Philippine War Letter Home a Treasure Discovered

I was going through my mother's writing files, and was floored when I found a portion of a letter my grandfather Harry Ozro Whitson wrote home to his mother, sister, brother, and friends in Oklahoma from the Philippines during the war. There is only the first page and a fourth page, but the first has a drawing he made of his surroundings at the top.  It is priceless.  I asked my mother about it and if she had the other pages or knew who did. She (she suffers from dementia) said I didn't have it, you must have.  I knew it wasn't me, as I would never have laminated it.
This find was exciting.  I have already had one journey in finding my grandfather's experience during the Philippines War and wrote it here on my blog.

Harry O Whitson 

Company B picture location was not written on the back, just Spanish American War

This letter gave me first hand experience from him where he was and some of what he did, albeit it is only part of the story. These are the two pages of the letter.  I believe that he wrote on the back of the paper, but it is hard to tell since it is laminated together.

Letter from Harry O Whitson to his family in Oklahoma from the Philippines 1900 in possession of Fran Ellsworth 

Page 4 or flip side of above of Harry O Whitson's letter in possession of Fran Ellsworth

The hand drawn illustration on the first page.

I had downloaded GenScriber before for transcribing some wills and documents, so I dusted it off and began my hand at transcribing what my grandfather had written.  It was not easy and obviously as I worked I saw he didn't know how to spell many of the place names, I was able to figure it out, but I did not change anything as I was transcribing.  NOW, I have another reason for posting, hoping some of my eagle-eyed genfriends will see what I have missed and let me know. Crowd sourcing. (smiling) Those of you just starting, this is an awesome FamilySearch Wiki page that helps tremendously Transcribing Historical Documents (National Institute)

This is my attempt at transcribing the above letter.

Marinduquie, Santa Cruz, Oct the 28^th  9100

The 38^th, , U. S. V. Inf. Co. B

Dear friends Mother Sister Brother and friends one and all I will Try and let you know what we are dewing and have been for the last 30 days, We left the Luzon the 25^th of last month for this place for the purpose of recapturing the 29^th the 58 men and th?ec (their?) captors it was T. Co. who were captured they were about 12 miles from there quarters and they were very for st?f ok they would of never ben captured   We went through the country a cupel of times and they thought they had better turn them in so they turned them over to us they looked very hard for they they  had no shoes and but very little clothing of any kind

[page 2 and 3 are missing]

Page (4)And the seconday on water there were some sick boys  I enjoyed the trip very well myself the 27^th of Dec ? disembarked at Minalea and this 1th day of January 1900 We left Minalea and landed at [Supor… Brxny] there […one word…]first on the firing line  The 1^st of Jan  We started in the advance to the south line with 20,000 trops in the skurmish line through the rice fields We landed at Balangas Jan the 16^th  and stayed there until Sept the 25^th and then We left for Marinduque Island Santa cruz and there we are know but I do not think We shall stay here long  I will have to get ready for drill so long I will write some more to night good by

Using his letter, I searched on some of the old newspapers and found the press coverage of the same events and online I found, a wonderful webpage about the Philippine War from their perspective (always good to have). 

My grandfather's company was under Captain Anderson who was the first to go search for the captured men. From the accounts of the press it appears that it was not an easy task. This war was captioned later as the first Viet Nam.  

One of several newspaper articles I found.

The Inter Ocean
(Chicago, Illinois)17 Oct 1900, Wed • Page 3

  When searching the Newspapers on GenealogyBank.com, Newspapers.com, and ChroniclingAmerica.com, I first put  Marinduque insurgents and the date 1900.  The articles came right up.  My grandfather's account was as accurate as he accounted it. My quest for information was satisfied.
On a side note I discovered a short article about their clothing on GenealogyBank which really made sense. This is just a snippet.  Those guys must have been miserable when they first arrived.

This War was not covered greatly in my American History class. It was lumped in the Spanish American war that featured Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, so this has been a learning experience for me as well as a journey that has helped me know my grandfather a little better, probably better than my mother who was only 2 months old when he died.  See you all next month ~FranE

Heritage Books in your Personal Genealogy Research

What other Tools do you have in your Genealogy Backpack? 



One for me! Is my Heritage Book Volumn 3 for Bullock County, Alabama

Heritage Book of Bullock County, Alabama. 2011

It helps me so much in learning about the County my Family of Slaves and where Generations stayed put. Even through Migration and moving back. Why some left? Why some stayed? 

It's gives a Biographical Insight from the when Bullock County, Alabama was established in December of 1855 until 2004. It has so many pictures and family histories and each little community within the towns and county. 

