Genie Trips

The Advantages of Visiting

Guild of One Name Studies Conference 2016

I have divide this post into 4 types of trips undertaken by genealogists. There may be some overlap but I will discuss the subtle differences between them.

• Visits to Relatives 

The first rule of genealogy is to talk to the older relatives whilst you can, as they often know things that cannot be found in the official documents.
They also may have photographs that you have never seen or be able to identify people in any photographs you have inherited.
My latest visit uncovered unseen photographs and letters in the collections of an aunt and uncle and discovered by my sister when clearing my parents house. So even when you think you may have exhausted the family collections it pays to revisit.

• Visits to Archives

We will never be short of records in our local archive our main challenge here will be access to them. The popular collections like parish registers are gradually being digitized by the big companies but there are many more records being preserved that may never make it to the internet.

During my latest visit to Hampshire I was fortunate to be able to view some Poor Law records. They did not answer my research question but do contain interesting information.

Catholic records have been difficult to access as, in the main, they have not been deposited with local archives. Find My Past have added some records to their collections but only a limited number. When I perused the shelves in the Hampshire Record Office whilst awaiting some documents I had ordered I came across 3 books of particular interest to me. These books contained transcriptions of Catholic registers for Southampton. These books had only been published in 2015. They have helped me with one of my research conflicts and helped to confirm an uncertain birthplace.

If you can possibly get to the archive, do visit, prepare well before you go, especially if you may not get back for another visit. Consider what to prioritise and make full use of catalogues and the staff knowledge so that you can maximise your research time. Check out what devices they allow for copying records as this can vary.

• Genealogy Conferences

I will clarify what I would class as a conference as I wish to discuss different ways of imparting information.

In the UK we may have a day conference sometimes called a seminar where the participants attend for a single day of classes. The recent Guild of One Name Studies conference I attended was over a weekend starting on the Friday afternoon and finishing late afternoon on the Sunday. At this weekend conference most attendees were staying over although a few were day attendees as they lived nearby. 

Conferences are a way to educate oneself about particular topics which may be of interest but they are also a great way to network with individuals who share your interest. Face to face discussions outside of the formal classes can be as important as the classes themselves.

Tackling a new research challenge can be made easier by discussion with others who may have encountered a similar challenge.

I would say that, personally, I wonder if some of the local family history societies would attract new members, if they could organise an annual conference, for their members, with topics of local and general interest. Those living further afield might be attracted to visit the area for such an event and if interest was poor it could be opened up to the public. 

A cheaper alternative would be a video conference.This was discussed today in this Dear Myrtle Hangout.if you want to see all the comments view it by logging on to this page and go to the Hosting Virtual Meetings tutorials. 

• Genealogy Shows

In the UK Who Do You Think You Are Live is held in April. It is billed as the world’s largest family history show. This show started life as the Society of Genealogists event and was rebranded when the television programme hit our screens. Many long term genealogists will tell you it has changed format over the years. Some of the changes may be due to the venue which moved from London to Birmingham a few years ago. 

However the audience for these events has also changed.  

The main thing to distinguish a show from a conference is that, at least here in the UK, much of the venue is occupied by vendors and genealogy related societies. There is also a section of related stands to assist with understanding records that we use such as military or photo or artefact dating. There also appears to have been a move to include other charities within the hall (some attendees have queried why they are there).

Like the US Rootstech event there are also educational talks on offer both free (usually sponsored) and paid for (mostly in advance). However the events in the US tend to span several days and attendees will stay over the same as conferences in the UK whereas shows attract, in the main, day visitors.

Vendors offers will attract visitors to shows and/or conferences as will educational talks.

However I get the impression that the family history societies are struggling to attract new members and the work that volunteers have put in to creating indexes over the years is now being superseded by the appearance of records in online datasets. Some are updating websites but many do not have the resources or expertise to do this.  

What can our local societies do to continue being relevant to both existing and new members? 

Is attendance at a national event worthwhile?

I enjoy catching up with friends at these events but why do others attend and are the costs involved worth it?

Who Do You Think You Are Live 2917 Celebrity 

EXPECTATIONS

WHAT CAN I EXPECT IN 2015?

