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Archive for February, 2013
News from around the web.
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Sometimes the scales of justice balance slowly.
Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point, was charged with embezzlement while serving as a buffalo soldier. The image is from the monthly return that notes his arrest in 1881.
He was found not guilty but was still dismissed from the Army for conduct unbecoming an officer. The Army finally gave him his honorable discharge in 1976, and President Bill Clinton granted a full pardon in 1999.
Learn how to follow the paper trail left by your African American ancestors at ancestry.com/africanamerican.
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At the new, free website from Herthstone Legacy Publications called My
Genealogy Hound, you can access thousands of biographies extracted from pre-1900
county history books. Biographies from Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee are
available now, with more states to come. Search the site or browse biographies by
surname or state and county. The site also has a selection of free, old county
maps from Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kanasas, Missouri, Oklahoma (including Indian
nations) and Tennessee, with more to be added.
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The National Genealogical Society (NGS) has implemented student discounts for registration
to its 2013 Family History Conference, May 8-11 in Las Vegas. Students can register
for the full conference for $50 (NGS members) or $60 (nonmembers), nearly 75 percent
off regular rates. To qualify, students must submit a letter on college or university
letterhead from the dean or department chair. See
the NGS blog for additional details and qualifications.
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FamilySearch has added 8.5 million new records to its free FamilySearch.org.
The new records come from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands
and the United States. You can find
the full list of updated collections and click through to each collection here.
Note that some of the collections aren’t yet indexed; for these, you’ll need to browse
records by place, date or however they’re arranged.
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MyHeritage.com has added millions of records including
military records, yearbooks, mugshots and wanted posters from partnerships with Interment.net, Genealogy
Today, CanadianHeadstones.net and
others. The new records are available to subscribers through the site’s SuperSearch
engine. Find
out more about the additions on the MyHeritage blog.
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Happy Valentine’s Day! This is a reprise of a favorite post of mine, from Valentine’s Day in 2010—quotes from great love letters in history. Got one to add? Click Comments and share!
In 1797, a British publisher printed The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, which
suggested sentimental verses for wooing the ladies. Need similar inspiration this
Valentine’s Day? Here are a few swoon-inducing quotes from love letters of the past,
and where you can read the rest.
Revolutionary War Gen. Nathanael Greene to his wife, Catharine
“There is not a day or night, nay not an hour, but I wish to fold you
to my heart.”
I couldn’t find the full letter online, but you can read more about the
correspondence of this couple and their contemporaries in Founding Mothers: The
Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts.
Poet Elizabeth
Barrett to Robert Browning, Jan. 10, 1846
“It seems to me, to myself, that no man was ever before to any woman what
you are to me.”
Samual
Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain) to Olivia Langdon, Dec. 31, 1868, transcribed
at the Mark
Twain Project Online
“The Old Year is passing. … It found me careless
of the here & the [hereafter]—it leaves me with faith in the one & hope for
the [other. It] found [me. my ] heart scorched, bitter, barren, loveless—& leaves
it filled with softening, humanizing, elevating love for the dearest girl on earth,
Livy—& I, the homeless then, have on this last day of the [die dying] year, a
home that is [pre priceless], a refuge from all the cares & ills of life, in that
warm heart of yours, & am supremely happy! And so with grateful benediction I
give [Godspeed] to this good Old Year that is passing away. If I forget all else it
has done for me I shall still remember that it gave me your love, Livy, …”
Civil
War soldier Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah, July 14, 1861, a week before
he was killed in the Battle of Bull Run (this letter was made famous in Ken Burns’
documentary “The Civil War“)
“… something whispers to me—perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little
Edgar, that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not my dear Sarah, never
forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battle field,
it will whisper your name. … How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little
spot upon your happiness …”
Harry
Truman to his wife, Bess, May 7, 1933
“I still believe that my sweetheart is the ideal woman…”
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Here’s another inside look at a class available during our Winter
2013 Virtual Genealogy Conference—courtesy of the instructor himself. Take it
away, Rick Crume:
The most popular genealogy programs have tools to help you record your family history
efficiently, plan your research and search online databases. But if you’re a typical
genealogy software user, you don’t take advantage of all of those features.