My family is from the area known as Antioch and Mt. Coney. 

This Heritage Book was bought back a few years ago for me. Through Heritage Publishing. At the time in 2011 when I ordered it was on sale for 35.00, it was originally 65.00. I called that a bargain!  I could keep it, own and have readily available to me any given moment. It's a Source for me to back up other Sources. 

  I had no where to turn Online for my town of Midway within Bullock County, Alabama.

Most of the genealogical records have been ordered by someone picking them up for me. Ordering through ADAH. Alabama Department of Archives and History. Or going through my Mentor the President of the Bullock County Historical Society, Mr. Dean Spratlin.
I take 2 trips a year. In October and the Summer. Sometimes it's on a whim because of a funeral or family gathering. Even on those sad occasions, I bring something back from the Courthouse or a new Cemetery headstone. 

I'm still playing catchup and I think I'm doing pretty good for my Ancestral Hometown being able to do location research. 

Europe is another story which I'll mention below.

Midway, Bullock County, Alabama is very Important to my research. It's where my Slave family started. A lot of those records are in this Courthouse and you must do on site research. I can't stress that enough. I have gathered much information from there whereas otherwise I wouldn't of got from Ordering or doing Online research. This County was formed in 1855 and they are just getting up to par on digital technology for most of their records. There are still those gems you won't find, anywhere unless you are there. 

Midway, Alabama is a small close nit Community. It's a sleepy town. It's in Bullock County, the county seat is in Union Springs. It's Population was over 200,000 people in it's heyday. On June 27, 2001 census recorded from this book, the Population was 11,714. The land area is about 625 square miles. 

Map of Bullock County, 2004.

You can see a bit of Bullock County, Midway, Alabama in my Documentary here: Granddaddy Ike's Story to True! 

This was never done before in my Family. I went on a 3 day trip with my Filmmaker Susan Soble of Family Line Video. To record all the Important and catalyst icons of my Family History. Plus I got a bonus and got my family to do some Oral History Interviews. That is how I got started in Genealogy. My Oral History Interviews turned into Research which in turn led me to what we know as Genealogy. 



 Most of it's records are what I like to call Onsite Research. I haven't even counted all the hours of research I've had to spend there in Union Springs Courthouse. It's been with a lot of Joy and I look forward to always returning with a pair of new eyes. 

I would check the site out you might be able to find a Heritage Book that is very detailed on a location you just might be researching. 

Now Im Off to Cuckney, Nottinghamshire England!!. 

I have to learn and concentrate and find all I can on my 6th Great Grandmother Sarah Hinde.

Born in 1702. She died 1770 in St. Mary's Maryland. She is married to William Watson where my Irish comes in! 

My Irish Eyes are Showing

Happy St. Patty's Day!



Best Regards, True!  🍀 

Going Dutch, starting with Civil Registration

De Valk windmill, a landmark in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

Back in April Yvette Hoitink issued her Ancestor Swap Challenge. Since visiting The Netherlands to attend the Gaenovium conference in Leiden earlier this month, I have been inspired to explore Dutch records. Civil registration records, the official secular records of births, marriages and deaths, are a good starting point for genealogical research. I present an investigation of these records for the city of Leiden, as a variation of Yvette’s challenge.

Online guides to the Dutch civil registration, known as Burgerlijke Stand, system include:

• Civil Registration and How to order my own birth certificate from the Netherlands? on Yvette’s Dutch Genealogy
• Netherlands Civil Registration on the FamilySearch wiki
• Civil Registration and Marriage Records, pages of an article entitled ‘Researching Your Dutch Ancestors’ by Miriam Klaasen on About.com Genealogy

Comparing equivalent records from different countries is a good way to gain a deeper understanding of a record type. I regularly come across genealogists from outside the UK who are very confused by civil registration in the UK. Note that there is no British or UK-wide system, but separate and different systems for England & Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. This comparison of Dutch civil registration is with the England and Wales system only.

