Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Fun with old newspapers

By Leave a Comment

I was researching my great great grandparents (my maternal grandmother’s grandparents) this weekend and was on a quest for their death certificates. Alas, I have not found the death certificates yet (they died in Colorado, which doesn’t seem to want to share copies of death certificates with people as distantly related as I am). But I did do a search on the Pueblo, Colorado, library systemand located a citation for my great great grandmother’s obituary, which was published in the Pueblo Chieftain on November 5, 1945. I haven’t been able to put my hands on that obituary yet.

Newspaper article from Kit Carson County Record

From the Kit Carson County Record, August 15, 1912

The search for the obituary put me on a quest for copies of any newspaper articles about them and I found the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. It provides  images of Colorado newspaper articles from 1859 to 1923. That’s too early to find my great great grandparents’ obituaries, but I did find a few mentions of my people, including one that was kind of valuable.

I had seen on unverified family trees that my grandmother’s grandmother’s maiden name was McAdams (she was married to J. B.  Ruberson), but I had yet to verify that. But I found this fun little article about a visit from her nieces, whose last names are both McAdams, visiting her. (Ah, small town life.) To me, that provides some confirmation of the assertion that her maiden name was McAdams.

I’ve found several other places to read old newspapers (and I’m sure there are more). One is Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, from the Library of Congress. Another is Genealogy Bank, a paid service. And there’s NewspaperARCHIVE.com, another paid service. Don’t overlook the power of Google (which is how I found the Colorado Historic Newspapers, I think). And it’s also worth looking at the online public library systems in the area the newspaper was published in.

One of the things I love about family history research is the peek it provides into history. And looking at old newspapers is another great window into another time.

Finding Civil War ancestors

By 1 Comment

If you have male ancestors born between about 1820 and 1850 and who lived in the U.S., I encourage you to look into their military records! I have been able to find large packets of information on two Civil War ancestors through Fold3.com. These are images of forms filled out by hand–Civil War Muster Roll, Pension Files and other documents. Fold3.com is a membership site. I paid only $40 for a year’s membership, though I think I got in on some kind of special. In just finding documents for two ancestors (there are probably more!), I feel I got my money’s worth.

A month or two ago, I found information on Benjamin Franklin Igleheart, my great great grandfather, on my father’s side. As I read his  Compiled Service Record, which consists of 15 pages of printed forms, filled in by hand, a story unfolded. I learned that he entered the war as a substitute. In other words, he was paid to serve for someone else (a man named Jacob Gish) who was drafted. He was only 18 and I guess had managed not get drafted himself. Thankfully, he survived that experience. I found the concept of a paid substitute an eye opener.

This weekend, I researched my great great great grandfather (on my mother’s side), Richard Anderson Jeffries. I was able to find his Compiled Service Record (29 pages!) and watched his story unfold as I read backward through time. I learned that on October 1, 1864, his rank was reduced from First Sergeant to Private. And on October 4, 1864, he was hospitalized in Atlanta, Georgia (with no indication why), where he appeared to reside until his discharge, due to the expiration of his term of service, on November 14, 1864. That’s mysterious. I’d love to find out why he was demoted. I also learned, that he went missing in action during the Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862 and was compensated upon his return for seven months as a prisoner of war. Wow. Now I want to learn more about that battle and about what conditions he might have endured as a prisoner.

To find this information, I needed to know the military unit my ancestors fought with. A good starting place to find that information is the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database from the National Park Service. Searching for Richard Jeffries turned up two possibilities in Missouri, where I knew my Richard lived at the time. There was one record for a Richard Jeffries in the Home Guard in Putnam County (his county) and another for serving in 18th Regiment, Missouri Infantry. I took that info to Fold3 and found his records. I was able to verify that the 18th Regiment, Missouri Infantry was him, since his death date was on the included pension form. (This was also the regiment listed in the genealogy compilation book I’d found online a couple of weeks ago, which gave me confidence.) I’m not certain if he’s also the Richard Jeffries in the Putnam County Home Guard. That will take a little more digging.

Both these ancestors fought on the Union side, so I only have experience with Union records. Your experience may be different if you’re researching ancestors who fought for the confederacy.

If you haven’t yet researched your Civil War ancestors, I think you’re in for a treat. I was amazed at how easily I found really exciting information that I was able to verify. Fold3 has been a goldmine for me, well worth the investment.

Find your people on the 1940 census

By Leave a Comment

I’m a happy subscriber to Ancestry.com, so have used it primarily when searching the 1940 census. When it was released in April, the 1940 Census wasn’t indexed. In other words, you couldn’t just enter in a person’s name and find them. You needed to know their enumeration district, which you could get if you knew the address.  I was able to track my parents down by asking them their childhood addresses–I was so grateful they remembered where they lived in 1940.

Through the months, volunteers have been working hard to index the site (reading the hand-written entries and entering them into databases), and gradually states have been completed.

I just received an email from Archives.com, stating that the entire 1940 Census has been indexed and can be searched, free of charge, on  that website. (Archives is a paid service, so I suspect the free part is on a limited basis.) I clicked the link and searched for my father and, sure enough, there his nine-year-old self was. It took only a couple of links and I was looking at an image of the census form. I have an account (though I’m not a member) and I suspect that hastened the process.

According to the email from Archives, over one hundred thousand volunteers worked on indexing the census. That’s an amazing effort!

If you are just starting to dip your toe into family history research, here’s a chance to find a genealogical record for someone you might have known. Give it a try!