It is at this time of the year that we all get bombarded by new year resolutions and with the launch of the Genealogy Do-Over by Thomas MacEntee many of us are reviewing our work at setting ourselves goals for this coming year.

It is important that we give ourselves time to reflect and for those of us in the northern hemisphere the long winter evenings can be the best time of year to do this.

As I may have mentioned previously last January I attended one of The Boot Camps that Thomas and Lisa Alzo have been running. 

Next weekend they are running their Research Right Boot Camp (which sold out within a day), if you have not been able to sign up for this then it will be available from the following week. I have managed to sign up for this and hope to pick up some useful tips.

I have not managed to do much research at archives in the past two or three years and have been concentrating on getting a new organisation system in place. 
Those limited visits I have made were to look for parish registers not yet available online. 
I am hoping that next weekend's Boot Camp will help me optimise my research process so that I can make the most of my visit to Salt Lake City next month.

GOALS

1. Complete my reorganisation process
2. Optimise the research process
3. Ensure that all my sources are cited as accurately as possible
4. Make the most of visiting my cousins in the US and Salt Lake City for the Rootstech/FGS 2015 Conference

HOW WILL I ATTAIN THESE

This may sound a little "corny" but as the words of that song say "with a little help from my friends".

The genealogy community are a supportive group of people and by sharing and supporting each other we can all achieve our goals.

We must be realistic in what we aim to achieve and reassess the situation when we don't reach the endpoint we wanted.

Thomas MacEntee urged everyone who participating in the Genealogy Do-Over to slow down. Speed is not important getting it right is our aim.

The right plan with realistic goals will get more done. "More haste, less speed" is the saying that comes to mind.
I have parish register microfiche and some English counties have digital images available online, once I know what I have then I can concentrate my research objectives on those records not available in my home or via the Internet.
Some may say that goal number 4 should be number 1 and in the short term that is true. However without the other goals then I may not attain number 4. Goals 1 and 2 may not be reached before I leave the UK and 3 most certainly will not but that does not mean I cannot achieve number 4.

Preparation will be the key to my success and in my March post I will tell you if I achieved my goal and in April how I plan to make the most of my trip to Who Do You Think You Are Live.

Next month I hope to give you my impression of the first day at Rootstech 2015/FGS conference.

The Importance of Planning

My husband commutes to Albany, New York, a couple of times a month for work. Last month I accompanied him on one trip, and we drove instead of flying. Neither of us have any known ancestors near Albany, but his paternal ancestors lived in the Hazleton, Pennsylvania, area. We are stopped there to do some research and visit the cemetery where his grandparents and several aunts and uncle are buried.

We’ve been to Hazleton before, but I was a neophyte about genealogy trip planning and did none. We found the cemetery but not their graves; found and photographed their house; and learned a bit about what the lives of anthracite coal miners were like.

The Saints Peter and Paul Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church Cemetery in
Hazleton, Pennsylvania

 This time I followed Heather Wilkinson Rojo's advice. Before we left I did the following:

• Called the Saints Peter and Paul Lithuanian Catholic Church only to discover the church closed in 2009 and their records are now housed at Transfiguration Church.

Saints Peter and Paul Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church
in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, which closed its doors on
8 July 2009

• Called Transfiguration Church and learned they do not allow the public to look at their records. They were, however, willing to provide information if you knew specific ancestors’ names and birth and death dates of the events. The church secretary very thoughtfully emailed me the plot locations the day before we left.

• Made an appointment with the Hazleton Historical Society Museum, which is open only by appointment. The appointment needed to be made at least a week before the trip.  The society has some back issues of the local newspaper and old city directories. 

• Learned the Luzerne County Historical Society's collection of Hazleton newspapers is not available to researchers because they are being digitized (yeah!) So I struck this stop off our list.

So how how was our trip? Much more fruitful than our 2009 trip when we arrived with a map no plan. We photographed the headstones of Adam and Cecelia Dagutis, my husband's grandparents; his first cousin, who was killed in a sledding accident at the age of 4; his uncle's grave; and his by-marriage uncle, father of the little boy mentioned previously. We also made some stops along the way to photograph and transcribe war honor roll memorials for Heather's Honor Roll Project.