	Netherlands	England & Wales
Start dates	1795 or 1796 in Limburg & Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, March or June 1811 whole country	1 July 1837
Record closure periods	Births 100 years, marriages 75 years, deaths 50 years	Full details are required for GRO certificate orders from last 50 years. Indexes are un-restricted.
Record organisation	Record date, year, record number	Volume, page, record number, registration district
Number of copies	2 Original created by municipality Copy sent to district court annually	2 or 3 Births, deaths & civil marriages – Original local registers collected by district registrar Copies sent to General Register Office quarterly (every 3 months). Religious marriages - church has its own register in addition to registrar's.
Index structure	Index of district court copy register compiled every 10 years from 1813, arranged alphabetically by surname (sometimes only by first letter of surname)	National index of General Register Office copy registers compiled quarterly, arranged alphabetically by surname, forename(s), referencing registration district, volume, page. Each registration district compiles an index of its completed registers, the arrangement of which varies from district to district.
Language	Dutch, French, Flemish	English
Location of records	Municipal registers over closure dates in city archives District court registers & 10 year indexes in provincial archives	Completed local registers in district registrar's offices GRO copies at GRO Completed church registers usually in county archives
Access	Everyone has access to provincial registers	Access only via legally certified copies (certificates). Public access to the actual civil registers is legally forbidden. Church registers sometimes available.
Online indexes	No reliable and complete index at national scale. FamilySearch recommends using WieWasWie as a general index for Dutch civil registration, but it is incomplete. Some regional and municipal archive websites have indexes.	FreeBMD provides an online version of the GRO index. Some registration district indexes are at UK_BMD or on county council websites.

So, civil registration records for Leiden should be at the city municipal archive and the provincial Zuid-Holland archive. Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken covers Leiden and surrounding municipalities. The Zuid-Holland provincial archives are housed at the Dutch national archives, the Nationaal Archief at The Hague, which is located in the province. The national website has an English version, but searches of its online catalogue return results in Dutch. I found Leiden civil registrations for 1811-1842 in the archive catalogue, but there are no online indexes or records. The municipal website is in Dutch, so time for the translation challenge.

Website translation

For this website, Google translate proved entirely unhelpful. The Chrome browser’s built-in translate function was more useful. Both caused a noticeable delay and produce stilted English. My powers of persistence were tested, but worthwhile, as the website offers an archival catalogue, personal name search and images of original records.

Taking the marriage of Ary Coret in 1877 as an example, clicking on the entry in the search result list gives the indexed details and an image link to the original record. The index includes the names of bride, groom, fathers and mothers of both bride and groom; date and place of the event; birth place, age and occupation of bride and groom. That makes these records richly detailed compared to an English marriage register. The original contains even more information, but presents the challenge of reading old handwriting in a foreign language.

I can make out the following, but need some help with the square bracketed parts:

On the 26^th December 1877, the couple appeared before the officials of the civil registration at the Town Hall in Leiden.

Ary Coret, aged 48, [a porter?] born in September 1829 in Leiden, resident in [??] was the adult son of Pieter Coret and Mary Magdalene ven de Wetering [? ???]

Elsje Gressie, aged 36, with no occupation, born on January 1841 in Leiden, resident ain [old Lange local canal?], widow of John Barentse, was the adult daughter of Gabriel Gressie [factory worker?] and Geertrui Phileman [??], residents in [?? South?? ??]

They requested to complete the marriage that had been notified on the Town Hall door on 16 December and [20^th December? and ??]

No impediments to the marriage were reported, so in the presence of witnesses, the couple was asked if they accepted one another as spouses, [till death?] and promised to fulfill all the duties of marriage under the law. A declaration was made that

Arij Coret and Elsie Gressie [were married, witnessed by ? Barente, James Grijie. ? Niehuk, with some details of the witnesses and other ceremonial phrases]

[Witness signatures]

Corrections and refinements from Dutch genealogists or speakers would be much appreciated.

© Sue Adams 2014

Lights Out - As The World Remembers

Lights Out - Remembering with a Candle in the Darkness
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net ID-100158085

At 11:00 pm on August 4, 1914 (100 years ago today) Britain declared war on Germany. Today from 10:00 - 11:00 pm the United Kingdom (and much of world) will remember the start of what is often called "the Great War"or "the war to end all wars." For those who had family members who served, who have read their history and understand what took place for four long years as battles stretched out over much of Europe, World War I was neither great nor unfortunately did it end all wars. It is fitting that we remember this terrible tragedy and realize that when countries overreach, when leaders refuse to talk, and when parties to a conflict choose to fight rather than attempt to resolve their issues, lives are lost, individuals are harmed, families are shattered, and communities and countries are decimated. War is sometimes necessary, but it should always be a last resort, not a first impulse.

The point of remembrance is to appreciate individual sacrifice and learn lessons from our shared history. Unfortunately, it seems that our world and many people in it refuse to learn these lessons. Today we will have a visual reminder with the Lights Out project, a cultural program taking place across the United Kingdom to mark the centenary of World War I. In addition, at the Tower of London, there is a display of a sea of poppies to honor the fallen. When completed, it will include 888,246 ceramic poppies.

