Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Genealogy = connections

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From left: Me, Penny, Sue, Mary (seated)

From left: me, Penny, Sue, Mary (seated)

Thanks to my family history research (and this blog, really), I had an extraordinary day this past Friday, meeting my mother’s cousins and aunt. My mother was born in Missouri but her family moved to Spokane, Washington, in 1936 (looking for a better climate for my grandfather, who was recovering from tuberculosis). They left behind my grandfather’s parents and siblings, a close-knit family.

As a result, I didn’t grow up knowing this branch of the family and we sort of disappeared off the family radar. But that changed when my mother’s cousin, Jerry Brown, found this blog and introduced me to the Brown cousins, a wonderfully welcoming group. So when I saw there was a genealogy conference in western Missouri, I registered and arranged to come in a day early and meet my family.

It was an incredible day. These people are hilarious and fun and we laughed and laughed and laughed. It started with lunch in Nevada, Missouri, with cousin Penny. After that, we met cousin Sue at the old-folks’ home where Penny’s mother, Mary, lives. Mary is the sole surviving sibling of my grandfather, Crawford Brown. (Crawford died in 1996, two weeks shy of his 90th birthday.) She is 99 years old and has a twinkle in her eye and is quick to laugh. That’s us in the picture up top.

Then we went to Milo, Missouri, where my great grandparents (Crawford’s parents), who are Penny and Sue’s grandparents, had lived. I saw the site of their in-town house, where they moved from the farm in 1959, when they were in their 70s. And we went to Milo cemetery, where they are buried. We also saw the site of their farm (and I heard many hilarious stories about Sue’s antics at the farm when she was little).

The graves of my great grandparents, A.J. and Rhoda Brown

The graves of my great grandparents, A.J. and Rhoda Brown

Then these lovely women took me on a quest to find the cemetery where my great grandfather Jeffries (my grandmother Sue’s father and father-in-law to Crawford) was buried, along with his parents and grandparents. Mind you, these Jeffries are no relation to Penny and Sue, but they were up for helping me find the cemetery. It wasn’t easy. We had some directions from an old book, but they didn’t turn out to be entirely accurate. To make matters more complicated, there are two cemeteries within a few miles with homophonic names (Meyer’s and Myer’s), so asking directions wasn’t terribly fruitful. But then I got my husband, Barry, on the case from home and Google maps saved the day. Once there, Sue and Penny helped me find the actual graves. Here’s the grave marker for my great grandfather’s grandparents.

The grave marker for my 3rd great grandparents, R.A. and Harriett Jeffries

The grave marker for my 3rd great grandparents, R.A. and Harriett Jeffries

Luckily the day was beautiful, sunny and in the upper 70s or low 80s. It wouldn’t have seen like such a fun adventure the next day, when it was cold and windy.

After our grave-hopping (we went to both Meyer’s and Myer’s, as well as Milo cemeteries), we went by the site of the original homestead near Rockville, Missouri, that my great grandparents established when they moved to Missouri from Nebraska in about 1914. And after that we met more cousins at a Mexican restaurant in Nevada for dinner, as well as Sue’s 90-year-old father (widower of Crawford’s sister, Nancy). A family reunion date was selected for 2014. I am eager to attend!

By the time I headed up to my hotel in Blue Springs, Missouri, I was exhausted. But so tickled to have had such a wonderful day.

When I started doing family history research, it was all about a solitary detective hunt with feelings of triumph when vital records were obtained. What I didn’t realize it would be about was connecting with family, sharing stories and memories, and uncovering life-enhancing relationships.

I am so grateful for the time spent with this new-found family. And I am so grateful for my interest in genealogy!

Getting ready for my research trip

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This weekend is the Ancestry Day conference, sponsored by the Midwest Genealogy Center of the Mid-Continent Public Library and Ancestry.com. It’s being held near Independence, Missouri, about four hours from my home in St. Louis. I love conferences and learning opportunities, so I’m really excited to attend.

Attending the conference has given me the perfect opportunity to do a little family history research and meet more-distant family members. My mother was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, and moved with her family to Spokane, Washington, when she was three. I was born in Seattle and moved to Walla Walla, Washington, when I was five. I moved to Missouri in 1989, but have never made the trek to western Missouri to meet my mother’s cousins there.

So on Friday, I will meet several first cousins of my mother, along with her aunt (my grandfather’s sole surviving sibling) and also visit the graves of my mother’s paternal grandparents. I’m really looking forward to meeting these family members ands seeing family landmarks.

The day after the conference, I’m going to travel to Meyer Cemetery, in Hudson, Missouri, to visit the graves of my mother’s maternal grandfather, great grandparents and great great grandparents. I sure hope they have gravestones to provide me with some data. (I struck out last summer with another ancestor’s graveyard.) I had downloaded the book, Genealogy: James McKinley, 1792-1872, Richard Anderson Jeffries, 1823-1914 and Joseph Price, 1818-1904, from Scribd. It’s providing me with plot numbers for the graves in Meyer Cemetery, so I’m hopeful!