My husband's paternal grandparents' headstones at the Saints Peter and
Paul Lithuanian Cemetery

The host for our private tour of the Hazleton Historical
Society and Museum. He said he was Tyrolean; Pete
was Lithuanian; and I was a disappointment because
I had no ancestors from Hazleton. Quite a character!

I certainly learned the importance of planning a trip as we would have been disappointed at every turn if we thought we could just drop in and start researching! Thank you, Heather!

The church secretary later sent me copies from their "death book" of the entries for my ancestors. There is just one wee problem. The church secretary thought they were in Lithuanian and my work colleague, who emigrated from Lithuania and can read and speak the language, doesn't recognize it but thinks it Latin. 

Genealogy Research in Spain

I’m a thirteenth generation American married to a first generation American.  My husband’s family is from Spain.  He was born in New York City while his father was working at the United Nations.  Not another member of his family was born in the USA, except for our daughter. Learning how to research his genealogy was something completely new to me! 

My husband grinning after finding an ancestor
in the church record books of Sinovas, Burgos, Spain

Working on my husband’s family tree doesn't necessarily mean that we have to physically be in Spain.  Here are several hints for working on Spanish genealogy. 

1.        All family research starts with YOU and then you work your way backwards.  Start with interviewing family members.  We’ve used snail mail (the US Postal service), email, and Skype to ask questions.  This can work with relatives in any foreign country.

A typical Libro de la Familia from Spain

2.     In Spain all families must register their births, marriages, and deaths in a “Libro de la Familia”.  Every family has a copy of this book.  These were started by the Ministerio de Justicia under Francisco Franco, and the practice continues today.  Each book shows the heads of households, marriages, children, etc. It is an invaluable resource.   There are additional pages for other civil registrations, orphans, widows, places of employment, residence changes.  It’s a treasure chest!

3.     From the oral history and the “Libro de la Familia” you will be able to discern where each family unit lived in order to search for church records.  The Catholic Church was the official church for most of Spain’s history, although you might find that some family members belonged to other religions.  Most churches have uninterrupted records back to the 1600s except in cases of wars, such as the Napoleonic Wars in Spain (The Peninsular War 1807 – 1814).  During this time period many church records were lost.

4.       In the case of lost records, don’t despair.  One of my husband’s paternal lines came from the village of Sinovas in the province of Burgos, where the records were destroyed during the Peninsular War.  The Catholic church records after 1814 name the parents and grandparents on the births, marriages and deaths so I was able to still go back another two or three generations to the mid-1700s with these families.

The marriage of Celestino Garcia and Joaquina Munoz, in the village of
Barba de Puerco, Salamanca, Spain 1 December 1877

5.   Many Spanish church records have been microfilmed by the LDS church.  You can find these films online at familysearch.org   If you are lucky these images have been digitized, such as the villages for my husband’s maternal grandmother’s side of the family in Salamanca province.  If not, you can view these films at your local LDS church’s family history library.

6.     After searching church records, other records to use include town histories, tax records, military records and other documents from Spain.  These are sometimes available through Family Search, and also online at the Spanish National Archives website  http://en.www.mcu.es/archivos/MC/AHN/   or the National Library of Spain http://www.bne.es/en/LaBNE/ArchivoWeb/    where you can search by surname, village or topic.

Good luck!  Buena Suerte!

Planning a long distance research trip

Several years ago I was lucky enough to plan and carry out a successful research genealogy research trip to Honolulu, Hawaii.  We live on the East Coast of the United States, and it is a long, long distance to Hawaii.  It was also my first trip to Honolulu, so I knew that I would have to plan some fun time for my husband and I.  It can be difficult to balance work and play during a genealogy trip, and an exotic locale like Honolulu makes the balancing act even more difficult.  I hope these tips help you plan a similar trip!  They worked so well for me that we repeated our Hawaii genealogy trip again last year.