You’ve probably mastered entering birth, marriage and death information in your genealogy
software, but have you customized your program to fit your unique needs?
You’re doing better than most genealogists if you document your sources, but are you
taking advantage of timesaving techniques for this crucial, but mundane, task? And
are you exploiting your program’s tools for searching within your family file and
in online databases?
In my class 10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Your Genealogy Software,
I’ll show you how to use these and other features in Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family
Tree and RootsMagic.
I’m also teaching a class on Identifying Ancestors in Irish Census Records.
Because so many Irish census records have been lost over the years, you might assume
they’re of no use in your genealogy research. In fact, it’s well worth checking Irish
censuses, especially now that most of the existing ones are online and easy to search.
Most 19th-century Irish census records have been lost, but the ones you need just
could have survived. (Mine did!) And fortunately, the 1901 and 1911 censuses of Ireland
survive and are easily accessible online for free. I’ll show you several tips for
searching them and suggest how they can be useful to your research even if your ancestors
left Ireland before 1901.
Family Tree University’s Winter
2013 Virtual Genealogy Conference, Feb. 22-24, gives you an all-access pass to
15 half-hour video classes, live chats with genealogy experts, and exclusive message
board to network with instructors and attendees, and a ShopFamilyTree.com swag
bag of freebies. Click
here for more details on the conference.
See these guest posts from other Winter 2013 Virtual Genealogy Conference instructors:
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Genealogical
Cold Cases: A Step-by-Step Process with Lisa Louise Cooke -
Simple
Tips for Solid Source Citations with Sunny Jane Morton
The Virtual
Genealogy Conference is sponsored by
News from around the web.
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A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my
third-great-grandmother’s hard-to-read maiden name in her divorce
case file from 1879 to 1881. Many of you offered suggestions for searching for
her family in the 1850 and 1860 censuses—thank you!
I tried those searches and I kept examining the case file for clues … and I’m 98
percent sure I have the maiden name! It shows that cluster
genealogy works. Here’s how it happened.
I saw this in my third-great-grandmother Mary Frost’s testimony:
Her oldest child—my great-great-grandfather—George, stayed with Mary’s sister (unnamed
here) and worked for the sister’s husband, George Hartke, in his grocery store.
I searched for George Hartke on Ancestry.com and
found this in an 1878 city directory for Covington, Ky.:
I then found his family in the 1880 census, under “Harke”:
My great-great-grandfather is listed in the household as “nephew.” Interestingly,
he’s double-enumerated in his mother’s household in 1880:
I turned my focus to George Hartke’s wife and Mary Frost’s sister, Elizabeth. Death
records often name parents, especially in the 20th century (Mary’s doesn’t, though),
so I looked for Elizabeth’s. Lo and behold:
Let’s take a closer look:
Elizabeth’s Oct. 22, 1931, death certificate reports her parents as Henry Wolking
and “Eliz.” Evers, both born in Germany. I did some more census searching and believe
the informant, “Mrs. Henry Harke,” is Elizabeth’s daughter-in-law.
I still haven’t found the Wolkings for sure in 1850 and 1860 census records. My best
candidate so far is this Wolkins family in 1850:
The father’s name doesn’t match, which isn’t great but also isn’t a deal breaker—he
could’ve gone by his middle name or the census taker could’ve talked to a neighbor,
or Mrs. Henry Harke could have been wrong on the death certificate. This family does
have a Mary, Tilda (the divorce records refer to Mary’s sister Matilda) and Lizzie
of the right ages.