Today the countries that were on opposing sides in World War I are allies and friends. Would that today's enemies and combatants learn those hard fought lessons of respect and tolerance. Would that we all hold life more dear than power, land, or being right and demand that our leaders are thoughtful and circumspect in international dealings.

Have you been to to the Tower of London to see the "sea of poppies?"
Did you participate in the Lights Out project?
Are you remembering the men and women who served in World War I through any of the special projects?
If you are engaged in a one-name study, have you included those who served in your study?
If you are engaged in a one-place study, have you found those who served from your place?

Take some time to remember how the world changed as a result of World War I and how those changes have affected your family and your family history (on the local and global scale).

Poppies for Remembrance - WWI
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net ID1006691

Tessa Keough

Home is Where Our Story Begins

Bear with my propensity of making a scrabbook page to go with a post. :) 

I was a part of many genealogists who felt that the story of an ancestor was just as important as the vital data.  You need both for the tree to be complete. It has been satisfying to see software, websites, and especially FamilySearch to become so involved in saving the stories.  The reason I specify FamilySearch is that they have promised to keep the stories free and always.  Even so, it is a internet place and things can happen, so print out and save your stories in a safe place or disperse among the family so no one person is the keeper of all the data.  Most genealogy software programs have a feature for creating a story now.

But I digress.  I have been talking to some who are using a FamilySearch Partner Legacy Stories and love the video and oral aspect of saving their stories.  Others prefer to add their stories directly to FamilySearch and I have to say that has some merit is you only want one step in doing so.  I write my stories on my blog, save them in PDF format and add to my tree.  That way the story is on the tree for anyone that goes there, but my blog reaches many more so I have the element of possibly finding a cousin just looking. 

While I was searching for my website URL’s I came across several different articles that weren’t just researcher oriented.  Forbes had an article on “Four Smart Ways toLeave a Legacy”.   One of their ways was to write your stories.  Another website I found warmed my heart. It is called TimeSlips.  They are engaged in documenting stories of those in nursing homes before the stories are gone.  I listen occasionally on BYU Radio to a broadcast "The Apple Seed" 12 MST.  It is great storytelling.  They tell stories from peoples’ lives in the past to person experiences.  It is inspiring and uplifting.

However you go about it, telling the stories of yourself, family, or ancestors is an important thing.  My hero shared his stories orally with his family and in writing his personal history before he died.  I have written several of his stories on my blog for my favorite meme “Sentimental Sunday” Geneabloggers has created a pinterest board for the meme.  Writing his stories has helped greatly in the transition after his death.   I am also writing my memories of my Aunts and Uncles, since I have not been able to get their children to help. If anyone knows of a motivation to use with them, please share.  One of these days I will write my personal history. In the mean time, stories and storytelling has become a way of life. See you on the blog. 

I Can Testify

Wednesday, I was talking with a new genealogy researcher at the Family History Center where I work. He has never created his own data base, instead he has just gone with FamilySearch trees.  Poor baby, he got an ear full.
Never only have an online tree only, especially not a shared "world wide" tree!  To have a clear view of your family, you must have your own data base.  People are always clicking on the wrong thing.  If you don't have a data base, you might end up with someone else's Aunt Georgia.  I still find problems in my online tree that other's have added to, but I am busy sourcing so easy to pick up right now.  When picking your software for your data base, do your own research.  Try out free trial software, and choose what is right for you. Do not purchase one based on someone else's choice.  Take charge of your data base.
 When researching, whether at the library, or online, if you find information on your ancestor.  Copy it, or download it and the source right then.  Don't plan to go back.  Heads up.  The information could be gone tomorrow.  Experience...  In the past, I have copied down URL's to go back to... Not there any longer.  Pictures can be removed, if you capture a picture also capture who you got it from and give them credit if you use it, ask for permission if you are going to publish it.  Ancestry.com's changes and then their dilemma this week, for me, was another proof, things can go poof.

Books... Now this is a sad one.  People can abscond with books, even from a genealogy library shelf. Personal experience.  Went back to get more information from a book and it was GONE.  
 I am a walking talking testimony of the above.  I want others to think in terms of "I am in charge of my data for my ancestors".  I don't mind sharing a tree, and I am more than willing to change something if you can show me the source of the information. Evidence Explained  has been a wonderful help to me for this learning curve.
He thanked me for the information... No, he didn't run out the door.

Just thought I would share with everyone. J