I had been writing, emailing and using online resources for a long time to research my extended family in Hawaii.  My 4x great aunt had removed to Honolulu from Boston in the 1830s.  I had spent 20 years researching our connection to these Hawaiian pioneers.  By this time I had exhausted all the snail mail and email contacts I had made.  It was time for personal research time in the Hawaii State Archives, the Bishop Museum Library, and the cemeteries.  It was also time to walk in the footsteps of my great aunt and cousins, and I was looking forward to seeing their homes, churches, and (of course!) the island where they all decided to stay instead of returning to Massachusetts.

My recommendations...

#1- Appointments- don't leave anything up to chance

When planning a long distance research trip to a new place, it is important to schedule all your research day and to make specific appointments.  I made appointments to meet in person with all the people who had been helping me via email, including librarians, archivists, curators and cousins.  We made one major appointment for each morning, and decided that the rest of the day would be used for additional research or for just relaxing.  We had only one week, so cousins were scheduled for weekends when libraries and archives would be closed.  This worked out well.

Scheduling appointments also meant that I could ask "Will your archive be open until noon that day?" or "May I search your files until 5pm?".  Even if the website for a repository says it will be open, you never know about local holidays, staff vacations, or budgetary closures until you ask the staff right up front if their place will be open on the exact day you wish to be there.

#2-  Don't bring too much stuff!

Extra suitcases can cost from $50 to more than $150 depending where you are going, and paper can weigh a lot.  Nowadays your suitcase is limited to 50 pounds, or less if you are overseas.  I had to digitize as much as possible and download everything to my mobile devices, Evernote or flash drives.

If you collect things (papers, brochures, books, documents) along the way, consider mailing or shipping them home.  There was a US Post Office right across the street from the Hawaii State Archives in Honolulu.  I bought several "If it fits, It ships" boxes (for $10 they will mail whatever you can cram into the box).  Fortunately for me, Hawaii is part of the United States, so this was a real bargain.  Shipping can be expensive, but not as expensive as an overweight suitcase, or the price of an additional suitcase on the plane.

#3 - Involve the family.

We had a research plan that involved both my husband and I at the Hawaii State Archives.  I was in charge of getting the documents from the archivist, and he was in charge of photographing as much as possible from each file or box.  I decided I wouldn't sit and read, I would look at the digitized images later.  We were able to photograph nearly a thousand personal letters in one afternoon.  I placed them on the table and he photographed each one, and then I'd pick them up and repeat the process.  After I was home I found that nearly 2/3 of these letters were of genealogical interest to my family, written from Boston and New England to the Hawaiian islands between the 1850s and 1910.

Other than making a family member your personal photographer (not just for documents, but for scenes inside and out), consider a "personal assistant" who can not only navigate maps to each archive and library, but who can find a good place nearby for lunch, and a great beach on the way back to the hotel.  My daughter was our navigator during a different research trip to Nova Scotia, and she found at least two great side trips for each day that were always on our way between scheduled appointments, and she was great at finding a fantastic restaurant for the end of each busy day.

#4- Use your contacts!

It was great to meet "in person" with archivists and curators I had only met virtually online before the trip.  They were also very useful in helping me to get appointments with other people once I was on the ground in Honolulu.  I met several new genealogists, and also visited several other historic homes that I did not know about until I was there.  Don't be shy about asking about taking photos where they usually aren't permitted if this is a home from your own family tree!  The worst they can say is "no."

#5- Remember the climate and geography

Hawaii is a lot more humid and hot than where I live in New Hampshire.  Remember that items you bring home may be moldy or mildewed.  (We had this experience bringing home old family photos from Puerto Rico).  If a family member gives you an artifact, how will you get it home? We had a family member give us an old cast iron pot in Spain. Luckily it fit in the suitcase in the days before they instituted the 50 pound weight limit on planes! This would definitely take some different planning to get home today.

 Even though Hawaii looks like a small island, crossing to the other side might take a lot longer than you think due to mountain roads or small town traffic.  It is good to ask your contacts ahead of time how long they think it will take to get to their museum/house/library from your hotel.

#6 - Bring gifts

It is nice to present those who helped you in the past, or those who are about to help you, with a small gift from home.  Try to think of something from your hometown that is part of your local culture.  We usually bring small bottles of locally made maple syrup for librarians and archivists. This goes a long way towards breaking the ice in case you need to contact them again after you get home.  You never know if you will need more documentation in the future.