It’s already Wednesday so I’m busy trying to get myself together for my first research trip. I figure the things I need to get together are:

  • Directions (of course)
  • Registration information for the conference
  • Synched family tree on my iPhone
  • My file of handwritten (unverified) ancestry charts from previous research attempts, which provide valuable clues and which I suspect I’ll want to refer to during the conference
  • The old photos my mother has given me, in case my cousins haven’t seen them
  • The printed out pages from the e-book, containing directions to Meyer cemetery and plot numbers
  • Chargers so all my devices are working!

It’s so nice to make a list–I already feel less overwhelmed! I’ll be sure and blog about some of the insights I gain at the conference, as well as reflections upon meeting my family members.

Using the census to research my house

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Photo of my house and its two sisters

That’s my house in the middle.

When the 1940 census became available, I jumped at the chance to do a little research on my house.

My house was built in 1908. It’s in the city of St. Louis, though the area wasn’t very developed 105 years ago. The house was built as a two-family house and there are four in a row with identical layouts, though with different exterior architectural flourishes. The lore we heard when we bought our house in 1992 was that it was built by a man who lived in the posh neighborhood a block away who had four daughters. He wanted each of them to have a place to live and a source of income. That may explain the beautiful woodwork and stained glass in the houses.

When we first moved in, I went to city hall and found the building permit for the homes, so I verified that they were indeed 1908 houses and that the four houses were built by the same person. I saw the address of that person and committed it to memory– I’ve always felt a kinship with that house, which I pass most days when I walk my dog.

Last year, prompted by the release of the 1940 census, I looked up my house (along with its three sisters) on the 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 censuses. To my delight, I was able to verify the story of the houses being occupied by A. H. Witte’s daughters.

I found the address of the man who built my house on the 1900 census and learned that his name was A. H. Witte. I also learned that, just as I’d been told, he had four daughters: Addie (23), Alma (21), Leona (19) and Flora (17), all of whom were living with their parents in 1900.

By 1910, Adelaide was living in my house with her husband of three years and their two children. Alma was living with her husband of nine years and two sons in the house next to ours, to the west. They had a live-in maid. Both couples lived upstairs (the more sunny of the two units in the house) and had tenants downstairs.

Flora, the youngest, was living in 1900 1910 in the house just to the east of ours. She lived with her husband of two years and their baby. Interestingly enough, they chose to live on the first floor and rent out the upstairs unit.  In the fourth house, both units were rented and Leona, still single, was living with her parents.

Fast forward 10 years and Addie is still living in my house, but now she has a servant. Alma and Flora are living in their respective houses, on either side of her. All have different tenants. Leona, now 39 years old, is married (to a man seven years her junior) and they have a 10-month-old infant. But they’re living with Leona’s parents, not in the house built for her. I wonder why.

In the 1930 and 1940 censuses, Adelaide had moved out of our two-family house and moved on to a single-family house in the suburbs. I haven’t researched what became of Alma, Leona and Flora after 1920.

What strikes me when I look at my house on the earlier censuses is how many people lived in it. Each unit is about 1600 square feet, with two bedrooms–not tiny, but not huge. In 1920, Addie lived in the upstairs unit with her husband, three children, and a maid. Downstairs, the tenant, Frank Carpenter, lived there with his wife and three teenage kids. That’s a total of 11 people in the house. In 2013, my husband and I live in both units of the house and it’s just the two of us (and always has been).

My understanding is that during World War II, my house was turned into a boarding house, with five units. I believe it, because when we moved in, the house to the west of us had six units. (It was converted more than ten years ago to a luxury single-family.) In nine years, when the 1950 census is released, I’ll be able to verify how many people were living in my house when it was a boarding house. Can’t wait!

Sorting out all the learning opportunities

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Ancestry.com learning centerI absolutely love that there are so many different ways to learn about genealogy. I swear I could easily spend 40 hours a week learning about family history research (and researching my family). Unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of time to devote to it.

Over the past year, since I’ve become more serious about genealogy, I’ve signed up for courses, purchased books (even read some), subscribed to online services like Ancestry.com, Fold 43 and Genealogy Bank, visited online forums, gone to a conference and I’m starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all the ways there are to learn.

Family Tree University (FTU) has many, many interesting courses. They have ones you take online at your own pace in a given period of time. They have live webinars. They have recorded webinars. They have virtual conferences. They have video classes. It makes my head spin a little.

What I’m come to discover is that it’s much easier for me to make the time for a learning opportunity if it happens at a scheduled time. It may be the former writer in me, but I’m very deadline driven. I signed up for a FTU virtual conference last winter, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to participate live but being satisfied that I could download the videos of the classes. Have I watched all of them yet? No.

As I ponder this, I realize what I need to do is to create a list of the resources I’ve downloaded and schedule time to watch/read them. And I need to make a commitment to not purchase any more until I’ve watched what I have.

While I’m at it, I’d be smart to create a list of free online learning opportunities–or those I’ve already paid for by virtue of a subscription, like Ancestry.com’s Learning Center,and try to make a point of perusing those. I’ll also be sure and post that list here once I’ve compiled it.

Family history research can be really overwhelming, in my experience. This is one aspect that’s teetering on the edge of making me feel overwhelmed and I’m bound and determined to get a handle on it!