New/old cousin

This time I really wasn't sure who I was sending my letter to. I addressed it to "the relatives of...A". I knew A had passed away nearly 30 years prior, but I hoped, as the white pages indicated, that folks who loved him and knew him still lived there. A's wife M still lived there! She and her son E were pleased and excited to get my letter. I had included a college photo of A. M called me the same day she got the letter and sounded just lovely. I called back and we spoke for about 30 minutes. In the following week E and I exchanged some pictures. We were able to fill in some blanks for each other. These are just some of the pictures E shared.  

Because E mentioned a cabin in the town of Eagle River, Wisconsin, I was finally able to place George Wolff in time and space. Not only did he pass there, his wife submitted a veteran headstone application. This document finally gave me his pension number which allowed me to order George's pension claim from his time in the Calvary during the Spanish American War. 80$ and 63 days later, I should have this paperwork from the National Records Administration. 

Find a Grave

I love 'em, they are are awesome. Turns the physical world virtual. Even if I had the time I could never afford to travel to all these locations. If I had the money, I wouldn't have the time. Run by volunteers the premise is simple: Type up who is buried where and what the headstone says and a pic if possible.

I've been a member for a little over a year and observed the etiquette. Yes, I botched some requests, but most folks took the time to explain. I have met some incredible "helpers" that love the puzzle as much or more than I. Six months ago a lovely couple fulfilled a photo request- then out of the blue they emailed again saying they found another cluster of the same named folks- was I interested? You betcha! (Side note, I have not yet been able to link this cluster to my cluster other than the home town in Italy.)

Knowing how much I appreciate the photos, I took the plunge and offered to take photos of some local graves. I had been reticent to do so because I am not the best at geo-spatial -- oh I'll just say it- finding stuff IRL (in real life). As feared--couldn't find them. I found the cemetery, I found the front office, but Sunday of course they were closed.  I'll have to call their office during business hours to get plot location. 

The cemetery we went to supposedly was 40% photographed-- well that may be true but the interments for the whole military section at least, are not even listed. So, if I am bored, I have plenty to volunteer there. First to list, then to photograph. 

I have only sponsored one memorial (pay to take the ads off)  and only added about 10 memorials but it is a start. 

My virtual graveyards
Grandparents
Great grand parents
Great great grandparents

UPDATE: I found 1 but only the site for the other-- no memorial tablet.

Private Collection Reveal

I was watching the YouTube versions of some Ancestry.com webinars this week  . In Discovering the Immigrants in Your Family Tree (embedded at bottom of post), the speaker was talking about four key facts you have to have about your immigrant ancestor before hoping over the ocean and digging in the new location. It is one of those lists that seem obvious and self-evident once someone else has put it down for you. But while you are in the thick of it, easy to miss. The desire to leap ahead is always so tempting. The speaker Mr. Kory L Meyerink, had this to say in the beginning of the video to be successful about going from new resident country back to old resident country:

Must completely identify the immigrant by obtaining:

• Name (in their native tongue)
• Date of a key event in the old country (such as birth or marriage)
• Names of close relatives - sibling, aunt, etc
• Specific town where he lived in old country

Those four main points were really his key message. I recommend watching the whole thing as he answers questions and explains how and where to obtain those four things. You need these bits to give you your search terms (names), to help you disambiguate people (dates and family units), and the last --biggie here--to know where to look (the town). I'll likely have to do a series of posts on my successes and failures on going from new country to old country. Perhaps writing it down will give me some focus and re-ignite the fire. 

About two-thirds of the way through he mentioned funeral home records as a resource. He stressed that they are private collections but if you can get at them, they can be very valuable. Hah! I gave myself a little pat on the back because about three weeks prior I had contacted the funeral home that handled the burial of my 2nd great grandfather. 

Maybe I should rewind- I contacted the funeral home chain that had bought several funeral home chains, one of which had bought the funeral home I was concerned with. I found myself looking at tax and business records trying to determine the chain of custody the original funeral home to guess the chain of custody for the documents I cared about. I had to bank much on potential since I wasn't sure that such documents 1) ever existed  2) been kept 3) been passed along as the businesses merged. Once I had found the mega-funeral home chain, I filled in the pertainant information about my request into a web form and crossed my fingers. 

Yesterday I got a call from Nancy of the mega-funeral home chain. She had found something and she'd pop it in snail mail. In her message, she even said,  "Bet you never thought you'd get a call back, hunh?" Honestly, I hadn't expected anything but I had hoped. Perhaps Nancy is a family historian as well helped a fellow researcher in need. Thanks, Nancy!




I am reserving time to watch the rest of the series. Oh and BTW, Ancestry.com is having a contest and the prize is a trip to Ireland called Coast to Castle. Like them on Facebook and then enter.

Unexpected Bounty

My husband's great aunt was chatting with her niece- my husband's cousin- and mentioned that I was doing some family history research. Fancy that! She'd saved what her mother had worked on and whatever else had come her way. We'll call her "C". C emailed and we introduced ourselves. She offered to scan what she had and pop it into an email. Knowing how time consuming and fun scanning is I imagined more than a month before I would see anything.

The very next day my inbox overfloweth! She provided such wonderful little tidbits. Most are extracts of extracts- not primary source material, but some looks like many times photo copied family bible page. My first one if so. (The other one that is close is children's names and birthdates entered in the leaves of a math book. We are a geeky lot.)

Another tidbit of interest she included was an invitation to a family reunion in 1988 (pictured). No guest list or author credit on that one but includes Fanny and George Washington Davis's picture. I would to know who holds the original but I'm quite pleased to have this copy. I mean- wow!