For meeting up with "new" cousins, something from your own family is nice- photos or a family tree chart showing your kinship are usually highly appreciated.  Don't forget to follow up with thank you cards and letters.  At Christmas and New Years I send back group photos of our cousins or our trip to the archives and museums, which is a nice way to stay in touch.

So, What Can You Find in a Month of Travel and Research?

.
Man and I are back in our stick built home in SE Michigan.  We took just about one month to travel from East Tampa through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and back to Michigan.

After we cleared the Florida/Georgia state line our first stop was in Statesboro, Bulloch County, Georgia. We have been there before, there is a nice campground close to town and the Statesboro Regional Library has one terrific genie research room.  Many volunteers over many years have created a researchers dream in that room, resources abound!  Bless the volunteers!

I also paid several visits to Springfield, Effingham County, Georgia.  Even though Effingham is right next door to Bulloch County, in our prior visits to the area we had not driven over. We stopped at the library, the historical society and several cemeteries.

We stayed in Statesboro for a week.  Between the 2 libraries, the cemeteries and the historical society I visited, as well as a private guided tour by a cousin and some driving around, I have well over 550 images on my camera alone to play with over the summer.  I think about 300 of those images are obituaries.  I have shared those with a fellow family researcher.  She may still be downloading them from Dropbox!

One cemetery that I visited, the Mizpah United Methodist Church, is where I suspect my ancestress Mariah Grant Remley and her husband, William H. Remley are buried.  The cemetery is in Effingham County Georgia, very near the county line of Colleton County South Carolina.  If they are buried here, their gravesites are unmarked.  However, visiting the cemetery gave me a sense of closure, seeing it in person helped me understand.  A very good thing.

From Statesboro we drove north to the Atlanta area where I had the opportunity to meet two special cousins.  One I had met just days before in Statesboro, the other I met in Atlanta for the first time. Hard to beat personal meet ups with cousins. What a special day that was, the memories will last forever.

Next stop on our ride north was Chattanooga, no research, just a week to play tourist. Leaving Chattanooga we drove 2 days to Fort Wayne Indiana where we spent 4 nights, and I had the opportunity to research for 3 days at the Allen County Public Library.

Busy with that research stuff:  Lap top, iPad, books, books, fabulous books:

I cannot tell you how many wonderful hours, days, weeks, I have spent researching at the Allen County Public Library.  They are always adding new resources and I found some to have a look at this time.  I came home with 50 pages or more of printed matter and uncounted digital images made with that iPad.  I learned the maiden names of at least two of my previously known as "Bride (mnu)".

(MNU stands for maiden name unknown, it can be a controversial factor in genie data bases, many find fault with it, but, that is a discussion for another time and place. In fact, I have written about MNU before, at Reflections.)

Now, slaying the MNUs:

Below:  A book of extracted data from a early newspaper from Ontario Canada where one of Man's lines lived for 50 to 75 years.  Prior to finding this extraction I had no idea of Margaretha's maiden name.  I have not found a marriage record for them.  1868 sometimes can be problematic in Ontario.  Now, with her maiden name, I will go searching again.  I am thrilled to have a maiden name.  AND, a marriage "event" date.  Great leads for future research.

Since this one is a bit hard to read, it is a marriage between Johannes Gerth and Margaretha Dietrich on April 12, 1868.  At some point, I will see if I can locate the actual papers, maybe digital??  I can hope.

Below, another maiden name is found.  This one is the name of a Lashbrook bride's mother.  I love fleshing out the family tree and will add parents and such if I can find them.  I was more than a bit interested in this McLaughry lineage as there were some rumblings on the internet and elsewhere that this line may connect with the McLaury brothers who are buried at Tombstone Arizona in Boothill Cemetery.  Frank and Tom McLaury were "murdered" on the streets of Tombstone in 1881 during the shootout at the OK corral (involved Doc Holiday and the Earps, including Wyatt.)  I did not find proof of it during the short time I had to spend with this HUGE book, but, hey, I found a maiden name!  Can't beat that!

