.org
      A digital archive containing video, audio, music and texts

Have some fun exploring with these and many more.  You never know what you might find.