Learn more about how to use cluster genealogy in your research from our on-demand
webinar, Using
Cluster and Collateral Searches to Beat Brick Walls, presented by Thomas MacEntee. It’s
available in ShopFamilyTree.com.
Originally
posted at the Genealogy Insider blog.
News from around the web.
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You’ve probably searched for information on your ancestors using the
Google search
engine, but have you also waded through a flood of irrelevant search results to (maybe)
find useful genealogy information?
Have you taken advantage of Google’s other free tools, such as Google Scholar and
Alerts? Language tools?
In Family Tree University‘s next
webinar, Lisa Louise Cooke, author of The
Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, will show you how to research your family tree
using these and other Google tools.
Our Googling
Your Genealogy live webinar takes place Thursday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time
(that’s 6 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Mountain and 4 p.m. Pacific). You’ll learn:
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Basic and Advanced Google search techniques to hone in on your family (even if they
had a common name) - How to set up timesaving Google Alerts
- How to use Google Scholar, Google Patent and other tools to find genealogy information
- How to leap language barriers with Language Tools
- … and more
Webinar registrants will receive a PDF handout of the presentation slides and access
to watch the webinar again as many times as you like. You’ll also get Family
Tree Magazine‘s Step-by-Step Guide to Google article.
Click
here to register for our Googling Your Genealogy live webinar with Lisa Louise Cooke (sign
up before Feb. 21 to save $10!).
News from around the web.
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Black History Month started in 1926 with “Negro History Week,” set
during the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. February was first
celebrated as Black History Month at Kent State University in 1970;
the US government first recognized the celebration in 1976. The UK
observed Black History Month beginning in 1987 and Canada’s House of
Commons followed suit in 1995.
This month shines a spotlight on those researching African-American ancestors—and
the challenges that slavery and segregation have placed in their way. These are some
of our favorite FamilyTreeMagazine.com resources
to help you face those challenges and commemorate the lives of your ancestors:
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How to get started
finding your freed ancestors in the 1870 census—the first step toward solving
the mystery of their years in bondage
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Learn
about the Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy website, which has information
on 100,000 slaves brought to Louisiana in the 18th and 19th centuries
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Our African-American
Genealogy Toolkit has more websites, books and organizations to help you research
your family history
Looking for more in-depth advice on how to research your African-American ancestors?
Try these:
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our Family Tree University course Finding
African-American Ancestors in Newspapers: Research Strategies for Success (it’s
discounted to $49.99 for the session
starting Feb. 25!)
News from around the web.
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Here’s our Photo Detective Maureen A. Taylor’s new book about
researching your family photos (and those mystery photos that might
or might not be your family):
… and you could win a copy by entering
your name in our Family Photo Detective giveaway.
What’s inside Family
Photo Detective? You’ll learn how to:
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Determine whether you have a daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cabinet card or
other type of image - Use clothing, accessories and hairstyles to help date the image
- Research photographer imprints
- Compare facial features in multiple photos to help identify individuals
- Interview family members for information
- Use photo props and background to add context
The Family
Photo Detective giveaway ends Feb. 28 at 11:59 p.m. ET. And if you refer a friend
who enters (by sending the link in your entry confirmation), you’ll get two extra
chances to win. Good luck!
Surname Forum Activity
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Looking for descendants of Robert & Cynthia Manly/Manley of Texas Co. MO who still live in the area. Would like to meet with you at the end of July.
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You’ve heard of Benedict Arnold, but what about Jack Peterson?
From U.S., African American Newspapers, 1829-1947
According to the October 9, 1859, Weekly Anglo-African, if Jack Peterson and Moses Sherwood hadn’t decided to take on a landing party from the British sloop of war Vulture by themselves, thereby frustrating Major Andre’s escape, Arnold might have given away West Point after all. And this came after Jack had already joined the Revolutionary army, buried the friend he went to war with, and escaped from a ship after being taken prisoner.
Learn how to find your own war heroes at ancestry.com/africanamerican.