And, that is part of what you can find in a month of travel and research.  Special cousins, maiden names, obituaries, cemeteries that may or may not be the final resting place for your ancestors, and enough leads and research fodder for months to come.

Research on - -




*The pages I have marked with yellow highlighter and pencil are photocopies from the book. I did not write on the original.  Just sayin - -

**By the way, Calvin's surname is spelled McLaury on his mausoleum wall.  Photo from my personal collection taken during a visit to Blackwell, Kay County, Oklahoma a few years ago.

.

So You Wanna Take a Genealogy Research Trip to Vermont?

 Have you been considering making a genealogy research trip to Vermont? I can’t say that I blame you! Vermont is an excellent place for genealogy research. There is a state-wide open records policy, meaning you can go into just about any town or city clerk and say, “Hey, I’m here to do genealogy,” and you’ll be lead to the archive vault. No questions asked. Occasionally you will find a town clerk who is a bit protective with their records and will want to bring you the books directly, though I have found this to be an uncommon occurrence.

Vermont Historical Society (Credit: commons.wikimedia.org)

 The first step in planning your research trip is searching online databases for your Vermont ancestors. FamilySearch.org, a free database, has many of the same records that are found at the Vermont State Archives & Records Administration in Middlesex. Do as much research online as you can so that you will have more time to focus on looking for records not available online once you get to Vermont. At this point you may be asking yourself if it is worthwhile to pay a visit to the state’s archives building since so many records are available online for free. Unfortunately, I don’t have a definitive answer. If you have the time, then it could very well be worthwhile to pay a visit and see if you can uncover new vital records. You may also be interested in exploring the other resources that are available, such as naturalization records, probate court records, and military records (a more complete list of records is available at the Vermont state archives’ website at www.vermont-archives.org).

If you know which town a record is located, or have a pretty good hunch, I recommend you plan a visit to the town clerk. As I previously stated, you will usually be granted unrestricted access to the archives vault at most all town clerk’s offices throughout Vermont, and most often it won’t cost you a dime (unless you want to make photocopies). There are some town clerks that charge a small fee for researching, but it’s not much more than $1 or $2 per hour. Because Vermont is such a rural state with lots of very (VERY) small towns, there is often only one person working at a town clerk’s office, and as such, the town clerk may not always be open during posted business hours. It’s a wise idea to call ahead and make sure someone will be around to let you in (I once drove almost an hour and a half to the tiny little town of Belvidere only to discover the town clerk wasn’t open due to staff shortage).

 

Ethan Allen Homestead, Near Burlington, Vermont (Credit: Doc Searls, Flickr.com)

Be sure to take some time to explore each town you visit. Vermont is filled with interesting museums, parks, and historical landmarks. You may want to pay a visit to the local historical society, where you may even discover more records about your ancestors, the cemetery where your ancestor is buried, or the town’s library to thumb for information in old newspapers or local history books. Take a walk through Main Street and strike up conversations with the locals (many Vermonters love to share their stories of yesteryear, and you never know who may even remember your ancestors).

Some genealogy points of interest in Vermont:

State of Vermont Archives 7 Records Administration

1078 Route 2, Middlesex
Montpelier, Vermont 05633-7701

Phone:  (802) 828-3700

Website: www.vermont-archives.org

Reference Room Hours:  Tuesday – Friday, 9:00am– 4:00pm

Fees: Free

Leahy Library of the Vermont Historical Society

60 Washington Street
Barre, Vermont 05641-4209

Phone: (802) 479-8509

Website: http://vermonthistory.org/research/leahy-library

Hours: Tuesday–Friday 9:00am-4:00; Wednesday 9:00am-8:00pm ; Second Saturdays 9:00am-4:00pm

Fees: $5 for non-members, Free for members

Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical Society

377 Hegeman Ave. (Across from St Police)
Fort Ethan Allen
Colchester, Vermont

Phone: (802) 482-3075

Website: http://www.vt-fcgs.org/

Library Hours:  Tuesday 3:00pm-9:00pm, Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm, and by appointment

Fees: $5 for non-members, Free for members